Barber Superbike Classic - AMA Pro Superbike!

The San Diego BMW Locust Powered by Lee’s Cycle Race Team left the temperate climate of sunny San Diego and traveled cross-country to compete in the Barber Superbike Classic at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. To say that the weather varied would be a dramatic understatement as conditions ranged from massive thunderstorms with flashing lightning and heavy downpours, to temperatures nearing the 100’s with humidity hovering around 80%. These changing conditions proved to impact the weekend tremendously as track time switched from wet to dry and back again. The full San Diego BMW squad was in attendance for this weekend’s racing. Steve Rapp was once again joined by fellow teammates Chris Trounson, who was cleared to ride after suffering a concussion earlier in the season, and Jeremy Toye, who returned stateside from a frustrating excursion to the Isle on Mann. With the trifecta in full effect, The San Diego BMW Locust Powered by Lee’s squad geared up to take Barber Motorsports Park by Storm…literally.

Even the bikes needed umbrellas on Friday

The first practice of the weekend was hammered by a fast moving thunderhead that turned Barber from the picturesque surroundings of manicured lawns and creative sculptures to a scene resembling the movie Twister. The initial Daytona Sportbike practice was called short due to visible lightning thus delaying the first American Superbike practice and resulting in a later qualifying session at 5:05 in the evening. The mechanics quickly got the bikes set up on rain tires and Thermos Man went to work getting the suspension set for the upcoming wet session. As expected, times were considerably slower in these hazardous conditions and the fast lap of the session was nearly 12 seconds off the dry pace seen later in the weekend. Leading the charge for San Diego BMW/Lees squad in this first practice session was rider Steve Rapp, throwing down an impressive 1:40.758 lap time in the rain, less then 2 seconds off of the pole position, placing him in the 7th slot on the grid. Following Rapp on the time sheets, Jeremy Toye was able to put down an impressive lap of 1:41.451, placing Toye in the top 10, and in the 9th grid spot by the end of the session. Chris Trounson wrapped up the first practice with a respectable 14th position in the adverse conditions.

New conditions brought new beginnings, as well as new soaring temperatures. Hydration was a major factor as both riders and crew attempted to replace fluids as fast as they could sweat them out. The first qualifier on Friday evening was a scorcher. With the temperature hovering around 90 degrees after a massive thunderstorm, the humidity was incredible. With dry track conditions, the lap times fell dramatically. Steve Rapp once again led the charge for the San Diego BMW / Lees team putting down a 1:27.28 in the qualifier and maintaining his position of 7th on the grid. Jeremy Toye struggled with grip and bike setup and ended the qualifier in 13th position with a lap time of 1:29.554. Chris Trounson threw down some very impressive laps, turning a 1:31.156 on his first day ever riding at Barber Motorsports Park!

Weather conditions remained hot and steamy for the final qualifier at 9:30 AM on Saturday morning. Times continued to drop as bike set-ups and rider confidence began to improve. Steve Rapp continued to charge ahead for the team, recording a blazing fast time of 1:26.751, only .84 seconds off of Superbike Champion and pole sitter Josh Hayes. This tremendous effort retained Rapp’s place as 7th on the grid to start Superbike race number one. Chris Trounson continued to impress, as his growing confidence in both the machine and the track were evident in his dropping lap times. Trounson climbed up the standings with a blazing fast lap of 1:29.332, putting him in the 13th position on the grid to start race one. Jeremy Toye continued to struggle with set-up and grip issues and finished right behind Trounson in qualifying with a 1:29.567 lap, placing him next to Trounson on the grid in the 14th grid slot. With qualifying wrapped up, The San Diego BMW Locust Powered by Lee’s Cycle Race Team was ready for racing!

One of Two fan walks this weekend.

