II VI II

Well, this was supposed to be a cheap weekend. With the WERA Grand National Finals only two weeks away, nearly every dime I had was spoken for. However, with my friend Duane’s prodding and some not-so-subtle jabs and challenges to my Fuzimoto-built GSXR-750’s masculine prowess, I went to Portland like an addict to his dealer.

In order to save money, Duane trailered my bike down and I decided to skip on both the Cascade trackdays and the practice sessions, opting to rely solely on my experience around PIR to be able to best his GSXR-1000. Duane did well and learned the track quickly, getting into the 1:12’s before the end of the day, not far behind my previous times in the mid-11’s. While he was practicing, I took advantage of the afternoon lull to get my bike and gear tech’ed, and register for Sr. 750 Superbike, Sr. Open Superbike (which is run with Open Supersport), and Open Superbike.

Sunday morning dawned to a sopping-wet track, so along with most of the paddock I decided to skip the first practice session. I went out in the second session to warm myself up and shake any cobwebs off, and then immediately after was my first race of the day, Sr. 750 Superbike. I got a killer start and caught up to mid-pack of the 750 Supersport grid by Turn 1. Seeing as how I wasn’t racing with them, however, I wasn’t aggressive at all and settled in to simply put down some comfortable laps while making sure I was still leading the Sr. Superbike grid. Midway through the race Jason Harper on his #100 CBR600RR came around me, but this time instead of letting it go, a fire ignited in my belly and red mist covered my eyes. I retook my position on the brakes in T4, then then had some shifter trouble that forced me to go through Turn 9, normally a second-gear corner, in fifth! Naturally, this demolished any chance I would’ve had of getting a good drive out of the corner, and Jason actually seemed to wait for a moment to see if there was something wrong with me before zooming on by.

Chris Sarbora @ Portlant International Raceway, 2008

Knowing that we were entering our white-flag lap, and in full-competition mode at that point, I slammed down into second gear and lit up the power in order to try to reel Jason back in. That motor is truly a terrible thing to behold once loosed, and it rocketed me forward, eating up the enormous gap between us and shooting me past him right at the very end of the straight. I knew I had better brakes than he did and I made good use of this knowledge to brake deep and carry as much speed as I could through the next few turns, then rip it up again down the back straight to put some distance between us. Coming around into Turn 9 for the last time, I was careful to make very deliberate downshifts so I would not repeat the previous lap’s mistake, and then I powered down the straight to ensure my victory.

Next up was my first race with Duane, Open Sr. Superbike/Open Supersport, and I was gridded right next to him. I got a killer start and shot forward, leaving him nothing but a chance to marvel at how my rear Bridgestone BT-003R afforded me such incredible grip on the pavement. New to the track or not, he was out for blood and I needed to put some distance between us, quickly. I charged through the first few corners but was soon reminded that I could no longer rely on brute power to move me up through the field – my usual Fuzimoto Advantage (R) made me simply on par with the Open-class bikes. I began to move my brake markers deeper and deeper, and as I adjusted I noticed that my rear suspension was too loose and would bounce and dance around as I braked harder. I ignored it however, and pressed on, planning to adjust it afterward for the Superbike race.

Chris Sarbora @ Portland International Raceway, 2008

Soon, I got caught behind another rider who wouldn’t carry as much corner speed as I, but would gap me enough on the straights that I couldn’t pass him on the brakes. Duane quickly caught up to me and drafted by both of us on the front straight, leaving me still stuck behind the other rider. Eventually, I got by and started making up ground, but was soon hit with added pressure from behind from Jason Valley’s thundering #218 Ducati 1098. He forced me to run tighter and more defensive lines and get on the throttle harder and harder for a lap and a half, until the same suspension problem that caused my rear to dance under braking caused my rear to step out as I was hard on the throttle through Turn 5.

Slide, stay on the throttle, bring it back in, buck, break loose again, steering lock – boom.

I slid along the ground for what felt like ages, concentrating solely on staying flat on the ground and avoiding tumbling as I switched from pavement to runoff. I saw in the corner of my eye the bike tumble and cartwheel through the dirt and then smash into the wall, hard enough to rip a hole in the frame where its fairing stay mount should be. Once I was able, I sprang up and instantly decided that where I stopped was NOT a good place to be, and sprinted toward the T5 corner station. They were waving their red flag even before I stopped moving, and looked at me like I was a ghost when I hopped to my feet and began running. I guess the crash was pretty spectacular – even in its final act, that monster put on a show! All told, I was extremely lucky and escaped with no damage to myself but a bruise on my calf and some beat-up leathers – I must have one hell of a speed demon for a guardian angel.

So now, as I hobble around trying to stretch my leg, I owe thanks first and foremost to my friend Katie and girlfriend Lauren, for taking care of me for the rest of the day and looking out for my health when all I wanted to do was wander around and chat   No less important are all my sponsors, without whom I wouldn’t be able to race and especially wouldn’t be able to come back from a crash such as this – Pennell Powersports & Bridgestone, Studio819 Photography, MorePower Racing, Vortex Racing, Adrenaline Freaks Track Days, V-holdR Cameras, Motorex Fluids, RaceTech Suspension, PowerStands, Pipercross, Junior Monkey Design and last but never least PNWRiders.com. These sponsors are what form the backbone of my races and are what support me, so show your thanks and do what you can to support them!

After last weekend, today seemed almost like a vacation. I can’t imagine what I’m going to think when I finally race Pacific again.. all this beautiful buttery-smooth pavement at Portland, Miller and Vegas is definitely spoiling me!

For June, there was an unavoidable conflict in the WMRRA and OMRRA schedules – both organizations landed on the same dates for their race weekend, and neither was able to change its commitment. This left the many riders who compete in both series with a difficult question: Which races should I run, and which should I let slip? I chose to go down south to OMRRA, for while my GSXR-750 is competitive in its classes in WMRRA, it’s dominant in its classes in OMRRA (thanks Fuzzy!) and I’ve got in my sights a class championship.

I wanted to keep this weekend as light as possible on the pocketbook, so I only registered for two classes: Sr. 750 SB and Sr. Open SB. It turned out Sr. Open SB didn’t have enough entries to constitute a separate class and I got bumped up to (regular) Open Superbike, so I actually ended up withdrawing. After last weekend’s endurance race I have almost zero brakes left, and I didn’t feel up to fighting tooth and nail with a 40hp disadvantage for a top-fifteen finish instead of a podium.

I know, heh.. I’m a brat!

Sr. 750SB/750SS was the first race up in the morning. I did two practice sessions beforehand to set my tire pressures and reacquaint myself with the track, then went out and gridded up. I was gridded in position F3, near the back of the pack, and to make things worse, I bogged the start! I saw the field taking off and Troy McCrae, my main competition (and also the Pac NW Bridgestone vendor! *shameless plug*) pull away toward turn 1, but thankfully Mike Castro of Fuzimoto built my GSXR into a monster. All I had to do was twist my right hand and.. oops.. see ya Troy! It’s because of this fire-breathing beast that Castro got my brand-new R6.. if he can do to it what he did to this bike, that R6 will definitely be something to be reckoned with.

As thirty bikes piled into turn 1, one poor sod got pushed off the outside of the track into the grass, luckily enough keeping it upright. The sight of that caused the whole field to check up and hesitate for a second, though, and that was all I needed to bomb through on the outside and try to make up for my poor start. I made several positions up in each of the next corners, mostly on the exit, making good use of the bike’s power while trying to avoid taxing my barely-present brakes too much. After a lap of that, I settled in and contented myself with roping people in on the straightaways – I was in the lead of the Senior bikes, so as long as I kept that up, any other bikes I passed were just gravy. Eventually I found a pair of bikes I couldn’t simply motor on past – Justin Watkins, #70, and Michael McBrady, #212, both on ZX-6R’s.

I started trying to pick up my pace through the corners and on the brakes, but it was difficult as my pads were so worn I could bring the lever nearly clear to the bar. I finally caught a break when we came up on some lap traffic and they both had to slow for a moment. When I passed the lapper and caught up to them, Justin had just passed Michael, and we were headed down the front straight. I drafted past Michael and began going toe-to-toe with Justin. Several times in the next few laps I would manage to draft past him along the front straight, but he would get me back on the brakes into T4. Both of us were ramping our game up rapidly, hoping to pass and gap the other, but neither of us could.

Finally, on the white-flag lap, I drafted past him coming into T1 and then squeezed my brake lever for dear life, praying that my brakes would work.. wouldn’t you know, this time they did. So well, in fact, that according to Justin, he almost rear-ended me! I kept the lead however, and around T3 we came up on another lapper. Knowing that this was where I was weak and not wanting to give up anything, I took a very tight, defensive line into T4 and ended up stuffing the lapper pretty hard, who in turn spooked and stood his bike up, nearly pushing Justin off the track! I felt a little bad about that but wasn’t about to stop and apologize, as Justin was already on the gas and was getting a better drive than I was. Thank you again Fuzzy for the motor in my bike though, as I was able to stay ahead of him down the power-hungry back straight and then kung-fu-grip the brake lever again for turns 8 and 9. I ripped open the throttle for the last drag race down the front straight, and crossed the finish line about half a second ahead to clinch 1st place in Sr. 750 Superbike, and 8th overall in 750SS (which actually went to Justin, as I wasn’t technically in the same race as him), with a best lap of 1:11.4.

The rest of the day I spent wandering around the pits, helping out where I could, and generally just getting a sunburn Kudos go out to OMRRA and their staff for putting on a great race weekend, and as always a million thanks go to all my sponsors, for without them I could not go out there and do all this. MorePower Racing, Adrenaline Freaks Track Days, Highway 66 Motorsports and Bridgestone, the best damn tire out there, Studio819 Photography, PowerStands Racing, Race Tech Suspension, Vortex, Motorex Fluids, Pipercross Filters, Junior Monkey Design and last but never least, PNWRIDERS.COM, the best damn community I’ve ever been a part of. All of these sponsors are what make racing possible for me, so show your appreciation and support them like they support me!!