2019 / 2020 Wednesday Night Drags Sonoma

396

Well-known member
Thanks, you will have to tell us about your adventure.

Crazy night at the track, another great turnout. Had about 17 bikes to start. 5 practice runs before eliminations. I ran a 9.447 with a wheelie off the line and then turn around and run 9.445 on the next pass! Third pass I go a slow 9.52 with a brain freeze on my clutch hand. I start to notice my bike is not wanting to go into neutral without some extra effort, but I pay it no attention. Next up I ran 9.468 and my 60ft times are all terrible....The 5th and final practice pass I go another 9.445 and again, my 60ft is way off.

Time for eliminations to start. I dial a 9.42 since it seems like 9.44 is my number. I win the race and let off early because I caught and past my opponent before the finish so I easy up to not break out. I end up running a 9.53 on my 9.42 dial, good enough for the win. At the end of the race I am starting to slow down, I downshift and notice the rpms are acting funny and not dropping?? I downshift again and same thing. Going down the return road I know something is wrong. I try to put it in neutral and coast and the bike was not having it. Could not get neutral and every clutch pull and shift does not produce the desired rpm. I get to the ticket booth and I know what happens next, as I slow down, the bike does not want to stop and i have to hit the kill switch to stop. Grab my winning time slip and I know my day is over with a first round win but not able to continue. I put the bike in 1st and hit the start button and away we jerk and go with no way to come to a stop without killing the motor. The clutch is done with what i'm sure are some very warped steel plates. My fault, I knew it was time to inspect the clutch but I got lazy and it bit me...Doug Love went on to win the event with two near perfect runs in the semi and finals. Clutch swap Thursday and then back at it!
 
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HadesOmega

Well-known member
Wow shame you were running pretty good. Sucks to have the win and not be able to race. Will try and make it out next week.
 

396

Well-known member
Wednesday race day! 10-21-20. Starts at 4pm get there early (2:30-3:00) to get through tech and be ready to race. only 3 Wednesday nights left!
 

396

Well-known member
So how did you guys do, Joe and Merlin?

Not so great for me. I had a easy run in the first round of eliminations. Then I dialed a 9.32 for the second round. I need to go rounds to keep the longshot chance that I have of catching Doug in the points. I win the race in the second round, but I don't see my win light come on. I slowed at the end so I wouldn't break out but no win light. I'm thinking to myself, I must have been on a really good pass for me to break out while letting off on a 9.32 dial. I get the timeslip and yes I didn't win. I look closer and I see they put the wrong dial for me. They had me at 9.42 and I just made a 9.35 run. Would have been great for my 9.32 dial that I should have had. I didn't see it before the race started so it's on me.....I will say I don't know what was happening last night because almost all of the regular track crew was not there. Two of us has wrong dials in that round. Doug went on to win the event. Merlin made his quickest pass ever on the Victory electric bike. I'm sure he will post with better details of his runs. He just came off a epic road trip also.
 

gixxerjeff

Dogs best friend
Yikes man. Sorry to hear about the staffing woes.
At least there was a friendly and familiar face working the gate! :)
She was cute, she told me the Barfer with the "Stinger Bee" came in but had a different bike on the trailer. I had no idea what the hell she was talking about...then it hit me. I said "Do you mean the "Light Bee?" She just said "Whups...yeah....that." She also said you were there. Did you fix the clutch already or did you run the other bike?
 
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HadesOmega

Well-known member
Haha yeah she recognized me she said honey bee or something and I was like oh yeah yeah that's me. I broke it so I brought a different bike.

I think I will make a video about this one since it's kinda short. But I brought the Empulse, there's something up with the drivetrain on the Light Bee so I took the Empulse out and it did pretty good, I must be getting better! =P I had an pretty epic race against Doug I almost had him but almost doesn't cut it :(
 

gixxerjeff

Dogs best friend
Haha yeah she recognized me.
I had an pretty epic race against Doug I almost had him but almost doesn't cut it :(

Yeah, believe it or not she keeps track of you two. She has also been known to peek at this thread periodically like a good little lurker. :laughing
If my work hours weren't so fucked up I would be out there more. I am working on it. I really miss it.
 

396

Well-known member
:thumbup
Yeah, believe it or not she keeps track of you two. She has also been known to peek at this thread periodically like a good little lurker. :laughing
If my work hours weren't so fucked up I would be out there more. I am working on it. I really miss it.
 

budman

General Menace
Staff member
A little catch up on your adventures.

Good shit! :thumbup

Congrats Joe!

Glad you guys are having fun.
 

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HadesOmega

Well-known member
Here is my VLOG of WND October 21, 2020. It's pretty much just from my perspective. The highlight of the night was Eric testing out his new wheelie bar. You could see when the wheels spun because they lit up! I'll post a AAR VLOG and some race clips after.


youtu.be/WysmQvnn970
 

396

Well-known member
Nice video's. It was your night to get Doug, you were right there, you had a good run against him. glad you got some footage of Eric's widow maker wheelie bars.....
 

HadesOmega

Well-known member
Wish I had a better camera... You definitely launched faster than him. Must be scary getting that big bike front wheel up in the air like that.

Haha Widow Maker wheelie bar is that what they're calling it. I have to say it's pretty cool when the wheels light up. I'm sure he put a lot of work into designing it even though it looks kinda janky.

DSCN3914.MOV_snapshot_00.13_%5B2020.10.26_14.52.01%5D-XL.jpg
 
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396

Well-known member
:thumbup
Wish I had a better camera... You definitely launched faster than him. Must be scary getting that big bike front wheel up in the air like that.

Haha Widow Maker wheelie bar is that what they're calling it. I have to say it's pretty cool when the wheels light up. I'm sure he put a lot of work into designing it even though it looks kinda janky.

DSCN3914.MOV_snapshot_00.13_%5B2020.10.26_14.52.01%5D-XL.jpg
 
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