Race Report – CVMA 2016-2017 Round 1 – Chuckwalla Valley Raceway (CCW) – Yamaha R3

The moment we have been testing for, training for, and anxiously awaiting has finally come!  Chuckwalla Valley Raceway CVMA Round 1 happened this past weekend and team YamahaR3Racing.com came ready.  Zeke and I were joined by our new team rider, Toby Khamsouk.  Toby is a close friend of Zeke’s and the two kids having been battling each other on minis for years.  Toby is finally turning 14 this week and has stepped up to play with the big boys on his YamahaR3Racing.com YZF-R3.  Toby had never ridden a big bike like this, nor had he ever been to Chuckwalla Raceway, so he had a lot to learn and adapt to this weekend.  He was also unable to practice on Friday because of his age and a different insurance company handles the Friday practice, so he would only get two 10 minute practice sessions Saturday morning to get used to the bike and learn the track before he’d have to qualify for grid position.  Fortunately, we have these bikes pretty well dialed in and Zeke and Toby are the same weight, so we had a pretty good baseline to start.  Since Toby is new to CVMA, he is technically an amateur, although, I doubt he will stay in the amateur class for very long.

Zeke and his father, Sergio, showed up Friday for practice to do some tire testing.  We got a tip from Chris Parrish, a racer in the South who is leading the points in the competitive WERA Southeast, that he’s been having good luck running the same Bridgestone slicks on his R3 that he runs on his SV650.  We have exhausted most of the other tire options on the market looking for a good tire that pays contingency, so we’re hoping that the Bridgestone slicks work out.  The Pirelli Supercorsa has been the best option we have found previously but Pirelli doesn’t offer contingency so we’re still looking.  The Bridgestone slicks are a larger 165 rear and 120 front, so there was some concern as to whether we could maintain a hot enough carcass temp to improve traction and justify the heavier tire weight.  Zeke threw on a set for Friday practice went out for first session.  I wasn’t there, but Sergio was texting me updates…  First session, Zeke took it a little easy to see how they tires felt and see if he felt confident.  He said the tires felt good.  Next session out he started pushing them a little harder, trying to see where the limit was, testing the grip.  He did a 2:03, then a 2:02.  Still totally comfortable on the bike, and just feeling out the tires.  Already at a podium pace, and closing in fast on his best time of 2:01.0.  The tires felt planted.  We had a winner.  Sequoia, our local Bridgestone rep, was working closely with him, monitoring temperatures and helping him dial in the pressure to optimize carcass temp and grip.  It was clear the tires would work, so Zeke backed off the pace a little and spent the rest of the day focusing on his lines.

I showed up in the afternoon and Toby showed up late that evening with a mostly built bike, so Sergio, Phet (Toby’s dad), and I worked late into the night to finish prepping the bike for Toby to ride in the morning.

I didn’t practice on Friday, but I showed up in the afternoon with enough time to run a few laps in the racer practice at the end of the day.  I had installed the R6 master cylinder on my bike and wanted to test it out, but in case it didn’t work out well, I wanted time to remove it and reinstall the OEM parts.  While prepping for Round 1, I also noticed that I had dragged my exhaust on the ground at the last race weekend at Auto Club Speedway, yikes!  You definitely don’t want to be dragging hard parts, so I lengthened my shock and slid the forks down to raise the front and rear of the bike about 7mm to increase my ground clearance but maintain front/rear bias.  This increased the swingarm angle and got my rear tire pretty close to my lower bodywork.  Sorry for the blurry picture:

The R6 master cylinder definitely removed the squish in the lever, but unfortunately, results were disappointing.  The brake lever pressure required to stop the bike was way off, and not very linear.  The master cylinder piston diameter is larger in this unit, designed to move fluid into 8 piston R6 brakes, not 2 piston R3 brakes and it didn’t work very well for the R3.  The large radial master cylinder also sticks out the front of the clipon too far and forced me to angle the clipons way in toward the rider to clear the bodywork, resulting in a cramped riding position.  It was difficult to even ride the bike fast because I was so uncomfortable.  I pulled the setup off the bike and reinstalled the OEM master cylinder, which honestly, works just fine.

