Rennie Scaysbrook | September 26, 2016
Cranked over and going for it: despite nabbing a win late on Sunday, Rennie still has a bit of work to do.
Let the work begin!
I will feely admit I can use a bit of help when it comes to riding. I believe I am a competent rider (I ought to be, considering my job title), but I’m not as fast or as smooth as I’d like to be. I’ve done rider training before, namely with Bernie Hatton in Australia (he’s the guy who coaches Moto2 rider Anthony West), and I’ve seen the incredible benefits of it first-hand.
Not being a full-time racer, it’s easy to become a bit rusty, so I hatched a plan. I’m going to race the first round of the Chuckwalla Valley Motorcycle Association (CVMA) Winter Series in Southern California, then I’m off to Jason Pridmore’s Star School, and finally, I’ll head back to Chuckwalla for round two of the CVMA series to see if I’m any faster.
Joey Lombado attending to his baby between Saturday runs.
Luckily, I’ve got the use of Kawasaki USA’s project ZX-10R Superstock racer and the company’s own Joey Lombado (who worked alongside legends like Miguel Duhamel and Tommy Hayden, among others), and Dunlop Tire has pitched in to provide some sticky rubber to try and lay down some fast laps.
The machine is absolutely without question: this Kawasaki ZX-10R is laced with a bunch of kit parts from the Kawasaki race catalogue, so it certainly won’t be a case of the bike being good enough if the results don’t come!
The race weekend of CVMA round one starts off pretty rough, to be honest. I’m circulating about 10, yes, 10 seconds, off the pace. Chuckwalla is a bi-direction track and I’ve only ridden the anti-clockwise configuration once on a streetbike, but I may as well have never been here at all. The bike is trying to ride me, way more than the other way around, and I’m having a real issue with the rear pumping and forcing me to run wide, which is more down to my riding style than anything else.
Over the course of the first day I gradually get to grips with the track, and as the times begin to drop, the bike starts to feel better and better. Jason Pridmore spent the majority of Friday trying to iron out some of the bike’s set-up issues (it was a brand new bike, after all), but his set-up works well for him and I’m nowhere near his pace. After a few changes to the rebound and playing around with different preload settings the Kawasaki starts to feel a bit more sedate, a bit more suited to my slower pace. This in turn brings a bit of confidence and I start to go faster.
The end of Saturday sees me with seventh and fifth places in the two races and the times drop to a 1:51.6 seconds, roughly 8.5 seconds faster than when I started! The winner, MotoAmerica Supersport gun Benny Solice, waxes everyone with times in the 1:48 and 1:47 second brackets, miles faster than anyone else, but then, you’d expect that from a full-time pro as fast as him.
The second day is much better for me and green meanie racer. Over the course of three races I take a two fifth places (including in the Shootout against all the fast guys and drop into the 1:50 second bracket), and I manage to take my first win on a 1000cc bike in the final Open Supersport race. That’s a pretty amazing feeling but when I look at my weekend objectively, there’s a stack of stuff I need to work on at Jason’s school.
All good after one round, now it’s time to hit up the Jason Pridmore Star School and learn a thing or two!
With the bike being set up as well as it is, for me, I’m going to see more of a gain if I focus on my riding than changing the machine. I’m going into the Jason Pridmore Star School with three things in mind: get myself to stop turning in early, be smoother on the throttle to reduce the rear end pumping around and making me run wide, and gain more of a feel for the tire. Hopefully this will enable me to shed another second or so consistently without any extra exertion, because riding this thing is physical enough as it is and I don’t need to make it any harder!
Stay tuned for more coming up…
Photography by Cali Photography
