Team Charm Racing's 2004 season at a glance

1. 4/18/04 Summit Point, WV, WERA Sprints
2. 9/18/04 Summit Point, WV, WERA Sprints

4/18/04 Summit Point, WERA Sprints

The TL-R rises like a phoenix after 2.5 years, Team Charm works up to 2^nd place, Red Flag sets back to 4^th place.

Reported by Team Charm Staff;

This weekend saw the return of the mighty TL-R after a hiatus of two and a half years.  The last race the TL-R was entered in was in October of 2001.  Beautiful weather combined with good friends to make for a great day of racing. Out of 12 entries in the Heavyweight Super Sport class, ten finished after two red flags and no serious injuries.  Team Charm gets 4^th place after a second red flag results in rewinding the race one lap.

Those in the know will remember that the last time the TL was raced was in October of 2001.  Since that time the bike was violently high-sided after a 65mph head shake on I370 during a January 2002 pre-season maintenance warm up to change the oil.  Then the TL sat in boxes while Team Charm pursued Endurance glory in 2002, was moved twice, and only to make it out to the track for a single MARRC RRS day in 2003. 

After some pre-weekend consternation over Brian Summers’ stuff, Anya and Steve arrived Saturday night just in time to sit around, drink beer, and listen to the lies everyone tells about how fast they go.  Pitting at Clark’s RV with Amy, John, Steve (not Clark) and Jeff for great night of bench racing, the two slept in the b  Waking up Sunday morning to perfect weather, Steve registered for race three.  After getting thru tech, Steve mounted fresh year old tires  for the race.  Practice went well, the bike seemed to work fine except for the fact that the lockhart clutch level was sitting to far out, causing enough hand movement on the up shift in T2 that the bike would get head shake pre-cursers.  The engagement / disengagement point needed to be closer to the handle bar.  Unlike a cable clutch, which can be adjusted anywhere, the TL’s fluid clutch has limited adjustment.  T2 is one those turns that using the clutch on the up shift is nice because is smoothes the torque delivery in a place the big bore machines are loading the rear pretty hard and can be prone to instability.  Rather than give up the butter smooth clutch shifts, during lunch, Eric help remove the offending spacer on the clutch lever fixing the problem, putting the lever right where it should be.

The five minute board went up on race three with the group taking to the track for the race.  The green flag flew and the first wave was off.  Steve pulled to rider’s right to make a bold move into one, but backed off playing follower into T1 on the first lap.  The start was aborted under a red flag as the group exited T1, undoubtedly Al Wilcox decided his 2^nd wave grid was unacceptable.  The first wave, with Steve, made its way around the track for a second try.

At the drop of the green flag for the second time Steve got a horrible start, dumping the clutch too soon and lofting a medium size wheelie, only to overly compensate by dumping too much throttle, and loosing drive.  Once recovered, the bike lurched into its power band snapping back in to a “mini-me” wheelie and Steve began the headlong rush to turn one.  Once again, presented with a clear chance to dive under everyone going into T1, Steve opted instead for the more conservative entry, promptly setting himself into last place, save for a lone SV mounted rider.  For the next three laps Steve worked his way up to the group of three bikes consisting of Kern, Chapin and Stinnett while he slowly pulled away from Keener behind.  By the third lap Steve had caught up to the trio and began to shadow them for a pass for the next two laps.  Getting the ˝ flag Steve redoubled his effort despite his fatigue.  As Steve sez:

“I forgot how fast the TL is, and also forgot what a drain physically it can be to push it hard compared to the SV.  It makes a lot of noise, blurres my vision with vibration and buffeting on the front straight, and constantly gives me this “we’re not going to make it into turn five” feeling.  I have resoundedly answered the questions for myself that I do not need a new ZX-10…”

