Richard Marencin - Racer

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This is really a retrospective on the AMA final event at VIR as I am writing this on January 26, 2003. The engine overheating on I-85 as I traveled from Atlanta to Danville on Wednesday should have been a premonition of things to come. But as the eternal optimist, I was thinking, "great, that's the "bad thing" to happen this weekend and I'm glad it's over and out of the way before the racing starts".

Considering that I started the season doing 1:49's at this track, all would agree that I had made significant progress. I ran several successful sessions during the Promoter Practice on Thursday and managed to get through the first AMA practice session on Friday Morning. Unfortunately, that was the session when Bill Himmelsbach wrecked and AMA neglected to throw the Red Flag on the session. I won't go into the controversy here, I just hope that Bill has healed and is doing well. With each lap my times and confidence improved. My best official lap time in the second practice session was a 1:40.6 and I know I have what it takes to shave off another second or three. I'm confident I could have had a qualifying time on Saturday.

But it was the second practice session which ended my weekend and season. On my 12th lap, a bike passed (safely) on the inside going into the apex of Turn 1. I decided to follow the rider through the infield and by the time we got to the roller coaster, he had only pulled 3-4 bike lengths. I knew I was going a lot faster then before, but I was smooth and under control. The bad news was that I also was pretty tired. I followed him down the roller coaster and into the Hog Pen. At just that spit second I realized my entrance speed was way to fast for the "old line" I was taking and I was on a trajectory for an ugly high-side at the edge of the track. I stood up the bike, grabbed the brakes and rode straight-up and straight-off the track. I was only going about 40 mph and doing pretty well until I hit a ditch about 8 feet into the grass. Down I went.

As soon as I sat up I knew what had happened. An ambulance ride to the hospital and a few X-rays later and I had shattered my collarbone. Folks at the track helped pack my bike and trailer and I am deeply appreciative of all the support. I found out later that I was following Rich Oliver and that I was indeed going a lot faster. It was a long but uneventful ride back to Atlanta.

Fast-forward to January, 2003. After having surgery to repair the collarbone which was broken in 2 places and had an inch of shattered chards, I have finished physical therapy and back to my normal work-out routine. I am using a bone growth stimulator because, with the metal plate, 10 screws and the bone marrow transplant, the collarbone has not yet healed. My surgeon and I am hopeful that the bone will be healed by March and I can have an additional surgery to remove the hardware. With some more healing, physical therapy and the grace of God, I may be well enough to consider racing by July or August.

By the way, between the medical expenses, my wife being unemployed since September, and 2 daughters in college, I've decided to sell my RS125. I may not be able to run AHRMA this year, but I'll at least be able to pay the mortgage for a few more months.

Well, I thought the event in June at VIR was hot but it was nothing like this weekend. On Saturday, it was 99 degrees in my pit but my two races were early in the afternoon. MW GP was a tough crowd. Got the typical 2-stroke start and fell in line about 2/3rds back in the pack. Managed to get stuck behind a few Ducatti's that were really going slow. There was a racer on a 125 that kept buzzing by me. Every time I had the guys in front set up for a pass, this guy would zip into the space I strategically left, and blow my pass. Eventually I managed to pass them but most of the lead pack had pulled away. Still, 15 out of about 23 bikes on the grid isn't too bad. Formula 40 was great. I got an outstanding start and managed to pass right through the crowd, one bike at a time. By the half-way flags I was holding on to 4th place and consistently turning 1:41 lap times.

On Sunday, I went out in Unlimited GP race #9. It was 102 degrees in my pit and the announcer said that the track temperature was 147 degrees. I did my warm up lap and got to my grid position. Although I had been drinking water all day, I must have been borderline dehydrated as I had a bunch of junk in my eyes that made it difficult to see. Got my eyes cleared out, the race started, and I fell in line with the pack. On the second lap, I found myself behind a slow GSX-R750 that I was trying to set up for a pass. After a few tries, I realized that the heat was affecting my reaction time and coordination so I couldn't make a clean pass. After the 4th lap I came in because I wasn't having fun going that slow. Interesting thing is that it felt frustratingly slow and we were doing 1:42's.

