AFM #368 (Verbose) Round 3 Race Report from Infineon Part 1

[scotinexcile]

After the Z 2 practice day on Friday, I was really looking forward to the weekend. With 4 races, 1 on Saturday (Formula 40 Lightweight), 3 on Sunday (Formula 4, 650 twins and 650 production)

Saturday I decided not to practice and spent the morning getting to know Greg Spiers and David Raff, working on some GPS timing software.It was a nice relaxing morning and I was confident about the race. Several Forumla 40 guys were at the WERA Endurance race in Salt lake City this weekend so hopefully I could get a good result.

I was grided in Row 15, position 59, which was the 3rd Row for my Lightweight wave. Heavyweight was first wave, followed by Middleweight then us lightweights in the back. A total of 68 bikes on the track racing!!! Good times. The B group sessions I did on Friday worked wonders for my passing practice.

Formula 40

I felt really calm and ready for the race as we gridded up. I watched the starter when he flagged the first 2 waves and was ready for him when he threw the flag.We all launched and I watched Rob Cambell in front of me to the right both legs out doing a "superman" on his bike. The rider in the 4th spot on the grid wheelies away from the start and started to vear to the left, his right foot came off the peg as he tried to balance the bike. He safely put the bike down and we all piled into turn 1 safely.
I lost 1 place into Turn 2 to Peter Demas then I passed him back between 2 and 3. I was not sure if there was a yellow flag flying as Peter seamed to slow down between 2 and 3 but I went for it anyway. I watched as the front 5 bikes started to pull away and I felt like I was on my own by the time we got thru turn 6 the leaders were already into turn 7!!
I knew everyone would be close behind me so I stuck to the script and went WFO.Thru the 8's was good and braking in to 9 was smooth(so far).At the end of the first lap I was still 6th and feeling pretty damm good *grin*. I had changed the rear sproket to a 47 before the Friday Z2 day and it was paying dividends. The only issue I had was my shift point between 9 and 10.
John Forman came past me between 6 and 7 on the second lap and I set about trying to stay on his rear wheel. I have never been able to keep up with him before so it was a challenge for me.John was on his 500 so I probably had some gas on him.I really closed up into 9 but not enough to make a pass. He was super fast around 10 and into 11 so i could not get close enough to use the power on the straight to catch him. I followed as close as I could and managed to get pretty close by Turn 2 of the 3rd lap.

His mid corner speed was way better than mine so he kept pulling away.
As we went into 6 I saw a shadow on my right and Pete came crusing past both John and I. Man he is FAST in that corner. John passed him again into Tunr 7, I closed but not enough to be able to attempt a pass. We were all tight through 8 and down towards 9. Pete has a killer fast line in 9 and pulled away from me towards 10. With John in front of him I hoped they would fight it out and allow me to catch up.(No such hope)

I am not sure what bike Pete was riding or if he was having trouble but I would close on him anywhere I had some straight track. On the 4th lap I was about 4 bike lengths back going into 4 but his superior line in 6 put him right behind John and about 8 bike lengths in front of me.
The drive up to 7 saw me close on him as the first of the "fast guys" went past us at the same time.I was working hard to keep close to Pete in the 8s and down into 9 I got to about 4 bike lengths and felt I could close more in the next lap or so. John and Pete were riding really well and I was enjoying watching their lines. As we went up the front straight Pete looked over his shoulder as if to say " Are you still there". This gave me a jolt and I closed right in on him into turn 2 but he managed to pull away again before we got to turn 4 . I knew he would pull away in 6 so I sayed to myself next lap stay closer in 4 and 5 then pass him in 7. Pete passed John at the exit to 6 and John out drove him towards turn 7 again.
As we came around 7 to turn 8 we started to hit lap traffic from the Middle weight wave. John and Pete out braked them into 9 and I tried to do the same up the inside. Bike 430 was turning in and I tried to stand the bike up so I did not run into him. We "bumped" into the entrance and I blipped the throttle and the back end of my bike came around so I was "square across the turn. I spoke to the rider after the race and gave my apologies. The bike tried to highside me of but I held on and landed back on the bike. However my left leg hit my foot peg and it went straight thru my leathers and scrapped right across the back of my left knee OUCH!!!.


