Laverda moment 1)
Mallory has no bridge or tunnel so you have to enter the inner paddock by going backwards down the track from the hairpin to the Esses. My Laverda now has loverly titanium Blue Flame open pipes on. The entire top end of the paddock (including the throng of racers getting their bikes scrutineered) turned to look as I hit nine grand in each of the first four gears .... Result ! Where can you open it up if not a race track. Even better was knowing that the racers weren't allowed to start there own engines for another hour (track rules, due to the neighboring village).Practice) "Four laps ?" Its now getting hot, so the slicks come out. These are a fresh set put on by a well known race supplier. We check pressures, wrap them in the warmers, and slowly bring them up to temp. A quick check of the fuel, a slight warming of the engine, and we set Pete off. With the current (stock) engine and the old forks-n-shock we were doing lowly 58 second laps, although admittedly on a cold test day. With a fine day, and newly worked (ie not bottoming at the front, and seized solid at the rear) suspension we were hoping for at least a mid 56. He sets off well enough, and clocks a 58 second first lap. Not bad for scrubbing in a new tyre we guess. Then he gets traffic through the esses so cant really tell, then he gets a 59, then a 60 .... he pulls in. The tyre is mush !! The right side looks like its been through a burnout. Even the left has warped (there is only one left hand corner of note on the track). We whip the wheel out and go up to get a replacement from MRO anterage. The tyre has no untoord markings, but a quick inspection by all determines that its so soft it must be a superpole tyre. One lap out, one lap use, one lap in. We fit the only replacement tyre he has that will match our front, and settle to our fate ... scrubbing in a new tyre during the race. After a little aggravation with a prototype part (sorry Clive), the main group of Laverdisti turned up, from as far afield as America (he happened to be over on a college trip). It just goes to show what a diverse membership Laverda's have with everything from tattooed South African woman, to sky diving nomads (sorry Nikki, Sorry Saun :-)

Race 1) "I said 3rd, not rev out"
After much shouts of "NEW TYRE" Pete sets off to the back of a supposed grid of 19 bikes. . However the grid is strangely quite, with 8 bikes not making the start. Pete is still a long way back though, but there are now huge gaps in front of him. By the time they come into view at the esses the first 6 bikes are already line astern. The back five bikes (with Pete second to last) are in one big gaggle all trying to outbrake each other into the right. Pete dives up the outside, taking one instantly, and holds round the outside of another so he is on the inside for the left (do that on a duke !). They charge up the hill towards the hairpin now three abreast but go out of sight. They flash past us again going back down the hill, but disappear behind the pits before we can take stock of position. Lap two and we start to take stock of positions. Two RSV Mille a 998 and a 996 in the lead group, another two RSV Mille and a 996 in another, then comes an SP1 and a 996 with Pete crawling all over him. The 996 just powers away from pete down the short straight, but pete outbrakes him up the inside this time, and just stays half a bike in front up the hill. By the time they come round again its clear that the 996 in the lead group has fallen (at the hairpin apparently right in the middle of the track with bikes taking avoiding actions in all directions). Pete is now 7th and battling for 6th. He is clearly swarming all over the SP1, but cant get by. Laverdisti at Gerards can see Pete sitting the bike up and rolling off the throttle so as not to hit him up the back. However as soon as the corner ends he powers away down Stebbe. Finally on lap 3 he
manages to dive up the inside at the esses and takes the place, and puts in a 56 second laps instantly. However on the penultimate lap he comes round behind the SP1 (how ?). He tries up the inside, just finds the room but they go up to the hairpin almost together. A bit of shouting from Ben on the radio reveals that Pete has managed to keep the place and heads into the last lap in a superb 6th spot. The
laverda allowing Pete to gain a lot round gerrards (again), and loose a little down Stebbe (again) but is too far in front now for the SP1 to make a move ... It looks like he has kept the place this time so we all rush back to congratulate. A good race. Outbraked, outcornered, overtook, cleared off. Only later do we realize that pete hasnt got 6th, he got 7th. He missed 3rd not once but twice comming down devels elbow. Once to allowed the SP1 to retake him, and again accelerating to take the checkered flag. Hey, who cares, it felt like a 6th.

Laverda moment 2)
Later the rider on the SP1 came over to discuss the battle. He laughs cheerily as he said his bike was getting us down thestraights (we assumed he meant without missing gears). We asked him how much power he was putting out. "140bhp" he proclaimed with pride. The look on his face when Ben informed him that he had nearly been beaten by an 86bhp 750 was one of the best moments of the day.