Weather proved to be the deciding factor for Superbike Race one at Barber Motorsports Park. After 5 dry laps and with 16 laps remaining in the race, a massive thunderstorm rolled through, showering the track, resulting in a Red Flag situation that stopped the race. Riders and crews rushed to their hot-pits to hear word from AMA officials regarding the race restart. Many teams rolled out their wet bikes and placed them next to their dry bikes and waited for the word. Without the luxury of wet and dry bikes, the San Diego BMW Lee’s Squad was forced to make definitive decisions about using the slicks mounted on the bikes, or switching to rain tires and praying that the track remained wet enough for the tires to remain effective. Word from AMA officials finally reached the riders. It would be a wet race. Of the three San Diego BMW / Lee’s riders, Jeremy Toye was the only rider to chooses to go with rain tires for the race. This proved to be the right decision. Although the storm had passed, and the water appeared to be evaporating, a remaining cloud layer prevented the track from drying out as quickly as some riders and mechanics had expected. Both Rapp and Trounson found themselves on slick tires on a very wet race track. After struggling with set-up all weekend, Toye was able to charge ahead on his rain tires and put down some impressive wets laps, capturing 10th at the end of Superbike Race One. Steve Rapp pulled off an impressive 12th place, riding on slick tires in the rain. Trounson rounded it out for the team with a 15th finish, also riding on slick tires in the wet. The changing weather as well as the changing results demonstrated once again that anything can happen in racing.

Superbike Race Two was what everybody had been waiting for all weekend, a dry race that could showcase the full potential of the Superbike riders as well as their machines. Steve Rapp got a monster start and hung onto the lead pack for the first several laps in 6th position. A blown motor from Tommy Hayden and a crash from Roger put Rapp in an incredible 4th position for the majority of the race. Rapp was able to retain that position until the finish, beating numerous factory riders, and demonstrating that The San Diego BMW Locust Powered by Lee’s Cycle Race Team can hang with, and beat, the big factory teams. Rapp finished a mere 8.637 off of race winner and Yoshimura Factory Suzuki rider Blake Young. Chris Trounson put his head down in the 96 degree heat and finished in a very respectable 11th place for the young Australian in his first ever weekend at Barber Motorsports Park. Toye was running as good as 11th until a Jamie Hacking-esque, tuck the front end and save it, moment forced him to take a detour down the hot pit lane, placing him in 16th position for the remainder of the race. The San Diego BMW Locust Powered by Lee’s Cycle Race Team proved that they are a force to be reckoned with in the AMA paddock and that hard work and determination can achieve similar results as that of a team with an endless budget. Be looking for The San Diego BMW Locust Powered by Lee’s Cycle Race Team to continue to make improvements and get on the podium at the upcoming round in three weeks at Mid Ohio.

Subway Superbike Double-Header Weekend- AMA Pro Superbike!

The San Diego BMW Locust Powered by Lee’s Cycle team has come to the beautiful state of Wisconsin to participate in the Subway Superbike Double-header at Road America.   The Team is a little short handed this weekend.  Chris Trounson still has not been cleared to ride after his concussion from last week and Jeremy Toye is off riding the Isle of Man.  That leaves #15, Steve Rapp, as our solo rider this weekend. 

You would think that with 4 bikes and one rider we could avoid missing out on precious track time, but both of our weekend qualifying sessions were hampered by a non-functional quick-shifter.  The BMW S1000RR comes standard with this technology, which allows for completely full-throttle, clutchless, up-shifting.  This saves time on every straight and we think it is good for about a half second a lap at this track.  Ours for some reason has stopped working.  The problem first appeared in the first qualifying session, so we swapped the unit out on the pit wall.  It turned out the unit was working fine, something else was wrong.  We ran through the quick list of possible issues but could not get it working at the pit.  Steve rode hard without the shifter in the first session and got a good time on the board.  Steve's time was good enough for 10th on the grid, however, we hoped for a front row start this weekend.

The mechanics went to work and put the bike on the dyno to test the unit after adjusting everything responsible for the switch and re-loading all the software.  It worked great on the Dyno.  Whew,  good to go!  Second qualifying, first lap, same problem!  Looked like something was wrong with in the harness so we put Steve on Jeremy’s bike and he was able to climb up one spot on the grid, but he still had to start from the third row.

