"My first win, was really a 2nd"
-or-
"Know your competition!"
-or-
"Use locktite!"
I'll get to the title a bit later, but this is my report.
I love Spokane Raceway (SRP). Good pavement, good run-off, and awesome traction. A few
blind corners (or rises), that reward those who know how to stay on the gas and
"know" how the next rise/corner turns out. I can't say I am the best one out
there (yet), but I do know I like this type of track. My previous best time on the 250GP
bike was a 1:39. This weekend, my goal was to do 1:35's, but I only got down to 1:36's.
I'll take it!!!
Saturday morning was a bit foggy. So foggy, it was almost like sprinkles. I bagged the
first practice. Took the bike out for the 2nd practice and it ran great. I re-learned the
track, established braking points, etc. Pull the heads, almost perfect jetting. Run it.
3rd practice session...go run a bit harder. I was really having fun. I was practicing like
I was serious. I was picking off as many people as possible. Not so much to practice
passing, but to "chase the rabbit" in front of me, push myself faster, and keep
my "level" high. I hope that makes sense! Check the jetting, yup, 1-2 jets rich.
There should be plenty of time to re-jet since there are 2 more practices before mine.
About 10 minutes later "the final practice of the day will be a combined
practice"....my bike was apart, there was no way it was going together that quickly.
It didn't really matter, the last practice was like 3 laps long. Big deal. But, the drag
racers had the track. This is the downside of a (same-day) multi-use facility. Oh well.
I really have to apologize to Little Wing who reserved me a steak at his bbq event. I
never showed and ended up tagging along with Marty, which would prove to be good for him
the next day when Denzler's back was in so much pain he did not race! He must be hurting!
Sunday:
I went out in Medium practice instead of the usual Fast group since my Formula II race was
the first one of the day. This was a good thing as on the last lap, my left foot peg fell
off! The set screw which holds it in had broken, allowing the foot peg to fall off. I feel
lucky it happened in a spot where it did not make me crash. I raised my hand, limped back
to the pits. 250's always have spares. I grabbed my spare foot peg, and by the time I
installed it, Chris May came by with my original foot peg and said "uh, do you want
this?". Yeah! Thanks!!!
Formula II is a cool race. In general, it is 600cc super bikes against 250GP machines. The
600's have more power down the straight sections, the 250's have more cornering speed. I
got a good start, but by the time we were down to turn 1, about 4 600's had passed me. I
settled in to follow them into turn 2, and here comes Craig Harry flying by me and trying
to stuff a few people by going inside. I have talked with Craig, and he will take this the
right way regardless of how it reads, but there are 10 laps to pass these people, there is
no need to stuff people like that. I actually passed 2 people just by railing around the
outside. All I could see now was ??? (we'll call him Mr. X) who won the last Formula II
race and Craig in front of me. I thought I was in 3rd. Craig crashed a lap later. I am in
2nd. All I see now is Mr. X who I assume is in first (he won last time after all). I pass
Mr. X under braking and put my head down and try to take off. He (of course) got me by
turn 1, barely. He braked for turn 2, and I RAILED around the outside and pinned it harder
than ever out of that corner for the back "straight". I was braking so late and
hard for turn 5 (the right), my rear wheel was coming up. Either he decided to let me go,
or my 1:36 lap times were good enough to stay out front, but by the end of the race, I has
a good lead on everyone behind me. I am not sure if they announced me as being in 1st, but
to me it "looked" like 1st (no one passing me, clear track in front of me). I
took the checkered. Wow! My first win! I was excited when I got back to the pits. (you saw
this coming i hope). Well, Mr. Cook, who I did not know nor could I identify, actually won
the race. His bike is fast, he is fast. He must have lead into turn 1 and gotten a good
lead. By the time I looked up and actually "saw" anything besides just trying to
find a line, avoid people, pass people, etc. All I saw was Mr. X and Craig. I watched Cook
later, he's damn fast! So, I took 2nd, and a 1st place is still eluding me.
I have 1 hour before my 250GP race. I jet down one size. At this point, I thought I had
the 1st, and now the pressure was on to repeat another! I got a good start and led into
turn 1. I used to brake at marker #3, I went to #2 now! Whoa! I wanted this start to
stick. I led for 6 laps, running harder and harder every lap. My times were still in the
1:36 and 1:37 range, but I was running harder! It didn't take long to get into traffic
from slower 750 super bike riders. I passed everyone I could, every chance I could to put
more space in between me and whoever was behind me. This race was almost "in the
bag". Then down the straight, my motor would not pull to 12K RPM. Instead of being
able to get into 6th gear, I could only pull 5th. Damn, I was either having a slow
seizure, some electrical problem, or something....I was losing about 15% of my power. I
covered the clutch in case the motor blew up, and I used the choke lever to dump extra gas
in the motor for lubrication. I was going to finish this race dammit! According to some
spectators, I had about a 3 second lead on Ferazza when my lap times dropped 4 seconds! He
eventually got me. I chased as best I could. Maybe I could pull a 2nd out of the deal. On
the last lap, on the next to last corner, Craig comes by and passes me into the corner.
There was not much I could do since I knew he would win any "drag race" to the
finish. I followed and hoped for some sort of bobble or mistake. I took 3rd. Hey, I
finished! The bike didn't explode on me. It was a great race. I'll get them next time.
It was lunch time. My racing was over. 2 races before lunch. This is about the time I
figured out that I took 2nd in the first race. I was a little bummed, but hey, this is why
you need to "know your competition"!
I fixed some lunch, and thought, I'll go see what Bruce Lind and Brett Parker are up to.
They were knee deep in motor parts replacing one motor with a spare motor! I knew the 125
race was coming up soon, so even though it looked pretty cramped, I asked if I could help.
Bruce said "yeah" and started rattling off orders. Bruce worked on the spare
motor on the table and rattled off orders in sequence no doubt without looking, while I
worked on the left side of the bike and Brett worked on the right. Pulled the motor out,
installed the new one. Now we had to connect everything, airbox, electrics, hoses, water,
adjust the chain, oil, fuel, the list goes on. It was time to heat cycle the bike, and I
knew Brett was tired, so I just grabbed the bike and started running/pushing it to start
it. It took about 7 tries! When it had warmed up and I shut it off, we had about 5 minutes
to the next race! (that's PLENTY of time in GP time) NOT! Brett got suited up and went out
and raced! Cool!
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Mr. Cook, I know who you are now. You may have
led last weekend, but the next race is another day! I had a blast. It turns out the set
screw for my power valve had backed out and it got stuck in the middle position. I guess
they do work! I know now to use locktite on the screw! That failure won't happen again!
Thanks to all my sponsors like I-90 Motorsports, Galfer, Motul, TPowell Photography, and
Team WetLeather(tm) who helped make my race day a possible. And a big thanks to all the
people who came out to watch the races!!! I'll try real hard next time to
"really" bring home a 1st place finish!
My racing could not be possible without the help of my family, friends, and sponsors.
I would like to thank:
I-90 Motorsports,
Sandro at Galfer,
Kristen at Motul,
Jon at White Brothers,
Terry at TPowell Photography,
Northwest Link for hosting this web site, and
Janet, my fianc�e.
For other race reports, please see http://korygill.net/korygillracing-retro/racereports.html.
I hope you enjoyed my race report. If you have questions, comments, or want any specifics on my race setup or anything else, just ask.
Kory Gill
#150 AMA/WMRRA/OMRRA in 1998
Email Kory: