Masters Of The Mountain Round 1

We Arrived at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah around midnight on Thursday the 23rd of April for round 1 of the Masters of The Mountain series with the Utah Sportbike Association.

We had only just recieved our 2015 Yamaha R1 so we decided to Bring it to the track to see how good of a bike this is Stock! Hotbodies racing Helped us out by getting us bodywork in time and a late night fitting that Along with some gearing from Vortex and some GB Racing engine case covers , we were good to go.

Friday was a Trackday so we could get out on the bike and get some miles on it before we raced it. First impressions was this thing was Great right out of the crate! We had Lenny Albin from K-Tech suspension do a base set up to get the front and rear suspension working as one which was needed.

We didnt want to start changing too many parts at the Track as we didnt want to open a can of worms, this was about getting through the weekend and taking the bike home in one piece.

Friday night and the storms rolled in which was fine by me, being on a stock bike it levels the field somewhat.

We mounted up our Dunlop Rain Tires on our only set of wheels and went out for race 1.

Starting on the front row i was concerned more with trying out the Launch control system Orange light on, Red on , Dump the clutch dough!!! Jump start! well i kept her Lit and came in for my ridethrough Penalty, The bike felt good on the dunlop Rains so i pushed hard to get back up there and managed to Finish the race in 2nd place.

Next i gridded up for Open SuperBike which had a decent field of about 15 racers. I was 9th on the grid against Pit Wall, This time i got a great start and decided to take an outside line into turn 1 which payed off! tucking into P2 on the exit behind a big mean ZX10R Turn 5 i made my move and went round the outside getting the exit and took P1 I thought wow 9th to 1st in 5 turns! Lets get this done! Conditions were wet and the rain was picking up pretty good but the Big Yamaha felt great! Breaking into Tooele Turn I dropped a gear and the bike went sideways! But again the R1 felt in control! i had total confidence in the Dunlop Rain Tires.

By Lap 3 my Visor started to Fog on me and i couldnt hold my pace, i just kept pushing as hard as i could waiting for that last lap flag... All of a sudden Jerry Hicks Cam by on His Gsxr1000 , i tried to hang with him but decided that my vision was real bad and not to through it away on my 2nd race on this thing so i maintained a decent gap back to 3rd place. We come over the line on the next lap and i see a flagman hanging a flag, Last lap i thought, my visor was that bad i couldnt make out what flag it was, Jerry did the old fist pump but i didnt see any other signs the race was over after doing a quater of a lap i thought, this race isint over! so i got baclk on it! Jerry did too and i could hear him right behind me, by the time we got to the last corner Jerry made his move and he dragged me to the line and i took 2nd place. We found out that it had infact been an extra lap but oh well. It was a cracker!

Race 3 only had 5 riders in it, Myself and Ryan Brand on his BMW S1000rr battled from lap one, he took the lead into turn 1 and i sat back and figured where i could make my move, easier said than done in the wet, and it was coming down hard! after 2 laps i seen an opertunity on the brakes going up the inside in turn 1, i was determinded to Win this one and i didnt care how out of shape i got! Not being able to see if there was standing water on the track i just went for it, Coming out of 1 the bike was sideways! maybe too much throttle i thought, I kept it lit.. next lap the same thing! i was soaked to the skin but i was having so much fun in the rain and no body was beating me in this one.. I came over the line in 1st and as i came round turn one i opened my visor to see a river running through the exit :) thats why i was sideways each lap!! but who care's i brought it home in one peice! What a great first day.

Day two and we woke up to rain! perfect for me.. Why not take advantage while i could.. after all i knew in the dry i would be outclassed by suspension brakes and power.. I went out to Qualify for the King of the Mountain race and i put it on pole! i just hoped it would stay wet.

It didnt, I totally blew the start and ended up about 9th going into turn 1. Once you make a mistake and loose the leaders in this class its pretty tough to catch them again, I could here the booming of a big Twin right behind me, I rode as hard as i could and the noise soon went away, It was a pretty lonely race and was 14 laps but it made me understand what we need to do with the R1, Gearing wasnt perfect , it was too short so it upset the chassis coming into 2nd gear corners which would then have a knock on effect through the corner. The ABS braking system may be great for the road but it has to go for the track,It needs a different steering damper and for sure i need the K-Tech suspension asap! also we need to get rid of all the smog and emmissions stuff the stock bike has along with the catalitic converter and open this thing up and let it breathe. I ended up taking 5th in the race.

The last race of the Day for me was Open Superstock, gridding up at the back i went into turn 1 narroly avoiding two other iders that ran it off, I was right on the back of the Group i needed to be with and downshifting into turn 6 the rear locked up and it pitched me out of the seat, i stood it up and ran it off the track, i joined the track but could not get back on the group i was with, I rode the bike as hard as i could but this time with my off track excursion i came over the line in 7th.

All in all a great weekend and i cant wait to start putting parts on the Bike ready for the rest of the season.

I would like to thank those that came to support me and help me in the paddock, as well as Cycle City of Mountain Home . Hotbodies racing (had i not got the race bodywork in time we wouldnt have been able to race) Vortex Racing for helping me out at the track and getting me some bobbins and a stand Ignite Media for theier coverage of the racing (we will get the on board set up for next round) Kabuto Helmets and Spidi Leathers and Scott Larsen from Dunlop

Cheers