I completely wasted my rear tire and took it down to the Dunlop guy for a replacement after that race. He actually had it mounted pretty quickly and I could have made the LW GP race. I had to really think about it but decided to sit it out because of the heat.

It took me until Tuesday to recover from the heat and long drive home on Sunday. I hope it's a bit cooler in 2 weeks when I go back for the AMA event.

Summer in Danville, VA is predictably hot, but this weekend was especially warm. According to the national weather service, temperatures were in the high 80's to low 90's. In my pit I registered 99 degrees on Sunday when I went out for the Unlimited GP race. Must have drank 3 gallons of water that weekend.

Ran a few sessions on the Thursday practice day. Friday didn't allow much track time as CCS had scheduled the Team Challenge and Grand-Am Cup (automobile) practice in the afternoon. For some reason, not apparent to the racers, CCS decided to combine all Experts into a single practice group begining Saturday morning. We believe that the race director noticed there weren't too many Experts on Friday and assumed that would be the case for the weekend. Actually, since Friday is a work day and since CCS was only running the Team Challenge, there weren't many Experts or Amateurs. Well they made the announcement late Friday afternoon (after most of us had left the track) so it was a bit of a surprise when we showed up Saturday morning.

Overall combining the Experts into a single group was a bad decision. Everyone showed up Saturday morning and we had 80+ bikes in the combined Expert practice group. Getting even one good complete lap was out of the question.

Enough whining. And I won't comment (much) on the Grand-Am Cup automobiles. They were pretty. They were painfully loud. These guys have more money invested in their tires than I could possibly invest in my entire race set up (bikes, trailer, car, spares, tools, supplies, etc.). In addition to the several blown engines and oil deposits, they do a great job of spinning out and depositing tons of dirt when they drive back on the track. Kudos to the VIR staff for doing a fantastic job of clean-up.

Oh yes, my racing. Decided to make this a 250-only weekend. The strategy seemed to work. I ran 4 classes. Took a 5th place Formula 40. Had 5th place in the LW GP race until I ran into a gaggle of back-marker Amateurs. I passed a few of them but ran into a pack of about 4 riders that were duking it out. On the white-flag lap I was just about to make my move when 2 experts (in tandem) passed me and stuffed it in on the Amateurs. Managed to pass the Amateurs and reel-in the Experts but ran out of time. I got within 2 bike lengths at the start/finish and finished 7th. In MW GP and Unlimited GP I had mid-pack finishes.

Overall it was a good weekend. I dropped my average lap times from 1:49's to 1:43's and did my best ever at a 1:41. Based on how the AMA guys did last year, if I can squeeze out another 2 seconds, I should have no trouble qualifying in August.

Renewed my WERA license and was able to get #184. Thanks to Evelyn for helping me out. It's a major advantage (and my paint job appreciates it too) to have #84 for CCS and #184 for both AMA and WERA.

Talladega marked return to WERA after two years and my first WERA National. WERA put on a good program. The races ran without a hitch. Maybe it's just Talladega or (more likely) it's WERA, but when someone crashes, they send the crash truck out while the race is running. They never paused between races to pick up bikes. I really like the precision that WERA has in race control. 1st call is always at the halfway mark; 2nd call is always on the white flag; 3rd call is always on the checkered flag. Always! The first guy would hit the track for the warm up lap as the last few guys from the previous race were rounding the last turn on the track.

I ran 125GP, Formula 2 and Formula 1. Got 5th, 8th and 6th respectively. Only ran one practice session Friday and one on Saturday on my 125. I spent the rest of the time on my 250. The best lap time I ever had on my F-3 on the old track configuration was a 1:07+. The new track is a little longer and I managed to do a 1:05 on my RS250. It felt really good and I feel like I'm (slowly) making progress.

The 125GP race was my first on Sunday. 14 laps at Talladega on a 125. I came back in and thought I would die. It really beat me up.

