I went to Putnam Park this Saturday July 25th. I wanted to get the race bike dialed in. It didn’t start very well because the bike was only running in 3 cylinders. I was a little frustrated to say the least. I took out the offending plug and switched to another cylinder, but no luck. Dummy me packed the wrong plugs in my spares kit, and I had no extra plugs. STUPID! I figured I had NO choice but to go thru tech inspection and get ready to try and blow it out on the track. I did one lap and it “fixed itself” LOL. I think it was shooting flames out the pipe because I heard some loud “booms” when I was easing into the turns, LOL. It started running on all four cylinders and it was “all good”after that.
It was raining for the most part of the morning. The track was really, and I mean REALLY slick. The Dunlop's I had on the bike were not the best tire for the track. I wanted to get a set of Bridgestone's slicks for the event but lack of funds stopped me from doing that. I went out for 2 sessions in the wet, and I got sideways twice, once in the dreaded “Dead Bear Turn” (thanks Carl) and in turn 10. I screwed up my breaking marks and got sideways. I had a little off track excursion (ride thru the grass!) I was coming in to turn 10 way to fast. (note to self)
After lunch the track started to dry out. I got the suspension dialed in after the first dry session. The rest of the afternoon was a BLAST! I really enjoyed myself. My bike was way underpowered for the guys I was running with. Most of the bikes in the group I was in were 1000’s. They blew by me on the straights like I was going backwards. I did OK in the turns, but I was “fresh meat” on the straights. Oh well. The 400 was just a pleasure to ride after I got it running right. It handles really nice. I’m sure with better tires I would have been able to go much faster. I didn’t want to wad up my bike trying to keep up with the bigger bikes. It was like taking a pea shooter to a gun fight, LOL. I’m sure next year when I start endurance racing it will be a more level playing field. If I get a job soon I can see another track day in my future, and new set of Bridgestone slicks, LOL ;) I was pretty tired after a day on the track. It was fun and I hope to do it again soon. Thanks for coming up to watch me Pug and Little Pug!
Until such time!
That little girl on the bike was really fast!
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