2017 Tsukuba ST600 Race 1 Report

 #26 Zech Dzegede選手

Team AFG MOTO

Photo by Shigeru Mukai

Race result

Qualifiers 

8th
1:02.50

Race 

8th

1:02.51

Sponsors/support:

AFG Motosports (Icon Motosports)

Chara-Rimpa 
Panolin-Japan
Oda Kaihatsu
Rapidbike Japan (JAM)
BabyFace
DID

Practice

I had been struggling with bringing back my confidence and with getting back into the groove of racing for the past few months.  I was still 2 seconds off my best time and couldn't wrap my head around what I was doing wrong.

Then while speaking to my mentor, he said something that made it all click together, and I remembered what I needed to do.

Sometimes I have the habit of overthinking things, and I need to understand the mechanism behind a motion to perform the motion.  It happened a lot in break dancing, it's just a lot harder to figure it out and slow things down at 200kph.

During practice I was able to get back into the swing of things and match up to my old best time.

Qualifiers

Qualifiers went well, considering I only returned to my 2016 prime less than 24 hours prior.  I got all decked out with my new fairing design and new hand painted helmet and put out a 1:02.50, 0.02 slower than my best ever time, so not too bad.

Just a few weeks ago I added the Jam (RapidBike Japan), BabyFace, and Icon arm patches to my suit.

Placed 8th out of 11 in qualifiers, but was really hoping to get 1:01.  Hopefully I can get it in the race!

Race

I will be having continued support for 2017 from AFG Motosports (Icon) and from Panolin Japan, so I upgraded my tent space from last year's set up to showcase those brands.  

My new fairing design is a vinyl wrapping, and during qualifiers a couple air bubbles got into the wrapping, so we had to pop a few right before the race 👀

The race started off very well for the first 100m~! I usually have good starts so I felt like I couple make a good run a gain a few places.

But then the bike to my left, as I was going to overtake, backfired and veered into my path.  At the same time the bike to my right squeezed in and I had no where to go, forcing me to let off the throttle a little.

By the end of the fist lap I was already back to 8th place, where I started but keeping a healthy distance between the two guys in front of me.

About halfway through the race, the guy in front of my runs wide and I make it up to 7th place!

I made it onto the board!

I was able to hold off the position for most of the remainder of the race, however I got passed back and sent back to 8th place.

This race was the best back-to-back 18 laps I've ever put out.

I was able to hit very close to my best time consistently and didn't feel like I was at the limit.

I'm looking forward to the next Tsukuba race in June where I can hopefully make it to the podium.

Photo by Shigeru Mukai

2016 Panolin Oil Support!

I'm happy to announce I recently got official #panolin support! 今日はうれしいお知らせを伝えることができます。 私たちはPanolinの公式サポートを受けることになりました！ I've been using panolin oil for the past 2 years thanks to the support of @afgmoto , and with their continued support I've been blessed with a connection to panolin. 2年間Panolinオイルを使っており、サポートしていただいている@aftmotoに感謝しています。 この度、@afgmotoから Panolinを紹介していただき直接的なサポートを受けることになりました。 I've used the motosynth and biorace on multiple bikes and have had great results with riding feeling and engine wear. MotosynthやBioraceといった製品を複数のバイクで使用して、 エンジンの摩耗の少なさやフィーリングの良さを実感しています。

A photo posted by Zech Dzegede (@zechdz) on Jun 13, 2016 at 8:34pm PDT

Icon Airframe-Pro Japan MFJ race debut!

Icon Motosports Airframe Pro (日本語訳あり） 

First official use in an MFJ race in Japan (review)
ICONヘルメットがMFJ公式認証を取って、初めてのレース！

Last month the Airframe Pro by Icon Motosports got approval by MFJ to be used in races all over Japan!

先月、ICONのAIRFRAME PROヘルメットがMFJ公認となり、日本での記念すべき初公式レース、筑波選手権ST600クラスに参戦！

Icon is a world-renowned helmet and apparel company that has ruled the street and stunt world for some time now.  Before meeting the Icon distributor of Japan, AFG Motosports, I saw the brand as a stunt only brand, but I soon learned that its a misconception.

Icon is a street riding brand made For Riders, By Riders.  You can tell thats the case by their unique designs that capture biking culture and their functional yet stylish approach to product creation.

