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Mid --*Life*-- Ohio Crisis
Working title: Crashing Hondas for fun and profit
In Memory of Jim Swartout
good friend and great racer who took the checkers
for a final time 7/18/2003.
God Speed (God will need it….)
By Wes Orloff
There are years that ask questions and years
that answer.
This year, the question seems to be ‘Can I make 1 race
weekend without crashing? I don’t think I will have to
wait until 2004 to find out the answer however…. My tire
bill this year has paled in comparison to ER bills. I’m
on a first name basis with the nurses at my doctor’s
office. I even dropped off some motorcycle magazines just
so I’ll have something to read next time I’m there.
One more X-Ray and I think I will be eligible to be deported
to Hiroshima. Aren’t all blankets supposed to be lined
with lead? Are leathers supposed to wear out faster than tires?
Hhhhmmmmm…maybe its time to trade in the Buell for an
Ultrclassic. Maybe…
But I digress…we made the trip to Mid Ohio for the AHRMA
Road race national this year with much excitement and anticipation,
anxious to have a bright moment in an otherwise disappointing
season. On the downside, we were out of the points in just
about all the classes we could enter meaning back-of-the-grid
starting positions. On the positive side however, the Buell
was running not only reliably, but very strongly. I had become
one with Dales CR450 Premiere 500 class rocket, and was feeling
very comfortable on it, and Bob Foist had thrashed for the
last 3 months preparing a trick Benelli framed Honda 350 to
race in the sportsman class. The weather looked like it would
hold out for us as well…things couldn’t have been
lining up more perfectly for a fun weekend on the track.
As always, it felt great to be back in Ohio as we rolled
through the familiar landscape towards Mid Ohio Sport scar
Course. Although my track time at Mid Ohio is limited, I really
love the place and consider it my ‘home’ track.
We were expecting a lot of family and friends to attend and
were really looking forward to seeing everyone. Harley-Davidson
was the marquee brand at this years vintage days in honor
of its 100th year in business, and my Buell was wearing #100
and fresh 100th anniversary silver paint in my employer’s
honor. The home court advantage of being in Ohio was a great
confidence booster. I was pretty psyched up ready to hit the
track (literally as it turns out….) by the time I rolled
into the gates around 9pm on Thursday. I set up camp in the
luxurious and plush cab of my 1993 Dodge Dakota (which I can
almost fully recline in….almost), and caught some much
needed shut eye.
Friday morning came an hour earlier than normal, as a time
zone had been a victim of our late night dash to the Promise
Land. I’d like to say I got some sleep, but the tight
confines of the truck , large B52 like bugs making strafing
runs through the cab, and the RV generator I ended up parking
next to all conspired to limit sleep to an absolute minimum.
We rose with the sun and immediately popped 800mg of Motrin,
hoping it could coax my twisted spine (by Dodge….) and
recently broken ribs into a form somewhat resembling an upright
standing homo-sapien. We painfully meandered over to the slowly
forming registration line. As luck would have it, we were
fortunate enough to form up right behind some blowhard who
was only too happy to expound on the on his latest racing
conquests and triumphantly engineered H1 cylinder’ed
Yamaha YZXRST….at full volume at 5:15 in the morning.
It was all I could do to keep my pre-caffienated /post- Ibuprofened
self from committing a dark and heinous crime against our
hero. Alas, the registration window opened early and we were
able to get our paperwork through and down to our pit area.
I slugged down a Diet Pepsi and began to feel human. Life
was good again.
Within short order, we had set up our pits and Dale, Bob
and Jeff Gunderson all had shown up. It promised to be a busy
practice day, as I was racing the Buell, CR450, and CB350
in 3 different classes and practice sessions over the day.
First up was Bob’s CB350 Sportsman bike…
I go a long way back with Bob and the little 350 Honda. It
was Bob who got me interested in road racing in the first
place when I found out he was building a bike. The first time
I ever touched my knee to the ground was on the 350. Over
the years, we slowly developed the wobbly stock frame 350
into a machine capable of winning, but despite Bob’s
incredible craftsmanship and dedication to improving the bike,
we had always struggled with the handling of the stock chassis.
