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So then, we leave on thursday, 400 miles trip down to rome, sleep in a small B&B, friday at the track for first free practice at 2:00 pm

Vallelunga track looks like this... They run here one of the WSBK rounds. it's about 3 miles per lap.

trouble is constantly drizzling, so out we go, slow first laps, motor feels good, gearchange is pretty hard (?), two laps to get heat into the tires and a lap later motor stops, wont restart when getting a push....odd

get towed to pit, battery seems low and i run total loss... put on re-charge then.

At 4 pm another session, just a bit drier but still pretty wet, can open motor up in straights now and wow, really nice, another two laps and clutch starts slipping above 9K, just as well as motor goes dead again!

pull back to the pits to do a total carb check, maybe carbs are vapor locking? no, stupid me, seems like the dyno guy has run the engine a lot more than i thought the day before and almost finished the tank... damn, should have checked but still cant believe he went through three quarts....

pass the bike through tech, go with my girlfriend for dinner, leave her at the B&B and back to the cold Gazebo to open the clutch and see what's wrong there.
everything looks ok so i just preload the springs a bit, hoping for the best, go to sleep at midnight.

Thanks for the post!

who am i racing against?

we are not that many in the open class, 8-10 but its national level and bikes are pretty impressive, plenty of nice kawi's

like this BMC framed kz1000

nice eight plug head too

the stock framed zee's are not bad either

but surely a kawasaki engined Bimota is nicer

shame that the rider almost destroyed the bike in Saturday's qualifying first lap....

bike didnt look so good after

there's a guy running a 650 too in the 650/TT2 category

turboguzzi wrote:

who am i racing against?

we are not that many in the open class, 8-10 but its national level and bikes are pretty impressive, plenty of nice kawi's

like this BMC framed kz1000

somebody better tell him that nickel/chrome plated frame is going to crack/shatter killing himself and everybody on the track!

Saturday's qualifying and its raining even harder, temps in the mid 40's

i got a dunlop kr 164 rear which is really bad in these conditions, an avon AM23 would be better.

Still I am certainly not the slowest out there, like low-mid pack. on slippery conditions like these, the 500's and 650's are actually faster/ less scary to ride

have no idea if clutch is slipping or not as the rear spins whenever i open the throttle. at least motor is running well now, no problems for the whole 20 minutes.

Lunch is ready

do second qualifying with even harder rain, pull in after 4 laps.

some crazy guys are giving it full throttle in the curvone, 120-130 mph in the wet. i just cant thrust my kr 164 rear.

enough is enough. at least bike isnt giving any problems. have no idea if my gearing is any good, we'll see tomorrow.