LRRS Round 1: 51 Days

The start of practice for Round One of the LRRS championships is less than 51 days away. What does this mean? Well to be frank it is now in the crunch time stages of prepping for the race season! Only downside is there is still 90+ inches of snow out on the ground with no foreseeable end in sight. In the last few weeks packages started arriving, parts started to get installed and finalization on sponsorship are now getting put in place.

My office is becoming sorts of receiving area for packages as of late. At one point it was overran with 25 jugs of  Motul 300V oil, enough to run a small privateer team for the season! TJ over at RidersDiscount.com is always worth the call for your needs. Of course this is for the Lo-Riderz team with a few jugs for my race bike during the campaign. Another large order that has come in is this season’s race rubber: Bridgestone R10 DOT racing rubber. 12 full sets of it no less stacked high on a pallet was delivered to our good friend Woody over at DRT-Sport. I opted for two fronts and four rears in my own allocation for the season from Viets Performance. It seems like a lot but when you dwindle it down there are seven rounds in the series with a minimum of four races per weekend along with adding in the practices and occasional track days my allocation seem infinitesimal.

‘I would like 25 jugs of Motul please TJ’

What 12 sets of race rubber actually looks like.

The guy at my shop was gracious enough to install the last few bits of parts I had laying around. On went my Ohlins TTX MK2 rear shock, back from a fresh rebuild with Pete over at GMD. I couldn’t do this myself because let’s be honest the rear always gave me problems. With two sets of hands, a bike lift and a rear stand they were able to pop that sucker on and dialed in about fifteen minutes. I was shocked when I got the text saying they were done. Up next was the Rev2 Motion Pro throttle kit. My hands aren’t the biggest, toughest in the world so wringing out the throttle to completely open usually saw two motion of action to accomplish. With the Motion Pro Rev2 kit and the right ratios installed now I can wring out to 100% open with ¾ less effort. They did a clean job with the install and adding the black grips provided with the kit it looks incredible stealthy. One of the few last things to prep the bike is my most hated part, drilling and safety wiring. They manage to drill & wire my oil filler cap, dipstick, exhaust bracket and radiator cap. What are left are just the pinch, caliper and axle bolts, of course the harder ones to drill through. Say hello to buying a bunch of drills bits.

Want a shock done proper and installed in 15 minutes? Head to Lo-Riderz!

Motion Pro Rev2 kit on and installed.

Shortest ratio installed for the shortest crank possible.

Oil filler cap and dipstick safety drilled and wired to look pro.

Don’t forget the rad cap. No one likes coolant on the track.

You be surprised at how often an exhaust bolt rattles out of place. Wire it!

If you have been following my blog you would have seen a post on how to gain race sponsorship. I took my own advice and went out to gather as much sponsorship as I can that made sense to my race program. It was a tedious process of emails, phone calls and putting myself out there but it was a good learning experience as everything always is. You get to understand the concept of what you can offer to organizations in which you are seeking support from, how to take rejection and how to market yourself in a way that potential sponsors can see their return on investments met. I am glad to report back that I have secured a few meaningful sponsorship relationship in my endeavor and will present the reveal when have the bike finished and completed before the first round.

With the clock almost reaching midnight on this first race season I am both anxious and nervous to get it rolling. More parts are on their way, more space being at a premium but I am looking forward to getting them and going back to work. There is also another big surprise but will be revealed the sooner the season approaches. In the meantime there is still much more work to do be done to get ready!