Ultra Light Thunder Bike Roebling road raceway

[CHIRINOM]

Good turn out of EX250's at Roebling this week end. We had five bikes on the grid, two of which are new to the class. Congrats to Paul Vance for taking the win! Looking forward to seeing every one at Jennings.

Paul Vance 1st
Shon Staton 2nd
Miguel Chirino 3rd
Dom Herrera 4th
Sabrina Faerreyra 5th

[Jiggyfly]

That's it!?!

No racd report?
Or write-up!?

Tell us about how it went......break it down for us! :D

[vance]

Well... I won't name names, but 4 of the 5 jumped the start and I was the one that didn't 

[CHIRINOM]

More of a rider than a writer, Lol. Wish I had mounted the camera but it was too short between practice and the race, I barely had time to re gear. Did any one see the race?

Paul, did you draft by both of us on the front? Where did you pass Shon?

[truckstop]

Yeah, someone needs to explain what "2 Wave Start" means. LOL. They didn't meatball everyone else did they?

[vance]

More of a rider than a writer, Lol. Wish I had mounted the camera but it was too short between practice and the race, I barely had time to re gear. Did any one see the race?

Paul, did you draft by both of us on the front? Where did you pass Shon?

I wish someone had a camera because it was the 3rd lap (I believe) when the racing really happened.  IIRC, I got past Shon coming out of 3 and caught you in the sweeper coming onto the front stretch.  If the photographer was there in T7 at the start of the race ( I saw here there AFTER the race) she may have some really good pics of the three of us going through 7.  Both of you got by me on the front stretch and Shon was stacked right behind you.  So... I tucked back in behind Shon and decided I was either passing both of you in T1 or we were all going in the grass :)
That's when I remembered CCS gave me a racing license, which qualifies me to stuff the crap out of my fellow racers in the fastest corner of the track.  (YES, peanut gallery, I know we're on mopeds.  Laugh it up!)  So I was completely confident I wasn't going to wipe us all out :)


How's that for a write up?

[Cab305]

I only got to see you guys half lap then I was all by my lonesome. Don't know how close Sabrina was behind me.

[vance]

Yeah, someone needs to explain what "2 Wave Start" means. LOL. They didn't meatball everyone else did they?

No meatballs.  The best part was the reaction of the officials!  Everyone went on the 1st flag except for me.  The problem was the guy with the 2nd wave sign never walked out on the track.  He was standing right beside me, so I was in the view of everyone else on the row.  The other 3 in my row jumped, and Sabrina who was behind me and saw the 2 wave sign hesitated and then went with the other 3.  I looked over at the guy and he just shrugged his shoulders.  The best part was when I looked up at the Flag guy and raised my hand, he didn't even wave the flag a second time.  He just shrugged his shoulders like "I don't know what just happened.."  :)
My starts are so crappy anyway that would have been roughly the same reaction time if I had gone with the flag.  :)

[Jiggyfly]

I had the GoPro on, but apparently I should read the directions again.......

The race was a blast! I believe Vances' version to be pretty close. I was laughing in my helmet when I went to pass Vance about 3/4 of the way down the straight, (I was 3rd in the draft) as he went to pass Miguel, & he realizes I'm on his left & starts shaking his head.....it was hilarious!

Vance got me, then passed Miguel in the fastest part of the track, & gapped us enough on that one lap that he was out of reach. It made me wish we had 10 more laps to go!

[alexm]

This class sounds like a ton of fun!

Is Ultralight Thunderbike the only class the EX250 can compete in? (I know...go read the FRB)

[truckstop]

It's the only class it's competitive in.

You could run it in ULWSB I'm sure, but you'll get eaten alive by SVs.

[Jiggyfly]

The class is extremely fun!!

You have all of the feel of racing a larger displacement bike, minus the high speeds & big dollars, & with the machinery being absolutely equal. So there's no way someone is going to have a better bike than yours.

[vance]

This class sounds like a ton of fun!

Is Ultralight Thunderbike the only class the EX250 can compete in? (I know...go read the FRB)

One entered the GTL at Homestead. I guess if enough entered the race it would be ok but at Homestead there was only one. Looked Awefully lonely.

[CHIRINOM]

Jennings may be a good track to do that at, it really evens the playing field. Since GTL is usually a morning race, it will give us some track time before ULTB.

What do you guys think?

[vance]

I'm down for it. 8.5 hours to RRR for one race was a bit much...

[vance]

After looking at the results from homestead, Race 7 is Moto3, AM ULWSB, and ULTB.  So GTL is basically the exact same grid except the expert ULWSB will be there also. We'll be racing for roughly 15th place 

[Jiggyfly]

I'm down for it. 8.5 hours to RRR for one race was a bit much...

Oh, stop bein' a sissy!!!!

[roadracer162]

I'm down for it. 8.5 hours to RRR for one race was a bit much...

You could have done the Team Challenge

[tug296]

Curious what lap times the EX 250's were running at Roebling?

[vance]

You could have done the Team Challenge

Can't find the cost listed on the CCS site... How much does it cost?

[Eric Kelcher]

Can't find the cost listed on the CCS site... How much does it cost?

