The crowd goes wild. Check in one hand, award in the other, I walk away triumphant. People I've never met before stopped by to congratulate me and have a peek at the award winning HELMET! That's right, Midwest Safety Crew held a contest for the coolest competition numbers on a helmet (new regulation in 2004). The Katewerk designed, Lake Country Powersports sponsored, cbr600rr.com Shoei RF-1000 took the top spot on the podium. Well, at least I won something this weekend!

Round 2 of CCS Midwest racing completed at Blackhawk Farms 5/7-8. With weather forecasts changing literally every 15 minutes, we chanced it and headed out for the track Thursday night.

Getting to the track early, I managed setup with a few friends who showed up around the same time. The forecast for Thurs night called for strong storms, high winds, large hail. Nothing really seemed like it was going to happen though, but I tied down the monster 10x20 canopy with a few extra safety lines just in case. Well, around 2:00AM the wind came in. And MAN was it blowing... I don't know how hard, but I'd believe it was in the 50-60 mph range for the gusts and constant 20-30mph sustained. It was hard enough to rock the trailer really hard, and then the poles for the canopy were smacking against the trailer. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep.

5/6/04 - Friday:
After spending 20 minutes trying to find my other chair which blew away, I managed a decent day of practice. The wind was still high, and my times were not really where I wanted them. The best I managed were mid 17's which is about right for a practice day, but I was hoping to get down into the 15's again.

Mid-way through the day, my rear tire started fading pretty good, and then it started raining. I got out of my leathers to call it quits for the day, and as soon as I did, the sun came out and dried everything up. There was about 1 1/2 hours left, but I figured God was telling me to stop for the day, so I went with it and stayed out of my leathers. I spent the afternoon cleaning up the bike and putting fresh rubber on the rear. The rain then set in pretty hard...

Pit setup, waiting inside in the rain for the crew to arrive, my faithful company :-)

5/7/04 - Saturday:
I picked up a 5gal can of VP U4 fuel from Matt Drucker of MD Racing to try out for the weekend in the RR. Hey, with normal 92oct pump gas being $2.25, it makes $9/gal for race gas seem reasonable!

Weather for the day turned out beautiful. Hot & Sunny for the most part.

Middleweight GP:
I got a decent launch on the race and managed to instantly start clicking off constant 1:16's for lap times. My lines were quite good and I was very comfortable. I ended up in 9th for this race which isn't too bad, but still some work to do. No real drama to speak of. The VP was a DEFINITE increase in power. I don't know what it gave me yet (dropping the bike off with Shane tomorrow to have dyno'd & mapped) in HP, but I know it is more than the 106 I had on pump gas.

With that extra power, I also picked up a set of Carbone Lorraine brake pads from Rick Breuer of Learning Curves. These pads are reputed to be "THE BEST", so I wanted to try them out and Rick was gracious enough to help me with them. Full review pending, but suffice it to say that I will echo the claims that these are the BEST. :-)

Saturday night, we got a little touch of rain, but nothing much to speak of.

Nice passing sequence

5/8/04 - Sunday:
I had 3 races to run on Sunday, and early morning sun gave way to clouds and showers about 30 minutes before my 1st race. The question was, rain tires or DOTs.... Looking to the sky, I figured it would pass, so I stayed with DOTs. The rain stopped one race before mine, and the sun came out.

Middleweight Superbike:
Racing on a 'damp' track is a dangerous prospect. You want to push as hard as you can when it's dry, but you just don't know if you can. I still had my DOT tires on which was the absolute best. The track was 90-95% dry, so rain tires would not at all have been good at all. When I went out for my warm-up lap, I noted numerous riders who still had rain tires on. This definitely worked to my advantage as they simply couldn't hold a solid pace on rain tires versus my DOTs.

Within a few laps, I managed to get down into the low 16's again, and turned out one of two fast laps for the weekend. This race had me finish in 8th place. One better than my previous race, so progress is made!

Back in from the MWSB race and the bike went right back on the warmers waiting only 1 race for my next.

