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My first expert season

7K views 59 replies 13 participants last post by  ninjaman89 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey guys-it's been a while! I stopped checking into this forum for a while but my buddy @dazo encouraged me to re-visit it.

I thought I'd start a fresh thread for this year's racing endeavors. Some of you might remember my Novice thread from last year. I made the jump to expert late in the season and had an initially rough time. I crashed a couple of times and really had to regroup and collect myself. This year I've been working harder than ever training and am really excited to see what happens.

I also decided to branch out from just racing WERA and race with AFM; one of the most competitive racing orgs in the country. Needless to say, the first round did not disappoint! I've literally never seen such packed racing grids!

For my 600 races, I was gridded by points, and since I had none I started P31 and P20. My Forumla 1 race had qualifying practice though which was awesome since I'd never qualified before. Ended up qualifying P2 on the front row!!

Results:
600 superbike - Started P31 finished P10
F1 - started P2 finished P2
600 superstock -started P20 finished P9

Here's a few pics and a short video I threw together. Had such a blast and enjoyed getting to meet lots of new people including our very own @Gawernator (he makes an apprearance in the video too). I aboslutely can't wait for the next round in a few weeks! Anyways guys, please like and subscribe and follow me on IG @riserman. Maybe it'll help me get real sponsors eventually lol.

Freshies for qualifying!


Qualified P2!!


Cheers to a great weekend


Definitely did not expect to walk away with a podium. Was so stoked.


Little compilation video
 
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#3 ·
Thanks man. Here's the link to my old thread https://www.zx6r.com/racing/104050-riserman-s-2018-novice-racing-season.html

That's awesome you're trying to get into racing! If you have any questions I'm happy to help. Lots of other experienced guys here as well.

I'm staff at a local track day org TrackXperience, so I ride there and I also try to supermoto whenever I can. I'll have to find a fun little video I made from supermoto training a few weeks back.
 
#12 ·
thanks:)

You have to do Sonoma with me. And if we aren’t too broke .. the Sonoma MA round in August haha
I'd love to. That weekend is noooormally when we go on vacation to the beach though soooo it's gonna take some convincing to get the lady to buy off on that lol

Also, I'd love to do MA. It's definitely on my list, but I don't think I'll be ready or have enough expert points yet. I have no desire to barely qualify and then get lapped 2/3 of the way through the race.
 
#15 ·
I don't think it's only based on points. Otherwise even a slow dude like me could enter after a few years of accumulating points lol Meanwhile back in 2016 (I think?), Mark Rhoades skipped out on expert club races and went straight from kicking ass as an amateur to doing almost a full season in MotoAmerica. Granted he didn't qualify for like half the rounds and got lapped in the ones that he did qualify in, but still...point is it's possible, if MA gives you the green light. They might consider other things, like results so far and your lap times.
 
#21 ·
Yeah I agree, I think it’s nuts. I think they have a 110% rule for qualifying, or 115. Can’t remember for sure. I think it needs to be reduced because it’s a shit show with so many riders and it’s 2-waves. Leaders start lapping people after only like 6-7 laps and it’s a 57-lap race lol

What’s the MA Supersport limit for qualifying? Is it 110%?
 
#26 · (Edited)
#27 ·
#31 ·
that's awesome! I hope you guys make a play for it at Laguna. I'm planning on being there at least Saturday and Sunday so it would be great to see you out there with the big names!
 
#32 ·
AFM Round 2-

What a weekend! I'm still so pumped.

Race 1: 600SS - got a great start, made a couple fun passes on the first lap (I think I was in 4th) and then they red flagged it. Didn't get as good of a start on the re-start, which made me anxious to make up time. Made some pretty aggressive but safe passes which I was really happy with but by the time I made my way through the pack, the top 5 were gone already. Ended up finishing 6th. Here's a little video I made of those first two laps


Race 2: Formula 1 - 2nd place baby! And set my new fastest time 1:47.7! (My best last month was a 1:50.4) Finished behind Cory Ventura. Kid is fast! Couldn't quite hang with his 46s. Towards the end of the race my bike started having big issues cutting out. I was so surprised I didn't get passed for second place because I felt like a sitting duck.

Race 3: 600SS - I thought that my quickshifter was acting up and causing the bike to cut out, so I switched out the sensor before the race. Went out for my race and 2 laps in the bike was cutting really badly again. I ended this race with a DNF unfortunately. I decided it wasn't worth the risk of either getting hit or the bike lurching so badly that I crash. Some people were thinking fuel pump, but if it were the fuel pump it would be happening all the time, not just half way through the races. I'm thinking maybe an electrical connection issue to the fuel controller possibly.

I also some geometry changes this round from recommendations by Derek Keys. Thanks to him my bike felt incredible all weekend.

Looking forward to Thunderhill. I've never been so I'm excited for the challenge to get up to speed at a new track quickly.

Here's my full Forumula 1 race. If you get bored just watch the first lap and then skip to lap 4 when we hit a TON of lappers! I was super anxious to make my way through them (poor guys lol) because I knew I had fast dudes behind me. It's hard to tell but by the last lap my bike is cutting so badly I thought for sure I'd get passed for 2nd. I'll also put together a compilation video of the best action of the weekend this week.





 
#33 ·
Made my first ever press release!

