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Limited Warfare
(Mostly) True stories of the fine art of racing other people's
motorcycles
By Wes Orloff
Dateline: 12:45 PM Thursday, April 26th, Talladega
, Alabama super speedway
883 CC of thumping raw power (?). 21" laced front wheel.
Low rider shocks. Buckhorn handlebars. 22% alcohol content
gasoline. After a week of refining an 883 sportser Brazilian
fuel carb calibration, I am set to take my last spine jarring
test ride through the Alabama backwoods before packing up
and heading home. No more sweet tea. No more grits. No more
belt buckles with peoples name on them. At 3:30 PM, I'll be
on my way home, and then on to Sweet Home Alab… Road
America for the 200 mile CCS GTO endurance race, co-piloting
Jon Kangas's recently revived Kawasaki ZX7….just need
to complete this driveability loop…
Dateline: 2:45 PM Thursday, April 26th, Somewhere deep in
the Alabama woods….
Dammit…..how did I get lost?????? I did manage to find
the Talladega grand prix track…and after some initial
translation problems, got directions back to the speedway
from the proprietor of Lou Lou's Gas and Grill of Whitestown
Alabama (yes its true, I couldn't make something like that
up…..).
Dateline: 3:21 PM Thursday, April 26th, Talladega , Alabama
super speedway
Made it back just in time…..ditch the mighty 883 and
head to the airport. Feel lucky to have survived my for-ray
into the heart of Dixie as a Yankee without having to squeal
like a pig.
Dateline: 11:00 PM Thursday, April 26th, Mitchell Field,
Milwaukee
After a 2 hour layover in the lovely Detroit airport, we've
made it back to Wisconsin. Highlight of the trip was seeing
a 757's engine catch on fire in Detroit (at our gate of course)…..
Back home and in bed by 12:30am. Pat wife and kiss dog goodnight.
Dateline: 5:00am, Friday, April 27th, Salem, Wisconsin
Grudgingly awaken from deep slumber and head 1 1/2 hours
north to Road America. Adrenaline now kicking in making me
feel much more awake than I am. Still haven't seen my wife
in the daylight for over a week. Manage to avoid any accidents
in the Milwaukee rush hour(s) and make it to R-A more or less
on time….
Dateline: 7:00am, Friday, April 27th, Road America, Elkhart
Lake Wisconsin
Meet Jon in the registration line at Road America. After
an hour and fifteen minute wait, we get registered and signed
up for the 200 mile endurance event in the heavyweight class
(GTO) on Jon's ZX7. I had the opportunity to ride the bike
at Putnam and knew it had some motor, so I was very much looking
forward to the long straights at Road America…..
Jon had done a first class job in recruiting his buddies
to help volunteer supporting 'Team Scream' endurance….we
even had T-shirts! if nothing else, this was going to be a
lot of fun. It would be Jon and myself splitting seat time
for the 200 miles. I was first out in practice, given the
duty to bed in the new brake pads…..great……
My first practice session was a bit frustrating. I spent
the entire session figuring out the track and getting acclimated
to the ZX7. Never even touched my knee down. Track was a blast,
although it seemed a bit rougher than last year. All the corners
were coming up a lot quicker than I remembered on my 600.
I just couldn't seem to get the brakes to work very well either,
actually pinching my hand between the lever and the handlebar
a few times under heavy braking. the session ended and I was
happy to get it over with….
A quick check of the front wheel revealed that the pads were
dragging. We pulled the calipers and re-assembled everything,
and that seemed to help. Jon went out in the next session
and said everything felt good. I was determined to quit riding
like a puss and get some good laps in for my next session.
For the most part I succeeded, although the brakes still didn't
seem as strong as what I was used to with my GSXR…oh
well, must be a difference in the bikes. I ended up abandoning
my 2 finger brake method and went for the full hand, which
seemed to do a much better job of slowing the big kaw down.
I was beginning to think we could race this thing….
