FourThreeSix
Tall Guy on a Little Bike
I'm just now starting to move around properly and with Manimal's convincing figured I'd post up what the Grom and I were up to last weekend.
Myself and 6 of my AFM friends took part in the 6th annual M1GP 24 Hour Charity Endurance Race down at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, CA. Our team name was "If this is GROM, I don't want to be right". My teammates were Joe Salas, Eric Kondo, Andrew Lee, Jim Williams, Todd Chamberlain, and Tomas Covinha. We raised money for the Roadracing World Action Fund which provides soft barriers (airfence) to tracks all over the country. Our weapon of choice for this endeavor was my 2014 Honda Grom which was pretty much unmolested prior to this event.
The two months leading up to the event would be filled with pimping the bike out and testing. By the time race time was up, the bike had been fitted with the following items: K-Tech fork cartridges, K-Tech rear shock, Chimura intake, unidentified full exhaust (borrowed), Power Commander, Galfer braided lines, Galfer wave rotors, ASV levers, Pro Taper bars, DID o-ring chain, Sunstar sprockets, Tech Specs, Woodcraft lever guards, Driven rear sets, and PMT slicks.
The start of the race was a leman's style start. I was volunteered for the start. I had some high school track experience and have long legs so I was cool with the challenge. I got a great jump off the line, but about 5 strides in I quickly noticed my feet were not traveling nearly fast enough for my arms. I ended up falling flat on my face, tripping over my own feet. I have not seen any photographic evidence of my spill yet, but videos are surfacing and I'm hearing rumors of edits being made as we speak. I will not link them to this post. :teeth
The race went off without a hitch really. We had one spill in the evening, but the side plates and lever guards took the brunt of the spill. At night, we lost a footpeg which more than likely backed out from the spill earlier in the day. Our pit stops were dialed with only making a rider change, filling up for fuel, and lubing the chain. We changed the rear tire just after midnight and the front at around 6AM. The tires still had plenty of life left in them, but we had the spares to swap so we went for it.
By the end of the race, I'm happy to say we won our class (100 MOD) and the overall race (1345 laps total, I believe). Our margin of victory was 19 laps and Andrew had the lap record set at 55.7 seconds. While 19 laps may seem like a lot, our competitors kept us honest the entire race. I really have to give credit to our team and our bike setup for the win. While others were struggling with reliability issues, we were clicking off laps consistently.
Yours truly...
Jim Williams
Tomas Covinha
Andrew Lee
BARF Racing's own Eric Kondo
The Crew! Pictured from L to R: Joe Salas, Eric Kondo, Gordon Pull, Jim Williams, Nickie Williams, Tomas Covinha, Kinsy Daughhtee-Garza, Todd Chamberlain, and Andrew Lee.
Special thanks to all our sponsors that made this journey a success. Those sponsors are: Catalyst Reaction, K-Tech USA/Orient Express, Galfer USA, Tech Spec, 4theriders, Twelv51 Studios, Cycle Gear, and Roadracing World. Also, special thanks to all the individuals that donated to the Roadracing World Action Fund to help us meet and exceed the minimum requirement to participate in the charity race.
All photos in this post were taken by 4theriders
Myself and 6 of my AFM friends took part in the 6th annual M1GP 24 Hour Charity Endurance Race down at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, CA. Our team name was "If this is GROM, I don't want to be right". My teammates were Joe Salas, Eric Kondo, Andrew Lee, Jim Williams, Todd Chamberlain, and Tomas Covinha. We raised money for the Roadracing World Action Fund which provides soft barriers (airfence) to tracks all over the country. Our weapon of choice for this endeavor was my 2014 Honda Grom which was pretty much unmolested prior to this event.
The two months leading up to the event would be filled with pimping the bike out and testing. By the time race time was up, the bike had been fitted with the following items: K-Tech fork cartridges, K-Tech rear shock, Chimura intake, unidentified full exhaust (borrowed), Power Commander, Galfer braided lines, Galfer wave rotors, ASV levers, Pro Taper bars, DID o-ring chain, Sunstar sprockets, Tech Specs, Woodcraft lever guards, Driven rear sets, and PMT slicks.
The start of the race was a leman's style start. I was volunteered for the start. I had some high school track experience and have long legs so I was cool with the challenge. I got a great jump off the line, but about 5 strides in I quickly noticed my feet were not traveling nearly fast enough for my arms. I ended up falling flat on my face, tripping over my own feet. I have not seen any photographic evidence of my spill yet, but videos are surfacing and I'm hearing rumors of edits being made as we speak. I will not link them to this post. :teeth
The race went off without a hitch really. We had one spill in the evening, but the side plates and lever guards took the brunt of the spill. At night, we lost a footpeg which more than likely backed out from the spill earlier in the day. Our pit stops were dialed with only making a rider change, filling up for fuel, and lubing the chain. We changed the rear tire just after midnight and the front at around 6AM. The tires still had plenty of life left in them, but we had the spares to swap so we went for it.
By the end of the race, I'm happy to say we won our class (100 MOD) and the overall race (1345 laps total, I believe). Our margin of victory was 19 laps and Andrew had the lap record set at 55.7 seconds. While 19 laps may seem like a lot, our competitors kept us honest the entire race. I really have to give credit to our team and our bike setup for the win. While others were struggling with reliability issues, we were clicking off laps consistently.
Yours truly...
Jim Williams
Tomas Covinha
Andrew Lee
BARF Racing's own Eric Kondo
The Crew! Pictured from L to R: Joe Salas, Eric Kondo, Gordon Pull, Jim Williams, Nickie Williams, Tomas Covinha, Kinsy Daughhtee-Garza, Todd Chamberlain, and Andrew Lee.
Special thanks to all our sponsors that made this journey a success. Those sponsors are: Catalyst Reaction, K-Tech USA/Orient Express, Galfer USA, Tech Spec, 4theriders, Twelv51 Studios, Cycle Gear, and Roadracing World. Also, special thanks to all the individuals that donated to the Roadracing World Action Fund to help us meet and exceed the minimum requirement to participate in the charity race.
All photos in this post were taken by 4theriders
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I could not believe you guys were riding around those suspension issues on the TTR! That was a feat in itself! :thumbup Awesome riding with you and your team. We look forward to next year, for sure!