Race 2) "Who left that there"
I change spectating positions to the start/finish straight for race two, and watch Pete's second row position disappear as he bogs down in second. First full lap and Pete has already overtaken a 748 and a 996, with another 996, and the SP1 in front. He passes the black 996 going up the hill into the hairpin, and sets after the SP1. He has caught him by the following lap and makes the move of the afternoon
taking the SP1 around the outside of gerards powering past him as they go down the short straight. Apparently Pete made sure of the move by cutting his nose off, and we have red paint on the right link pipe to prove this. The SP1 backing off also allowed the 996 behind to get close and they fly up the hill into the hairpin line astern. Pete doesnt reammerge from the trees. The two 996's reemerge. But it takes a few anxious seconds for Pete to arrive. The SP1's clippon had sheared and come loose going in to the hairpin (we later offer him a 650 one, but he doesnt get the joke). He dumped the bike just before ploughing straight through into the bails, with the 996 viering into Pete so that Pete had to take emergency action to avoid hitting him. The result (from Laverdisti strategically posted on the corner) was a HUGE stoppy that he rested back down via a hay bail without damage to him or the bike. The result is another 8th place despite the crash, and a 55 second lap to boot. Hmm, wonder what happened to the rain that was meant to come.

Day 2) "Ahhh, here it is ...."
Oulton park, a long and fast circuit, but also Petes local track. Of all the circuits, Pete has done more laps of this than any other. We hope this helps because a lack of horsepower could be a problem here, because although there are 8 corners, its a 2 mile track with long full power straights. The weather is still sunny in Spratton HQ so we decide to take the bikes again, but we take the M6 due to time. Its glorious all the way to Stafford, and then the heavens open .... thats where the rain has been hiding.

Laverda moment 3)
We stop at the services for fuel and waterproofs, and a BMW rider comes over and asks the usual; "What is it ?"

Laverda moment 4)
We arrive at the circuit cold but dry (all hale GoreTex), but didnt want to struggle around finding tickets. Three of the people manning the gate come over to the Laverda "Is it loud enough mate?" I blip the throttle and three huge grins appear. Ben flashes his Laverda Racing shirt and they wave us through.

Practice) "Not Old Hall pleeease ..... "
Wet, very wet, and no sign of clearing so the full wets go on. This is the first time Pete has ridden the Laverda around here so we were hoping for dry conditions, but we take what we can. Pete does 2m 14s laps, but we dont know if that is good or bad. We get the bike back under the awning and run for the shelter of the caravan.

Race 1) "Unusual suspects"
It was wet (as in North Sea), and they shortened the race to 6 laps because they were running late. Pete was on the second row of the grid, but lost a place going into his nightmare corner Old Hall. He spent the next 4 laps trying to catch the 998 in front. I didnt see where he passed him, but it was quite a buzz watching him come round in front. Pete settled down and dropped into the 2m 10s. The next target was an RSV mille, but Pete wasnt closing on him, not that he was loosing ground, but he wasnt catching either. The last two laps were uneventful, but a creditable 8th place was gained where we had no right to do so.

Race 2) "Full wets ... no slicks"
Just as we put the tyre warmers on the wets for race two the rain stopped. There were stills pools of water all over the paddock so we stuck to our guns. We also checked the tyres of the bikes coming on from the previous race, but they were restricted to road tyres so we couldnt gain as much as we liked. Pete got an average start (got to work on that) and ended up in the second pack of five again. However only a lap was covered before an RSV and an SP1 tangled up in Old Hall and the race was stopped. The funny thing about the surface at Oulton is that the track dries slowly, and as one. The riders all lined up at the start again, but the top three wanted to change tyres, so the race was abandonned. The bikes were let back into the pits, and the race would be rerun in parallel with the Powerbike series.

