Race #5 at Columbia Motorsports Park
03-25-06

Well they sort of psyched us out a little last week with all the talk about the 06 Suzuki being so fast. We worked and read and talked with everybody and everything to see what was different and what we needed to do to get out Kawasaki back in the hunt. At the end of the week we found out that the Suzuki really shouldn't be any stronger that our ZX10. After last night, I think that's pretty much right... (more)

I had a little problem in the first practice again. I though I had torqued the lug nuts at the house so I didn't check them like we usually do when we got to the track. After about one lap I felt an awful vibration in my right front wheel so I came back into the pits. I don't know what I did but the lugs nuts weren't even finger tight. Oh well, my crew chief has all but retired so I guess I better make a list of the stuff I need to do before each race and check them off when they are done.

With the lug nuts good and tight, I went out for the second practice. The track was slick as though there was oil down all over. A few cars spun out and one hit the wall so hard that it ended his night. We kept starting and stopping and never really got more than 2 or 3 laps in a row. I was really loose so I knew I would have to make some changes before the heat race.

I'm doing more and more of my own calls on the car now. Before, I would have to get out of the car before I could talk to my crew chief but then someone would come up start talking to him or me and the next thing I knew I had forgotten what the car was doing. Now. with the radios that we bought this year, I just stay in the car and talk to him until I have everything explained and we have a solution to any problems I have with the car. I'm trying to get a feel for what the difference is between adding or taking out wedge versus going up or down on the track bar. They both seem to do the same thing sort of. The car is so sensitive to adjustments now that it's easy to go too far.

For the heat I decided to go down a little on the tire pressure all around thinking that the tires would come in a little faster. It was really getting cold. Then, I went down on the track bar one round because I thought the car needed to be tightened up all the way through the corner and I didn't want it to get too tight coming off. That turned out to be pretty close although I was still a little bit loose for the first 3 or 4 laps.

In the heat I was supposed to start 4th but the car ahead of me just bought a new car and he hadn't had time to check it out so he asked to drop to the back. That put me on the outside pole. On the start I got a good run off turn 4 and beat the pole sitter into turn one for the lead. As we came off turn 4 to complete the first lap, the pole sitter spun down to the apron of the track and brought out the yellow. Then, while we were lining up again, another car broke an oil line or something and dropped a bunch of oil right in the groove in the middle of turns 1 and 2.

it took about 10 minutes to clean it up but, when we got back underway, I was in first with a really fast car on my rear bumper. I didn't let him shake me though. I just drove my line and once my tires came in I was in a class by myself. The second place car was fast too but he was so loose he almost wrecked coming off every turn trying to get to me. We ran all 8 laps like that and he never really gave me a challenge so I finished the heat in first which put me on the pole for the feature.

After the heat I was pretty excited to say the least. My crew chief and I talked on the radio like we have been and I decided to put in one round of wedge and go down a round on the track bar too. I guess we should have known that was going to be too much but the one thing we forgot about is that the track tends to tighten up in the feature. Plus, the car seems to tighten up the longer I run.

On the start of the feature I was in control. My tires came in after about 2 laps while I had a pretty fast car right on my bumper. He stayed with me but he couldn't get to me and then I started to pull away. Behind him was a few slower cars that held up the faster cars behind them for a lap or 2 while I continued to put some distance between me and the second place car. At about 8 laps I started to feel the car tighten up from the changes I made and I had to wait longer and longer to get back in the gas coming off each turn. On lap 12 I lost the lead and I tried to stay with him but I was just too tight. He really didn't get away from me though. He was really loose and was struggling to keep from spinning out coming off the turns while I was struggling not to smack the wall. We caught a few lap cars but I learned from the last race to get to the outside so we ran around them with out any problems. Finally, the checkers fell with me finishing in 2nd about 4 car lengths behind the leader and about 6 car lengths ahead of the 3rd place car. I was just a few points out of 3rd in the points so this finish moved me up a spot.

There is no doubt the Suzuki's are strong but if I can keep the car freed up I think I can right right with them.