CCS Regional Summit Point West Virginia July 1995

What started out as a regular weekend, turned out to be an abbreviated
one as the US round of the World Superbike Series was live on TV and I
wanted to catch it Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday, I was breaking in a new set of rings, pistons and
cylinders.  I was running a mineral 20/50 wt oil as the synthetic I
normally run is too slippery to allow the chrome top ring to seat to
the Nikasil lined cylinders. Normall I try and give my motors at least
a practice session of breakin, preferably a session and a half. Since I
do not run a tachometer on this bike (unecessary weight), this made
holding to a specific max rpm difficult. I ran one session and then
opened it up for the second session. I wonder if the rings were fully
seated, because after the second session, my catch bottle was quite
full.

After the second session, I let the bike cool and I torqued the heads
and adjusted the valves. I also made a guess on jetting, and dropped
the needle one notch. The bike was now ready for Light Weight Super
Twins. The last time I entered this race I came in last. Not only has
my bike been slower than a 650 Honda Hawk, it's been slower than an
Kawasaki EX500!  While I was freshening up the pistons and rings, I
decarboned the heads and cleaned up the valves as well. I was hoping
that all these things taken together would add up. I got an ok hole
shot in LWST, but was down in about 5th. I got past a couple of bikes
on the first lap (Harley 883 and EX500) and that was it. The leaders
were untouchable (a 750 Ducati and a Hawk), but I just put my head down
and held onto 3rd. I felt great as this was my best finish in any Twins
race yet with my new (to me) little V50. The good news is, I was
finally able to run with the 883 Harleys and the EX500's, and I even
managed to beat a Hawk. It seems dropping the needle helped the
midrange alot. I also shredded a brand new rear tire. I have much more
confidence sliding the lighter V50 than I did sliding the heavier
Lemans based bike. Finally this little bike is deserving of the title
"Mikes Bike".

On Sunday I decided to race 2 races early in the day and head home.  I
signed up for Heavy Weight Super Twins and Light Weight Super Bike.  I
was able to take a 5th in HWST and a 7th in LWSB. The races were back
to back, and during my second race, I noticed my motor getting soft
from the heat and my brakes were beginning to fade, the damping in my
suspension was also fading. Next time I'll think twice about doing two
sprints back to back.

Right now I'm in the middle of routine maintenance on the beast getting
her ready for WERA Vintage and sprints this coming weekend at Summit
Point. The last time I had the rear drive off I noticed that the bolts
holding the ring gear onto the stub axel were backing out. You can bet
I will check them every race from now own. I am also installing a
larger catch bottle, and will go with mineral oil for one more weekend
in the hopes that the rings will more fully seat. See you at the races.


Mike Tiberio
internet:
mtiberio@bbn.com