Race 2 rerun) "Joy and despair"
The track has damp patches, but the racers on intermediates are starting to look cut up, its slicks now, and the suns come out.
The grid now contains 30 or more bikes. The PowerBikes in front, and the ProTwins behind. Pete is so far back I can hardly see him. Fortunately he gets a good start and is a third up the pack by the time he gets to Old Hall .... where he bottles it and comes out next to last (I said it was his bogey corner). To be fair we did say make it through the first corner at all costs, we need dry running times here to see if we are on the pace. By lap two he has settled into 1m 55s laps and is catching a 996. Another lap and he has him and is setting off after another 996, number 70 that was in the fast pack at Mallory the day before. Two laps later and he is considerably closer. By lap 4 he has passed him with a 1m 52s lap, and then in the remaining two laps clears off into the distance (3.5 seconds in front by the end) overtaking another R6 in the process. A shake of the fist means Pete is happy with the ride, but we havent a clue what position we came due to the R1's and GSXR's scattered about. We wait anxiously for the race results yet again. They show us 6th in class ! Hooray ! ... of only 8 starters, oh .... but they are all the quick guys from the previous races so that cant be bad. "What was the fastest lap ?". 1m 41s, 11 seconds quicker than us, not so much oh as ouch. 11% slower at Oulton where at Mallory we were only 5.4% slower. There were some quick guys at Oulton, unfortunately we werent one of them. However we received some good positions, and found out that there was a need to improve. Next race is snetterton, and unless the cam profiling guys hurry up we wont have the new engine for that either. However, like Oulton, a day will help us get the suspension right so we can get the times when the power comes. Lastly, a big thanks to all those who turned up to cheer. It feels good to know that someone else cares about what you are trying to do. Racing an R6 in a pack of R6's just wouldnt be the same.

Aarron

LAVERDA RACING - CADWELL PARK (MAY 5,6 2002)

Sorry Long (5 races and 2 practice sessions)Due to the fact that we dont have the new engine yet, we didnt see any point in going to the Pro-Twin meeting at Snetterton. Sneterton is 2 half mile straights joined by 2 90 rights at one end, and a flick-flack long-fast-corner flick-flack at the other. Dead flat, dead dull, power circuit (which the rubbery suspensioned Norton F1 Rotaries used to love).There is very little setting up to do for this track, so it wasnt as if weneeded the track time. .... So we went and played in the New Era Sounds-of-Thunder championship being held at Cadwell instead. Cadwell in comparison is one of the worlds best motorcycle circuits. Huge elevation changes, tight sections, sweeping sections, longs straights, hard braking points .. Laverda Country.

DAY 1 - Niggles
Practice is in mild drizzle after overnight rain, so we go out on wets. He does two good laps and then doesnt come round. Anxious moment number one. No red flags appear so we know pete is OK, but how is the bike. He reappears pushing the bike, and Ben helps push the bike up the very steep hill. A quick diagnosis shows that the 8A fuse has blown. Ben checks the packet to make sure he has bought the right rating ... ooops 4A continuous. Oh well, at least we know how much power the electrics draw. Gearing and suspension are OK, but there is too little surface water to keep the wets from overheating, so we opt for intermediates in the race. For race one the sun comes out, but the gale is still blowing. We are reserves so we are at the back of the grid. Pete gains 5 places on the start, but we loose sight of him in the mass as they go up the hill. There is a collision and a blue and orange bike is seen to be taken out big time by someone getting it very wrong. After much barrel rolling neither rider gets up. Anxious moment two. Ambulances are brought on track. Pete reappears after going round the top half of the circuit. Apparently they came off right in front of him. Race 1 restarts, now reduced to five laps. Same large number of places gained at the start. Another 5 on the next lap, and then he settles down in amongst some 748's, and a 1096 big-bore 996. A scrap ensues over the following laps, but he cannot make headway, and the bike starts to slide about. The sun has dried the track, and the intermediates are now overheating. Worse though is that on the second to last lap he disappears from the pack, only to appear some time later going slowly. However rather than pull off, he picks up speed again and sets off on the hunt retaking some places before the finish. He finnishes a creditable 15th seeing as he started at the back. As for the slowing down, the bike had overheated and sprayed Pete in water. Apparently the engine was running a little cold so he switched the pump onto low and it overheated within a lap. We cant tell, but we may have had an airlock, or the pump stalled when we changed to low current. For now we decide to just leave the pump running on high and add another line of tape to the rad to stop it being cooled so much. However we need to changing to a regulated, rather than switched, system for the next meeting.

Race 2 and we change to slicks.
Pete gets another good start, and this time he manages to catch, and stay past the 748, and the 1096. However as he disappears into the woodland chasing a 955 on lap 4 the red flags come out. When he gets back he reports that someone in front of him lost it at Barn (a tricky downhill, off camber right, usually damp because its under trees). He restarts, (from the back again) and finishes the race in another reasonable position, but we have to wait for the aggregate results to find out how well.

