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 2007 AFM Round 3: Infineon Raceway (Paul)Friday, May 25th: The weekend started a little early with an open trackday run by Keigwins at the Track. I needed the track time to get the bike sorted out, as the handling was basically unsafe when pushed. The GSX-R hadn't handled well after it was stock, and the whole point of going through the suspension was to make it better. I'd been alternately trying to make the bike turn, then keep it from folding the front, keep traction in the rear, and seemingly, all of the above at the same time at various points of development. Other folks riding my bike had trouble with it also, which was worrying in a bike that's generally very well-known for excellent handling. This was make it or break it for me, in terms of whether I'd be racing this weekend. In the end, with much help from Michael Potts (fellow K@TT instructor) and Dave Moss from Catalyst Reaction Suspension Tuning, it was discovered there was way too much fork oil installed when the revalving was done. This led to the forks hydrolocking under compression, which went a long ways toward explaining the funky suspension behavior. That issue resolved, minor tweaks got things back to the "safe" state. Still not fast, still not confidence-inspiring, but at least in the ballpark, finally. All the mucking about took pretty much the whole day, so at the end of the day, Hodaka and I moved all our stuff into the garage, and I headed to the hotel to meet up with Gina who was coming up to be the ever-supporting wife. I was hopeful that the weekend might actually come together reasonably... Saturday, May 26th: The short drive to the track in the morning was cold and foggy - not the best riding conditions at Infineon. Getting back into the swing of things took a few tries; I hadn't raced since the end of 2005, if you don't include the endurance race last year. Oh yeah - have to register before tech. Oh, and need to tech my gear. Oh, forgot the transmitter, etc. I was lucky enough to be placed in practice group 4, rather than 2 or 3 where I figured I'd be put at first given my time off - have to be thankful for those small things. I skipped the first session, but got into a reasonable groove after that. A few more tweaks through the day, tire changes, etc., but still moving in the right direction. At the end of the day, a group of about 10 of us went out to a nice dinner, and I did my best to get some rest. Sunday, May 27th: Gina and I arrived once again to a very cold track. A very slow practice session had me a bit worried, but I figured things would clear up for the race when the weather would be a bit warmer, and the usual adrenaline would kick things up a notch. 600 SuperBike - Row 13, #57 There must have been other people like me who hadn't raced at all this year, as I should have been dead last. I think there were a couple of people next to me, and maybe one behind. In any case, my plan was simple survival - I'd just treat it like an endurance race by getting a lazy start, and waiting a couple of laps for everything to sort itself out. There was a fair chance we'd see a red flag before that point anyway, given the reputation of the class. Turns out, it was reasonably uneventful - no big turn one/turn two pile up, and everyone even made it through turn nine without major incident. So, after a couple of laps, I figured I should get going. I started picking people off here and there, mostly on the brakes into turns four, six, seven, nine, and eleven. My bike was either very much on the slow side, or everyone and their cousin was running race gas, pipes, and Power Commanders. Still, I managed to find my way up to and past fellow K@TT instructor Ginny Cutler, who had great drive coming out of the carousel, and who could get on the brakes very late going into T7. I ultimately ended 44th, but had stayed upright, which was really the big goal for this weekend. 600 Production - Row 12, #53 Since this race was after lunch, and I'd had time to think about my very conservative approach to the first race, I decided that I should probably be a bit more aggressive from the start and actually try to get around people early on to avoid having to pass so many people during the race. The most striking thing I learned from the first race was that there were so many people out there, everyone has at least a couple of people who are very close to them pace-wise. This means you tend to have groups of people running very similar times, trying to get around each other. If you're running a faster pace from the back, you now have to pass clumps of 3-6 people, rather than picking them off one by one. This makes passing much more of an event... Anyway, I got a reasonable start, and was hoping to go outside in T1 and run a tight line into T2, but there was just too much going on over there. Instead, I went tight in T1, and around the outside in T2, where there was a lot more room. This got me up past a lot of the folks I was trying to get around in the 600SB race much earlier on. I still ended up dicing with a lot of the same people, but it was definitely more satisfying, and took me further into the field. Ultimately, I ended up 32nd, getting past 20 people - can't complain too much. Weekend Wrapup: It was a pretty successful return to racing, all things considered. It's been a long time since I've started off the first or second row, and it's been an eye-opener...especially in a class of this size and speed. I think I've nearly got myself out of the trackday mentality, and back into the racing spirit; I'd almost forgotten what it was like. Where 6-foot courtesy passes are the rule in trackday riding, they just don't exist in racing - even at the back of the pack. I was reminded of this early on in the weekend; even practice is much more aggressive. So, I'll be back at it in July at Thunderhill (on my 1st wedding anniversary, no less!), with a new outlook, and better results! |
