Journal Entry: Cobb At Talladega

February 10th kicked off the first round of the WERA Southeast Sportsman series at Talladega Grad Prix. My Yamaha 450 motard is being rebuilt so I called up Rob Mclendon at D&D Cycles to see if he had a bike that I could race. They hooked me up with a KTM 505 motard that comes from the factory as a MX bike. It’s a 4 speed with electric start and Rob and the boys tricked it out with a set of Marchesini forged wheels. I rode around in the first practice session to get a feel for the bike, she had good motor and a really slick gear box, overall the bike felt good. The second round of practice the track temperature started coming up and as I pushed the bike faster it started to chatter in the front. We made some changes to the dampening in the front during lunch in hopes that it would be better come race time. My first race for the day was D Superbike and after getting a really good start, I looked back on lap 2 only to see fellow motard rider Susy Moody about 4 bike lengths back. As I tried to pick up the pace, my bike would chatter more and more. The chattering got so bad I thought if I went any faster the bike would crash. With 3 laps to go I had to check up out of the chicane for a lapper, that was all Suzy needed as she went around us both. For the next 2 laps I held on the best I could and managed to re-pass Suzy on the last lap, only to have her pass me again down the back straight. With both of us nose to tail going into the last chicane, I was able to take the inside and the win as she ran a little wide.

For the next race, we made some more dampening adjustments to the front and raised the tire air pressure. That, combined with a gearing change made all the difference in the world. For the next 2 races the bike was working much better. Although the chatter wasn’t completely gone, the bike was at least not trying to throw me off every corner. The changes we made enabled me to win both races making for a perfect 3 for 3 on the day. It felt really good to be back out there racing again and I look forward to the upcoming rounds. It was also cool to see fellow instructor Opie Caylor cleaning up at Talladega on his Suzuki GSX-R750. He’s got that bike dialed in and was really looking smooth out there. I also ran into former Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School instructor Jamie James, he was in good spirits and we caught up with what’s been going on in our lives.

See you at the track!

Ted “Cannonball” Cobb