I failed to get a good picture on the bike, but this was the setup:

We put the same 165 rear, 120 front slicks on Toby’s bike Saturday morning and headed out for practice.  I was still on the Pirelli Supercorsa 140 rear and 110 front that was working well for me all summer, but I had to test the taller shock and fork ride height.  Zeke left us in the dust, and Toby and I tried to get up to speed.  Zeke was already down to 2:01.8 after first practice, I think Toby and I were around 2:07-2:08.  These kids sure learn FAST!  After second practice, I was down to 2:04, Toby just behind me also at 2:04 or 2:05, and Zeke dropped a few more tenths to 2:01.5.  The Bridgestone slicks were sticking like glue and I searching for confidence on my Pirellis.

Qualifying went well, Zeke qualified second with a 2:00.6, just four tenths behind Gray Pham’s 2:00.2.  Gray is a local KTM cup rider who removed all the restriction and tuned his KTM for the CVMA series to see what it can really do when unrestricted and running good tires.  I was in third with a 2:03.57, just .01 ahead of Toby’s 2:03.58.  For Ultra Lightweight Shootout, Toby would grid right behind me in fourth, since the amateurs and experts run together, but in the 350 Supersport race, Toby would start on pole for the second wave with the rest of the amateurs.  Grids sizes were good, despite the 100+ weather.  We had 26 riders in the Ultra Lightweight Shootout, although I’m expecting 40+ for Round 2 in October.  Last year, there were only 1-3 R3s in each race, this race, there were 9 including our 3 and a couple Graves bikes.

Saturday ULWS

We gridded up for the first race, and when the flag dropped, I launched the front wheel into the air, but still got a decent start and followed Gray into the first corner, with Zeke and Toby behind me.

I tried to stick with Gray for the first few corners, but by the bowl, he was pulling away pretty good and I was sliding in every corner trying to push my Supercorsas to the limit in the heat.  I was about to let Zeke by when he ripped past me coming onto the back straight and started chasing  Gray.  Gray had a pretty good lead and Zeke maintained the gap for a few laps but never caught him.  Gray finished first by a country mile, Zeke second, me third, and Toby biting at my heals a close fourth.  Gray apparently jumped the start, so he was penalized 5 seconds.  However, I’m glad he was far enough ahead and won anyway, because if he jumped the start, it wasn’t by much, I didn’t even notice, maybe it threw off Zeke a little since he was right next to him.  Gray was on fire and earned that win, he broke Ari Henning’s lap record of 1:58.9 with a time of 1:58.8.  Zeke lowered his personal best on the R3 to a 2:00.3.  I did a 2:04.1, and Toby a 2:05.7.

Saturday 350SS

The second race was 350SS and it was the last race of the day.  Zeke was well rested and ready for battle.  I decided to try the Bridgestone slicks and threw on a soft front and medium rear.  Zeke and Toby were running soft fronts and rears and loving them, but the carcass temps were running a little hot.  The 165 Bridgestone rear was considerably taller than the 140 Pirelli, so I didn’t need the extra ride height I added in the shock which had actually caused my rear tire to rub on the lower bodywork during the race.  I set the geometry back to where Zeke and Toby were at for the race.  When the flag dropped, Gray got the hole shot and Zeke and I went side by side to the first corner, I rolled throttle off a split second early to let Zeke go with hopes that he would take the lead from Gray.  Zeke stayed pretty close to Gray through the first few corners, where Gray was really fast.  Coming up the slide and onto the back straight, Zeke closed in a little and was pretty much on his rear wheel by turn 10.  A couple laps in, he found some space and made a pass.  Zeke led Gray for a lap until Gray got the drive onto the front straight and motored past before turn 1.  The two were very close the entire race and coming into the last corner of the last lap, Zeke was all over Gray, but couldn’t make a pass and finished .6 seconds behind Gray.  Another tough battle, and a hard fought win for Gray.

Here’s the video from Zeke’s bike:

The Bridgestone slicks were amazing.  I couldn’t believe how much more grip I had compared to the Pirelli SC 110/140 I was running.  I went hot into a few corners and expected a slide and nothing, the bike just stuck, so I leaned it further to hold my line and it just complied.  I was blown away.  I started going into corners faster and just leaning the bike farther and the farther I leaned, the more planted the tire felt.  I guess that makes sense because the larger tire squeezed onto a small R3 rim gives a pretty steep profile.  The front felt so stuck to the ground that even big bumps didn’t peel it off.  It was a little slow on turn in so I lowered the front a little after the race to compensate for the diameter differences between the Pirellis and Bridgestones.