With all the issues we had in Qualifying with the shifter, the decision was made to ride Jeremy’s bike in the race.  Steve felt more comfortable with the suspension on his bike, so we swapped everything over.  Forks, Shock, and clutch were swapped.  Footpeg location, and seat position was adjusted. 

While doing this we decided to throw a new set of rear brake pads in as Steve was using them a bit to help settle the bike into turn one and two.   Working on bikes at the track is a lot different than at the shop.  We are more rushed at the track and the working conditions are tougher.  While the decision to swap the pads was a smart one, failing to remove the excess brake fluid from the reservoir hose was not.  When Steve went out for the sighting lap the bike worked fine, but during the warm up lap the rear brake began to drag and caused Steve to miss the start of Race One and he had to pit after lap one.  We quickly fixed the issue, but he had lost more than a minute.  He continued to circulate in the race, and stayed on the lead lap, just in case the race was interrupted for some other reason.  It was not and Steve finished a dismal 17th place.  The fact that mistakes happen to everyone at some point didn’t make it any better.  One simple mistake had taken away any opportunity for Steve to have a good result in the first race.

Fortunately, this was a double header weekend, and we got a chance to redeem ourselves on Sunday.  Steve got an OK start, but had the outside line going into Turn one.  He picked up a few places and was running 7th when he came around for lap one.  Chris Peris drafted by Steve on his Iron Horse sponsored BMW at the end of the straight.  Chris’s bike was the fastest bike of the weekend in a straight line.  After finishing lap two in eighth place, Steve picked up a double draft and passed both Chris Peris and Ben Bostrum to move into 6th place.  After that, he was all alone on the track, but consistently running near his fastest laps of the weekend.  To bad we didn’t get him more track time earlier in the weekend.   Finishing in the 6th spot was a good result and this puts Steve into the top ten in the season points race even after missing Daytona, but we aren’t here to finish 6th. 

Next up for the San Diego BMW / Locust / Lee’s Cycle team is Barber Alabama.  Wish us luck! 

We would like to thank BMW Motorrad, our partners; Locust and Lee’s Cycles, and our sponsors; Cataylist Racing Composites, and Yoshuramura for their support.

Road America Qualifying-update

We have come to the beautiful state of Wisconsin to participate in the Subway Superbike Double-header at Road America.   The Team is a little short handed this weekend.  Chris Trounson still not cleared to ride after his concussion from last week and Jeremy Toye is off riding the Isle of Man.  That leaves Steve Rapp as our solo rider this weekend.  You would think that with 4 bikes and one rider we could avoid missing track time, but the first qualifying session was cut short by a defective clutch switch.  This would not allow the power-shifter function properly.  Steve rode hard and got a good time on the board.  Although, we tried several times to to fix it on the fly, it took a little more work.  Steve's time was good enough for 10th on the grid, but we have the bike in the Dyno truck now testing the switch.  We hope to have it ready for tomorrow morning's second qualifying session, so Steve can have a chance to improve on his grid position for tomorrow first race. 

Miller Motorsports Park's BigM Weekend- AMA Pro Superbike!

The San Diego BMW Locust Powered by Lee’s Cycle team arrived fresh and energetic after the successful showing in Northern California.  Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT is a world class facility and the world has shown up; the World Superbike series that is.  For this round of the AMA Pro Racing we are the support classes, as the World Supersport and Superstock classes do not compete in the U.S. 

Utah in late May is hit or miss with regard to the weather, and it steadily deteriorated from the time we arrived until race day.  Unlike the normal “race on Sunday” schedule, race day in Memorial Day Monday, May 30.  Saturday’s Practice was cool and dry, and the weekend started well With Steve posting the 4th fastest time of the session.  Saturday afternoons qualifying did not go as well.  While all three San Diego BMW riders were improving their times throughout the session, we ended up qualifying in the back half of the field; Rapp 12th , Toye 14th , and Trounson 15th.  This would prove to be a real handicap in the race, as the weather was about to get worse. 