This was how it looked on Saturday evening after we cleaned it up. You cant tell how swollen it was. Ice packs to the rescue.



I put my left hand up to say Sorry and then got back on the gas towards 10. John and Pete had taken the chance to gap and I took of after them again. Bike 430 had passed me and I was close behind him into Turn 11. We both drove hard but he was in front of me going into turn 1. I dont like to pass there so I held back waiting for a chance to pass in 2 or between 2 and 3. My leg was bugging me so my lines were all off. I managed to pass into 4 on the brakes and saw that John and Pete were about 150 yards in front of me.

There was some more lap traffic so I went into passing mode and we were braking into turn 7. The middle weight bikes had way more power than me so I got stuck behind behind a couple of them thru 8 and down into 9.
I out braked 1 rider into 9 and took of after the other 3 just in front of me. Again their power told and they were about 50 yards in front as we got around 11 and about 100 yards by the time we got to Turn 1. I was the meat in a "heavyweight" sandwich as I got passed left and right on the start finish. That was exciting!! We all bombed up the hill the two heavyweights took the inside line and force a few guys wide so I caught up a little. I was right behind going thru 3 and 3a but not close enough for a pass into 4 . I had 2 riders right in fornt of me and I knew they would be able to out drive me to turn 7 so I got as close as I could in 6 to try a pass into 7.

Another heavyweight went past us into 7 and I did not have enough motor to get into a passing position. I hauled ass thru the 8s to try and be in a position to pass into 9. No joy. The guys in front swapped spots into 9 and I follow close into 10. Got passed by another heavyweight. Those guys are FAST.
I got on the inside of 11 and tried to out drive the one middlewight rider but he managed to keep it in front of me as we crossed the line.

Great racing and I manged my first top 10, finishing in 9th place. Times were 2
seconds slower than Friday practice but that was the howling wind that was almost stopping your bike as you came out of turn 6 and also lifted the back of your bike as you went into turn 9.

Thank you to my lovely wife Beth for taking care of all the "pit bitch" duties so I could concentrate on riding. Left leg has a pretty decent scrape along the back so riding Sunday will be INTERESTING!!

Formula 4

Sunday morning my left leg was pretty stiff and sore. I went looking for a "drug dealer" and found one who gave me some Advil, to start my addiction process, thanks Jen. I hobbled around the pits for a while then went to talk to the ambulance folks, they gave me some gauze pads and a bandage to wrap my leg. I had no idea if I would be able to ride or not. I sat on the bike without leather on and moved my left leg on to the peg, OUCH, but I got used to it, or the Advil finally kicked in *LOL*

This is how it looked Sunday



I got ready for practice and noticed I had been moved up to Group 3 from my normal group 2, WOO HOO progress!!!!

As I circulated for practice I found that I could not move my left leg enough to get up on the toes of my left foot. This made any left hand turns a problem. My times were all over 2 minutes and that was not good from a 1:54 on Friday.I was riding but not well, I decided to live with it and go race.

