Ice Racing the 5 seven oh

I took the opportunity to take my new 570 to a 6 hr endurance ice race this weekend, www.aeira.com. My Corner Grass Racing Team buddies, Nizzo and Jag are defending champs, riding a BOSS tanked, FE650. Shane Cuthbertson and I are teaming up with them for a 24 hr endurance race on the 14/15 off February, so we decided to ride a 6 hr to get our feet wet and get a feel for their program.

The race started le mans style, with Nizzo starting on the 650 and Shane on the 570. Nizzo, holeshots and has a 20 second lead after the first 4 minute lap. Shane...well, couldn't find the handlebars inside the muffs and hit the first corner last. So, maybe it might be a long day...maybe not..as he ended the first lap in 5...passing 18 riders.

Nizzo continued his rampage, untill a fuel stop necessatated a fuel stop at about the 1hr 40 minute mark, when Jag took the controls...the rampage continued. Nizzo nailed the fastest lap of the day, Jag, seconds behind him. By the almost the 5th hr, their lead was almost 10 minutes and still going strong...unitll a little man named Murphy visited the CGRT Champions....and the bike came in on a rope. THeir back up bike was put into service, and along with a 30 minute penalty, they continued on, salvaging a 5th place finish. Sad but true, they had lost the lead, but still gained enough points to be 2nd in series points yet.

The rest of the team, Shane and myself were railing it on the 570. Due to the smaller tank, we pitted every hr, consuming 8 litres of fuel every fill...not sure what that equates to mileage wise, but was fun burning all that gas!!!!! We were running a brand new tire on teh front, so it stuck like tape to carpet, the rear was a little 'loose'. This tire had 15 hrs on it all ready, the knobs were chunking and the double linered, 1.5 inch screwed tire was coming apart by the end of the event.

The bike worked really well. We spaced the exhast out over an inch to gain tire clearance to the tire. A 15 tooth countershaft sprocket was mounted up front, with the std 52 on the back. ( the 15 is a tight fit, but certainly possible ). Other than that, the bike was ran stock with VP 110, ran 100%. We overgeared the bike, with one straighaway that we could pull 6th, but it wouldn't rev out. We'd like to try a 14/50 and see how it works, as long as chain length lets us have the wheel all the way back so the screws will clear the swingarm. We found the rear spring two soft, way to soft. It looked visibly sacked out. Shane is 40lbs lighter than I am, with him at 200, it was obvious that we were going to have to deal with a std setting that was marginal at best.

The bike cornered very well, despite the rear tire being quite loose. We dialed in some hi and lo speed compression at the first rider change, which helped...and remember, this bike has 4 hrs and no set up time at all onit....none, std sag, no screws turned.. we simply wanted to go racing...leave the tuning to the experts!!!!

So Shane an I cranked away, with Shane putting in mid 4 minute lap times, and I about ten seconds slower and a gas stop every hr...we finished 3...overall!!!!! We were estatic!!!

The bike got a tremendous amount of exposure, people oogling it all day....and we were super happy with it. One more race to test it, stiffer rear shock spring to balance the boingers, the gearing change, and throw away the xr 200 exhaust and put an Akro on it, we are sure we'd have a winner...now, about that big tank with a quick fill!!!!

BTW. the Nizzo and Jag show run 15 - 18 second pit stops, with rider change and 15 litres of fuel... um, we couldn't do that LOL.

To conclude, we had a hoot, and I really really love the new bike. It was so effortless to corner, to change lines and inspires confidence. Poetry in motion.

Also, the 24 hr event coming up, is supposed to have Jesse James, of West Coast Choppers fame, coming with a Spike TV camera crew....when the air times are available I'll post it.

cheers

fry

hi Kelsow

That is the tragic part, with us all riding, we had no photo guy, our bad, cause everyone is asking for pics. I'll try and find some somewhere to post

how are things on the other side?? and don't say your tired of winter....everyone is singing that song right now!!!!

I certainly will Ron..I'm excited about it as well...good press for a cool event. Dave Despain and Speed were there a number of years ago, they brought in Chris Carr, Mike Bell, Jeff Fredette, Kevin Schwantz..and one more that I can't remember. It didn't go very well for the visitors, but who can blame them, except for Jeff, all of them were fish out of water.

Me again

Sorry, Ron, the LA bad boy didn't show, so now spike TV for you.

Shane and I raced the 570 again this weekend, and had a hoot once again. I spent a considerable amount of time setting the bike up this time though. I geared it down a bit, running 14/50, from 15/52. Then I mounted an Akro slip on hoping a little extra breathing room would pull the gearing. Springs were changed front and rear, 48 in front and an 80 on the back, which netted a 34 mm static sag and 117 rider sag with my 240 lb carcass on top. We ran different tires than the first race, so we had to adapt to the way they handled. Ice tires are very, very fickle, as each design work so much different than others.

Shane started the race, a 12 km course that looked to have some very long, fast sections and some equally tight sections. Our fastest lap worked out to an average 72 km/hr speed average. We were radared at 118 km/hr on the start straight, where we were able to pull 6 for just a few seconds. One other straight had enough length for us to stretch 6 out a little longer. Our gearing was still too tall, we should have ran 14/52, which would have let us pull harder.

The race starts le mans style, and it was all Husaberg. Jay holeshot on the 650, with Shane 50 feet behind him. Third left the line quite a while later, about 3 times the interval back...so Nizzo and I were pretty happy with our boys in 1 and 2. Jay pulled away, and hid...for the rest of the day. Their lead dwindled in teh last hour as they lost 75% of the screws on the rear tire, but the win was theirs. Shane and I rode in 3 for most of the race, riding more confidently as our new tires broke in. We got a little to confident with our fuel mileage and decided to ride 7 laps instead of 6 laps, 6 laps was just over an hours worth of riding. 7 laps was about 2 km to far for our range, and Shane came in on a tow..so we lost that lap, and th etime it took to be towed in, all told about 20 minutes lost on the day. This moved us back a spot in class and way back in the overall.

Again, ice racing is a panic...the bike worked so well. The new springs kept the bike predictable, it didn't shake its head anymore and it handled good for me,, perhaps a little stiff for Shane though. The new chassis allows a guy to ride with less energy than with teh old bike its so easy to change lines, whether its to avoid a bad piece of ice or trying to pass someone. Note: cracks in the ice are a bad thing, as the ice breaks away, leaving chuck holes for tires to fall in. SHane hit one, had the bars ****** in his hands hard enough that it pulled the deadman switchoff the middle of the bar. Occupational hazards you could say.

thanks for reading


fry

here are a couple pics of Shane on the 5 seven oh from this last weekend.

thanks Cypher... that is the team, Jay, myself, Shane and Nick, left to right.