It just seemed like it was a matter of time before a crash
would occur from trying to over-ride the bike. It was just
impossible to keep the thing from chattering at moderately
aggressive lean angles…after literally changing every
component on the bike, besides the frame, we both came to
the mutual conclusion that a radical solution was in order.
The bike was parked for 2 years as Bob slaved away on adapting
a 1965 Montgomery-Ward Benelli Mojave dirt bike frame into
a Honda powered vintage road racer….huge pains were taken
to incorporate all the lessons we learned into the new bike:
weight bias was moved as far forward as possible, GSXR600’s
and Ducati 916’s were measured and their geometry numbers
dully noted, swing arms were lengthened, donor parts were
taken from everything from ZX9 ninja’s to FZR400’s
to Honda cub minibikes. The time and effort Bob put into the
bike is countless. Bob had targeted Mid Ohio as the debut
for the bike, and nearly didn’t make it due to some tardy
fiberglass tank and tail components that weren’t delivered
on time. Thanks to the efforts of Jeff Gunderson and Scott
files working alongside Bob during the last two hell weeks
preceding Mid Ohio, the little 350 was finished, albeit wearing
a mad max-ish welded up fuel tank and plank like rear seat.
The only parts from the original bike were the engine and
front and rear wheels. Despite the hand welded fuel tank and
my #74 competition numbers made out of electrical tape, it
had a certain form-follows-function beauty to it. It may not
have looked like it to the casual passerby, but this thing
was a thoroughbred….we fired her off and headed out to
first practice to turn a wheel in anger for the very first
time.
Well, anger may be a strong word…lightly annoyed may
have been a better description. The engine was just refusing
to make any kind of power at all. We struggled to pull 3rd
gear around the track. The chassis felt awesome, but at this
speed, I think anything would. Although the practice was a
bust due to the engine, we came away satisfied as the bike
went where you pointed it and nothing fell off. That was about
as best as we could hope for in that session!
Next up was Dales 1968 CR450 which I’ve been racing
for the last two years. We got up to speed quickly on it and
immediately were able to maintain a comfortable pace. The
premiere 500 class we were competing in would be a tough one,
as there were 3 or 4 really fast guys on replica Norton Manx’s
which are about 70lbs lighter than the Honda’s and maybe
5-8 hp stronger. Realistically with the competition we were
facing, a top 5 finish and first Honda would be our goal.
We replaced a marginal rear tire and were set for race day
on Saturday.
My final practice was on the Buell S1 lightning, which had
been exceptionally trouble free all year. I had also been
drag racing it in a local bracket series which had helped
in tuning it tremendously. During practice, the Buell was
running great, but definitely handling a bit livelier than
I remembered, headshaking, spinning up the rear and generally
just misbehaving. It was a handful getting it around the track.
My favorite part of the track was turn 11, which is a downhill
right hander. The Buell would consistently spin the rear up
through the corner exit, proceed to wheelie down the hill,
then promptly start head shaking as the wheelie was landed.
I may have been going as slow as molasses out there, but it
sure felt fast!
I wish I could say the rest of the practices went well, but
there was a tragic event at the track and numerous delays
due to bikes blowing oil onto the track. What should have
been 6 or seven practices per bike turned into a grand total
of four, with track conditions deteriorating every session.
By my last session on the Buell, the track was almost completely
covered in oil dry and slick as ice in some sections….not
the best way to gain confidence (I’m convinced belly
pans are a good thing….). To make matters worse, we never
got the 350 running correctly during practice. We later found
a malfunctioning rev limiter after practice was completed
had been the cause of our problems. We would be going into
our first race on the 350 still without riding the bike at
speed. It seemed the only bike I was really comfortable with
was Dales 450, which was performing like its old reliable
self, and was sticking fairly decently with its fresh rubber.
