ryandalling
New Member
I just finished three days at the track. The temperature was high 70s to low 80s. The track was PIR in Portland, Oregon. PIR was setup to go 9 turns and is a bit over 2 miles.
Friday:
This was a practice day. They were running three sessions; New Racer School, Medium, and Fast Experts. Usually, I go out in the Middle B group on my ninja 250 race bike and do fine. As I had only a few miles on the 390, there was no way I was going to go out in Fast. I kept the stock rear tire on, the Diablo Rosso II is a great tire. I was running 28 psi hot. Swapped on a SuperCorsa SC on front, running 31 psi hot. Bumped up the rear suspension to 7 clicks. First few laps, I was impressed. The bike had a ton of torque and was easily 50 lbs lighter than my ninja. I was easily weaving in and out of traffic and destroying bikes in the corners. There was a blend of bikes on track and the lack of a slow group dumped the others into Medium. I think this gave me a false sense of my speed and skill. I found that stock gearing topped me out at 112mph. Hard on brakes never felt soft and I didn't notice the ABS at all. Stock suspension was softer than snot, so I had to brake a bit early and let things settle before tipping into T-1.
Saturday Race day:
Morning practice showed some flaws in my setup. With the length of the front straight, and a solid drive out, I was hitting the rev limiter way too early. If I had extra rear sprockets, I would have dropped two teeth, maybe three. Also, the suspension was pushing me wide in the corners. I was fast but I had serious issues holding the tight line. To add insult, I started dragging the stock foot pegs. (Race rearsets show up this Wednesday.) I had one race on Saturday, and I was in 3rd most of the race till we caught lap traffic on the white flag. I went wide, and the guy behind me went inside. The lapper spooked up on me and I had to check up. Finished in 4th.
Sunday Race day:
Morning practice had me trying new lines and braking much later. I came into T-9 so hot that I actually did a little stoppie and had the rear off the ground coming in... the brakes never slipped, and this is stock pads with stock levers, and the ABS on. You could feel the front bottom out when you hit the brakes. Later, I realized I could just drop gear down and trust the tires at that speed. Coming around T4, I hammered an extra gear and found some serious engine breaking as the rear hopped and skipped around in protest. At this point I was a solid 2 seconds a lap faster than a perfectly setup Ninja 250. Races were pretty full, 30 bike grids, had some great battles. Finished 8th, 10th, and on the last race of the day, I went into the grass while battling it out in the top pack. I saved it and got back on track and ended up in 20th. Still managing to catch and pass a few bikes.
I think that the bike will end up dominating the class. Given a proper setup and a rider lighter than my 205 lbs of love, and 6' 2" frame. Shipped the forks off to KFG and am looking for a better rear shock,
Thanks to my sponsors: Woodcraft, KFG, Pirelli, Bell Helmets, Sidi Boots, and EDR Performance.
Pics to come.
Friday:
This was a practice day. They were running three sessions; New Racer School, Medium, and Fast Experts. Usually, I go out in the Middle B group on my ninja 250 race bike and do fine. As I had only a few miles on the 390, there was no way I was going to go out in Fast. I kept the stock rear tire on, the Diablo Rosso II is a great tire. I was running 28 psi hot. Swapped on a SuperCorsa SC on front, running 31 psi hot. Bumped up the rear suspension to 7 clicks. First few laps, I was impressed. The bike had a ton of torque and was easily 50 lbs lighter than my ninja. I was easily weaving in and out of traffic and destroying bikes in the corners. There was a blend of bikes on track and the lack of a slow group dumped the others into Medium. I think this gave me a false sense of my speed and skill. I found that stock gearing topped me out at 112mph. Hard on brakes never felt soft and I didn't notice the ABS at all. Stock suspension was softer than snot, so I had to brake a bit early and let things settle before tipping into T-1.
Saturday Race day:
Morning practice showed some flaws in my setup. With the length of the front straight, and a solid drive out, I was hitting the rev limiter way too early. If I had extra rear sprockets, I would have dropped two teeth, maybe three. Also, the suspension was pushing me wide in the corners. I was fast but I had serious issues holding the tight line. To add insult, I started dragging the stock foot pegs. (Race rearsets show up this Wednesday.) I had one race on Saturday, and I was in 3rd most of the race till we caught lap traffic on the white flag. I went wide, and the guy behind me went inside. The lapper spooked up on me and I had to check up. Finished in 4th.
Sunday Race day:
Morning practice had me trying new lines and braking much later. I came into T-9 so hot that I actually did a little stoppie and had the rear off the ground coming in... the brakes never slipped, and this is stock pads with stock levers, and the ABS on. You could feel the front bottom out when you hit the brakes. Later, I realized I could just drop gear down and trust the tires at that speed. Coming around T4, I hammered an extra gear and found some serious engine breaking as the rear hopped and skipped around in protest. At this point I was a solid 2 seconds a lap faster than a perfectly setup Ninja 250. Races were pretty full, 30 bike grids, had some great battles. Finished 8th, 10th, and on the last race of the day, I went into the grass while battling it out in the top pack. I saved it and got back on track and ended up in 20th. Still managing to catch and pass a few bikes.
I think that the bike will end up dominating the class. Given a proper setup and a rider lighter than my 205 lbs of love, and 6' 2" frame. Shipped the forks off to KFG and am looking for a better rear shock,
Thanks to my sponsors: Woodcraft, KFG, Pirelli, Bell Helmets, Sidi Boots, and EDR Performance.
Pics to come.
