Monterey Challenge is a win, but indecision equals 12th postion in AMA Superbike

The San Diego BMW transporter arrived at Laguna Seca on Wednesday afternoon and was staged in the paddock that evening. Setup began for all the teams the next morning to get ready for the thousands of fans that would be walking through during the Red Bull US Gran Prix.
The new San Diego BWM trailer and Canopies were setup for the first time at this event and turned out better than we could have hoped for.

After setup was complete it was time to take a quick trip into Monterey to pick up our credentials for the weekend and we were set, or so we thought. The rest of Thursday was supposed to be fairly relaxing with the rest of the crew and the rider arriving later that evening. The rest of the crew was not a problem; the rider on the other hand was a different story. Jeremy was going to be flying into Monterey from Arizona around ten, but due to reasons yet to be determined he was redirected to the Fresno airport around eleven o’clock (this is 9 hours before he is supposed to be on track for first practice). When we heard that the airport was closed and that he wouldn’t be able to fly out until the next morning, Alysia hit the road to pick him up. Luckily they did manage to get back up in the air and instead of having to drive three hours she was able to just wait at the airport until 1:05 am and pick him up there.
In typical Monterey fashion the morning started out cool and foggy, which might not have been the worst thing. Due to the late arrival none of the other crew nor the rider were able to get their credentials until Friday morning. With the first Monterey Challenge (MC) practice scheduled for 8am the conditions on track weren’t safe to ride in so we had everyone head to the Embassy Suites to pick up their passes.
We were back on track for MC qualifying at 10:50 am when the morning mist had lifted. Toye had no problem getting right down to business and taking pole in the twenty minute session with a 1:29.1. This would set him up nicely for the ten lap race coming up in just under an hour.

 
The SD BMW S1000RR took the holeshot and walked away with the win, setting consistent laps a full second ahead of his nearest competitor. The MC crew really had a nice surprise for the top three after the race. Not only were they greeted in the podium area by press wanting to speak with the winners, but they were also taken to the podium where the winners of the USGP would stand later that weekend. The trophies and champagne were a very nice touch, and perhaps a little relief after such a hectic evening the night before.

Bubbly aside, now was really the time for work. A win is a win, but we came here to Laguna with the goal of doing well in the AMA Superbike event, and if we were even going to have a shot at the top 5 our lap times would have to drop by FOUR seconds. Last year the AMA race at Laguna had lap times in the 1:24 range, and if we were going to make a showing there is now way our current set up was going to do it.
Looking at the data from the MC race the team and rider discussed a few variations on the setup that would be an improvement. In the first AMA Superbike practice Jeremy was able to turn faster lap times a full second faster, but that’s only one out of 4 that we needed to be competitive. There would be much discussion about what to do because something big needed to change if we were going to earn a decent spot on the grid in Saturday’s two qualifying sessions. Every part of the motorcycle from the seat to the wheelbase was scrutinized, and come Saturday morning we had something for em’.
After the first few laps we could immediately tell that the bike had improved and by the time everything was said and done Jeremy ended up going two full seconds faster. That makes 3 out of four seconds that we needed, so before Q2 in the afternoon the team needed to find out where that last second was hiding. After speaking with Jeremy they found out his level of braking was being held up by instability. Since the direction we had taken last night was better some agreed that going further down that road would be the bee’s knees for the next session. However, if “A” is like “B” and “B” is like “C” that in no way says that “A” is like “C”.
When Q2 rolled around those more dramatic changes to the bike did make a difference, but not in the right direction. The braking problem was still there and now there was also a chatter problem from the front end that was new. Jeremy was able to ride in the 1:26 range, but wasn’t able to match his best time of the morning. A little bit dejected the team went back to the drawing board. Lacking a real connection with the bike it was hard to justify any new changes for the morning warm up. There were some features of the bike in Q2 that Jeremy really liked, such as the front end feel on corner entry and the initial throttle opening. So, the plan was to ride it one more time in the morning and see if we could match the times from Q1. That idea would never happen.
When we woke up on Sunday morning it was foggy as it had been for the entire weekend, but even worse. It was so bad that I couldn’t even see the Jumbotron screen we had been watching races on just 100 yards away. This morning mist decided to hang around for quite a bit longer too, so much so that AMA had to cancel the morning warm up sessions for both Daytona Sportbike and AMA Superbike due to unsafe track conditions. Sportbike was SOL, but we were hoping that they would be able to fit in a small warm up for the Superbke guys somewhere in the schedule later in the day. We lucked out.
Just after the USGP there was enough time before our race that the AMA was going to give us an eight minute warm-up session. We found out that the bike was still the same, swimming in under breaking and now it was even bottoming out. I would love to say here that we did the right thing and put the bike back to what it was on Saturday morning when Jeremy went the fastest, but we didn’t. Instead we tried to address the problems this new setup and it backfired, big-time!
Not only did the changes we made to this setup not address the problems, they made the bike very hard to ride. Chatter in the front was exacerbated, the bike was still difficult to ride in on the binders. We were way off of our own pace, let alone the 24’s being set at the front of the field. Twenty three laps later Jeremy was 12th out of 24 bikes and there was a lot of head shaking going on, but the good news is that it didn’t end with anyone getting hurt (except for our egos a bit), and we’ve learned a very valuable lesson.
When we show up for a race weekend there is a very specific amount of time that a team has to make adjustments to the motorcycle, for the rider to test them, and then to make a decision. Sometimes there could be even less time due to weather or unforeseen circumstances, but the bottom line is that when it comes time to race it’s NOT time to start gambling! You look back on the practice sessions the team has had so far, and the setup that has produced the best results (typically a lap time) is the one that goes on the bike for the race. Period.
Our next event is the second round of the California State Championship this weekend (July 31 – August 1) and I can guarantee you that this synopsis will not happen again. Yes, we might make a change to the bike in practice that has a negative effect, but that will be in practice, NOT IN THE RACE. Next week I will be posting another race report for Gary and Jeremy’s weekend at Infineon with good news, I’m sure.