Sunday morning practice was more of the same.  Zeke picked up right where he left off, and after two practices, had already dropped into the 1:59s.  Toby was in the 2:03s, and I was in the 2:02s.  I traded bikes with Matt Cavarlez for first practice so I could get some experience riding a Ninja 250 on track, which I had never done, and he wanted to joy ride my R3.  I’m always curious to get feedback from other riders, especially ones with WAY more experience than me racing little bikes.  Matt is one of the fastest 250 riders around, and consistently runs 2:03s-2:05s on a bike with maybe 33hp, pretty dang impressive.  His bike was pretty much what I expected from all the chatting I had done over the last year with 250 riders.  Soft suspension and a flexy chassis made for a silly, sloppy ride, but it was still pretty darn fun to ring the 250’s little neck for a few laps.  Totally different experience than the setup we run on the R3s though.  The R3 has a much stiffer chassis, stiffer forks, and we run pretty stiff springs in the shock and the taller seat.  Everything about riding the R3 feels so precise, it feels like a Superbike compared to a Ninja 250.  Matt is a little short and could barely touch the ground.  He jumped off after a few laps and exclaimed, “Wow, you have that dialed!  I wouldn’t change a thing!”  That’s always nice to hear, especially since he guinea pigged my Saturday night geometry change hehe.  I rode the second practice and confirmed that the geometry change was spot on, he was right, I didn’t need to change a thing.  The bike was perfect, now I just had to go faster.

Sunday ULWS

Grids for Sunday were the same, Gray on pole, Zeke second, me third, and Toby fourth, with the rest of the pack behind us.  I went out hard on the warm up lap to try to get my mind going fast so I could try to stay with Zeke and Gray enough through the first few corners to get towed up to speed.  Gray led Zeke into the first turn and I pushed hard to try to stay with them.  They gapped me a little through the first three corners, but I maintained distance through the bowl, up the slide, and down the back straight.  Zeke was right on Gray’s rear wheel.  Then they pulled away more through the two fast lefts, but I maintained through the two fast rights.  Then I lost a little more time in the last couple lefts, but then pulled them in a little on the brakes into turn 1-2.  Zeke stayed right on Gray’s wheel and coming down the back straight I saw Zeke make a pass into turn 10.  “WOOOOOO!!! GET HIM KID!!”  I yelled into my helmet!  A big shit-eating grin on my face.  A few corners later I could see Zeke creating a little gap in front of Gray, but after that I didn’t see them much more.  Apparently Zeke was faster in a few sections and Gray faster in others and they had an amazing battle for the entire race.  Zeke led Gray for 3 laps but Gray closed in on Zeke near the end of the lap and made a pass again on the front straight at the start of the last lap.  He held Zeke off and again, took the win.  Again, Zeke finished the race right on Gray’s rear wheel, only .15 seconds behind.  It was an epic race, and both kids once again reset the Ultra Lightweight Shootout lap record that Gray had broken the day before.  Gray put in a 1:58.7, but Zeke was faster with a 1:58.4 and would claim the new record for team YamahaR3Racing.com.  Definitely a victory, despite taking second in the race.  I finished a lonely 3rd with a new personal best time of 2:01.7.  The bike geometry was perfect, the bike was SOOO much easier to ride fast than the day before on the Supercorsas.  I wasn’t fighting the bike, and I could see plenty of places to make up time.  Toby finished a lonely 4th but also with an awesome new personal best time of 2:02.9.

