Third (time's a charm) race weekend on the RR. "Get it out of your system"

Rain, cold and clouds couldn't dampen the spirits of the #42 Lake Country PowerSports sponsored 2003 Honda CBR600RR piloted by Jeffery Kufalk. As the rain poured down on the Michigan track, we mounted up a set of Dunlop full wets and hit the grid. Starting with the Sportbike race, I ran a very steady and respectable pace bringing home an early piece of wood with 5th place. The next three races found me on each spot of the podium.

Running against 750's and 1000cc big-twins, the smooth and ample power of the new Honda proved well enough for a solid 2nd place finish in the Heavyweight SuperSport race.

Middleweight SuperSport brought a 3rd place finish. Early in the race, I was tailing the first three riders with good confidence that I could work my way into them. Coming down the back straight into the final turn, lead rider #26 Dave Rosno lost the front under braking. Dave had a very uneventful slide to a stop. His 2003 R6 however, would settle for nothing so boring. Leaving the track around 100mph, the bike took a fantastic Moto-GP style 'flip 5 times, land and flip some more' type tumble. Exploding parts and chunks of sod everywhere. I got hit in the shoulder with a chunk of sod, but managed to maintain enough concentration to carry on and hold the position.

The Heavyweight SuperBike race was another nonevent. After a good launch and being first through T1, I was passed into T2 but regained the lead into T3 and ran away with it from there, finishing the race with a +20 second lead on 2nd place and the rest of the pack.

Racing in the rain was something I've never professed to be good at, or even necessarily enjoy. However, after the series of difficult weeks beforehand, I was ready for just about anything.

Many weeks preceding...
Since my last race report, I've been working for the most part, 7 days a week, 12-14 hour days plus endless pages and calls while I'm trying to sleep. It's been an absolute madhouse, and I ended up missing 3 race weekends because of it, but such is life.

Thurs 9/25 5:00 AM:
I head into work early, and advertise that I'm going to leave by Noon (since I really want to get out by 3:30). Sure enough, 3:30 on the dot, I walk out the door.

The van and trailer were packed and ready to go, so we headed out. Gingerman would only be about an hour away as the crow flies, but unfortunately my van does not have pontoon's, and I haven't yet installed the hover device, so I have to go through Chicago. We tried a new route through Chicago this time, which actually sent us through downtown on HWY 41 versus 90/94/294. It wasn't bad until my brake controller for the trailer went. Now picture this... Drive in stop and go traffic, towing a ~7000lb trailer with brake settings of either "locked up" or no brakes at all. It was far from fun.

Anyhow, we managed to get back on the highway and with some manual fiddling, I managed to be able to stop the trailer/van safely when necessary. We made it to the track at 11:00, which was their closing time. However, that was 11:00 Central (the time of arrival) and we happened to cross into Eastern time zone on the way! Locked gate...

Oh well, it could be worse (I could still be at work!). We pulled off outside the gate and hopped in the trailer and crashed for the night.

Friday 9/26:
Woke up pretty early with the sound of others going through the gates. Got in and unpacked around 8:00. There weren't that many people, so the track director called "open session" for everyone all day.

I went out for a round, which went pretty smooth, but after I came in, I was feeling really rough. Feeling quite nauseous, I had to lay down as I didn't know whether I was going to throw up or pass out.

To make matters worse, I started having a problem AGAIN with the bike dying through corners. I went through a dozen different things trying to keep it running, but nothing was working. Finally, very late in the day, I completely pulled the Power Commander out, and the bike stayed running.

After laying down for about 2 hours, I managed to get in 1 good session of about 15 GOOD laps with the bike running well, and me feeling okay. I called it quits at the end of that.

Saturday 9/27:
Much the same type of day as Friday, today was pretty much an open practice with Lockhart Phillips Street Rider Days. I hope that CCS takes comments from all of the racers who were not pleased that Sunday would have to hold 18 races.

We practiced until 2:30, but again I was getting really sick during the day. Practice, lay down, repeat. It sucked.

After we were done with the day, we went out into town and I picked up a new brake controller and I actually found some meclazine over-the-counter which was what I was given about a year ago when I was in the hospital and was so nauseous that I couldn't move. I took some on Saturday night and again on Sunday morning.

Sunday 9/28:
The day where it all came together! I felt pretty good, ran very good and wrapped the weekend up with a stack of wood. The ride home with the new brake controller went far better than the difficulties we had on the way down.

Weekend Wrap-up:
I have to take a moment to thank God for keeping me safe and bringing me through the rough times this weekend (as always). I never thought I'd see such a great weekend with such a dim forecast. As always, huge thanks to my wife and kids for being the best crew that a racer could ever have. Thanks goes out to my sponsors, friends, competitors and last but absolutely not least, everybody out there who cheers me on and supports my dream.

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!
RevLimiter Racing - One stop racing shop!

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