Finally on the sixth lap Steve lined up the first two, Chapin and Stinnett, and skillfully motored by them on the front straight after getting a very good drive out of T10.  Following Kern for the next half lap Steve made his move, diving under Kern going to T10.  After taking the white flag at the exit of turn Ten everything look green for a second place finish when the red flag came out as the group headed into T5.  Two riders had gone down at the exit of turn nine in a rather bad place.  The effect is that the race results were backed up the the previous lap.  This meant that Steve, who only passed Stinnet before start finish on the previous lap, and Chapin going down to T1, would end up fourth instead of second.  Here Steve leads the group of the track, thanks to Anya for taking the pictures.  Thanks to Eric for helping out and to Amy, Joe, Steve and Jeff for letting us horn in on Clark’s pit.  As Steve sez:

“Too bad about the red flag, I was just getting the TL up to speed and I do not think the folks I passed would have gotten back around me.  In fifteen years of racing I’ve been on both sides of the red flag thing a couple of times.  Good news is the TL is running well.  There is a exhaust leak or valve out of adjustment, minor tapping noise on the forward cylinder.  Still, I got to within 3 seconds of my old lap time after the bike sat for over two years, so I am happy.  Thanks to Anya for coming to the track”

We’ll have a revised sched up for everyone soon, look for Team Charm at Summit Point! 

Be sure to visit our sponsors: Cycle Accessory Discounter's and Dunlop Tires. 

9/18/04 Summit Point, WV, WERA Sprints

Track fatality and two crashes marr a otherwise nice weekend

Reported by Team Charm Staff;

The final race weekend at summit point for the 2004 season started off high hopes for Steve and the TL. Typical Mid-Atlantic fall weather (meaning the few days gap between two hurricanes) promised to combine with good friends and comfortable camping accommodations to rack in a memorable race weekend. The weekend would end with yet another on track fatality at Summit Point, the second in 2004, and two out of three team charm pit mates crashing.

The weekend started off on Friday afternoon with Steve driving directly from school after closing up the lab at 14:00 hrs. Making record time to the track, the usual Frederick, Md back up on I70 oddly absent, Steve arrived while bikes were still on course for the Roger Day Tune & Test. Hanging around the pits, seeing old competitors Bill Deitz and Donnie Unger, Steve made his way around socializing with everyone. Steve Clark & crew arrived late in the evening with his motor home and brand spanking new SV1000. By that time Steve, who had been drinking and discussing politics with Eric Knight, was in excellent shape to re-locate pit position behind the heads. Brian Summers was to arrive Saturday PM, would be bringing fresh Dunlap tires, for Steve to use on Sunday sprints.

Saturday morning Steve awoke from Clark’s cheerful, “wake up ass-nozzle” call outside the camper after an almost perfect night sleeping camped out in the crisp autumn air. One way you can tell you are at the racetrack is that it is absurdly early in the morning, then someone is waking you up, in order to stand waiting on line in a parking lot, only then to write checks. Since Clark had a brand spanking new SV1000, Steve, who originally had not planned to enter races on Saturday, decided to enter Heavy Weight Solo ostensibly to give Clark a much deserved ass whipping. Steve didn't have fresh tires but felt personality would make up the difference. Like most best laid plans, this did not come to pass, but more on that in a minute. Steve decided to forgo practice in the morning, due to wanting to conserve his tires for the 16-lap race in the afternoon and instead focused on helping Clark set his sag and otherwise dial in the SV1000.