"Both Ortt and Debise would sit out the Formula One race later in the day, allowing Ventura to take the victory in that race from Daniel Riser, who ran a new personal best of 1:47.7, dropping nearly three seconds from his best lap time during Round One. That made all the difference as third-place man Kaleb De Keyrel finished just 0.6 second back in third place at the end of six laps."

https://www.roadracingworld.com/new...bVYhGl1XYiKrwExIpifqP6XRQvlykCVvL8A36VoBNdBwA
 
#35 ·
What's up guys!
@sbk1198 messaged me and reminded me to come back and update my thread.

Last weekend was AFM Round 4 at Thunderhill and it was a HOT one! It was my first time ever at this track so I was pretty nervous about getting up to speed. Friday was pretty rough between learning the track and sorting out a bunch of bike problems. Turns out my QS sensor was shorting out, which was the cause of my bike surging. To say I was frustrated would be an understatement.

Anyways, weekend turned out pretty awesome. Ended up with a second place!! Also had a P5 and a DNF (little oopsie over the hill in T5 at the end of the day. Almost a freebie since there was basically no damage). I ended up getting into pretty consistent 1:53s with my best being a 53.4 I think. I'm super stoked but honestly still not satisfied. I want more and only want to train that much harder. I'm happy, but still expected a little more pace from myself.

The highlight of the weekend by far was the Roadracing World article from the weekend. I was in it! Here's the excerpt and a link to the article.
The closest 600 race of the weekend was Formula 1. Debise and the Graves Motorsports team chose to sit this one out. The top three riders were all lapping within two-tenths of one another, and things stayed close all race. Berto Woolridge would take the win on his Yamaha R6, over Thunderhill debutant Daniel Riser. Riser mastered the track on his first weekend and thoroughly impressed on his Kawasaki ZX-6R, adding to his success early in the season at Buttonwillow. Third place was taken by XS Racing rider Nick Lundqvist, who beat out Samuel Gluss for his first-ever Formula I podium.
https://www.roadracingworld.com/new...ictory-at-scorching-thunderhill-raceway-park/



 
#39 ·
Feels like I'm talking to myself on here sometimes lol. Hopefully some of you enjoy the thread and following along with my crazy racing endeavours.

I've never really had a good solution for the regulator. The wiring harness is so short on the side of the bike it's really difficult to mount it anywhere so I finally relocated it under the tail. It will get MUCH more air than in the side of the fairing, and it'll be out of the way. I made myself an aluminum bracket and had to extend the wiring harness to get it to reach. Soldered the wires and housed them in sheathing. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.


 
#40 ·
Feels like I'm talking to myself on here sometimes lol. Hopefully some of you enjoy the thread and following along with my crazy racing endeavours.
Don't worry about it, we still read it ;)

That location seems ok, I've seen a few others who have 2013+ ZX6R's relocate it there. As long as the fender is on it should be fine. On bikes with no rear fender it would get all covered in rubber (and water when racing in the rain).
 
#46 ·
The videos are cool. Adding names to the riders around you is pretty cool too, though they might not like being called out as you pass 'em :)

That pass at the top of the Cyclone on the 1st lap was pretty interesting looking - he must have gone over the curb on the inside to avoid swapping paint!
 
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#48 ·
Thanks, I think it adds a lot of context - a real face behind the helmet and not just a random person on a bike. I really don't think most guys are that sensitive to care.. Many of the same guys have made passes on me I'm sure :)

If you're talking about right around 45seconds, that wasn't a pass. I ran kinda wide trying not to hit the guy because he slowed much more than I was expecting.
 
#49 · (Edited)
So about a week ago we had AFM round 5 at Sonoma. Here's the jist:

Friday track day was rough. First time ever at the track and I struggled. The track is a little scary in places and has lot's of "character" (i.e. crazy bumps).

Saturday was much better. Made some changes to the bike and felt like I was coming to the grips with the track much better. Went out for qualifying, ran 3 flying laps and came in to find that I earned freaking POLE POSITION for the Foruma 1 race! Obviously I was stoked.

Sunday-Race day.

My first race of the day was fairly uneventful, but I made a good start, had a good battle, didn't make any big mistakes, and ended up 4th. This gave me some confidence going into my "big race," F1

Formula 1-the race I qualified on pole and the highlight of the weekdn: I got a great start, got the holeshot!! But held the gas on a little too long and ended up really deep into turn 2. To my shock, I still got hit on the INSIDE of that turn. I didn't go down but definitely killed my drive. By turn 3 I was 3rd. Damn. No need to panic though. Throughout the entire weekend I had been working on just relaxing more, making less mistakes, and hitting my marks. I made it back up to 2nd place by the end of the first lap, but now I was behind Berto (the president of AFM btw.) and I knew he was fast and would be hard to pass. Again, my goal was to just ride smart and not make any dumb moves. I ended up following him for the majority of the race until the last corner of the last lap I dove up the inside! We dragged to the finish line and I won by 0.02 seconds!!!

Sadly, AFM has a rule that you have to make turn 1 after the checkered, and because I cut the cones they penalized me and I ended up with 2nd place:( Check out the video I made from this race. I'll post the rest later

https://www.facebook.com/driser/videos/10157568553729375/
 
#52 ·
Nice! Good job, especially for being a track you hadn't raced at before. Everyone says Sonoma is a little sketchy in some areas.

But I don't get the point of those cones. They're like in the middle of the track. Why are they there and what's it matter if you go through them after the race is over?
 
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