Heavyweight Superbike:
I enjoy racing against the 750's at a smaller, more technical track like Blackhawk while on my 600. The track was completely dry at this point and I was ready for business. An excellent launch saw me 4th place into turn 1. Losing a couple of places and then gaining them back through the race, I didn't know where I finished, but my laps were very consistent and comfortable, so I really didn't care. My crew was split as to whether I was 5th or 6th. 5th means wood, 6th is nothing. It ended up that I was 6th, so I was kinda bummed that I didn't place, but since I felt so good about the race, I really didn't care.

Heavyweight Supersport:
Last race of the weekend. I really should have put on a new rear tire for this race, but I wanted to stretch out what I had. I had probably my worst launch of the weekend in this race, but was running consistent. Passing a few and getting passed. I ran a good race and had fun. I ended up dicing with a guy on a GSXR-750 who had the same number (42) as me. We passed each other a couple of times.

About 1/2 way through the race, I came down into turn 1 nice and hot as usual. Coming out, still bent over, I look and there sits this HUGE TURTLE. Like the size of a dinner plate type big... Up off the seat, I hit it square on and thankfully there was enough momentum that it just upset the bike and didn't toss me. I'm not sure whether it was dead before I hit it, but it sure wasn't moving afterwards. It remained in the exit line for the rest of the race.

On lap 8, still dicing with my GSXR guy, I came around the inside of him in turn 7. Head down, I stretched the throttle cables banging through the gears in hopes of beating him to the line, but the extra 20hp of the 750 proved a little too much as he inched past me for the finish. I finished somewhere mid-pack for this race.

Wrap-up.
This was easily the best race weekend I've had in a LONG time. Even without placing anywhere real great, my lap times were decent (3 seconds off of winning times), I was very comfortable and above all, I HAD FUN! I'd rather have a weekend where I bring home nothing and feel this good than bring home a stack of wood but feel something is wrong.

My thanks list for this weekend:
As always, BIG thanks to God for keeping me safe & upright. Thanks goes out to my wife Jennifer who couldn't imagine spending Mother's day at any place that doesn't stink of race gas.

Special thanks out to Matt Drucker and MD Racing for turning me on to the pros of a good race fuel.
Special thanks to Rick Breuer and Learning Curves for the Carbone Lorraine pads.

• All of my sponsors! Thank you so much for keeping me in this sport. I used many new products this weekend and all were flawless. To name a few:
  • Honda Motorcycles - Lake Country Powersports
  • Thrust gearing - Moto-Heaven
  • Custom helmet design - Katewerk
  • M4 exhaust system - M4 Exhaust
  • Kyle Gordis frame alignment - MD Racing
  • RS Taichi under-suit, Dainese Wave spine protector - Moto Liberty
  • Polar-Optics visor - Polar-Optics
  • PD Warmers - www.tirewarmers.com
  • Digi-gear - Revlimiter Racing
  • Scotts Damper & Oil filter - Scotts Performance
  • Race photos - Sliderphoto

Thanks also to my Family, Friends and Supporters around the world who keep me encouraged, funded and able to live this crazy dream.

Until next time...

JeF4y Racing is proudly sponsored by:

Lake Country Powersports - For all your Honda/Suzuki/Ducati needs!
Hi-Side Racing - Race products, for racers by a racer!
Scotts Performance - Steering stabilizers & reusable Stainless Steel oil filters
MD Racing - Kyle Gordis measuring/alignment system, Race bodywork & engine building
Moto Liberty - All of your gear needs, street and race!
Sliderwoman - The place for Pucks
Silkolenestore - Only the best lubricants for my CBR600RR
Trackside Engineering - Suspension first, everything else is secondary.
Sliderphoto - Making riders look like professionals!
PDI Tirewarmers - Better & Cheaper than the rest!
Moto-Heaven - Thrust Gearing, XES custom leathers, Wintex gear

So? What do you think? Am I great? Do I suck? Let's hear it... Post your comments in the Forum