For my last practice session, Jon gave me the opportunity
to scrub in the new Dunlops for the race….or was that
the best opportunity for me to end up on my head on slippery
new tires?!? After taking the first couple of laps very gingerly,
I started pushing a little harder. Bike felt good, if not
a bit heavy in some of the transitions. It was super stable
in the corners and had a storming engine. Let Us Race!
Based on Fuel consumption, we figured we could finish the
200 miles with just one rider/fuel stop. The plan was to send
Jon out for the first hour or 100 miles (whichever came first),
do a rider exchange, and have me finish off the last half.
Jon made a great start and really had the Kawasaki flying.
We were just about to bring Jon in after the half way flags
were shown when the race was suddenly red flagged for an accident.
opportunity was knocking and we decided to answer the door.
Since Jon had come in under a red flag, we were not allowed
to exchange riders (had to be done under the green). We sent
Jon back out for the hot lap before the re-grid and brought
him right back into the pits before the start. At the start,
we would exchange riders and re-enter the track, virtually
eliminating our required pit stop! Our strategy worked awesome,
and we were able to re-enter the track in about 5th place
in our class. I was pretty psyched and put my head down for
some hard laps and was having a blast riding on such a beautiful
track on such a powerful bike….unfortunately, by the
third lap, the brake lever was coming all the way back to
the bar, causing some very unnerving moments coming into turn
1 from the 160mph front straight! within a few more laps,
there was virtually no brake left at all. I considered coming
in at this point, but decided to stick it out the best I could….not
sure if that was a good idea or not. I got more and more frustrated
with my riding, as people kept going by me on the brakes through
the multiple hard braking areas around the course. The braking
was also very inconsistent, which made corner entries tough….especially
turn 5. the brake performance was zapping my confidence, and
I kept riding sloppier and sloppier as I got tired. I found
the bike wanted to stand up in the corners (later to find
out the brake pads were dragging) Finally, I decided to quit
trying to race people, and run my own race and stay out of
everybody's way. I smoothed out considerably and started lapping
faster towards the end of my hour. Luckily, I was able to
exploit the ZX7's tremendous power around the track and was
able to turn somewhat respectable laps. Every time I passed
the flagging station, I was waiting to see the white flag
for the last lap….it seemed like I had been out forever
. As I wound the big ZX out on the long straight , the motor
suddenly coughed…..I braked as hard as I could with the
remains of the brakes for turn 1 in vain, as I soon found
the engine had stopped running for good. I coasted off the
track at the turn 2 cornerworker station, only to discover
they had just given the white flag…..and I had just run
out of gas! Oh well, at least I didn't crash Jon's bike!
I was pretty bummed riding in the crash truck back to the
pits….I was depressed about my crappy riding as I could
just never get totally comfortable on the bike. I was surprised
as heck to find out we actually took 6th place in GTO despite
missing two laps when we ran out of fuel. We may have run
as high as 3rd before running out of gas. Jon discovered the
next day that our poor fuel consumption was due to some sticking
brake caliper pistons….overall, I'd have to say I'm ecstatic
with our 6th place finish! Thanks to Jon for the generous
opportunity to ride the ZX7…..sure we had a couple of
problems, but the bike ran awesome and we were competitive
on it. I have total confidence the new brake job will bring
her back to 100%….again I had a blast doing the endurance
race, especially with an enthusiastic team as Jon was able
to assemble. Really makes racing fun….can't wait to do
it again!
Dateline: 7:00pm, Friday, April 27th, Salem, Wisconsin
Wife is at the 'X' games in Chicago watching her cousin do
his thing (Brian patch, professional skate board dude). for
some reason, she thinks that’s more entertaining than
bike racing…. I'm left alone with the once mighty Wescott
Fileoff racing Yamaha RD350 in need of a total top end rebuild…..what
the heck, might as well start….
Dateline: 12:00am midnight, Friday, April 27th, dimly lit
garage, Salem Wisconsin
I finish torquing the last head bolt on the RD…..all
that’s left to do is time it. Neighbors probably won't
appreciate any tuning a this time of night. Even if I wait
until morning, shouldn't be any problem being on the road
to Indiana by noon tomorrow…I head for bed and pass out
from exhaustion.