Sunday’s Qualifying was all wet.  It rained from Saturday night to Monday morning, and got cold too.  The snow was falling on the mountains and came to within a few hundred feet of elevation from the track.  Full rain tires work very well at this track, but it was cold too.  Under 40 degrees when our second practice started.  We sent all three out with new BMW rain jackets to keep them dry and warm. Fortunately, our riders ride well in the rain, and all moved up in the standings compared to the rest of the field.  Still, the Wet times were not fast enough to change any grid positions, so we had to start in the positions from the first qualifying session.

As a support class for the World Superbike Races, the AMA had to make some concessions.  Among those were pit locations.   And, being a small team without a lot of points in the class, we are relageted to the far end of the pit anyway.  When you add those together, we ended up pitting almost a half-mile from the starting grid positions.  This also proved to be a bit of an issue when the race started.  Fortunately, for the first time in three days, the Sun was out and the weather felt a little warm.  Perfect conditions for a race, except for the water running across the track in a couple spots and the Mud was bad for the riders who ran off the pavement.

The start of a race is always a bit hectic, but it was made even more so by the fact that Rapp had just won the XR1200 race.  He had to rush back from the winner's circle and change leathers in the pits as the AMA officials were counting down the two minutes until the field had to be on track.  Each rider is allowed to have two mechanics rush out onto the track and put the tire warmers on while the TV crews get their last minute interviews under the umbrellas.  They usually take 5-6 minutes to do this, and the tires can cool down significantly in that time.  At Miller, the typical out lap for the riders is about 2 and a half minutes.  As you can guess, by the time we gathered the warmers and generators and jogged from the pit to the starting line, our riders had made the entire starting lap and the tires were cooling.  Never the less, we got the warmers on and the minutes passed by quickly.  It was time to race and the start from the third and forth row left the guys a lot of work to do. 

The bikes were off in a crescendo of wailing exhausts.  Steve Rapp #15 was eighth into turn one, just ahead of Bostrum, but behind Hayes, Young, Cardenas, T. Hayden, R. Hayden, Peris and Beach.  Chris Trounson #62, had started next Jeremy Toye #57, and neither of them got a good jump.  Chris beat Jeremy into the first turn and showed no respect as he held onto the position right behind Chris Clark #2 and the Factory Yamaha.  Jeremy got around Chris and led him on the second lap.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t last long.  Chris had a moment when his brakes went spongy on the second lap and lost a bit of time while adjusting them.  He then regained a position on the third lap only to have the issue pop up again on lap four.  This time it was at just the wrong time.  Going into turn one at 180mph, Chris had the lever come all the way to the grip and couldn’t slow enough to make the turn.  The data shows he left the tarmac at 90mph and scrubbed another 30mph off before getting tossed over the high side and hitting his head hard in the gravel.  He was out for a while… and spent the next 12 hours asking us what day it was, When’s the next race? Was I having a go at it? When will the Doc Clear me to ride?  Since we race again this coming weekend, he will miss that round.  He unfortunately couldn’t remember that he had asked that question before, so he got to experience the disappointment of not getting to race over and over Monday night.  As of Wednesday, he is regaining his memory and recovering well after a couple days rest.

Meanwhile, the race up front was a real battle and Steve was moving in the right direction.  Unfortunately it was because, Cardenas, Peris, and Beach all crashed out.  In fact, Steve was a little lonely in 5th, chasing R. Hayden until the end, but unable to gain enough time to make a move.  This was a great finish considering his starting position, and rounds out the 6th and 4th from his previous races.  Jeremy also had a lonely race and rounded out the top ten and now has finished 8th, 13th, 12th,

San Diego BMW Motorcycles is looking forward to this weekend in Wisconsin.  We would like to thank BMW Motorrad, our partners; Locust and Lee’s Cycles, and our sponsors; Cataylist Racing Composites, and Yoshuramura.   Photos by: Megan Kinderis