Race 3.
Novice Trophy (or something, hey they let us enter). Pete starts 26th. Lap 1 21st (past some 250's, 400's) Lap 2 17th (past a couple of GSXR6's, and some faster 400's) Lap 3 14th (Now its getting harder, past a gaggle of 600's and an SP1) Lap 4 11th (past that 1096 big-bore, a blue 748 and a TRX I think) ... but there is a huge gap to the yellow 748R that started up the front i.e half the length of the pit straight. However its down to about 15 bike lengths when he reappears half way through lap 5. He disappears around the woodland section and reappears about 8 bike lengths behind going down the start finish straight for the last lap. Pete isnt making any headway down the straight, but he carries slightly more speed up the hill as they disappear out of sight. 40 seconds later we wait for them to reappear at the tight left-right before the mountain. We all anticipate how much closer he is going to be with only half a lap to go .... but hold on ... hes in front! The Laverda holds a tight line left and twitches as Pete flicks it right over the camber. The 748 tries to go around the outside (some chance!). The pair drive up the mountain, leap through the air line astern and try not to wheely as they bash back down (it goes from 1 in 3 to flat in a few yards). Pete may be leading but changes up while in mid air, the ducati leaves it in gear and gets better traction. They drive down the short straight and head off out of sight again into the woods. ... we wait .... .... he reappears, but 4 bike length ... in front. 10th ! Superb!!!!! Right tyres, right suspension, 16 places in 6 laps, fought for and won, well done Pete. However better is to come. We pick up the results for Race 2, and Pete got 8th !!!

DAY 2 - Decisions
Day two sees FOG, lots of fog, Cadwell is nearish the sea, and on a hill so its to be expected. However the marshals in their usual manner get nervy and decide to abandon the top half of the course and just use the woodland section where all the marshal posts are within easy sight of each other. However by the time practice starts its nearly cleared up anyway ... but once a decision is made. We wander down to see if its worth racing or not. We (OK Pete) decides its OK to race (Ben would race if it was snowing, and Im sitting on the pit wall so cant judge). The fog has lifted, and although wet the track is hardly a river. Also seeing 50 or 60 bikes lined up for the practice inspires one. We put on the wets again ... and again its dried out by the time we get to go out. Again we change to intermediates for race 1. A guy chucks it going up the mountain ... right in front of Pete ... there is a pattern here. We need to change down to the 45T for the shorter track, but we dont have the chain to do it, so we stick to revving it out in 5th on a 41T. The wind has also dropped, and the ambiant temp has gone up Race 4, another flyer, and pete sets off down to what is now a hairpin, and they all filter through somehow. The race settles down, but the leaders are all trying too hard, and they all out brake each other into the hairpin on the start of lap 2 and fly up the (now unused) hill. Pete inherits 15th but is lapping two seconds off the pace. He is quicker through the wood, but is braking about 50ft earlier than the people in front of him comming into the hairpin. However, after a few people fall off, and he overtakes the yellow 748 again (he must be getting sick of that) we finish 10th. Yet another good result. The tyres are cooked (too conservative a choice again), and Ben and I uhm and argh over weather this would cause the braking problems. Pete agrees to try braking even later, and we switch tyres again onto slicks (our 6th tyre change, a busy weekend for us pit crew types).

Race 5.
Another flyer (hes got the starting down then), and overtakes theusual crew. This time he is a place further up, and battling a blue GSXR750 (its a dual class remember). Every lap is the same; The Gixxer outbrakes him into the hairpin, Pete takes the lead comming up the mountain, clears off through hall bends, makes further ground on him through the (real) hairpin, and Barn, and appears about 4-5 bike lengths up back on the start/finish straight .... where the GSX then closes the gap under brakes. Its getting to the point where Pete is smoking the rear trying to keep ahead. He is going sideways into the corner now, and on one exit (unseen by us but not to the cheering crowd) manages to nearly highside it on the grass, but keep it. It all comes to ahead on the start of penultimate lap when the GSX finally has a last ditch attempt to make it up the inside at the hairpin ... and runs out of road. His race (I think) ending in the tyre barrier on the outside. Another 9th place is held. A post mortem on the braking shows that the forks have bottomed out. Not to leave 10mm of slider tube like you usually get, but upper has hit lower (indeed the cable tie indicator has been squished between them). Pete also reports that he cant feel his right arm he has been squeezing so hard .... Softer pads required then. We dont want to change the spring rate if possible, so we will get our revalve guy to increase the range we can dial in. Imagine what we can do when we get the braking fixed, and put in a tuned motor. Hopefully we can take what we have learnt and apply it to our own (much tougher) series in a months time. Mallory here we come.
Aarron

