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August 12th Shanghai - Chinese National Motorcycle Road Race By: ChinaSteve
It was 93 degrees F with high humidity. I was supposed to race at 1:45 pm but then at 12:30 was told "Get dressed"
I was then told, "get on the track, 1st you do a lap and take pictures, then you do a warm up lap, and then stop on the grid, you are in spot 11."
"Ok," I thought, "we are starting early. "
But NOooooooooo
We got on the starting grid. Sat there sweating for about 10 minutes then did a lap. Since my tires were hardly scrubbed in from the few laps in the rain the day before I took the chance to scrub them in for one more lap and get them heated up a bit.
We came back to the start finish and then the shit hit the fan. All the VIP holders were allowed on the track for pictures. 30 minutes later in the heat of the day I was about out from dehydration. No matter how much water I was drinking.
Then they cleared the track (Thank god) then they proceeded to put everyone where they should have been.
It took another 15 minutes before the flag dropped to race. I ended up gridded 20th of 22 due to missing the first practice and scrubbing in tired in the rain on the qualifying laps the day before.
The red light went out and I took off, I passed a few before the 1st corner but then in the first turn two bikes went down and it was all I could do to stay on the track. Shit was flying everywhere: Batteries, foot pegs, body work bits all over the place. (Which stayed in place as the lame ass corner workers were too afraid to go get the stuff off the track (I guess)
My poor little 1988 FZR-400 was no match for the 250cc 2stroke GP bikes. (My 250 GP bike blew the crank on Friday so we hastily put the 400 together to stay in the race... the day before the race.). After the first lap I looked back to see I was exact last.
But being hard core I did not give up.
I saw a 1000cc bike in front of me that was fast on the short straights the track had to offer but the rider sucked and slowed down hard at every turn. Plus he was all over the place. After the second lap I took him down and passed him on the high speed corner in front of the crowd. A little ego booster there to keep me going. (In my mind I could hear the roar of the crowd.. so pushed on)
"But being hard core I did not give up."
"I got him in this corner next lap after this pic was taken"
Next in my sights was a 250 GP bike. I noticed the bike had crash damage since I last saw it when I was walking the pits so I figured he was still a bit shy of going fast as he was in deed not moving like he normally does.
I aimed for him and after 4 more laps of high speed ass puckering corners (My front brakes literally failed after the 2nd lap I used engine braking for 90% of the race. down shifting more than I normally would to slow the speed down for a turn)
Anyway I finally caught up with him. We diced a bit for a lap then I made my move and passed him in a tight hairpin then, he passed me, then I got in front of him in the same crowd pleasing corner as the last bloke.
(That's him behind me)
I kept him at bay till the checkered flag. All the time wondering why all the other bikes were passing me again. Was I really that slow?
It was only when the race results came out I was told that the 600cc and 1000cc bikes were running with us. I was so wiped from exhaustion I never noticed on the grid. So I did not feel too bad that they were running much faster times
I ended up 9th of 12 in my class (250gp/400 4 stroke). I figured I did well just to finish as the engine was making a loud racking noise. I bought the bike for 300 USD and did nothing more than take her apart clean her up and add plugs and change oil. I never touched the engine or suspension. Used dot tires and off I went. I think the paint job was the only fast thing on the bike ha ha.
Oh yea the brake issue. Mine would not work so I took the ones off the Yamaha GP bike. The only thing was while they worked well they only engaged about 15% of the disc. So I knew I had a brake issue fro the start. I said fuck it and went with those anyway.. after all I was there to race not stop right?
It made for some interesting corners and actually showed me just how fast I could go through a corner like it or not. If I had an engine that would get out of its own way I might have been up in the top five. But that? racing.
Plus I think at 45 years old the young bucks might have a bit of an advantage, but I'll never admit that to myself ha ha ha.
Next race is in December but I doubt I will have a bike built by then. I am aiming for the Shanghai leg of the World Moto GP Race. If I can qualify and race that I will have completed my lifes goals for racing. USA Nationals - Completed, Chinese Nationals - Completed, World Moto GP (Suport race) .....working on it