And here’s the video from Zeke’s bike.  Sorry about the sound, it comes on at 5:43:

Sunday 350SS

We gridded up for our last race of the weekend, 350 Supersport.  I had picked up time and felt good in the ULWS race and was determined to stay with Zeke and Gray and drop under the 2:00 mark.  I knew my bike could do it, and I could see a bunch of places where I could make up time.  Heck, I didn’t figure out my line through turn 7 until the cool down lap of the race that morning.  I charged out again on the warm up lap to get my brain up to speed.  I came down the back straight and headed faster than usual into turn 10.  As I came around 10 up the hill into 9, I headed too early into turn 9 and it shot me deep into turn 9 at a faster speed than I was used to.  I didn’t even feel like I got on the gas very hard, since I knew I was off line in a bad place, but as I turned the bike back around to make turn 8, all of a sudden the bike was out from under me and I was sliding and tumbling into the dirt.  Zeke was right behind me and got it all on video…  Oops, they don’t call it “crash corner” for nothing.  This was the exact same place I crashed back in October, and for the exact same reason.  Although, I actually felt like I was pushing the limit last time, this time the bike just shot out from under me.  Oh well, hopefully this time I’ll learn from it.  My bonehead move delayed the race slightly.  Zeke was thrown off a little and got a pretty bad start.  Gray gapped him right away.  Zeke knew he couldn’t catch him so he just cruised since I was out of the race and he knew he would be well ahead of 3rd place.  He still put in a 1:59.5 while cruising to a lonely 2nd place, just .3 seconds behind the previous 350 SS lap record, which just goes to show how comfortable he is on the bike, how well the bike is working, and how good of a rider he is.  Gray went on to win the race by a mile and reset the 350 SS lap record to 1:58.5, but Zeke’s ULWS time of 1:58.4 was still the fastest of the weekend.

The team had an amazing opening round of the CVMA 2016-2017 winter series.  We took home four 2nd place expert finishes, three 3rd place expert finishes, two 4th place expert finishes, a 1st and 2nd in Amateur 350SS, and a new lap record in Ultra Lightweight Shootout of 1:58.4.  Our pits were so busy with people checking out the bikes and talking R3s that I almost had to charge a cover. lol  I’m speechless.  These kids are not only awesome riders with endless potential, but we have such a good crew overall, good families, good support, and I’m SOOO excited to see what we can do next round!

Tires

Chuckwalla is a little bit of a different animal than other tracks.  There are barely any real straightaways and the corners are so big and open, that you spend a huge amount of time on the very edge of the tire with a lot of throttle.  I was definitely using every bit of the Supercorsa 140, and probably running off the edge of the tire a little.  Combined with the extreme heat, it was sliding around a lot.  It made it hard to hold my corner speed, stay on line, and keep in the gas through the big fast corners.  With the big 165 Bridgestone rear, there’a big band of unused tire, even at max lean angle:

This unused tire can be a bad thing, because it indicates an area of tire that isn’t heating up by contacting the ground, and can cool the edge of the tire.  It’s also extra weight in the worst possible place that you’re towing around for nothing.  However in this case, it seems that the extra grip is worth the extra weight since Bridgestone doesn’t make a good 140 or 150, and we are still generating plenty of heat to keep grip at the edge of the tire and keep the tire carcass at optimum temperature.  The extra ride height of the 165 also fits our setup well.  I have also battled on and off at different tracks with the front tire wanting to wander a little mid corner in the faster corners, and fighting to hold a line from mid corner to exit.  I even remember now the last time Zeke and I were at Chuckwalla, I struggled to keep up with him in the corners because I couldn’t keep the bike on line and felt like the front was going away from me.  On that day, I was running the Supercorsa 140 rear and 110 front, and Zeke put on a Supercorsa 140 rear but left his larger Bridgestone R10 120 front on.  I just assumed this wandering front was me and my riding, or suspension and geometry, but as soon as I put on the Bridgestones this weekend with the larger 120 front tire, this feeling was immediately gone and I had complete control of the bike and my line, even at max lean, and even when whacking open the throttle on exit.  We weren’t using the 110 front tire all the way to the edge either, but I’m thinking the 120 has a larger contact patch, especially since the Bridgestone 120 slick front requires very low tire pressure.  This extra contact patch is likely helping to keep the front planted and on it’s line.  I’m now very curious if the 150 Supercorsa rear would provide a little extra lean angle over the 140, and the 120 Supercorsa front would keep the front planted and on line.  The taller 150 or 165 rear tires are also helpful to gain that last little bit of ground clearance, so I think I’m pretty sold on moving toward larger tires for racing the R3.  The Bridgestone slicks work great, or Pirelli Supercorsas for those of you that have to run DOTs, probably a 120 front and 150 or 160 rear would be my new recommendation.