Heartland Park event

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

     I just got back from Heartland Park and was glad I ended up going. I was somewhat suprised at just how nice the weather turned out to be on Sunday, cloudy in the early morning, then sun till the late afternoon and a temp. in the 60's. I went with Paul James at the last minute on a bonzai run down to Topeka Saturday afternoon, raced Sunday, left Topeka about 7pm Sunday night, and got back to Rockford Illinois about 3:30am Monday morning.

     The new front straight is not what I expected it to be, I thought it was just going to be a flat chicane in the middle of the straight. I went out on the track for the 1st time and saw that blind chicane cresting over that hill and was wondering how anybody was going to be going fast thru there. But after a session out on the track I realized you just had to have some reference points and you could fly thru there. As your haulin down the straight and you come to this chicane and you buzz close to the wall on the left then you flick it to the other side and crest over the hill using the tube sticking up at the apex of the turn (on the right hand side) as a reference point (since you can't really see the apex as you approach it) and you get real light on the bike as you crest over the hill and then you drift wide carrying alot of speed at the exit. The one concern I did have at that point was the lack of a gator strip or slight concrete berm of some type there. The track went from new pavement to mud instantly if you ran wide and off the track there. Other wise the new layout turned out to be a good addition to the track, and I think it somewhat changes the attitude of the track as a whole.

     Thanks to the Irwins for the track redesign for the bikes and in advance for the future improvements they are planning also. Good job!  :)

[Xian_13]

5:30 am...
I just got home... I am NOT unloading...
Was a Crappy weekend... was a great weekend.

All and all, I am glad I made the run down there... but CCS is not going to be happy with me when I call and chew them out for losing my registration!

[EM JAY]

 Glad to hear you guys had fun (right?) I still wish I could have gone, I guess it was best for me on the $$$ part not to, oh and probably good since neither bike was actually ready, I did get them started this weekend tho!!  ;)    

  Road America....

[EM JAY]

 WOW!  Results are already posted also!  

[Jeff]

WOW!  Results on Monday morning from a Sunday race.  Man, I hope thisf is the tradition this year!  Sure would be nice!!!

Stumpy, pulling a podium on weekend 1!  Way to GO!!!  God Loves a Honda!

DanO pulling a win in MWGP, good on ya!

Anto - a couple top 10's on the new 1K...  Hope she's broken in good for Road A...

[Steviebee]

Love it or Hate it. !!!

I think the jump on the front straight friday was a bit too much.  Im very glad they ground it flat friday night.  

They have sweepers, why couldnt they use them to clean the track ?

I think there's still an issue with the pit wall at the end there.  Also, i didnt like how the exit to pit is too close toe the  racing line.

And it really showed me how messed up my suspension is/was !!!  I feel so ripped off.


Should be really nice when they finish it and repave!  Too bad its 9 hours away.

[PJ]

First, I have to thank Mike Williams for pushing me off the fence and into his F-250 for a truly banzai run down to HPT and back. All in all, it was well worth it for a great day of racing.

Hat's off to CCS. I liked the longer sprint race format. And it was great to see the results posted online so quickly. Nicely done.

Kudos to the new owners of HPT. The new configuration adds to an already fun layout. Hopefully they will see the return on investment they deserve to do a sorely needed repave. The future looks bright...

It just feels good to be racing again, doesn't it? Can't wait for Road America.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

I think there's still an issue with the pit wall at the end there.  Also, i didnt like how the exit to pit is too close to the racing line.

     I agree with you about the end of the pit wall, it should really be brought back a little bit to allow a slightly better approach to going over the chicane. In my opinion if your really flying thru there you can drift pretty wide at the exit, and if you went into that mud at that speed it would be ugly! It also sucks that pit out is where it's at and blends onto the course on the outside of a blind rise making it a potential safety problem for someone to rejoin after a meatball flag. I think that cutting the pit wall farther back and allowing a better approach to the apex of the chicane would help this safety concern so the bikes that are already at speed could hold a tighter line thru there more easily and not need to drift out toward the outside so much. But on the other hand I suppose that might make the chicane more of a potential passing area at the apex/finish line, which may be scary in itself, but would potentially make for some great finish line battles.

     I'm curious to hear what other people think should (or shouldn't) be done right there?

[motomadness]

Thanks for the results CCS.

[Burt Munro]

Random thoughts about the HPT weekend.

New 1 day format may need some minor tweaking.... last race finished at about 6:15.... even after shortening the 15th race by 1 lap and the last 2 races by 3 laps. (to hopefully finish before the nasty looking squall line made it to the track)  And without having any substantial delays during the day for cleaning up racing incidents.  

Curious what everyone thought about the location of the start/finish line just before you enter the chicane at the end of the straight?   Only had a few races where folks made a final lap charge down the straight to take the victory....  but I had visions of somebody trying to out gut the guy beside him for the victory and losing focus on how 2 bikes would make it through the chicane at the crest of the hill.  How much of a change would it be to move the finish line up track 400-500 feet?   I know this impacts the starts too where you now have the entire field trying to position for the chicane at a higher rate of speed.  The current layout has to take into consideration what works best for the operation of the dragstrip too.   How much could you re-position the starter stand/timing shed up track without affecting the needs of the dragstrip?  

Was it a problem having the starter stand so far from the first row of the grid?   I know the grid marshalls had a tough time being able to monitor the grid and the starter stand.

All these are workable issues that just need some fine tuning.  Bottom line it was great to be racing again!

Thanks to the Irwins for making the committment for improvements!

[stumpy]

Just rolled in the door! Hey it was a blast though! Loved the track!  Just like the roads up here :)
Hey Jeff I christened the bike with a great lowside into a flip and filled every hole with mud! I learned it from watching you! Great first expert racing though! Glad that the incedents were minimal. NO RED FLAGS, Lets keep it that way!


Stumpy

[Jeff]

Hey Jeff I christened the bike with a great lowside into a flip and filled every hole with mud! I learned it from watching you!

LOL...  Well good!  It needs to go down once or twice to get the bugs out.  Everything come out okay from your crash?

Hot tip...  If you tweaked the subframe, check the bar that holds the battery tray.  If it's not broken, I'll bet $10 that it's cracked.  I just had 2 of them fixed...  Definite weak point on the bike.