#368 AFM Race Report Round 3 Part 2

[scotinexcile]

650 Twins

I got ready and headed out for the warm up lap, tooled around passing a few folks then went to grid up. As I gridded up I thought I was in neutral but was in 1st and stalled the bike. Tried to turn it over NO JOY. CRAP, tried again, nothing. Hands up waving to the marshalls as I push my bike to the side wall. I had to sit and watch the race from the wall, shit what a bummer. The crash truck guys said he would run around at the end of the race and pick the bike up. I convinced him to let me try starting it again. It started right up BITCH!!!! Such a love hate relationship with a piece of hardware. I rode back to the pits and set my mind to my last race 650 production. Chalk it up to experience I suppose

650 Production.

After sitting around on the wall my left leg had stiffend up a bit so I worked on loosening that up and keeping the bike running so the battery charged up!!!
I gridded up on the second row in 7th spot. A lot of the usuall "suspect" were racing at the WERA round so I got my best grid position of the season so far
I got a pretty decent start and headed up into turn 2 in 7th place. The riders all started to gap me and I was left trying to figure out how to hit all my apexes and braking markers with a left leg that would not get into position on my toes. The first lap went by pretty fast and I had clear track in front of me.

Lap 2 was pretty much the same, no body close to chase so as usuall I started to relax. As I came into turn 11 I noticed my GPS bluetooth had jumped off the mount and was rattling around inside my fairing. As I exited 11 it droped from sight never to be seen again. So if anyone finds a little blue tooth GPS reciver around 11, 12 start finish then let me know please.

Lap 3 same old story, no one to chase just workign on doing the best I could. I almost slid the front end in turn 7. When you hear your fairing scrape at the front of the bike then you kind of perk up a little and pay attention. The Pirelli tyres were GREAT all weekend and stuck like glue except when my ambition over powered them *LOL*

Lap 4
I was finding the 8s to be a problem as I could not transfer my weight across
the bike properly. I started to scrap my toe on the 2nd left which made me a little Leary of pushing harder thru that turn. just as I was braking into 11 I saw a shadow on my right and a rider went past me. He had overshot the breaking marker and went wide in the turn so I manged to get back underneath him and drive up the start finish straight. WAKE UP CALL. He passed me back again into turn 1 and I was right behind him going up the hill.

Lap 5
I blew turn 2 and allowed him to gap me a little I was back on his tail going into 4 and 5. I went wide into 6 and then closed on the exit to try and drive him up to 7. No joy he and I were pretty even on power going up the hill. Shit here come the 8's again, forget the pain just get that foot on the peg and drive. Stayed behind all the way into 10 and he totally blew 11 again. I took FULL advantage and got on the gas and drove up the start finish straight. No white flag so 2 laps to go, better get my ass in gear.

Lap 6
I had no idea how far the rider was behind me after he blew 11 so all I could do was ride defensive lines as fast as I could. I decide not to down shift into 6 and went round the turn faster than I had all day. Fairings on the left side scraping the ground, foot on the peg. What happened to my sore leg, no idea, adrenaine is funny beast. I was expecting him to try a pass into 11 again but no sign of him. I came up start finish looking for the white flag, no sign of it shit still 2 laps to go!!!

Lap 7
I saw a rider in front of me as I went around 1 and started driving up the hill. There is my carrot and I started trying to real him in. I was wide around 2 and
missed a gear change into 3. The rider was on a older bike and I passed him under the brakes in to turn 4. That should put him between me and the guy chasing me and create a little more breathing room. Ah Yes, remember to breath  8's again adjust the foot and hit the apexes. Drive down towards 9. Change down 3 and control the skip of the rear wheel. Around 9, 10 and into 11. No one in sight. Look out of my right eye as I exit 11 to see if I can see anything behind me. Cant see anyone but I might have missed them.

Lap 8
Finally the white flag at start finish. Head down concentrate, totally blow 3a, hope he is not close enough to capitalize on that mistake. Drive in to 4, hard on the brakes, downshift once and late apex. Slightly tighter line in case someone is thinking about an inside pass. Up two gears through 5 and towards 6 quick change down as I crest the hill. Chest on tank, ass up, toes on peg turn the bike in. Managed to just get into 5th up the hill to 7 so only 2 downshifts then move my body weight. Tight inside line on the entry again. Can you tell I dont want anyone sneaking by me  Thru 8 again down 3 gears into 9 back end jumping. Grab two qucik shift before 10. Down 2 gears into 11 tight inside line to block any passing then its a drag race to the finish line. Out of 11 up thru the box with no missed gears this time. Glad to see that checkerd flag.

Turns out i ended up in 6th my best finsih so far in my illustrious AFM career. *LOL*

So the score at the end of the weekend:
Forumla 40 Lightweight 9th
Forumla 4 17th
650 twins Failed to start
650 production 6th

Big thanks to my wife beth, to Vick, Colleen and Zoe Anderson for being such great pit neighbours all weekend. We need that chicken recipe *grin*. thanks to safermoto.com for being such great sponsor and Chris at pirelli for all his help and great suggestions on super sticky rubber. Looking forward to the next round THill will be fun with all the guys back again hopefully I can continue to improve and keep it shiney side up.

If you read all this you deserve a prize. Video links to follow

Cheers Alan
__________________

[zipbyu]

Wow, that is great, 6th in production is tough to do.  Did I say wow?

[n10sive]

congrats on the good finishes Alan!

[Justin]

6th rocks

I really love the detailed race reports!

[scotinexcile]

Had to cut in half, something about a 2000 character limit per post

Great weekend the video worked really well and is the only reason I am able to go back and detail each race
http://vholdr.com/node/88899 650 Prod Race
http://vholdr.com/node/88880 Formula 40 Lightweight

Still waiting for the F4 race from Sunday to process 5 hours later!!1

[youngster775]

thats way cool! why did I keep yelling at the screen? LATE BRAKE! INSIDE! MAKE IT STICK! haha

[scotinexcile]

thats way cool! why did I keep yelling at the screen? LATE BREAK! INSIDE! MAKE IT STICK! haha

Just because it's you 

[Adiggity]

Again, nice job Alan. Now where's my prize?? Oh, and I have a feeling you got a better result than 6th yesterday. Congrats on that too!