Willow Spring Motorcycle Club (WSMC): Race Report
Friday morning Gary and Jason arrived at Willow Springs for a Motoyard trackday to setup Gary’s S1000RR with his new Bitubo shock that he had ran so well with up at Infineon a few weeks prior. Throughout the day they were able to try quite a few variations in geometry, spring rate, and damping. The progress would really show the next morning when he and teammate Jeremy Toye took to the track in the first practice session.
Gary’s personal best at Willow from last month was a 1:23.3 lap time. In the first session on Saturday morning Toye pulled him to a 22.7! With the bike working well and his riding hitting a new level over the past couple months he was really looking forwards to this weekend’s racing!
Setup for the number 57 machine began at the shop in the beginning of the week. Modifications were made to the S1000RR chassis based on Jeremy and Jody’s experience. After the first session with Toye getting warmed up and getting a feel for the track on the BMW the team got right down to business. One of the nice parts about having a rider at his home track is that they know exactly what they’re looking for. So with some additional changes to increase feel and tone down the progressive nature of the rear suspension Toye was ready for an F1 simulation in the Solo race that afternoon.
Gary was on the grid looking to take the championship in the Solo GTO class and Jeremy wanted to put the BMW through its paces in a race simulation that would allow the team to dial in the chassis more for the next day’s race. It was a good thing too because the direction they had tried proved not to be the best choice. Once the tires got hot they lost the critical edge grip required for long turns 2 and 8. It was back to the drawing board that night for the SD BMW team, but at least the were able to enjoy the fact that Orr (just a new racer last September) had wrapped up his first championship with a win!
On Sunday morning it was time to see if the decisions made the night before were going to pay off on Toye’s machine. With the same tire from the Solo race Toye lapped in the low 21’s and high 20’s in the first session. After a short debrief and a new set of rubber Toye headed back on track to join the club of a few elite roadracers who have been around Willow Springs in under 1:20 on a motorcycle. When Jeremy fired off a 1:19.949 everyone took notice! The other riders competing in F1 knew they were fighting for second, and it proved to be the case!
When the race got underway Toye knew what he had to do. With the temperature being 101 degrees and (oddly enough) there being very little wind the tarmac was scorching. Today’s race was going to be an act of tire conservation, which Toye performed beautifully. He took the holeshot from 5th place on the grid and put his head down to open a gap as quickly as possible. Rattling off a couple laps in the high 20’s and low 21’s like he had done earlier in practice gave him about a three second gap which he was able to manage for the rest of the race and take home the win!
Not to be out done teammate Orr went on a bit of a winning streak himself. Having the BMW superbike at his disposal he was able to take the win in Open Superbike and Formula 40 Heavyweight. Aboard his R1200S he also won the Twins class race earlier as well. That would all be well and good to have thee wins in your pocket for just Sunday, but the fact that Gary did it while on triple duty is all the more worth mentioning! Gary the marathon man was on track for three races in a row (Open Mod Prod, Formula 40, and Middleweight Twins), not bad when you’re in leathers wrestling a superbike around in 100-degree heat! Perhaps he was preparing for his 10 n’ 10 rally coming up at the end of this month in which he plans to collect as many points as he can across the US while traveling 10,000 miles in 10 days!
All things considered it was another great weekend for the SD BMW Racing team and the S1000RR, but on a side note it will be interesting to see how Jeremy rides without a cracked rib! You see, while training at Perris the front end of his dirt bike shoveled down in a rut throwing him over the top of the bike and cracking a rib on his left side!
Being the professional that he is Jeremy still managed to make it to Willow and ride at a level that many will only dream of. Here’s looking forward to next month and the final round of the CA State Championship!
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