RaceReport-Fasttrax 3hr@Grattan 7/12

vtr996 · 07-13-2003, 5:15 PM

Due to my recent injury @Blackhawk farms I was unable to race the Fasttrax 3hr endurance yesterday(7/12) at Grattan. However I did go and help pitcrew for my younger brother who decided to take out his newly aquired 88 HawkGT racebike (700cc/cams...ect) and enter his 1st race. This was his 2nd outing on the bike ever and his 1st race ever so our expectations weren't too high. The crazy 21yo decided to ride in the solo endurance class (Ironbutt) which is run under open sbk rules.

Morning practice was interesting. He melted off the right side of his bellypan, broke one of the seat mounting bolts, and his header almost burned through a radiator hose. We quickly did some repairs in the pits and had him ready with plenty of time to spare for the 3pm greenflag.

It turned out to be a GREAT race. Right from the start he was battling for the lead (in class) with a guy on a ZX9R. About 50min into the race my brother took his first pitstop to take on fuel&water, the ZX9R rider stayed out a bit longer and gained a small advantage. End of hour 1 my brother was down 3laps, but easily made that back up when the 9R pitted in the early part of hour2. In the second hour we again took a fuel/water pitstop before the ZX9R and would go a couple laps down. The ZX9 pitted out a short time afterwards, but during the fuelstop his pitcrew had spilled fuel on his righthand glove. He went out but needed to pit-in right away again to change gloves (fuel was burning his hand). This worked to our advantage as this would makeup for the extra (3rd) fuel pitstop which we needed to make with about 35min remaining in the race. In the end both my brother and the ZX9R rider completed 104laps around Grattan, only a 30second interval separated the two at the checkerflag. My brothers first race was his first win. He went home very tired and sore, but with a big 3ft 1st place trophy and a big smile.

Great day, great weather and great racing. Also very cool to see Abtech out on his new RC51 and chit-chat for a while. NICE BIKE Abtech!

abtech · 07-13-2003, 7:15 PM

VTR: I guess a first in class isn't too shabby for the first time out (understatement icon goes here)!

Congrats! Sorry I didn't hang around for the race, but I had to work until about 3:00 AM, so I was lucky to get to Grattan at all.

slowpoke · 07-14-2003, 1:40 PM

Wow! My hat's off to your bro!

abtech · 07-14-2003, 2:27 PM

VTR: What kind of times was he turning? I barely broke into the 29's before I left with severe arm pump (can you say 'out of shape'?).

vtr996 · 07-14-2003, 4:00 PM

Quote:

abtech : VTR: *What kind of times was he turning? *I barely broke into the 29's before I left with severe arm pump (can you say 'out of shape'?).

I'm not sure if he ripped off any fast ones as we forgot the lap timer or a stopwatch. He completed 104 laps in about 167minutes on the track which works out to around a 1:36 average.

Just from watching him early in the race I'd guess he probably ran a few in the low 1:30's....but by the 3rd hour he had faded quite a bit.

1:29's aren't bad at all for the 1st time out on a new bike!! Congrats I'm sure once you get more comfortable on it and get it dialed you'll be back in the 26's or better.