Race Recap – ASRA 2025 (Southeast Region) Round 1, Carolina Motorsports Park
It. Ran. Awesome. The rebuilt engine ran awesome. Over 15 hours of travel on the way down just stressed not knowing if it was going to run. I rode down with 4 other guys—3 of us headed there for our first time. I struggled to even sleep when we got to the AirBnB just worrying about what I may have reassembled incorrectly. This is a huge weight off my shoulders.
The orange “B” bike that I’d also never completed more than a lap on made the entire 2 hour race without any big issues.
Practice Day
I had never heard of a track having to blow pollen off in the morning and at lunch. Everything down in South Carolina is just covered in this yellow dust. It was in the mid-high 80s the whole time we were down there—it was snowing in Wisconsin that turned to sleet as I drove down.
I felt responsible for making sure we had at least one running bike. We travelled too far for me to fuck up both endurance options. One of my running partners in the endurance race is a guy who has been doing it quite a long time and is a monster on a bike. He practiced the endurance bike and made only minor adjustments throughout the day. Not the fastest, not the lightest, but it was ready to go.
For my primary bike, I went out the first two sessions and just tried to learn the track and keep the engine RPM’s under 8k. I’ve never broken in an engine on the track before, so I figured two sessions of babying it was fine, and then I just started letting it rip by around noon.
This track layout has two of my absolute kryptonite corners—tight(ish) right-hand carousels. That’s good though because this weekend is literally just preparation for the Midwest series, to shake the cobwebs off, and to make sure the bike is ready for Pittsburgh in 4 weeks. Oh, and to have fun. The dogleg (turn 10?) is possibly the spookiest corner I’ve dealt with because it’s so damn fast and it’s so hard with my vision to see that dark green/white curbing that juts out. I hit that friggen thing at about 100mph and just committed to not fixating on where I thought the crash was about to be. The bike stuck like glue. That convinced me you could go through that turn 10mph faster than I had been—but I never did. Not even in race. It wasn’t worth it not knowing the layout and escape alternatives at a track I wasn’t that familiar with.
Practice day I think I ran maybe a 1:49 something. That was fine.
Saturday – 2 Hour Endurance Race
I’ve never been on a bike for more than 25 minutes, and it’s hot outside. Our best rider is starting the bike, and we’re splitting it into 3 40 min sessions. ASRA somehow doesn’t have us on the grid when they’re posted right as the national anthem starts. After the Home of the Brave, I’m sprinting up to the tower and get us a spot on the 6th row inside after first call is given. There is both “Endurance” and “Team Challenge” going on at the same time. Endurance share a bike, Team Challenge relay multiple. There’s 4 lightweights we’re running against in endurance. We get a big start and we’re clicking off 1:45’s and a few 44’s. Red flag about 10 minutes in (the only red of the race). Restart and right back to the 45’s and 44’s for about 45 minutes before he brings the bike in.
My heart’s racing, but I want to do this shit. I’ve ordered a small digital clock and taped it to the gas tank. I take a mental note of where 40 minutes from now is and know that’s where I gotta get to. This bike has no gauges. No lap timer. But I think I know what 1:50’s will feel like. I jump on, buckle in the airbag, and take off out of pit road. I’m heading up out of 4 and into turn 5 and it’s fucking windy inside my helmet. You gotta be shitting me. The visor isn’t clicked in correctly on the right side, and it’s letting a bunch of air in. My eyes are watering. I mash it a bit after taking my hand off the throttle and it feels sturdy enough it’ll stay—but now I’m just wondering if it’s gonna fly off the whole time. 10 minutes in I forget about it and it becomes a non-issue.
I clicked off a 1:49 to start and then I thought I saw a “slow down” signal along pit lane. Turns out that was just them cheering me on. (we’ve clarified that we will only have one signal next race—and that’s for “come in”. That’s it). I’m actually glad they did it though. I backed off to a much easier pace, but it only turned out to be about a second slower. I clicked off almost entirely 50’s and 51’s the entire race. It’s not fast, but it’s not going to be embarrassing nor is it going to jeopardize our chances of finishing. That little digital clock kicked ass and while my right leg was pretty spent by the 38 minute mark, I still felt alright on the bike. My foot was just hot from the exhaust proximity. I went by and gave the signal that I was coming in next time.
