AFM 103 – Greg McCullough

“If you’re not at race pace, you’re just wasting time” – Colin Edwards

I need to remind myself of this quote more often. While it’s not 100% true for a relatively new rider like me, who can learn a lot from slowing down and observing what’s going on… it’s still a good guideline for any racer.

The weekend started on Friday morning, with the open test and tune day run by AFM. A lot fewer people than the regular Saturday practice, and more sessions to work with. I basically totally wasted my time. Since I’d had a great practice day on Monday at Infineon, thanks to a few suspension adjustments, I mostly chased my tail trying to get the suspension to handle as well at Thunderhill. No such luck, and I was riding in the 2:02 range at best.

Saturday, I decided I’d mostly ignore suspension bits and just focus on getting through sections of the track better, with mild success. The breakthrough realization came when I took Jason’s SV (now Jenn’s) out for 2 laps to test the new slipper clutch he’d just thrown in. Jenn wasn’t practicing Saturday, and someone needed to give it a once over before she raced it Sunday. My god. That thing seemed SOOO easy to ride. Given, the suspension is well sorted, and the slipper clutch made corner entry extremely predictable, but the main sensation was that everything was happening slowly, and I had all the time in the world to focus on opening the throttle really early and setting up my lines way in advance.

This sensation had me scratching my head… and I talked to Shawn Reilly and some others about it. I asked why it was so difficult to get the R6 around the track when the SV was so damned easy. The short answer was… it’s all in your head. The R6 just makes things happen that little bit faster which puts my brain into reactive mode, instead of thinking a few turns ahead all the time. Alright, we’ll just go throw the R6 around like it’s an SV, and try and get the brain ahead of the bike. As the temps rose well into the 100s, I clicked off a few 1:59s to end the day, which was a significant improvement. However, that’s only a second quicker than I’ve done on a 80hp SV650 at the track. Not going to cut it for Sunday… but we’re moving in the right direction.

In the evening, Andy Allen, another R6 rider who I battled with at Infineon in Formula I, gave me a little advice about a few spots on the track, since he was lapping in the 57’s in practice. I really appreciate his openness with advice to someone running around his pace. Good guy.

I wanted to drop into the 58’s in Sunday morning’s only practice session, but no such luck. Only a few 59.5s again. Still, they were very comfortable, and Andy’s approach to certain turns definitely helped.

Race 1: Formula I

My first front row grid position ever. 5th, outside position, looking at a left hand turn 1. Pretty daunting and thrilling at the same time, knowning that the 4 guys to my left have run 2-3 seconds faster than me previously, and there are a hord of pretty quick guys right behind me.

Green flag! I get a pretty good jump, staying parallel with most of the front row, but as I tip in for turn 1, the back of my bike clearly gets snagged on some part of some other bike. It’s pushing me wide, but I hold my line as best I can, staying on track. A second later, the pressure releases and I glance over my shoulder to see Liko running off track and up the hill. Bummer. Looking at pictures later, it looks like he got a bad jump on the start, and was probably trying to sneak into turn 1 tight, but I took his line just as he was getting there, not seeing him coming.

I gave away a few spots while the boat anchor was attached, and focused on trying to get those back early. I got around one or two guys, then Andy Allen. Since I’d be battling with him at Infineon, I really wanted to finish ahead of him this time too.

After 3 laps or so, I looked back and saw that I had a decent gap behind, and a decent one ahead. That was a mistake. Of course, knowing I had a gap slowed me down a bit, and as I rounded turn 2 on the last lap, the swarm got me. Matt Eccleston came by, closely followed by Stan Riner then Andy Allen again. Dammit, dammit, dammit. With only one lap to go, I couldn’t close it down, and I finished in 7th, with a 4th place available if I’d kept my head down. Best laptime was a 1:57.5. Now we’re talking.

Race 2: 600 Production

All the fast clowns showed up this weekend, so I found myself gridded on the 5th row, with Ricky Corey right in front of me (last year’s 600 champ), and a bunch of really fast guys scattered to the front. I got a decent jump into turn 1, picking off about 1 row of riders by turn 2, then set to work on one rider at a time. By half a lap, it was obvious that the 3 guys in front of me weren’t keeping up with the group ahead of them. Gotta go. In the next 2 laps, I picked them off, making a kinda close block pass into T10 in the process. Once free, I set off after the group ahead, but to no avail. They had about 5 seconds on me, and were running the same times, so I got to watch Andy’s back from 5 seconds away for the rest of the race. The only excitement was when Sebastiao Ferriera came by me at the beginning of lap 4, but I took him back a few turns later, and developed a gap quickly. And that’s how it ended… in 14th place, from 20-something. Not bad. Need a better jump to run with the guys at my pace though. Best laptime of a 1:56.9. Woohoo. 56s were the outside goal for the weekend, and I just clipped it.

Race 3: 600 Superbike

I threw in race gas for this one, just to see what it’d be like, since the bike’s mapped for it. Should gain 5-6 HP. Again, gridded a ways back. 6th row this time, 24th position, outside. Sucks when you don’t race the first round, and gridding’s done purely by points in the class. Gotta get a good start to make this happen.

Green flag! Good jump, and a hole develops up the right side by the wall. Well, kindof a hole… but good enough to sneak through. Keep it pinned! We go diving into turn 2, and Berto’s 2 bikes ahead of me, and it looks like 10+ bikes ahead of him. There’s my rabbit. If I can keep chasing him, I should get close to the top 10, even with all the fast guys on the grid. A group of 4-5 riders quickly develops in front of him, and between us, moving at a decent clip, but they’re clearly running just under the pace. Berto’s picking off someone every lap, and I’m doing my best to follow suit. The battle’s pretty tight, with everyone running low 57s.

I’m being a complete chicken through T2, T3, T5a, giving away 6 bike lengths a lap, but close it up well into 10, and out of 13. 13 and 15 are killing me though, with the rear spinning up like crazy on the way out of those corners. Tire pressure’s clearly a little off, and since I haven’t been running this pace in practice, the rear suspension’s not really in the ballpark. Oh well. Still going ok. Most of the passes stick, but on the last lap, coming into turn 14, Eccleston comes FLYING by me on the brakes. I can’t square him up, but focus on a good drive up the front straight. Open the gas early, early, early! I pull onto the straight right behind him, drafting for all it’s worth, pull wide, and go past him by a bike length or two. Fun stuff!

Finished 11th, with a best time of 1:57.0. Almost top 10. Not bad for starting 24th, and had a blast doing it.

Can’t wait til Infineon and apply lesson #1: Get up to pace early in practice, and then work with the bike to raise the bar. Racing takes care of itself.