Friday, March 12, 2010
Skip Salenius - Tankslappin' Blues
A CornerSpeedPhoto column by Skip Salenius
Let me start off by saying that Daytona is not a very fun place on a tankslappin' 180mph GSX-R1000. That being said, I guess just making the grid at 107% was a feat in itself. I'm suppose to be on a new R1, which is actually in my garage right now. It's just not ready yet and I didn't get it in time for Daytona. So... not having a bike to ride wasn't an option. Thanks to a good friend of mine, Andy, for going out and picking up a streetbike for me to build for Daytona. I already had all the parts to bolt on the Gsxr. So, that was the quickest way to get a bike prepped in 3 to 4 weeks. Wednesday morning's 30 minute practice was literally the first time I threw a leg over that GSX-R1000. Everything was off! Gearing, suspension, my head. I hadn't ridden a race bike in 3 months, only dirt. I had another 1 hour session later in the afternoon to try to figure a few things out. Not! Just as I was about to roll out of the garage, I put the bike in gear and... Nothing. Bike cut off. Realized it was some kind of a clutch issue. I had changed the gearing after the first session and while I had the clutch plate off the side of the countershaft sprocket, someone had grabbed my clutch lever and sent air down my hydraulic clutch. I ended up missing the only full session before qualifying. Bummed!
First qualifying was early Thursday morning, a 30 minute warm up. The bike was still not right. It was just shaking down every straightaway. Not fun. I managed to run a decent enough time, somehow, to put me in the show. With final qualifying still needing to be run at lunch, I knew I'd have to drop a little more time to make the show. The bike was still a mess. After trying more things with the bike, I went out for final qualifying. I made the show by the skin of my teeth. The race was ok for a couple laps. The way the bike was tankslapping in the draft, going down the straightaways, it was impossible to hold on to the throttle wide open so I lost the draft. The race was boring from there, I was just holding on. After the race I tore the bike completly apart. A frame and a motor. Friday morning I got to the track and proceeded to rebuild my bike for the morning warmup at 11:45. I was really hoping I had addressed the problem. Not! I tried everything. My suspension guy, Lenny Albin, from Race Tech had done all kinds of stuff to try to accommodate my bike's handling woes. I thought it was my steering damper. I still think that was part of the issue. I had pretty much settled that race 2 on Friday afternoon, I was just gonna try to survive. Nothing I seemed to do could get my bike to go straight, very frustrating. I held onto the guys in the back for a minute, then proceeded to run off the track on lap 2 or 3 and lost touch. Another lonely race at the back which is somewhere I won't be again this season.
I'd really like to thank Monty Spears of Run 1 Racing for getting me to Daytona and VooDoo Racing for the bike. I'm ready to get on the R1! It's being prepped now and I should have it ready for Road Atlanta in April. See ya'll there!
Labels: AMA Superbike, Skip Salenius
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