Formula 4 row 9 2nd from left was the first race of the day it was gridded with 250 Superbike in the first wave then 30 Formula 4 bikes for a total of 42 bikes on the grid. The 250 bikes were to prove problamatic later in the race.
My start was not as good this race, I actually jumped the start a little but the grid marshals did not pick it up.We all got clean into 2 and 3 being passed by 1 or 2 bikes then we settled into the rhthym of the race. The track opened up as the guys in front of me started to gap me. I got passed by 2 bikes into Turn 7 as I was having trouble braking and bracing my left leg against the tank.
Got passed again by 1 bike into turn 9, I was NOT having a good time and could tell I was not riding up to my best. Not being able to get my toes on the left peg was killing me. I have to figure out a solution.
The main issue was in turn 6 so next time around I laid my chest on the tank, lifted my butt off the seat until my left toes were on the pegs then set myself up for the corner. Now I could actualy position myself correctly and start to race. The rest of the laps ticked by as I followed the group about 50 yards ahead of me and started to close them down. I knew I could ride faster than 1 or 2 of the guys in front if I put my mind to it. Ignore the pain concentrate on the racing.
We started to hit the 250 Superbike backmarkers as we came thru turn 8 on this lap. As we drove done the hill in to 9 I could see I was going to come up against the 250's on the main straight which would kill my drive up the hill. Turn 1 is NOT a great place to try passing anyone. As we drove out of 11 down the straight I manged to pass 1 or 2 of the 250's but 3 of them were still ahead in turn 1.
I managed to get by another 2 up the hill towards Turn 2 but my drive was down and I got passed by one of the other racers in my wave.
Between 2 and 3 I had to slow down for another back marker and passed him on the brakes in to turn 4. This put me about 60 yards behind the group I had been following, bummer..
I tried my best to catch up as I knew they would be hitting more slow lap traffic. There were a group of 7 or 8 bikes going into turn 7 and thru 8 as I tried my hardest to catch them.I think they were all Formula 4 bikes as we were all doing our best times and not catching them. I was good into 9 on the brakes and closed down the gap to about 30 yards.My new 47 tooth rear sprocket causes me to short shift around 10 so I slipped back a bit around 10 then made up 20 yards in turn 11. It was down to 20 yards.
We caught another 250 just before tunr 1 and I passed him up the hill into turn 2, 10 yards and closing. I knew turn 3 was a good turn for me so I was right on the tail of the group. Damm another 250!!!! got blocked into turn 4 and was way down on my drive out of 4 into 5, 40 yards, railed into 6, chest on tank ass up, toes on left peg(COOL not)!!
Got a decent drive out of 6 but was still no closer. In to 7 on the brakes and closing the gap again.I got a crappy drive out of 7 and got gapped again thru 8 and into 9. This continued for a while I would close up then they would gap me, it was frustrating as hell but not a lot I could do about it. I came up behind a supermoto that was good in the corners but was slowing me down. Their lines are so different from ours that I sat back and tried to figure out a place to pass.I got stuck behind the supermoto and lost my line in turn 4 Ben Swiggett came past me on the entry to 4 so i set off after him. He went to take the supermoto guy on the inside of 6 I went outside and past them both Chest down, ass up, toes on works this time.
Open track in front now as we head up into 7 and around 8 and down to 9. I had 1 lone rider about 400 yards ahead of me so I set my sights on him. I closed a little in turn 9 but the gap was still pretty large. I was comming out of 11 as he was crossing start finish. I got up to turn 1 and realized the bike was being riden by Brian Bartlow the leader in the 250 production race. I closed him in turn 2 and passed him between 2 and 3 with the power of my 650 (let me enjoy it, it dont happen to often )

After Brian there was again open track so I tried to concentrate on braking markers and driving as hard as I could out of the corners. I had absolutly no one in sight as I turned around 7 and headed down towards 8 and 9. I usually run faster with a "hare" to chase so I think I started to slack off a little. I got passed into turn 9 but the rider overcooked the corner and went into the dirt on 9. He kept the bike up and joined back on turn 10 behind me. That kind of woke me up a little. I had lost drive out of 9 and 10 and Rory Kamper took advantage and passed me into turn 11.
Rory and I have diced before and he is a good rider. He missed a shift into turn 1 and I almost ran right into the back of him, the video of this is pretty cool. I will post links as I get the videos uploaded. I doged to the left and he got the gear and drove on the inside of me up into turn 2.I kept close thru 3 and 4 hoping to out drive him out of turn 6.
I was back a little far on the entry to 6, point to remember, and closed up by the exit but not enough to overtake him.As we were driving up to turn 7 there was another lapper I went by on the inside and closed down Rory, looking for a good drive out of 7 and thru 8. I was aiming to take him on the brakes in turn 9.
He haled ass out of 8 and I was to far behind to make the pass.The last chance would be in turn 11. I charged out of turn 10 close on his tailpipe, swung to the left for a late entry and quick exit as Rory took the defensive inside line. I was a little past my braking marker and ended up about 4 feet to wide which allowed him to scoot away and beat me by about 4 or 5 bike lengths. Great race and fun. Now I can say, my leg hurts