Picking up from where the last blog finished, I’m still driving in Ontario. As anyone knows who has driven across Ontario before, it never ends. Driving across Ontario is like a Canadian winter, it never ends and just when you think it’s over, it isn’t. I still want to tell you guys about the two regional rounds and the last CSBK round at Rad Torque. I’m going to save the Rad Torque event for later when we are driving home.
I was really excited and had every intention of making it out to Nova Scotia for the Shubi CSBK round. I’ve heard Shubi is called the rollercoaster, with its technical layout and quick changing weather. I really felt that I would enjoy riding at this track, plus I’ve never been east of Ontario before, I would love to see the maritimes. But we just couldn’t swing it with the extra costs associated with the travel being even further. Me and my husband are self-employed and with that as every other self-employed person knows, when you miss time from work that means lost income. We were looking at flying and we would have needed fluffy daycare too. We were not sure at the time what was going on with the bike’s transmission either, as we had not diagnosed if it was the transmission or the quick shifter. One of the known issues in race trim of the R7 is the transmission.
So, we decided to race at the EMRA round as a test leading up to the Rad Torque round a month later. One cool thing also about staying home is that we would also be able to do the CMRA round at RMM, which I didn’t want to miss.
This was my first time racing the R7 at Rad since LRX tuned it. We tracked down the quick shifter as the issue and fixed that. Then we chased a bit of setup to get the front end to feel how I wanted it too. We locked down the right gearing and focused on doing long runs in practice. I worked on building a rhythm and carrying as much roll speed as possible. My entire background comes from racing superbikes, the adaptation is significant in many ways in order to make the lap time on a smaller bike. It’s easier yet harder at the same time. On the Superbike if you make a mistake or run wide, make an error you can more easily correct the mistake with the pure HP advantage. On the R7 if I make an error, I can’t correct it with more acceleration. I find it requires more precision but is less physically demanding than the Super bike.
I haven’t done many launches on this bike, I’m still working on the friction point. I didn’t get off the line as well as I would have liked too. I had to work my way through the pack a little bit here and there. But the races went well. I was 1 second off the lap record and I brought home three wins. I had a decent margin at the end of the races. Brad and I practiced giving pit signals, as we knew we would need that in the upcoming CSBK race.
Next up was the CMRA round and I was super pumped because it was only my second home round in almost a decade of my racing career. With being sponsored by RMM, I knew that I would really enjoy that weekend. So much so, I wanted to bring the BMW off of the sidelines for the race. But by crew talked me out of it because we didn’t want to have an incident before we sold it. But I sure did miss riding it at my favourite track. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get as big of a turn out as the CMRA would have hoped for. Hopefully next year the CMRA will have more racers show up. I know how much effort the CMRA executives put into this event. RMM has also taken another step with supporting motorcycle racing, and I’m so excited for the future of RMM and motorcycle racing and being a part of it.
In 8 years of racing I’ve driven to Edmonton, many, many times. The upside of racing at RMM is that I can sleep in my own bed and drive to the track in the morning, which is pretty cool, after so many hotels. I definitely appreciate it.
Another upside of it being my home round is that my Calgary sponsors can come out. I got to Pitt with Rocky Rob and all of the Jack Carter guys came by to say hi which was pretty cool as well. Zach made an appearance which was also rad. Paul Lavoie and Brett Hart also came down to support as well as Willie and Nadine Vass. It was really great seeing my friends, the people who support me locally. But this is Southern Alberta and Carstairs is in the storm belt. Saturday was some of the worst weather I’ve ever seen at the track. Brad who has been doing this longer than I, said that it was one of the worst days of weather at the racetrack that he’s ever seen. That’s saying something, especially since he did more than one race in a hail storm at Race City Speedway. Which was known to have some very bad weather as well.
Most people won’t believe this, but I’ve never raced in the rain. Ever. But I was excited to try and I managed to turn in qualifying the second fastest lap of the whole club only .300 off of pole. Keep in mind I’m riding my potato. So, I really enjoyed riding in the rain.
The first thing is you have to be able to see, and as an Arai rider I’ve been dragging my rain visor to the track for the last 3 years, never getting a chance to use it. It is a direct replica of the one they use in WSBK. It works incredibly well.
When riding in the rain Brad said something to me and it stuck with me. He said in the rain you use the front brake to stop straight up and down, not trailing it too hard like you would in the dry. You do use the lever to help you steer, with very light pressure. Racing in the rain requires 100% focus. The track is ever changing lap to lap, corner by corner. It’s dynamic and in a continuous state of change, which is why you have to be 100% dialled in. It’s really based on feel, confidence and mindset. The conditions are shitty for everyone, if you can enjoy it, it helps.
On Saturday morning my first race was in the rain and I put my head down and went to work. Riding in the rain is physically easier but way harder mentally. I won the races I was in that day and had a great first-time experience with the rain. To give you an idea of how bad the weather was, Little Steve changed the tires in the trailer because we were pitted in big puddles.
It’s southern Alberta so you knew that Sunday was going to be a nice day with how fast the weather changes. The track was still wet but drying, it was mixed conditions when I went out for the first two races. Torin showed up on Sunday and I knew that I have my work cut out for me to have the same results. To be honest I was pretty bummed that he got away from me, but Brad told me that’s what the front running pace at MotoAmerica looks like. I am happy with my riding this year, but I have a long way to go. I felt better after I realized that and I know I have a lot of work to do. I also knew that I could learn from him. I got a couple of second place finishes and in the process realized different areas I could improve. Regardless of corners one of my biggest take aways is that my level of aggression needs to increase.
It was a great weekend, it was so nice getting to race at my home round for only my second time ever. It was great seeing all of my friends and sponsors and being apart of the grass roots CMRA. The club has an extremely long history dating back to the 1980s and have been on hiatus for a decade plus since the closure of Race City Speedway. To be a part of the start up again and possibly have two thriving clubs in Alberta like it was in the 2000s, is really special. Crossing my fingers, I really hope CSBK comes to RMM someday. Thank you to Jen Young, Steve Tory, Brad Young, Ryan Mcgowan and all of the CMRA executives and volunteers for making that weekend happen.
So, what did we learn? I like riding in the rain. I didn’t realize at the time, but it was going to come in real handy in a couple of weeks. Real handy. Next instalment, the BIG one! Like our team name says B-Pro.
