AFM 103 – Greg McCullough

Jason and I had spent the 4th of July weekend down at Buttonwillow testing a new suspension setup from David Behrend at Fast Bike Industries, our Ohlins wizard.  That testing had gone well, with some significant geometry changes, but we weren’t sure how much would apply from Bumpywillow to Thunder Hill.

Rolling out for practice, it was immediately obvious that this setup was pretty darned close.  I ran some easy 1:56’s, and for once this season, was above Jason on the practice timesheets.  All other events of the weekend aside, this was probably one of the biggest wins.  I’ve wrestled to be quicker in practice all year, and it was good to be generally in the ballpark immediately.

Because the bike was so good right away, I held off on trying a few front end adjustments I was considering, and focused on my drives out of a few key corners, and maximizing the 10ths of seconds consistently, for better laptimes.  I knew the bike could be better, but I knew I could be too, and I made an intentional decision to work on myself instead of the bike.  It’s a decision I’d later regret.  Just before my first race the next day, Mike Canfield commented to me, “The club guys practice on Saturday.  The really fast guys test.”  That’s been ringing in my head ever since.

We finished practice with some consistent low 1:55’s, and I packed it in before the last short session, feeling confident that with a fresh front tire and race gas, we’d easily be back in the 53’s (last round‘s best pace), probably 52’s, and maybe lower yet.

Sunday was a hurry up and wait situation, with my 3 races packed at the end of the day – 9, 11, and 13.  This left me with nothing but time to watch my teammates race, suit up fresh tires, and generally go stir crazy.  Not my favorite thing.

First race – Formula 1

Starting from pole, I had every intention of getting the holeshot and doing my best to put a gap on Berto.  Lenny would do what Lenny does best, but with him effectively out of the points, where he finished didn’t matter much.  But as they say about the best laid plans…

I choked on the start in epic fashion, letting the revs drop way too low, and found myself wandering into turn 1 behind a flock of riders.  From there, it only got worse.  As the boys at the front started to pull a gap on me, I started pushing harder, but couldn’t keep with them.  After a few laps of watching them pull away particularly on the way into and in the middle of corners, I started wondering if we’d over inflated the front tire.  Bad thought.  My laptimes started dropping off as I started paying far too much attention to what was happening between the forks.

Pulling into the pits after finishing in 7th place, we checked the tire pressure, only to find it absolutely spot on, and looking great.  Decision time.  I’d just completed a race where I didn’t feel like I could push the front of the bike.  Knowing I’d just handed the points lead in the class over to Berto didn’t help, and I wanted to set the record straight in the next race.  Although I knew the new tire was of course a better piece of rubber, I knew my setup had worked pretty well on the practice tire from the previous day.  Faced with the options of making front end changes with zero testing time, or swapping the tire, I decided to swap the tire.

Race 2 – 600 Production

3rd in the points behind Lenny and Berto, I really wanted to chip away at Berto’s points and make up for the previous race.  My start wasn’t much better, with Lenny, Tyler, Berto and Jason ahead of me by turn 3.  They started pulling a gap on me, but after 2 laps, I started getting comfortable again, and pulled it back in, passing Jason on the 3rd lap, then Berto in 14 on lap 4.  As we headed around turn 2, I knew he’d be setting me up for his patented outside pass, and sure enough, I heard him coming around me in 3, and he just barely squeezed underneath into 4.  Getting done cursing in my helmet, I focused on staying right on his rear wheel to re-pass back into 14, but no dice this time around.

I found myself following him around turn 2.  Ok, last lap, but no time like the present to try to figure out this turn 3 business, right?  As I followed Berto into the corner with every bit of his corner speed, but my more shallow line, that used front tire started telling me it’d had enough.  As my bars started to turn, I learned a fun lesson about my turn 3 challenges – I’m hanging on the bars way too hard there for some reason, covering up the feedback from the tire.  Too late to recover, I found myself sliding on my back toward the dirt, watching Jason ride by.

The NMP out there on the dirt bike was fantastic.  He made sure I was ok, then helped me pick up the bike and push it most of the way across the infield.  The grid guy waved me across the front straight after the race finished, and David picked me up on the scooter, giving me a break from pushing the bike in the 100+ degree weather.

As I cooled off in the trailer, the team ran through options to get me back on track for the last race of the day.  My bike was well beyond repair, and Jason’s had started overheating in that last race.  While I was still chugging water and trying to catch my breath, the team all pitched in to prep Jenn’s bike for me, swapping a rear tire, gassing it up, and getting tech to come over and check out me and my gear.

Jenn‘s bike has a bone stock motor with bone stock suspension, so there was no way to match any of my settings.  Shawn recommended at least setting the preload, but since I was starting to feel significantly dehydrated, I opted to stay in the trailer until the last minute, and just ride it in whatever state it was in.

Race 3 – 750 Superbike

My goals for this race were to preserve 2nd place in the points, while not crashing someone else’s unfamiliar bike.  As the green flag dropped, things got exciting pretty quickly.  As I was following Lenny, Kevin and Brian around turn 2, it was obvious that the front end was too soft.  Oh well for that preload setup, huh?  As we crested the top of turn 5, I had a fun little mini-wheelie where the front tire caught in the transition, forcing me to roll off and let it settle out on the down side.  Hrm… rebound’s a bit off.  I decided to back off the pace a touch before I ended up on the ground again.  Carter came past me a corner or two later, and Nick Hayman passed me into turn 9.  I glanced back to see Joy Higa not that far behind me.  Ok, that’s enough already.  Let’s see what this bike can do, carefully.

Babying the bike while trailing into corners left me with a lot of time to make up on the gas.  As I started to get a feel for it over the next few laps, the pace started to pick up, and Nick started to come back to me.  I started thinking we’d be able to pick him up by the end of the race, and pushed a bit harder.  Closing in up the front straight on lap 5, I gave away a bit through the first few turns.  With a great drive out of 6, things got a little sideways, literally.  The rear and the front both started drifting as I grabbed gears toward 7, and I reconsidered just how badly I wanted the points from that position.  Taking it back a notch, we finished in 6th, with some laps in the 1:56’s.  Not bad for a stock bike setup for someone else.  These Yamahas are really, really good, right out of the box.

I can’t thank my team enough for getting me back out there for my last race.  After making some bad decisions and not getting the results I wanted from the first 2 races, getting back out there and salvaging points was a great way to end the weekend.  Jason, Jenn, Mikey, Tom, David, Kyle, Sam, Shawn – thank you all for your efforts this weekend and helping keep my season on the tracks, despite my best efforts to derail it.

Thanks to all my sponsors who provide me with the best stuff around – Z2, Yamaha, David at Fast Bike Industries, CT Racing Pirelli, Leo Vince, Yamalube, Motion Pro, Race Image Graphics, Helimot, Suomy, Factory Body Works, Igartua, 4theriders, Sidi, Tech Spec, Ink Monkey, GP Frame & Wheel, CRG, Mach 1.