PIGMANS RACING - INAUGURAL EVENT - NORTH FLORIDA

All,
First off, congrats to the Shaughnessy boys! Glad to see that these former Disco stars are competing well! I can't emphasize enough how the class structure of racing is critical: to be running with liter twins requires serious......ummm, skill and attention to detail. Good work
guys!! Secondly, thanks to Ben and Aaron for the oil filter blanking plate (money will eventually get there! I promise!), and thanks to Matt for the throttle cam, EPROM, air box modification, and timing inspection cover plate (did I leave anything out?).
On April 6-7 we had the inaugural event at the new North Florida Motorsport Park. This is a track exclusively for motorcycles! No cars will ripple its surface. The surface has lots of grip, marred only by some blowing sand (as the grass has not yet covered recent construction). For example: on the 4th gear left hand turn 1, I managed to scrape the fairing that attaches at the "P" shaped piece of frame that the side-stand formerly attached to! That's a serious lean angle (thank you Michelin Pilot Race Soft!). It has plenty of run-off, and Florida's soft sand is reasonably nice to bikes and humans. Over two days only one guy had to be ambulanced away (a concussion, I think). This track is what I would call a "rhythm track" with practically no hard braking. It's a lot like Roebling but without any long straight. This was a combined meeting of Florida and Southeast Regions of CCS. Over-all there was a good turnout. I have come to believe that real skill is the ability to come to a new track and learn it quickly. As I have little skill I am at a loss. First you have to figure out when to turn right and when to turn left......basicsbasicsbasics......then shift points, brake points, turn-ins, apexes......all of which I cannot learn in a weekend. Then there is the whole issue of passing strategy......
Cary

Firstly, only four guys were on the grid for Lightweight Sportsman. One of the regulars, my buddy on a tricked RZ350, is still nursing a
broken ankle, Tommy, the other Ghost guy, had to go to a wedding. Some of the Miami regulars didn't show. Last year's dominant bike, a MuZ, was asked to not return to this class when it dawned on everyone that the Yamaha single in a Spondon frame is not really a MuZ! He still competes in Super Singles. We were second wave in our race, the first wave being GP singles (we're started when they clear T1). I have never gotten over my first turn gitters. The Lav starts great off of the line, I can give SV650's hell, but when it comes time to turning into that first turn I have "visions of mortality" .....and back off like the old git that I am! Anyway, I'm second behind another MuZ after T1. I follow him around a couple of laps turning 1:37's. Finally, on the third lap, at the complex left hander (8, I think) I cut to his inside, show him a wheel, stealing the inside line at the wide-open 4th gear left hand kink just before the sweeping right hander that leads to the front straight. We don't touch, I thought it was a clean pass, then motor on to do 4 more laps of 1:34's to the win! I also manage to work my way up to third in GP singles, passing about 10 on those buzzy bikes... This pass was in front of my wife and friends, and a bunch of drunk good-ole-boys, who seemed to have adopted me (not on purpose!) and, apparently, from their vantage point, looked dreadfully close. I had no idea how much faster I was than he, so I pushed it as hard as I could. On the white flag lap, flying into T1, scraping fairing, feeling shudder from front and back as I knew I was at the limit of traction, a bug the size of a football splattered on my visor............. for those of you who don't race, you need to know that when you're really, REALLY racing, there could be naked women with orange hair riding blue kangaroos by track side and you wouldn't notice! ........so the bug was a big deal! So this is my 3rd win in LWSM. I am well over 100 points in the lead in this class (65 points to the winner). In middleweight Sportsman I finished 6th, with my buddy on his Ducati 750 (really an 800) in 5th. First through 4th were young guys on Aprilia 250's as this is their spec-class. I think 10 or 12 were gridded. As the Aprilia boys don't regularly compete (I don't know why) I'm first in this class also, by about 70 points. In GT-Lights I was last, 16th of 16 finishers (as the best SV650's from Florida and Georgia ripped by me!). In Lightweight Superbike I was 9th of 11 finishers as the same guys showed me how it's done.... So, all-in-all, a great weekend. Best Saturday practice time was 1:36.40. Best Sunday race time was 1:34.58. Our Florida region champ, Shane Prieto, on his unlimited class, Suz 750, has the track record at 1:18.