Three races later I went out in Formula 2 on my 250. It took me 2 1/2 laps to remember how to ride the 250 after only one race on the 125. By that time the pack had pulled away. I did manage to lap a half dozen Novice riders and pass a few experts.

Formula 1 was with the big boys. I had been practicing with the 750's all weekend so it didn't unnerve me too much. I got lapped at the start/finish line by the top two guys on the white flag lap. It was the last race of the day and I was pretty tired. I was running about 2 seconds a lap off my normal times but still had a few of the 750's in sight. I like that class - all experts, fast in the corners, smooth predictable lines, close but predictable passing.

May 20, 2002 Road Atlanta - AMA Pro

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Well, the weekend was kind of an psychological roller coaster ride for me. Overall, I liked the AMA show and will definitely run at VIR later in the year.

Thursday was a promoter practice day. We had four 30 minute sessions - 2 hours on the track. I was getting better throughout the day but as my lap times improved, I found the track getting more and more bumpy. The bike was shaking and bouncing so much, it felt like it was going to pitch me off coming through turn 12.

Ran two AMA practice sessions on Friday and got slower. I made a few adjustments to my bike but it only seemed to make it worse. Talked to several people and they weren't having the same problems.

It rained all Friday night leaving the track soaking wet, so I didn't run the Saturday morning practice. I made some final suspension adjustments, based on comments from other riders, and went out for the qualifying session on Saturday afternoon. The adjustments I made cleared up the problems, but it was too late for me to get comfortable or confident with the suspension. If I had found that set-up on Thursday, I might have come close to qualifying. Unfortunately my best lap time during qualifying was 6 seconds too slow. That's OK. I wasn't the slowest guy, and there were 5 other faster guys that didn't qualify either.

So back to my first comment. Went from anxious to excited, then wanted to quit racing, then resolved myself to just enjoy the weather and track time, and finally to gaining a renewed focus. Other than the suspension set-up problems, I realized that I am riding my RS250 like an F-3. I learned Road Atlanta on a 4-stroke and it's been 3 years since I've been on the track. All of my lines, breaking and turning points were fine on an F-3, but not on a 250. I watched the faster guys take lines that I thought were impossible, but when I tried it, the bike stuck. So if I want to be fast at Road Atlanta, I need to re-learn how to ride the track. But since we hardly ever race there, I'm just going to shake it off and concentrate on other tracks.

My renewed focus? I've decided to leave the RS125 in the garage for the rest of the season and only concentrate on really learning how to ride the RS250.

May 6, 2002 CMP - CCS

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Well, CMP was pretty much a wash-out. The front didn't move like the meteorologists predicted and instead just remained stationary at a point south of Columbia, SC. That means from about 11am on Friday morning until about 2am Sunday morning, we had rain - and plenty of it.

I managed to complete one practice session Friday morning, then the skies darkened. I had just shoved my bike and other stuff back into the trailer when the squall line came through - rain, lightening, and winds up to 40 mph. My friend Greg Geonis and I were under the E-Z-Ups holding them down. Once the heavy rain subsided, I took down my E-Z-Up. In a little while, it appeared as though the weather would clear up so I pulled all my stuff out of the trailer. Not 10 minutes later it started to rain - so the stuff went back in the trailer. After the second time I did this, I just left the stuff in the trailer and sat it out.

We watched a few practice sessions and about 4 riders crash in turns 1 and 2. By about 2pm I was over it and drove back to the hotel.

Saturday was even worse. Practice started at 8:30 but the first bikes didn't go out until about 10am. The race director was making all the calls and the poor corner workers were out on the track getting soaked. However, the visibility was about 100 feet and most of the track looked like a river. I went back to the hotel around 11:30. Out of curiosity, I drove back to the track around 4 pm and caught the last 2 laps of the final race. It had never stopped raining. Talked to some people and heard the stories of all the wrecks.