I however am a track-only rider right now, so my experience targets the few products they have released have been designed with track use in mind.

Iconは世界のトップオートバイのヘルメットとアパレルブランドとして、ストリートライダーとスタントライダー達によく知られている。アメリカに住んでいた時は、Iconはスタントのイメージしかなかったが、AFG Motosports 、Iconの日本代理店と知り合ってから、Iconはライダーが作ったライダーのためのブランドだということを知った。Iconのデザインを見ると、バイクの文化を捉え、機能的でありながらも、スタイリッシュで素晴らしいブランドということがわかる。

とは言え、僕はサーキットで走るライダーなので、サーキット使用に考えてデザインされたIcon商品を使っている。

For the past 6 months or so I have been using the AirframePro and I love it!

この6ヶ月間AirframeProというヘルメットを使っているが、すごく好きなスタイルで気に入っている。

Last year I was riding using the Airmada helmet while racing 250cc; it had a good design and really stood out in a crowd.  I have no complaints at all about the helmet, but when I stepped up to 600cc the way the wind flowed into the helmet at 210 km/h had my contacts drying faster than usual. There are some options for chin/nose guards that would help but it was about time to upgrade my helmet anyway.  

I contacted AFG and got an opinion which led me to the Airframe Pro!  

去年までは250ccでAirmadaというヘルメットを使っていたが、デザインもカラーリングもよくて、すごく目立つヘルメットである。使っていて違和感はなかったが、600ccに乗り換えてから、200キロでスリップから出た時に、風でコンタクトが乾くようになった。そのヘルメットには、顎や鼻の風を止めるピースがあったが、AFGと相談して、新しく発売されたAFPを使ってみることになった。

Without any add-on parts the helmets ventilation allows for a breeze that keeps your head cool, the screen un-fogged, and without any excess wind going into your eyes.  You can tell this helmet was designed with track use in mind.

AFPは特別のパーツを買わなくても、通気性が良く、バイザーが曇らず、コンタクも乾くことがなかった。サーキットで十分使用できるヘルメットだ。

Lifting my head out of the slipstream at 200+km/h feels extremely stable.

Along the lines of intended for track-use, the helmet has something unique that I've never seen before.  The back side has a cut-out that helps keep the helmet or your hair from rubbing against the suit hump when tucked in.  It wasn't until I tried this helmet that I realised my hair would often rub against the back of the suit.  I just thought it was an issue with my dreadlocks, but after trying the AFP my range of motion has gotten much better.

AFPには、他のヘルメットにはなかなか見られない部分がある。前に使っていたヘルメットは髪がよく引っ張られたりしたが、AFPはヘルメットの後の方に凹んだ部分があることで、ツナギのコブにヘルメットや髪が当たらないのが良い点だ。

The aggressive aerodynamics and the unique styling have a lot of heads turning, especially at the track where Icon helmets have been rare.  However, since the helmet has received MFJ approval I think we'll be seeing a lot more of these in the coming months/years.

アグレッシブで個性的なスタイルが際立つAFP。サーキットではIconはまだ珍しいが、MFJ公式認証を取った今、これからIconユーザーがどんどん増えることを期待している。

2015 Tsukuba CBR Dream Cup Race 3 Report

Race result

Qualifiers 

33rd
1:12.891

Race 

28th

1:12.305

Practice

Practice on Friday was a bit hectic.  5 minutes before my first session it started raining, but I still had my dry tires on.  So I tried a couple laps and gave up after my front started slipping.

Then the second session was only partially wet so I went out on dry tires again and just as it started to seem dry and I was picking up the pace a MASSIVE downpour came for about 5 minutes.  They restarted the session but I didn't have enough energy or time to put on my rain tires.  

All in all a bad day.

Qualifer

I've been going over some of my issues with Iobe-san from i-factory and he has been recommending a tank pad to help me use my lower body better.  I gave it a try during the qualifiers but the new position it put me in made it harder to ride forward on the bike, so I decided to take it off for the race.  I'll give it a try during practice some other time.

Was 33rd in qualifiers and was worried for a second that I might not pass qualifiers.  I knew my time wasn't good and I had a bad feeling on the bike.  The last time I seriously rode was the TT race 3 weeks ago and I couldn't get back into the grove well.

Race

 I was able to get a good start!

Starting from last position I gained a couple spots right off the bat and was able to hold most of them off for the rest of the race!

