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A Racer Checks in - Mike Morgan Update |
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Written by Jeff Feathers
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Tuesday, 12 June 2007 |
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As always, Mike Morgan took time out of his schedule to update us on his recent racing exploits at Road America. Due to the fact that Racer Digest does not want to infringe on any copyright laws, check out his photos on www.meccaofspeed.com. Keep up the good work Mike. Road America
June 2-3
Finishing position 29th out of 42.
Road America has not been nice to me the last couple of years. Crashes, broken bikes and bodies have been the norm for me there. So I went about this race weekend a little differently. We arrived on Tuesday to take part in a track day before the AMA weekend. It was nice to get some time on the bike and ramp up to the weekend a little slower. With 2 full days of riding before racing, getting around the track was easier. That was really nice, you just get so comfortable on the bike and what it’s going to do. And the lap times showed it.
I was 2 people away from being in the faster group for qualifying on Friday. The AMA splits the field into 2 groups. The first 50% are in the fast group and the other 50% are in a slower group. They base this on lap times. If I would have done the same time I did in the race or for qualifying I would have been in the faster group! But I don’t really push to hard during practice on Friday morning. So it was exciting to be that close without trying to hard. Plus I end up being near the top of the other group and get talked about during qualifying.
The weekend’s weather did not coroperate very well. It was raining on and off. So that makes for more stress when you don’t have an endless supply of rims, tires, and money. But as usual the guys at Dunlop really came trough! Those guys have such a hard job and not much thanks. But, are one of the single biggest factors in racing. Another factor for me is pit crew. Trying to do everything by yourself at a race is hard. So I have got to give a special thanks to the guys from Smartdot! As seen in the pictures. Everyone did a great job and helped out a lot.
After qualifying 29th and being as high as 24th during qualifying I was happy with the weekend. The race went well. I did make a few mistakes that allowed a group of 4 guys to get far enough away that I could not get back in the draft. And 3 of the guys I out qualified. But RA is such a high speed track that if you get out of the draft it is hard to keep up. I was catching the group but ran out of laps. I did turn a faster lap time than everyone in that group. And for this track that I have struggled so much at I’m happy with my performance. I lowered my lap time by 4 seconds! And was consistently going faster by 2-3 seconds than I did last year.
We have a long break since we are not doing any west coast rounds. So I’ll try to get in a few track days before mid-ohio.
Thanks to everyone!
Mike Morgan
RIM Racing & Engineering
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Mike Morgan - Racer Highlight: February |
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Written by Jeff Feathers
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Monday, 05 February 2007 |
While Josh Hayes was out at the front, winning a national championship aboard his factory Honda CBR600RR, further back in the pack Mike Morgan was fighting for a small piece of the contingency pie. In a time where top AMA riders pull down six and seven figure salaries, sponsorships and race bonuses, privateers drive away happy to have won anything at all. The simple fact is that for every top professional making the big money, there are hundreds of men and women paying their own way just to compete against some of the best in the nation.
On Wednesday, September 27th, 2006 as the factory pros flew into Ohio from locations all around the nation, Mike Morgan was packing his family into the motorhome and driving himself to the Mid Ohio Sportscar Course. His outfit might not be as grand as some, but every race weekend, his home becomes the tiny space occupied by his aging Ford motor van and the enclosed trailer with all of the necessary supplies to race. His crew consists of himself as the mechanic, driver, suspension man, tire guy and most importantly, racer; his wife Rachel, who does what she can to help out when needed; and daughter Isabella, although only three, certainly knows her way around a motorcycle. Once at the track, the family finds themselves parked outside of the paddock, surrounded by the other hoards of hard working privateers. Despite the focused competition on the tarmac, the racers assume a more family oriented role inside their pits and it is not uncommon for these men and women to share secrets, information and help whenever possible with anyone in need. Racing might be life for most of these riders, but it never supercedes the kinder, gentler side of human nature |
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Nicky Hayden - 2006 Racer of the Year |
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Written by Jeff Feathers
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Friday, 05 January 2007 |
 From the word go, the 2006 MotoGP season was different. The whole world knew that the impending demise of the 990’s would make this year important, but no one ever suspected the kind of drama and storylines more closely associated with Spanish novellas than with motorcycle racing. In the past, small one act plays, panned out over the course of an entire season, but this year every race featured a new and exciting twist to the plot of every racer’s dream. Crashes, blowups, “The Curse,” new guard vs. old guard, rookies and veterans, all played an integral role in making this year a season to be remembered. For some, this year was the same as last year, no expectations and no results. For others, Fortune and Misfortune played a starring role in their season. But no matter what the script had laid out for them, every rider who lined up on Sunday risked his career to walk home with the single thing only one of them could have, a World Championship. Years of hard work and dedication splashed out in seventeen short races and in the end Nicky Hayden proved he was the most deserving. The 2006 Racer-Digest, Racer of the Year had to be the new World Champion, there was no one else.
Four years ago, a young AMA champion stepped into one of the most coveted seats on the MotoGP circuit. Repsol Honda had dominated motorcycling’s top class for almost ten years, first with Mick Doohan and then onto Valentino Rossi, Nicky’s then new teammate. Rossi although young, was establishing himself as the rider to beat and Honda’s RC211v was the absolute best in the class. Who wouldn’t have wanted to be in Hayden’s position? But the learning curve is steep when the world is watching and despite immense amounts of pressure from the world media, the Kentucky Kid has handled himself beautifully. His last four years have seen four new teammates, new mechanics and team members, and throughout all this, the only constant has been Repsol Honda on his bike and leathers and Nicky’s unwavering dedication to win. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 07 February 2007 )
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Buying Time - Qualifying through the eyes of Ducati |
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Written by Jeff Feathers
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Saturday, 05 August 2006 |
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V=d/t. It’s simple. In pure physics terms, speed is equal to distance divided by time. Riders who want to be fast are faced with that fact every weekend, season after season, all in the name of one singular goal. The win. Race victories and championships come down to the fact that one rider must be consistently faster than all the others.
Riders do the work on the track, but throughout the course of any race weekend it is the job of the team to reduce the lap times. Less time, same distance equals more speed. Every year bikes get faster and faster so riders have to adjust their understanding of speed and horsepower and teams have to respond by giving their riders an advantage over every one else. One of the first advantages that any rider can have is starting position and qualifying sorts out the fast from the back of the pack. If you want to win, you have to have a good starting grid position. If you want a good starting grid position, you have to be fast in qualifying. Forty minutes to make your mark and leave the fastest time on the track. One of the few moments in a rider’s life where buying time would be a worthwhile proposition.
As with any factory supported race team, one of the first impressions anyone takes away from the paddock is the immense amount of money that must go into funding such a ludicrous business. The phrase, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” does not come without cost. Peering into the pit at Mid Ohio it is readily obvious that Ducati spared no expense when dumping money into their racing program. Two world class racers, each supported by their own six man crew featuring a head engineer, three mechanics, electronics engineer and a tire/fuel man. Unfortunately for them, the team must share a Dunlop tire technician and Ohlins suspension technician. This is not just a road racing team, it is a business venture as well. A massive, bright red tractor-trailer hauls the entire operation around the country including a driver and full time cook. The cost incurred in one race weekend is not for the faint of heart.
For the fans, qualifying looks like a trackday on meth, everyone working so hard to break out with a fast lap and the limited time on track does not work in their favor. For the team, it is an entirely different story. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 20 February 2007 )
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