$175 pre entry; $200 post entry
Entry is under Forms/Rulebook
http://www.ccsracing.us/forms.html

[vance]

Curious what lap times the EX 250's were running at Roebling?

33's.

[vance]

Eric,
How do you feel about having a 250 team out there with the big bikes? 
The corner workers might get tired of holding the stationary yellow 
Actually I should RTFRB. You don't have blue flags in CCS do you?

[race712]

No meatballs.  The best part was the reaction of the officials!  Everyone went on the 1st flag except for me.  The problem was the guy with the 2nd wave sign never walked out on the track.  He was standing right beside me, so I was in the view of everyone else on the row.  The other 3 in my row jumped, and Sabrina who was behind me and saw the 2 wave sign hesitated and then went with the other 3.  I looked over at the guy and he just shrugged his shoulders.  The best part was when I looked up at the Flag guy and raised my hand, he didn't even wave the flag a second time.  He just shrugged his shoulders like "I don't know what just happened.."  :)

Four out of five people jumped the start and CCS didn't flag them in?

[truckstop]

vance - no blue flags.
I think they'll let you run anything, I've run a Hawk in TC, we tried an FZR400 a couple years ago, and I've seen them done on 125s, although all of those bikes are capable of faster lap times than the EX250. The closing speeds would be a bit scary depending on the track you're on.

Four out of five people jumped the start and CCS didn't flag them in?

No. Although the one guy that didn't jump the start I think won anyway.

[Jiggyfly]

The situation for the jumped start was this: the 2nd wave sign was displayed at the side of the track, almost on beside the pole position rider, if not exactly beside. That person then walked away from the grid as if it was not going to be a 2 wave race. We were 3-4 rows behind the other grid, so it didn't really make sense to have a 2nd wave. They dropped the green, & the only rider that would've really seen the 2nd wave sign was the only one that didn't go. It was really a mistake by the CCS workers. They should walk onto the track, verify we all see it's a 2 wave, clutch hands in the air, then go through the entire 2 board, etc, process.

[vance]

vance - no blue flags.
I think they'll let you run anything, I've run a Hawk in TC, we tried an FZR400 a couple years ago, and I've seen them done on 125s, although all of those bikes are capable of faster lap times than the EX250. The closing speeds would be a bit scary depending on the track you're on.

No. Although the one guy that didn't jump the start I think won anyway.

That's correct, which is why I think nothing was said about the jump starts.

Obviously safety is the main concern, but we are all here to have fun and I'm not sure how fun it would be for the other teams to have to remember that for 100+ laps there's going to be a slow bike at some point that theyre going to close in on.
The 125's have to deal with us only once per race when they catch us normally around the 5th or 6th lap.
I don't want this group to be the pariahs of the paddock.  God forbid an expert on a 1000 close in on one of us amateurs with a speed difference of about 80mph and something bad happen.

[alexm]

The class is extremely fun!!

You have all of the feel of racing a larger displacement bike, minus the high speeds & big dollars, & with the machinery being absolutely equal. So there's no way someone is going to have a better bike than yours.

Jiggy - sounds like it.

Does anyone know if there's a rental program for an EX250 in the Midwest, similar to http://www.racebikerentals.com/?

[truckstop]

The situation for the jumped start was this: the 2nd wave sign was displayed at the side of the track, almost on beside the pole position rider, if not exactly beside. That person then walked away from the grid as if it was not going to be a 2 wave race. We were 3-4 rows behind the other grid, so it didn't really make sense to have a 2nd wave. They dropped the green, & the only rider that would've really seen the 2nd wave sign was the only one that didn't go. It was really a mistake by the CCS workers. They should walk onto the track, verify we all see it's a 2 wave, clutch hands in the air, then go through the entire 2 board, etc, process.

It was posted on the grid sheet as a two wave start, yes?
The sign was up, even if hard to see when you gridded up.
They don't suddenly change their minds at the start of the race and say "eh, meh. let's just do one wave." ;)

Also, especially if you're starting behind two strokes, it should be two-waves no matter what because they're not known for particularly fast starts off the line. 2nd wave doesn't start until the first wave is well away no matter how many rows they put between you.

It all worked its way out in the end, and now reading that technically even vance jumped the start it makes more sense why nobody go meatballed, but it is something you do have to pay attention to. Heaven forbid you launch yourself into the back of someone in front of you waiting for the second flag.

[Jiggyfly]

There's a lot of "technicallies"......but the facts are that it wasn't handled the way it should have been by CCS, & we all left on the green flag, which was also wrong on our part.

[roadracer162]

Being that my home region is Florida, and Florida grid marshals do it a little different. I empathize with your frustrations, but I have got to go with Truckstop. I have had the same issue where I jumped the start, and i did speak to them after the race.

Their take of it is this. There are riders that blow the start and jump on the first wave when they should have started on the second wave. They, the grid marshals would rather not be on track when any of the green flags fly for this reason. I can't blame them.

Now in Florida the grid marshals are very cognizant to walk in front and full view of each rider. The rider will acknowledge that they have seen the 2 wave board by gesturing with there hand holding two fingers up. This acknowledgement by the rider is a visual aid for the grid marshal and the other riders behind that may not have seen the board. the grid marshal also stays on track for a moment while the first wave leaves.

So be it as it may. Each person has responsibility in safety

Mark