posted on June 19, 2010 22:32
AFM Round 4 - Thunderhill Raceway
June 12/13
Round 4 started off with a bang! Well, literally it was more of a clickity, clickity, clickity through T2 and T3 progressing to a thumpity, thumpity, thumpity in T7/T8 by the time I figured out it was a mechanical problem and not a loose zip tie or something. It was the last session of Friday practice and I found myself pushing Hasi back to the pits from Turn 9 with what I now realized was a fatal engine problem. One of the biggest reasons I switched to an R6 was to get away from all the annoying little SV problems that come with the territory of owning an older bike that has been completely modified and pushed to the limits for racing. R6's are made for racing and have a solid platform... BUT... I had Jason's old engine with two seasons of racing already on it, (the reason for that is a long story in itself, so we'll skip over that.)
Fortunately for me, I had, just two days prior to the race weekend, sold my SV to Pete Leist and purchased his 2009 street prepped R6, for Jason and I to build into a back-up bike. So it's Friday night, anyone up for a quick engine swap? Jason led the charge with Greg and Sam pitching in a hand to get it done. I can't thank them enough. Jason was not in the best mood at having to swap out an engine that he had just put in, who could blame him for that, but Greg and Sam are true friends for sticking it out with Jason and I. Four hours later the stock engine had been installed, drilled, safety wired, coolant drained, water wetter in, oil changed and bodywork secured, the bike was all ready for my early practice on Saturday morning as if nothing had happened.
Saturday practice went off relatively uneventful, aside from a brief moment in Turn 10 where Sam decided to see if he could take me out of the competition by making an inside, sideways, last ditch effort, of a pass nearly clipping my head with his rear wheel. He says the winds down into T10 threw him off his brake markers, I guess I'll let it slide. haha Being my second round on the R6, I signed up for my "now" standard classes; Formula Afemme, 600 Production and 750 Production. I also signed up for the AFM Inaugural Tag Team Race scheduled for the end of the day. I will have a separate race report to talk about the VK Vixens wild ride.
Formula Afemme was up first on Saturday, I gridded up with eight other AFM ladies looking to have some fun dicing with each other in the all women class. I got a great start off the line and followed Joy and Christie to Turn 5, where Zoe snuck up the inside line and relegated me to 4th. I worked hard at trying to hold onto the top three in the first two laps turning 2:04 lap times, matching my best on the SV, before losing touch and dropping off the pace a bit. I started 4th and I finished 4th.
Sunday I had my 600 Production Race just before the lunch break and my 750 Production Race was the last race of the day. I went out for morning practice then paced around the pits for the remainder of the morning waiting for my first race. Finally it was time... the winds were still blowing at 30-40 mph and it was hot. I rolled out to my improved grid position since I scored a few points in the class at Round 3. I am gridded 27th of 32 on the start, on the outside of the 7th row.
As the green flag waves, I launch Hasi into the pack, we move into the left towards the inside of Turn 1. I pick up a couple spots through T1 as I see some familiar leathers, "Scooby" who just jumped from his SV to the 600 class as well, comes past me on the right, I drop into the gap he has opened up into T2 and pick up a few more positions. Then I get pinched off into Turn 3 and give up a few spots, this goes on throughout the first lap and by the time I cross the checkers I have moved up to 25th. I was working on chasing after Shane Muntean, when Noel Garcia caught up with me on the 3rd lap, we had a fun dice for the last three laps with me besting him in T14 with an inside pass, holding onto the drive to beat him to the checkers and finishing 22nd.
For my 750 Production race, I am gridded 24th of the 26 starters. Another good launch picks me up a few positions into the first lap, Shane Muntean caught me on lap 3 and made the pass stick and I followed him through the completion of the race, finishing 22nd again.
At the end of the Round 4 weekend I was pretty pumped up by how well I have been adapting to the R6, being only my second race weekend on it I had managed to match my personal best lap times from last year while I was still on the SV. Racing helps me identify my weak areas on the track relative to others riding at my pace, and gives me focus for my plan to get faster through the season.
Already, as we were on the road home from Thunderhill, I had shifted my focus back to my training program to get ready for Round 5. We had three weeks off between the races with only one track weekend planned in the time off at Buttonwillow 4th of July weekend.
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