Friday evening we went and checked out the dirt track races
in Ashland, then met up with our good buddy Scott Files and
enjoyed the gracious hospitality his parents offered at their
house in nearby Marion. It was great catching up with Scott
and felt wonderful to sleep in a real bed. We awoke Saturday
feeling pretty good and optimistic about the day.
We were only going to get one practice per class on Saturday
morning, and all races were cut to 6 laps. The Buell was still
misbehaving in the handling department, but seemed race-able.
The CR450 was running great and I felt pretty good about our
chances to finish top 5 with it. Our one and only practice
session on Bob’s CB350 was the first time the engine
had run full song to date, and the first time we could really
push the thing. The bike was absolutely magical! It felt light
and nimble and could be put anywhere on the track I wanted!
The handling was comparable to Erin’s TZR250….it
felt like a true race bike, not some streetbike set up to
road race. I just couldn’t believe how well the bike
was working and was really excited to race….that was
until I saw my grid positions: I’d be starting in 24th
place on row 6 on the 350, 16th place on row 4 on the 450,
and I don’t even know how far back on the 11th row, wave
2 on the Buell. In addition, I had back to back races on the
350 and 450.Wonderful.
First race up on Saturday was the sportsman 350 on Bob’s
Honda. Track conditions were horrible, with slick spots all
around the track and lines of oil dry through heavy braking
areas. The class was also full, with 28 bikes on the grid.
Despite a lack of track time on the bike, it felt comfortable
right away, and I had a ton of experience with the engine
which was basically unchanged from its prior life in the stock
chassis two years ago. The engine was a bit revier than the
450, and required a different launch technique. I had pushed
the sighting lap pretty hard hoping to get some heat in the
tires in order to put in a decent first lap. The flag dropped
and we actually got a decent start (for once), and were able
to slice our way up to 5th place before turn 3. The bike was
just awesome, handling perfectly. By the first lap we were
in the top 3 and we had a battle royal going on with flyweight
Tim Kinsey, and #1 plate holder Steve Brown . We managed to
get by Steve and chase Tim down and had a great battle with
him the rest of the race. We got by on the last lap when Tim
accidentally bumped the choke lever on his bike. I couldn’t
believe it….it was too good to come true! Winning our
first race on Bob’s bike from the back row! Unfortunately,
I was counting my chickens before they hatched, as I ran up
on some lappers in the esses 4 turns from the finish and got
run wide while trying to pass and had to check up. This allowed
Tim to get back by again…so close!!!!! Oh well, we definitely
aren’t going to complain about a 2nd place on a brand
new bike first time on the track. I give complete credit to
Bob, as the bike set up was perfect and the bike was easy
to ride quickly...made me look a lot better than I am. One
of the most enjoyable bikes to ride I have ever swung a leg
over…
The next race (premiere 500) was back to back with the 350
race, so I had to run the 350 directly to the staging area,
hop off and jump immediately on Dales CR450 (thanks for the
assistance/water Scott!). The bike was running well, but had
a different feel to it from the 350 I had just hopped off.
We put in another hard sighting lap and settled down for the
start. The green waved and we got a poor start from the 4th
row, with me blowing a shift and bumping into another rider
and getting shuffled back a little. We entered turn 1 in about
12th place. By the 3rd lap, things had settled down and we
had made it back up to 6th place, right on the tail of John
Staska on his Drixton frame Honda 500. As expected, the top
4 Norton Manx’s had pulled a disappearing act and had
checked out. I had my hands full keeping up with Staska, but
our goal of a top 5/first Honda looked to be within reach.
We slowly reeled Staska back in and were right on his rear
wheel when disaster struck and I lost the front end on the
entrance to the carousel. It was a pretty uneventful low side
that sent us skittering across the track into the grass unhurt.
Unfortunately, the CR450 had suffered a little more damage
and was un-rideable for the rest of the weekend. I’m
not sure what had happened, as I was hitting the same brake
marker and turn in points lap after lap. Maybe hit a slippery
spot…end result was we were out and I had to bring home
a busted up bike to Dale for the 2nd year in a row now. I’m
beginning to wonder if I’m related to Jamie Hacking….
Luckily Dale didn’t kill me and we came up with a game
plan for improving the bike before next race…Sorry again
Dale!
The last race of the day was on the Buell….it was a
fairly boring race, as I got a decent start from the 11th
row and made it up to 6th place right behind Tristian Konnecker
and Jan Svenson. I couldn’t make any forward progress
on them so just kind of raced around in no-mans land. The
bike by now was actually handling pretty spooky, with no rear
traction at all and a severe case of the wobbles that lasted
the entire length of the front straight. I was glad to get
the race over in 1 piece…Sunday was another day and I
was looking forward to redeeming myself on the track!
We were down to two bikes on Sunday, Bob’s 350 and the
Buell. The 350 practice went awesome, as we tried an oxygenated
fuel in the slightly rich bike and it really woke up the engine.
I was not only able to hang with Tim on the straight, but
draft by as well. I was pretty stoked for the race. I had
decided to change the tire on the Buell, only to discover
I had lost all my wheel weights from the rim, meaning the
wheel was completely out of balance! We spooned off the tired
old rear (which had done double duty both road racing and
drag racing) and put on a new tire and got the wheel balanced.
Practice went extremely well, as the bike was transformed
and I was able to drop 2 seconds off of my prior best lap
time. I was stoked to start racing…
First race of the day was the 350 race again. Despite the
6th row start, things were going perfectly to plan and I found
myself in the lead on the 3rd lap. We had a great 3 bike battle
going for the lead between Steve, Tim and myself….exchanging
positions every other corner. Disaster #2 struck for me 2
laps from the end when I was following Tim 6 inches off of
his back tire. Instead of looking down the track through turn
11, I was focused on him….and when he ran wide up on
the curbing off of the exit of turn 11, I followed…but
unfortunately I was a couple of inches wider and dropped a
wheel in the grass. The bike immediately did a double snap/lowside
and flicked me onto the ground, landing on top of me. We shot
back onto the track and ended up in the middle of the lane
with the Honda on top of me. Thank god everyone following
did a good job of avoiding the melee. Although it was probably
just a few seconds, it seemed like it took me minutes to get
out from under the Honda. A big thumbs up to my sacrificial
Alpinestars boot that was completely destroyed in the incident,
but allowed me to walk away without a scratch. I couldn’t
believe I had made such a rookie bonehead mistake…
Unfortunately, my leathers and boots were just too torn up
to race the final race of the day on my Buell. In hindsight,
it may have been a blessing, as the track got oiled yet again
in the race prior to mine. I was instead able to enjoy the
afternoon with my Dad (who got to witness my little off track
excursion) and ended up buying him his first bike at the swapmeet!
A clean KZ400…I hope for his sake my crashing problem
this year isn’t genetic!
Next Stop, the infamous Barber Motorsport complex…..
I’d like to thank the following people for all the help:
Stacey Orloff - understanding wife
Wes and sally Orloff - not so understanding, but supportive
parents
Dale Coffman CR450 owner
Bob Foist CB350 owner
Jeff Gunderson and Scott Files - For all the help/work over
the weekend!
Mr. And Mrs files (for the great accommodations!)
Chris Carr and Atlanta H-D/Buell (Buell Guys stick together!)
John Schultz (Harley Guys stick together….even if I ride
Honda’s sometimes)
Erin Higginbotham and Kelly Thornton (Ohio State guys stick
together)
Mike ‘the iron groin’ Fetter (damn impressive to
see someone change a tire by hand 7 days after a double hernia
operation!)
I would also like to thank the following for helping us out
this year in our racing efforts! Couldn’t do it without
you!
Alpinestars (Stephen)
Wiseco Piston (Steve and the gang)
Advanced Sleeve (Jeff and the gang)
Cometic Gasket
RJ Performance
Ukes Harley Davidson
-WFO-
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