HadesOmega x Light Bee + Redshift SM39 vs Sierra Nevada Moto Championship 2025 Round 3

Sorry I haven't gotten around to do the other rounds but here we are round 3! I raced SM3 Supermini on the Light Bee and SM2 Supermoto Amateur on Alta Redshift SM39. I'm usually pretty good in the dirt but I can never clear the first jumps so everyone just passes me. This took place at Desert Park Raceway in Reno, Nevada on August 30-31st 2025.

Morning Practice - I only took the Light Bee out because I brought a practice battery out the Litespeed Bikes 32AH battery that has degraded in Mode 2. For the Superpole and races I will be using the Chi Gladiator Compact 72 battery for that Mode 3 action. Kept the Redshift in the pits to save the charge for the rest day.

SM3 Supermini Superpole Qualifying

SM2 Supermoto Amateur Superpole Qualifying

Cool! I mean, the racing is cool, the weather in Desert Park Raceway in august probably not so cool!
I've noticed that you use tyre warmers anyways; after all, some people who used tham at supermoto tracks told me that they set them to 70 °C = 160 °F, so it makes sense since the environmental temperature, albeit hot for humans, still doesn't give the tyres enough warmth for the first laps.
I also guess that you didn't experience overheating tyres, then. Some people reported having felt performance loss because of overheating tyres with rental 125 2T karts in summer whereas I didn't feel that with the same karts. For supermoto I've always used street legal tyres without warmers and never felt less grip in hot summer days, whereas I've felt that they were more slippy when cold in the first minutes of the first session of the day, even in hot environmental conditions.

Temps were 80F to 90F.

If you are using slick tires you should be using warmers. The tires need to be at a certain temperature for them to grip. This track the grip is very poor so it's easy on the tires. You should have the tire pressure to what the manufacturer recommends but... it kinda depends on the bike and track. Like for the Light Bee it's very light so you can get away with lower tire pressures. If the tire gets too hot the tire will start what's called "hot tearing". Its when you see the tire literally tearing or the rubber peeling off the tire. My tires aren't hot tearing so I'm probably not getting them hot enough. When they do start tearing it's time to increase the tire pressure. You don't need warmers you could just take the first couple laps easy but if you are racing you will want warmers for the beginning of the race.

Haha also once you hit the dirt the tires probably cool down a lot and will be slippery for a bit till they clean up.

HadesOmega said:

If the tire gets too hot the tire will start what's called "hot tearing". Its when you see the tire literally tearing or the rubber peeling off the tire. My tires aren't hot tearing so I'm probably not getting them hot enough. When they do start tearing it's time to increase the tire pressure.

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I remember people having tyres, especially the rear one, that got torn like that and they blamed it to pressure and suspension setup and told me that one of the advantages of my street legal, less performing, more dureable tyres was that they don't do that. Well, they never did but I never enjoyed the super grip of racing tyres.

HadesOmega said:

You don't need warmers you could just take the first couple laps easy but if you are racing you will want warmers for the beginning of the race.

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That's what I've always done. Since I've never raced and only had practice track days, it's never been a problem.

HadesOmega said:

Haha also once you hit the dirt the tires probably cool down a lot and will be slippery for a bit till they clean up.

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Good point! I remember having read an interview of a former pro rider who talked about that temperature drop. I estimate that the number of track days with asphalt+dirt section that I've had in my life must be less than 10; I've mostly ridden at a track where they used to have jumps on asphalt (some months ago they removed that section and it's still not clear what they'll do). When exiting dirt sections, the rear wheel tended to power slide and I waited some seconds to trust leaning the bike much because I mainly feared the fact that the tyres were dirty.

SM3 Supermini Race 1

SM2 Supermoto Amateur Race 1

SM3 Supermini Fast Race - It's a shorter race but your position in this race will grid you for Race 2

SM2 Supermoto Amateur Fast Race