Cary, CCS Florida Region Expert #677
currently first in lightweight and middleweight sportsman
Laverda Ghost Strike 668

Sorry all, this is it. Just a word about durability.......and I may have just jinxed myself.......but: My Ghost Strike has ran 70 races since April of 2000. Each race averages about 20 minutes, with slightly more practice sessions. I may have the math wrong but I figure that's 47 hours of high-rpm, bouncing off the rev-limiter running! One hard get-off, one other low-speed, low side, and one weird, low speed, collision. This is with gradual modifications, regular oil change, regular valve clearance checks. And she has ran perfectly. None of my friends with Ducati's can say that about theirs!
Thanks again to Matt, Ben and Aaron.
Cary, time to do some real work

LAVERDA RACING - SILVERSTONE (APRIL 6,7 2002)

2 days, 4 races, so this a long message. For those interested in a quick fix jump to race 3.

Day 1) On the learning curve, we just hit the steep bit.
New rider (never raced before), new track, new bike, new tyres. We have a measly 10 minute practice which went OK. Pete wobbled round doing 1:11s when the 998S I timed was doing 1:08s, so we weren't too upset. We thought 3 seconds off the pace was excellent for the first time out on the bike in anger.

RACE 1
He lost a second off his time at 1:10s (good) ... but the leaders dropped 4s to 1:04's (Bad). Pete also got a bad start by having to back off to stop from ramming an Aprilia RSV that had buggered up his start even more. He sat 4 from the back for the entire race, on his own, no-one in sight to catch (or more importantly crib lines and braking points off). A very dejected rider comes back in complaining of a gutless bike. He cant pull more than 7K in top. We change up a tooth.

RACE 2
We now take the walky-talkies and go to each end of the back straight to do some timings to see how far off the pace we are. 22s for the leading Aprilia, 22.5s for us. Half a second, and every other lap he has to lift the bike out of the turn to make the apex ... doesnt
look like a lack of power. Finish 16 (read last), but only half a corner behind the 748 Ducati (the only other 750 out there), and managed to take another 2s of the lap time(now 1:08s) Pete is now much happier. Having someone in sight makes a huge difference.

Day 2) High to low in the space of a race.

RACE 3
We meat up with Clive Smith (of Workshop manual copying fame) who gave us a donation to the cause. Both Ben and I have been on the end of this already so we make sure Peter receives it direct. As Pete said later "He could have given me 30p and I'd have still been stunned". We are 31st on the grid due to earlier results, but he gets a good start this time, so things get a lot better. He is now easily in touch with the pack at the second corner. He out brakes a Honda SP1 and a Suzuki TLR, holds a tight line, and they never repass him. Lap 2 and he is sitting behind the 748 into turn 3 and drives round the outside (on what is a long, slow paced, 3rd gear corner). By the time he come back into view the 748 is ahead again, but the laverda goes down the inside this time, and makes it stick. The laverda now starts to pull away. He is now sitting behind the 996SPS, but he can overtake it. No problems matching its straight line speed, and even acceleration, but cant get the power down out of the corners properly in order to overtake. Time for the back straight is now 22s dead, and 1:06s for a lap (another two seconds dropped).

RACE 4
We determine that as the rear end is hard already, the bike must be banging off the bumps under power so we soften the rear shock up a little, and try to match this at the front to keep it level. This is where we would like to be able to go to a settings book and pick something, but for now its just guesswork. While taking off some preload we also find that the damping screw is jammed solid on hard. After a little persuasion we manage to get it to turn, but the clicks are indeterminate. We back it off 3. He somehow manages to get the bike vertical off the line. He drops into the 1:07s, and goes backwards fast. From our standpoint you could even see it pogo'ing about. When he come in you can see the tyres are ripped to shreds. However this is not all due to suspension. Pete is hunting around the rear of the bike looking for whatever it was making a metallic graunch. We find the sprocket carrier is pressed up against the swinging arm. The bolts have ripped a groove, and the chain is rubbing against the finger guard. Pete (high on adrenalin) throws a wobbler thinking we haven't put the wheel back in properly and we have nearly killed him. However we soon discover that the sprocket carrier bearing has detonated. Indeed there is very little left but the outer race and some shrapnel. After he cools down Pete remembers that it didn't start until after a cracking sound at luffield on lap 3. Fortunately the curved nature of the swinging arm has minimized the damage, so it wont need replacing. However we now know what we are spending Clives donation on ... New SKF wheel bearings throughout. So in a field of Ducati 998s, 996s, 955 Corsas, Aprillia RSV Milles, Suzuki TL100Rs, Honda SP1s, a 748, and us ... we beat the SP1, one of the two TL1000, and most importantly, the 748. We also gained a single championship point. Found how quick we were in a straight line. Found the rear shock needs rebuilding, and now look forward to ... another circuit with nothing but long straights.
Aarron