I hopped off the bike, they fueled it up, and we sent Aaron out to finish the race. He wasn’t even originally sure he was going to ride the race but got called up during my stint I guess. He had never even sat on the bike, and rides an R7 with allll the fancy goodies. Now he’s on a 23 year old comparative dinosaur. No problem. His first 3 laps he runs within one tenth each time. 51.1, 51.1, 51.1. And he just keeps getting faster. He must have seen something that pissed him off because he decided to go and click off a fast 48 on the last lap which was his quickest lap of any the entire weekend.
And then our endurance race was done. All 3 of us and the bike unscathed. We finished P4 of 4. 6 laps down to the leader, 3 laps down to third. We were the only ones that 2-pit, but realistically we weren’t going to catch any of the bikes ahead of us even if we 1-pit. That’s fine. We all wanted to just enjoy this race and have the experience.
After getting home I did notice some blue residue along right left side of the bike, so I’m thinking we may have been spitting out a bit of coolant by the end. I’ll look into that this weekend.
Saturday – Lightweight SuperSport
This race is immediately after the endurance. I just signed up for this one since I wanted to run with my buddies. We’re taking the warmers off my bike, and the tires are stone cold. My legs are literally jello from the endurance race still. My brain is recovering. I make the decision I’m starting back of the grid in row 22 and just riding. Think I ran a 47 or 48, not sure. Finished 3rd of 5. I didn’t bother going to tech after.
Saturday – Thunderbike
Go to take off the tire warmers—same shit. I’m borrowing someone else’s MotoD warmers and don’t realize there’s a little button that’s getting pressed shutting them off. There are 37 bikes on this grid, and I’m feeling better. I don’t want to start last row. I go out hard braking on the outlap and just trying to put as much heat into that front as possible. Lights go out, and I make it through the first turn fine since everything gets so slowed up. Honestly, I don’t even remember much about this race. I think I ran a 47 again.
Sunday – GTL
GTL is my favorite race of the weekend. My brain is back, and I’m feeling great about the accomplishment of just finishing yesterday and hitting my goals in the endurance. I want to hit a 46 today. I got out in the morning practice in my new suit. I totally forgot what it was like to wear an unbroken in race suit, hah. No friggen way I running that in the race. I’ll work on breaking that thing in during the year. It did flow air a lot better though.
There’s 2 little kids on Moriwaki GP bikes that are in this race. They are so fucking quick and corner like they’re on rails. I love watching them and it’s hilarious when they pass you since it looks like a toddler on a toy bike. Then you see they’re running 40’s. One of them won this race.
Lights go out, and we’re going into turn 1. It’s getting stacked up and I see something through my peripheral and see a guy doing what I think is going to be a cartwheel, but he actually saves it and rides into the grass. What I didn’t see behind me was the other guy that cartwheeled and drew out the red flag. Counted my blessings I didn’t get caught in that one. Also counted my blessings I got a do-over on that start because I was a huge pussy on the first one (it may have saved me though) and lost probably 5 or 6 spots in the first half lap.
Lights out for the restart. Better start, not getting destroyed. Get passed by the Moriwaki into T8 and settle in. I’m running decent, but not good. 47s but I’m missing the carousels bad. Then I hear a bike and see the nose right as I’m about to tip into the really fast dogleg. The bike backs off a little bit. This is a gift. This has to be another guy we met down there (fast amateur) giving me a break not taking us 2 wide through there. Now I’m thinking I want to keep him behind me as long as I can. Ran a 1:45 that next lap and just barely kept him behind me for the remainder of the race. I was trying to catch a very fast rider on a CFMoto 450 and went for 2 passes, but never made either stick (I should probably stop missing downshifts). That dude was good.
I think I finished 7th overall but 3rd in lightweight expert. My buddy who showed me his nose in the dogleg took P1 in amateur lightweight on his R7.
Summary
I watched the playback of my GTL race, and I get that same downer feeling like “why the fuck are you not going faster here?”. Then I step back and realize I accomplished everything I said I wanted to this weekend. The bike runs awesome. Both did. I didn’t crash. I learned a new track. I shook the cobwebs off after not having sat on a bike since October. And I had a bunch of fun and made some new friends.
I never once touched the front suspension nor rear. I didn’t even think to look at it. Once we get to tracks I’m familiar with, I’ll know if the bike is better than before. But I can tell you it feels better. That engine with the lightened flywheel spins up so much faster. The SV700 felt like a tractor comparatively. I also think I’ll prefer the 600# rear spring, but lap times at known tracks will determine that.
Whew. Happy with the weekend.