Sunday morning we got to the track and the temperature was about 52 degrees. The track was wet with puddles and the sky was dark gray and thick. At that point, I decided not to register for anything on Sunday because it didn't appear as if I could get a clean practice session before my scheduled first race. So we watched some practice sessions and about 5 or 6 guys wiped out in turn 1.
My first race would have been Lightweight GP which they ran at 10:45 am. The temperature was still only 54 degrees and the puddles on the track had not dried. By about noon I was all packed and ready to leave and (of course) the sun came out.

So that was CMP. I was hoping to get a lot of seat time on my 250 but it just wasn't meant to be.

Have a little work to do on the 250 this weekend and then I should be ready for Road Atlanta. I sure hope the weather is good.

VIR was great as usual. I drove up on Thursday for the Friday practice day. It drizzled all day Friday. Decided to wait-out the weather until the afternoon and not to pay my practice fees. Finally left the track around 1:00 pm when it didn't look like the weather would improve. Spent the morning changing gearing and fiddling with the bikes. Spent the afternoon working in the hotel room. Saved a hundred bucks and it turned out to be a good use of my time.

Weather on Saturday and Sunday was fine. I was pretty slow, as is usually the case early in the season. Didn't crash and only scared myself once in the roller coaster. Came up very fast behind another RS250 who was practically parked in the race line. He must have taken a shift he shouldn't have, or balked, or something. To keep from rear-ending him, I hit the front brake so hard I locked up the front wheel for a spit second. I slammed against the tank and bruised the inside of my right thigh. Got off the brake as fast as I grabbed it and (after a few expletives) kept rolling along.

The grids were very large. The maximum grid size at VIR is 60 bikes and there were several two-wave races with 58-59 bikes. We even had 13 RS125's in the GP Singles race.

Next event on the calendar is CCS at Carolina on May 4 & 5.

NFMP is a great track - 14 turns and fairly technical. The turns are increasing and decreasing radius so you really need to figure out how to link them together. But, there are no "bus-stop" turns like CMP.

This was my first Henry DeGouw Florida event. Practice all day Saturday and all races are on Sunday. All races (even the GT's) were 7 lap sprints. He combined lots of classes and most were AM/EX combos. The good news is that you get a lot of track time (overall). The bad news is that the grids are large and too many classes are combined.

My initial times on Friday were in the high 1:40's. Every time I went out, I took off more time. Managed to consistently do 1:29's on my RS250 on Saturday and Sunday. I know I can do better. Just need more seat time and more time at that track. I have a lot of work ahead to figure out the 250. Jetting and gearing weren't right and the suspension was a little off. Having said that, it was the first time I've been on a motorcycle since October. No crashes or soiled pants so I consider myself successful.

Ran my 125 in the GP-Singles class on Sunday, but my lap timer wasn't registering. It felt like I had improved my lap times but don't have the proof. Still not nearly as fast as the other guys on 125's.

Ran LW GP on the 250 but couldn't get the bike started in the pits. Finally made it to pit-out but didn't get a warm-up lap. The grid marshal held me until after the experts passed. Good thing I had my tire warmers on or I would have been toast. Rest of the race was fun.

I went out in the Formula 40 race but they had it combined with SuperTwins. That really sucked. I can ride with the 750's, but not the twins. Got the usual 2-stroke start and was at the back of the expert pack. A few slow expert twins slowed me down and by the 3rd lap, the amateur 750's were passing me. I was doing 1:35's and getting annoyed. Figured it wasn't going to get better so I ran another lap and came in.

My last race was suppose to be the MW GP, but it was Expert/Amateur combined. There were three other 250's on the expert grid, but a total of about 50 bikes on the field. Didn't want to play with the amateurs on 600's so I decided to quit while I was ahead, and didn't run the race.

I'm considering running the Unlimited GP class. They affectionately call it the "shoot-out". The bad news is that it's generally the last race of the weekend. Also, all the really fast guys sign up for this class because it pays a purse. The good news is that it's usually 750's and higher, they are ONLY EXPERTS, and THE GRIDS ARE USUALLY PRETTY SMALL. At NFMP, the top three guys were running 1:19's. I might not do 1:19's, but running with the faster guys will definitely improve my lap times.