PIGMANS RACING - USA - DAYTONA ( MARCH 1 2002)

All fellow Zanisti's:
A Laverda finally won a race at Daytona!
I finally won a race,
It was my 96th race in Champion Cup Series racing,
1 March 2002: Expert Lightweight Sportsman
Best lap time was 2:23.31 (3.56 mile circuit)
Moving the trailer into the pits on Wednesday went smoother than in years past. Security personnel, who usually act like angry, hungry bears with a heat rash and hemorrhoids, were less malignant than usual. You could almost call them nice...... Practice on Thursday started with record low temperatures for my part of the world (please understand that we Floridians consider anything below 60 degrees COLD). During the night it had gotten down to less than freezing. During my first practice session it was in the forty's. I'm not sure what I was to do while on the 31 degree Daytona banking, doing 135 mph or so, and have my nose drip all over the inside of my helmet......and what is the chill factor at 40 with 135 mph wind? I'm sure you hard-assed Britons put up with this all of the time.......in the summer! Friday was in the 60's, but overcast. The track was dry. I decided to run in the 30 minute GT-Lights race just to get more track time. This
is dominated by the built SV-650's (or, in reality, 700+). I ran well and managed a creditable 18th out of about 30 starters. My second race was middleweight sportsman. This is a "spec" class for Aprilia 250's, and Ducati 750S/SS's do well here. I was running a very impressive 5th place, in front of a lot of Aprilias, when I tried to do an aggressive outside move in the middle of the back straight bus-stop chicane. I ran wide, got out in the sand (no hard dirt here in Florida). I lost 4 positions before I pulled it back together, got slow
enough to turn in that damn stuff, and get back on the track. The results of this race are still under dispute (but not by me) so I'm not
sure of my finish.....maybe 10th out of 26 starters. But I was very angry at myself for pulling such a stupid move! The last race of the day was Lightweight Sportsman. I was 3rd going into turn 1-2. I got around one guy in the first horseshoe, and then passed the other guy in the second horseshoe. I came around on lap 1 in first. But the second guy, on a MuZ late braked me into turn 1. But I discovered that while he could late-brake me, I had better corner speed, and was right on his tail by the first horseshoe. I pulled the same move on him again at the second horseshoe.....I went in deep, squared it off late, then powered up on his inside. From then on (so I learned later, because at 43 I'm too old and stiff and near-sighted to look around my backside while racing) I gradually pulled away, braking more aggressively than ever into 1. From lap 3 until lap 6, the last, I kept worrying that he would draft by me at the end. I kept wishing for the race to be over! It was too weird to convey to y'all, riding at full tilt about the track at Daytona, with no one in front of me....it was as though I was all alone in the universe. I eventually won with a 1.7 second margin. On the last lap, while in NASCAR 2, I caught myself wondering what I'd
say at the post-race interview (having never given one), I quickly extinguished that thought......bad karma! Friends and family report that it was humorous listening to the race announcers try to explain what a Laverda was. Apparently at one point one of the announcers called it "a Laverda with a skorpion engine"!!!! My wife also thought the announcer pronounced "Laverda" funny, like he had a French Canadian accent (?). Near the end of the race it did come out that Laverda was owned by Aprilia and was being "reorganized." I wonder if an Aprilia bigwig was there.......... The last question at the interview, "Cary, tell us who does your engine work and race prep?" He was obviously thinking what a fool I was to not recognize any sponsors....

My response, "ME"
Matt: Thanks Mucho!!!!!
Cary, CCS, Expert, Florida Region #677
BTW, at the post-race interview, I thanked my friends, Francisco, Tommy,
Chuck, and Matt; and my best friend of all: my wife, Darlene