Dateline: 12:00 noon, Saturday, April 28th, Salem Wisconsin
RD still isn't running! Turns out I picked the wrong timing
mark on the stator to time too…..a little creative work
with a strobe light and I find my bearings. Tear head off
again to re-time motor….got her right finally! Bike ticks
off and a couple of hot laps through the neighborhood and
all is well in RD land. Go to load the RD and super motard
Suzuki. Just for kicks, try and start the slo-zuki up before
loading….hmmm, won't start. Hmmm, no spark……after
3 hours of trouble shooting, discover the stator is shorted….looks
like I'm down to one bike for Putnam. Its now 7pm and I'm
pretty tired. Maybe I'll leave early tomorrow morning for
Putnam. Both Bob, Dale and Scott call to see if I'm still
alive.
Dateline: 3:00am, Sunday, April 29th, I94, north of Chicago
Blowing through the eerily empty Chicago skyway headed for
points south…..don't remember much of the trip other
than I'm safely in the pits of Putnam by 7:30am, much to he
surprise of both myself and Scott….
Dateline: Sunday, 4/29 Putnam park open track day
I actually feel pretty good considering……ready
to hit the track! Besides myself, Ben and Cory were there
with their fast CBR600, Scott with his FZR400 (at least we
think it’s a 400…..) with fresh YZF front end transplant,
Ragon with the beautiful superhawk, Craig with his beautiful
superhawk, Ken with his…..uhhhhh…..'functional'
FZR600 (and his beautiful superhawk on the trailer…..),
and finally dale coffman with his beautiful Honda CR450 GP
bike which he foolishly entrusted to me for its maiden track
run. all the makings of an awesome day…..
For some reason, my new racing partner Scott decided I should
have the honor of breaking in the RD on the track after my
midnight re-build…..Oh well, here we go again! Luckily
the Track debut went well, with just some fine carb tuning
needed (we later discovered the fine carb tuning was needed
because the brilliant master technician who works on carbs
for a living set the needles at different heights to each
other…..). Scott and I alternated a few sessions on the
RD, bouncing ideas off of each other, and by the noon break,
had it working pretty well. Scott concentrated on his 400
while I took Dales CR450 out for its maiden voyage. Attempted
to anyhow…..I stalled it on the hot pit and flooded it!
even John coffman''s exhaustive push starts wouldn't persuade
the CR to bark back to life. We ended up missing that session,
but were ready to try again for the next one with new plugs
and leaner jetting….
Next session, got the CR running and made it around the track
a few times….felt sort of awkward on our first date,
and took some time to start pushing hard. Took a while to
get used to the 4 stroke powerband once again as well, but
we soon had her running at a respectable pace. Bike handled
beautifully…..one of the best handling vintage bikes
I've ever ridden. Powerband was quite narrow, pulling well
between 6000 and 8000 rpm. Once we figured out how to keep
the engine happy, we were able to up the corner speed slowly….Unfortunately
we only got 2 sessions on the CR before Dale had to head back
to Iowa, and were unable to push the limits of the limits
of the bike. Lots of potential there though…..looking
forward to the first race in May!
The rest of the afternoon was spent getting accustomed to
the RD for the May WERA round. Ended up turning some pretty
good laps considering how hard we were pushing……RD
was feeling very good by the end of the day and Scott and
I were stoked to race it! Just a few minor tweaks and we should
have a very competitive ride. Of course we will need it……The
number one plate holder in the formula RD class will be at
the May round…..
All in all an awesome weekend! (besides for the lack of sleep).
Rode a bunch of different bikes and had a blast. Everyone
came away from Putnam smiling….Ben was way fast as always,
Scott went faster this time than he ever did when he had a
600 engine in the bike, Ken got the FZR600 running awesome
(with Scott's old 600 engine smoking away happily…..),
both Scott Ragon and Craig looked to be having the time of
their life during their sessions, despite Craig's close call
with a turn 10 hay bale…. Looking forward to doing it
again!
WFO
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