It was a great battle experience and I constantly put out low 1:12s so I'm happy with the race overall.

During the race I kept understeering in the first hairpin and I think I might be riding too far back on the bike.  I'm going to try a new spring setting later, but I have another track day event tomorrow.  So for now I'll just try riding more forward

Thank you to Mako and Key for always being there for me!

2015 Tsukuba Championship Race 1

Day before the race:

During practice on the day before the race I was able to get two consistent laps of my new best time.  I tested A LOT of new suspension settings and collected data on what feels right for me and what helps me put out a good time. I rode 5 sessions so by the end of the day was pretty beat and couldn't get consitent laps in the last session.

              

Then just before my last session I realise my brake line has air in it and attempt to bleed the line.  When putting back on the reservoir cap it seems like there has been a gap letting air in and fluid out! So at the end of the day I try changing my master cylinder and hose to a new one.

....and  I end up braking both the old brake hose and new the one, when trying to tighten the hose to the banjo.... T_T

I talked to Iobe-san from I-factory and he told me that the aluminum banjo I was using are weak and can easily break when you try to torque them... 

Luckily for me Iobe-san was generous enough to let me work on my bike at the I-factory shop, and went out of his way to bring me a stainless steel hose/banjo from his garage.

Thank you for always looking out for me Iobe-san! いつもお世話になります。本当に助かりました。 m( _ _)m

Race day:

It looks like qualifiers are going to be in the wet so we put rain tires on my spare wheels, and prepped the bike for wet conditions.

Checking out the session before mine, and see that the ground is almost dry.... what should we do!

By the time qualifiers came up, the ground was about 98% dry, but everyone was already on their rain tires, except one guy.  So... at least the playing field was level to some extent.  By the end of qualifiers almost everyone burned through the right side of their rear tire, including myself... there goes 2万円 ($200).... (泣

Sadly, I dropped out in qualifiers by about 0.8 seconds.  The qualifiers were split into two groups and since the first group had different conditions than us, the grid was chosen in an alternating pattern (group 2 then group 1) rather than absolute time. 

It was my first time using rain tires in a dry condition like that, so I feel it was a good experience.  You cannot have success without failure and this experience will help give me more motivation to move forward!  Can't wait until next race!

My riding over the past two years

Tsukuba TT March 2015!

I decided to concentrate on only racing at Tsukuba this year, so I signed up for all 4 championship races and the Tsukuba TT in March.  Lately I've been crashing too much so it was a little rough getting back into the flow of things and I couldn't put out a good time during practice on Friday.  Was still 3 seconds away from my best time and struggling with the stiffness from resting my collarbone for so long.

Every time my pit neighbor Chihiro passed me on the track I tried to keep up to pick up pointers from her line and turn in point but it's always hard to keep up.  These kids are really amazing out here...

ちひろちゃんお疲れさまでした。ちひろちゃんとめいちゃんの二人の走り方をみていろいろ勉強になりました。ながく追いつけなかったが、頑張ってみた。

I came here today to practice mainly one thing, body positioning.  I have trouble turning properly because of poor line of sight and poor upper body movement, leaving too much pressure on my hands.  Made some notes and stuck them to the bike to remember what I need to do.

Come Saturday, time for qualifiers.  I got a lot of comments about my new bike design and it seems like everyone thinks its cool.

Glad it wasn't just me... かっこいいデザインだねと言われた、僕だけがそれ思うじゃなくてよかった　(汗

My first hairpin speed is painstakingly slow and the timing where I open the acceleration is a good 5m too late.  I tried to keep that in mind during the race and was able to shave a little bit of time here.  Still a long way to go.　Video is from qualifiers.  ビデオは予選から〜

五百部さんいつもいろいろ説明してくれたありがとうございます！いろんなアドバイスを受けてこれからも頭にいれて、意識して頑張って練習します。

Just before the race! 　いつもドキドキしてるね

As always I got a good start, passing several people fairly easily moving up from 21st to around 14th.  I was able to hold onto 17th place until the final lap, but finished 18th total and 16th in my class.  I've come a long way from my riding last year, no longer at the tail end of the race, moving up to the front!

This race was a good experience and I think really helped me get back into the groove of things after my recent crashes.  I came very close to my best time during the race, and I know I can push harder next practice!

Resultの写真とるのを忘れて、日比さんのFacebookからこの写真頂きましたw。