October 2, 2001

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Got the final points standing for the 2001 season. Not where I wanted to be in the points - not a top 10 finish - but that's OK. Overall I had a successful year with top 5 finishes in 2 classes. Funding and time limitations permitted me to run only 4 classes at a few selected CCS events during the season. Considering I spent most of the season repairing my RS 250 and only ran it at two events, we really did pretty well. And there were no crashes!

Since I've already won a regional championship (GP Singles in 2000) and have had 3 consecutive years of top 10 finishes in the Southeast CCS Region, it's time to set new goals. Next year will be focused on fun. We plan to run more AHRMA and CCS tracks and events that are outside of the region. Maybe I'll drive to Road America (what a haul that will be).

I'm working on getting the funding for a newer RS125 so I can keep up with my buddies in the AHRMA Sound of Singles class.

Thanks again to my sponsors and I look forward to representing them again next year.

September 24, 2001

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Another season has come and gone. I didn't race much this year; spent most of the time putting my RS250 back together. I only got to run two weekends on the bike. I tried to run races on the RS125, but it's really tough to be competitive against 600's and 750's when you are putting around on a 125 two stroke. Having said that, I can at least claim a successful season. I didn't wreck and I had some fun.

My RS 125 is currently for sale. I'm planning on upgrading to a newer model. I was actually considering selling both bikes and taking up a different hobby, but once I got back out on the RS250, I (or perhaps I should say "IT") changed my mind.

I ran AHRMA at Mid-Ohio this year and it was my first time on that track. What a blast. I recommend the track to any serious racer. Between the elevation changes, the off camber turns, and the cement and asphalt surface changes, it's really a handful.

I have two more events on the RS125 with AHRMA - Talladega and CMP. I'm really looking forward to them. Maybe I won't be such a slacker and put an update on the web site.

November 10, 2000

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Well the results are final in the CCS Southeast Region and I made another top ten finish overall ! !

Actually I'm pleased and surprised I did so well this season.  

The event at VIR was great! What a terrific track. It took a few laps to figure out the line, but most of the Friday practice day to figure out what gearing to use.  I'm still not sure I have it right, at least not for the speed I was going.  But that's part of the problem.  If I go a little faster, the lap times will be better and I'll bet the gearing will be spot on.

The Formula 40 race had a high point and a very low point.  I got a great start and was in 2nd place going into turn 1.  Not bad for an RS250 running against a bunch of GSXR750's and ZX7's. One other racer passed me on the inside of the tight turn five, then it was full out through the esses and up the hill to the infield cut through.

Things were going great until some one decided to pass me at the tight esses right before the Roller coaster. Well the guy came up to me in the pits later and was convinced he made a clean pass. I don't know how he thinks it was clean when he hit me twice (full body contact) and ran me off the track into the gravel pit. The bike hit the gravel and flipped on it's head.

So as I'm sliding on the gravel, then grass and then pavement, I'm thinking "What an idiot, there's no way you can pass at that spot on the track."

Both the bike and I wound up in the middle of the race track at a blind spot on the course. The corner workers finally red flagged the race as I was standing in the middle of the track waiving riders to the inside of the turn so they wouldn't hit my bike which was still in the middle of the track.

I really did some soul searching after that. Why was this guy so aggressive in a class for riders 40 years old and over?  Did he really make a clean pass? Am I that incompetent that he should have been able to make a clean pass?  Am I too old for this and should I just hang it up?

Well 3 days later the Roadracing World issue came out where the AMA pros reviewed VIR. Without exception the Pro racers agreed that there was one place on the track where you couldn't pass. In their words "It's a one bike line". And that's exactly the spot where I got taken out. By the next season, VIR reconfigured the track to remove the kink.

So my RS250 is trashed (an expensive but doable repair is in sight). But I somewhat feel vindicated by the comments of the AMA pros who tested at VIR. It is a one-bike-line and you can't make a safe pass there. I didn't do anything wrong, it was the poor judgment of the other racer.

Well enough for now, got to work on the bikes. And got to go after more sponsorship for next year !!!