By the time the Solo race came around Steve was ready to do some riding. After the warm up lap Steve took his grid position next to Clark for the start of the 16-lap race. Getting a mediocre start the field of mostly 1000cc four cylinder machines receded away from Steve heading into T1. Late braking a few folks into T1 Steve worked his way up in the pack and set his head down to catch Clark who got a better start and was ahead. Making up ground on Clark, Steve was able to set him up for the pass before the start of the second lap and set about to run down the slower riders on the faster 4 cylinder machines ahead. Not having done practice in the morning, Steve had just the warm up lap to re-familiarize himself with the TL after having last ridden at Summit Point during the August 6 hour on a much slower SV650. The TL has an odd brutish way of shrinking the distance between corners, the effect even more pronounced when the last machine one rode at the track only has 3/5 of the power. The net effect is a feeling of not quite being in front of the machine for the first lap or so, which is always re-enforced by the field being bunch up at the start and visibility blocked because the field has not strung out. After a few laps Steve settled into the high 1:22 lap time range, some three seconds off his best times on the TL, from three years ago, and fairly sporting on the old tires. The pace proved to be a bit much and Steve gradually began to add time to his laps times as the tires fade became more pronounced. Once the half flag came out Steve has made the full mental switch from the “lets go fast and have a lot of fun” mode to the “lets just make sure I bring this thing back in one piece” mode. At the same time, SV mounted Clark, who had been making steady progress on Steve, had closed the gap to shadowing distance and was setting up Steve for the pass. Finally on the last lap Clark put his move on Steve. Steve attempted to rally for the re-pass, but the tires were not up to the task, or as Steve sez:

“Knowing that Saturday night trash talk bragging rights would be on the line, I really wanted to get back around Clark. My strategy was to set up him at the exit of T10 for a at the checkered pass. But Clark was moving fast, he gapped me enough in the infield that I was not able to make it up coming up the hill out of T9 to be in proper position for draft pass at the checkered. Congrates to Clark, he was working those stock tires pretty hard!!!!”

The day ended with Brian’s arrival, accompanied by some frantic race bike wheel removal to get new tires from the Dunlap vender mounted Saturday night so Sunday morning would not be rushed. The perfect weather provided an excellent back drop for a charcoal grilling of a mish mash of meats, consumption of Gyllin’s most excellent bacon assisted veggie dish, and the imbibing of adult beverages. Being at the race track just does not get any better than that.

Sunday morning the crew awoke to fresh rubber, except for Clark, and another perfect day for the seasonal closer at Summit Point.

Taking to the warm up lap Steve felt very confident, fully race faced, and ready to push hard. The TL sliced thru the turns with its usual combination of bloated & retaining alacrity, while Steve took mental note of the tracks changes since morning practice, and took full advantage of being the first one out for the warm up lap by pushing all the way thru T10 to get maximum heat into the tires. Gridded slightly to the left of where he should be, but lined up well with respect to the rows ahead, Steve was ready for the green flag when it came. Getting the green flag from Al “Airborn” Wilcox is one of the great pleasures for a racer, something that, combined with his rhetorical flair during the rider’s meeting, is the source for great joy for racers. Apparently Steve must have been thinking about this when he got a poor launch at the start. Once the TL cleared & hooked up Steve made skillful application of the throttle to pass several people going into turn one. Ahead were Russel Mascar and Ryan Chapin coming out of T2. They got a better drive out of T2, their lap times from the morning had been a little better, and Steve was determined not to let them get away. Coming into T3 Steve was looking to make up enough distance on them to be set up for a pass of the duo at the exit of T4, in the compression area going into T5. Unfortunately coming into T3 Steve pushed the front hard and it slowly rinsed away from underneath him, lowsiding the TL just past the apex, the first on track for crash the TL and the first for Steve since spring of 1998. Steve butt surfed across the track, apron and into the gravel pit shielded by his excellent ADL leathers and back protector. After coming to a complete stop Steve hoisted himself up and ran over to the bike to get it out of the crash zone. After struggleing with the 460 lb wreck in the gravel for too long Steve abandoned it for the safety of the berm while bikes were still one course. Walking over to the flag station to discuss crash truck logistics with the cornerworkers Steve was happy to be ok and miffed about crashing. By this time Brian came over after hearing the crash call on the radio & brought a camara. Here is Steve a little bashful about a ametuer mistake like crashing on the first lap. Contributing factors were the slightly dragging front brakes. Oh well, at least the students of CATN will have something to fix now...