AFM 103 – Greg McCullough

I was reminded again this weekend of just how much our intensely individual sport is really all about the people we do it with.

Through the last 2 years, I’ve become good friends with Brian, Blaise, Dave, Jenn, Jason, Cassie, Jason and Ricky.  They’re the usual suspects when we pit together, and we constantly help each other out with stands, warmers, patching bodywork, straightening footpegs, and making sure everyone has a beer in their hand and a smile on their face at the end of the day.  It was only natural that Dave, Blaise, Jason and I got together for this year’s endurance race.  When crashes and other challenges kept Brian, Cassie, Jenn and Ricky off endurance teams this year, they all pitched in and helped us with our 4 hours of mayhem on Saturday.

Thanks to Cassie’s manual scoring of every lap, killer pit stops with the help of Brian, Ricky, Jason and Jenn, the riders were able to focus on putting in solid 50+ minute sessions, all clocking consistent laptimes between 1:47 and 1:52.  When I stumbled off the bike from my session, a cold gatorade was thrown in my hand before I could even hit the chair, and I was doused with water by another member of the pit crew.  Everyone pitched in for 4 hours of very clean racing, and the preliminary results show us in either 2nd or 3rd in 750s, and maybe 3rd overall.  Taking home a little hardware to remember the event will be pretty cool, assuming the results stand.

Sunday’s races got off to a bit of a slow start for me.  Jason and I realized a fresh set of tires wasn’t going to work for 3 races, so I ran 600 superbike on shagged practice tires, and he skipped F1, so we could both focus on 600 production.  Watching people pass me in 600 superbike while I slipped and slid around at 1:45 laptimes wasn’t much fun.  Jason blew by me a few laps in and finished 8th, from the 4th row.  Right on!  I finished a sloppy 11th.  I’m probably going to ditch F1 for the BW round to make sure I have tires for 600 superbike.

Anyway, I suited up the new rubber for F1, and got a pretty good start, but just didn’t get my head in the game.  With the better tires, I found myself tapping out my gearing in a few spots, causing me to try an extra shift, which just ended up making me slower.  I crossed the line for 10th, but ran just about the same 1:45 laptimes.  With only 1 race before 600 proddy, I had just enough time to swap out the rear sprocket for an extra tooth, and sit down with the ipod and get focused.

Race 3, 600 Production.  Starting from the second row, I get a solid start into 4th, but Berto comes by me into 3 and starts to walk away.  As I dive into the carousel, guess who comes flying around me.  Jason!  That punk ass started from the 4th row, and just passed me for 5th!  I’m starting to get a little riled up at this point.  I’ve spent entirely too much of my day getting passed, and feeling like I’m going slow.  As I’m thinking that, Liko comes diving past me into 7, and then Ryan Gorman tries an outside pass into 9.  Alright.  Last race of the day, and I’m gonna get to think about this one for the next few weeks.  Jason’s not getting away.  I put my head down and start pulling him in.

A few laps in, I draft Jason down the back straight and dive past him into 7.  He brakes with me, but shoots long, and I grab the lead.  Woohoo!  The next lap, he comes diving past me into 7, and I try to square him up the exit.  We end up driving side by side into the 8’s, and we’re both laughing in our helmets, since we know neither’s giving up.  I give him just enough room, he gives me just enough room, and I intentionally run over that curbing to the right.  As soon as both wheels came off the ground, I lose my drive, of course, and he goes shooting by.  I chase him down for the next lap and a half, drawing him in a bit in 11, and then hold off on the brakes a bit longer into turn 1.  CRAP!  He’s decided to get on the brakes early to try and square up the turn, since I was outdriving him up the hill in the previous laps.  I get on the binders hard, right in his wheel tracks, with the wall to our right.  I can’t lean the bike in and maintain maximum braking, and come REALLY close to his tail section as he starts to turn in.  I take a quick look at the very dusty asphalt that’s wide of the proper racing line, and decide to not try and tip it in and trailbrake hard through that, opting instead to finish braking upright and ride across the dirt about 30 ft off the apex.  With no one behind us for a solid 10 seconds, I had plenty of time to dirt track across that and maintain my 7th position, but Jason was 4 seconds gone.

As I took the checkered, I had a huge grin on my face.  Racing is fun, but racing head-to-head with someone you know really well is something else entirely.  Jason and I pushed each other to mid-1:43 laptimes in that race, both setting personal bests.  We also have a video to review and compare our approaches, and teach each other.  Combine some of the better corners from both of us, and we’ll be a second or two lower next time out.

Thanks Jason, Jenn, Cassie, Jason, Dave, Blaise, Ricky and Brian for the awesome weekend.  Special thanks to Dave for putting his bike up for us to thrash on for 4 hours.

Here’s the video from the 600 Production race: http://www.ridemerchant.com/video/2008/9.28/greg.html