AFM 103 – Greg McCullough

Shortly after Round 1, I attended a 3 hour classroom session with Ken Hill, where he reinforced a bunch of core concepts – approach to corners, utilizing brakes, and body position. It was a really good reminder of just how much the basics matter. I’d fallen out of the habit of thinking my way around a track, and it really showed down at Buttonwillow. I have every intention of finishing this season with the ability to comfortably run with the leaders in every race, and I need a solid foundation to be able to go fast every round at every track.

I spent the next Z2 trackday at Infineon tearing down some of my bad habits with body position, while trying some new approaches to corners, ignoring lap times all day. I swapped my Ohlins front end from last year’s bike onto the ’08 as a test, and immediately realized why I’d been battling this new bike. The Ohlins cartridges had far better feel while trailing to the apex of a corner. The stock stuff was great up to a point, but when really pushing it into a corner, it stopped giving any feedback. I came away from the day with a better bike and some better lines.

Friday’s PTT trackday gave me a bit more time to work on the same things, with fresh muscles and brain, but I finished the day slow overall, only running 1:48’s. Saturday’s practice was intended to be all about going faster, but I finished the day only running 1:46’s with some other 600 riders walking me out at about a second a lap. Not the best baseline going into Sunday’s races. However, I wasn’t having any moments out there, compared to some of my competition who blew corners all day or crashed out.

600 Superbike

With a inside grid spot on row 2, I knew I’d need to get a great launch to get clear of the front row, or I’d get pinched up against the wall and blocked into turn 2. As the green flag waved, that’s exactly what happened, and I found myself in 9th going into turn 2, following the pack. I got around Jason going into turn 2 on the second lap, but by that time, the field had checked out, and I found myself doing lonely laps a couple seconds behind Billy Scott. I tried to keep my head down and run clean, quick laps, but I slacked a little bit, and on the second to last lap, Gabe Santa Coloma came around me into the 9’s – geez, I must have been dawdling. I squared him up to drive past him out of 11, but he missed a shift, and I had nowhere to go. I rolled off to avoid him, giving Hoffman the opportunity to come by into turn 1. I couldn’t reel them in on the last lap, and I finished in 10th.

Formula Pacific

In my first time racing this class, I was at the back of the grid, in 22nd spot. Against 1000s, my bike is totally outclassed, but it’s a great opportunity to ride with good riders, learn from their lines, and work on being consistent for 10 laps vs. our regular 8 lap races. I got an ok launch, bringing me up to Hoffman and Tinagero, also on 600s. Now that I was running closer to these guys, I could see where I was losing time. I was absolutely getting destroyed on the exit of the carousel, and a bit into 7. I could pull them in a bit everywhere else, but I was losing it all between 6 and 7. They slowly gapped me, and I rode some lonely laps until the second to last, when I saw someone coming up behind me as I came around turn 11. I put my head down for a fast lap to retain my spot. He came by me on the brakes into 7, but I squared him up and held my position to the checkers. 16th place. 1:45’s all race, except for the lap where I let Brad catch me. Next time, race flag to flag!

600 Production

With one race to go before the weekend finished, I desperately wanted to end on a high note, evidence that all the effort I’d been putting in was actually paying off. So far, it seemed like it wasn’t making that much difference. As I tried to let the music get me amped up and focused on going fast, I remembered something my teammate Jason mentioned earlier in the day – something about races just being the result of your practice. The point was, nothing would make me miraculously 3 seconds faster – music, red bull, race gas, or anything else. The best I’d run all day was a 1:45.3, and without time to work out my issues with turns 6 and 7, I wasn’t likely to go much faster than that without riding over my head. With next round’s pace likely to be in the 41’s for the win, consistency and learning from other riders was more important than riding a second faster out of control. Race flag to flag, and let the results be what they will be.

I was starting on the outside of the second row, with a good view of the wide line into 2. I got a good launch and stayed on the gas up the hill, slotting in behind Sebastiao for 2nd. Woohoo! That’s only the second time I’ve started that well. Stay on the gas! I was able to hold onto him into the carousel, but on the way out, he got a much better drive. I made it up on the brakes and held with him for another 2 full laps. Although I wanted to make a block move on him to lead a race for the first time, I knew our pace wasn’t much faster than I’d been doing all day, and there were probably a few guys nipping on our heels. Getting into a battle wasn’t going to help anything.

Hoffman came around me in the carousel on the 3rd lap, with Tinagero and Hale diving past me into 7 on the 5th lap. It was pretty obvious where I was getting schooled. Aside from my bad exit to 6, my line and braking into 7 wasn’t working, and set me up for a horrible drive on the way out. Oh well, not going to mess with it now. I kept my head down and clicked off laps. Berto came by a little later (into 7 again, I think). On the last lap, as we swept out of 4, Hoffman highsided in the middle of the track. We all narrowly missed hitting him at 90mph. I finished the race in 5th, with the 4 other guys only a couple seconds ahead.

I’ve never finished a race with the leader only a corner away, and it felt really good to run clean laps near the front. I ran very consistent low 45’s and a lone 44, with no significant moments. Sticking to the program and racing flag to flag, the results in this race were good, and there’s a lot to work with and build on for the next round.

Despite a bad choice of gearing that required feathering the clutch out of 9 and 11, I was getting a better drive than most of the other guys. Given my bone stock motor and pump gas, I wasn’t getting pulled as hard as I thought I would on the long straights. Hopefully by next round, we’ll have a little motor work done, and the race gas will actually show up at the track. But first, I have 2 trackdays to figure out 6 and 7, and hopefully pick up a second or two.

Thank you Z2 and Pirelli for your support. Sam and Tom, your help is invaluable. Chris, thanks again for great tires and great service.

Race videos: http://ridemerchant.com/video/2009/4.26/