csik magnet
Well-known member
I’m new to writing race reports (and racing in general), but here’s my long-winded account of the weekend. I improved a bit from Round 1, met some awesome people, and learned that 6 races might be a bit ambitious. It was amazingly fun, and I can’t wait for Round 3!
After finishing loading up the bike and my gear, I hit the road at 5pm in Reno, NV. A long and boring drive down the 5 brought me in to Buttonwillow around 11:30. I met my pit mates (we were splitting a garage which was a first for me, so luxurious!), unpacked, and called it a night. After waking up, I breezed through Tech in the morning and prepared to hit the track.
The practice sessions were fairly uneventful (and slow) as I was still learning/remembering the track. My best lap was 1:58 at Round 1 and I got down to 2:00 flat in practice, so I was confident I wouldn’t be losing any time once I found my race pace. Round 2 was my 2nd time at Buttonwillow, the first being Round 1. The track is definitely growing on me; there are some places I know I’m still losing out on time, but overall my speed and smoothness improved a bit since Round 1. After Saturday practice I mentally geared up for my first race, Clubman Middleweight.
Clubman Middleweight - 3rd grid spot in the front row of Novice and a pretty decent start put me juuuuust ahead of the rest of row 1 into T1. I remember thinking “Someone’s going to brake first, and it’s not going to be me!!!”. I led the group for the first lap (and realized I don’t yet know how to maintain a quick pace without someone to follow) before #728 Sam Gluss flew by on lap 2. I latched on and let him tow me for the rest of the race into a 2nd place finish (translation: I tried everything I could to get close enough for a pass but I couldn’t make it happen).
After a day of driving followed by a day of riding, I was absolutely beat. I wandered the pits a bit, cooked some dinner, and unintentionally called it an early evening (fell asleep in my chair) at 8:30pm. Fortunately I woke up a bit more refreshed on Sunday, and after a quick warm-up session to make sure I still remembered which direction the track went, I was ready to race.
750 Superbike - Gridded 1st row, and a tremendous start let me secure the holeshot into T1 again (sorry clutch). Knowing I pace down with no leader, I tried to wick up the speed in an attempt to hold the field at bay but Sam Gluss passed me closely and cleanly after Riverside on lap 4. We shortly caught up to a couple riders from the previous wave who were embroiled in their own battle and tried to find a way around. Sam worked his way between them on lap 5 and I squeezed behind him with a pass on the brakes up over Phil Hill; that’s an exciting maneuver! While he was briefly stuck behind the lead rider through Sunset I stayed back just a hair and drove out hard, carrying by both of them down the front straight into lap 6. I tried my best to hold a defensive line through the spots Sam passed me during Round 1 while also carrying as much speed as humanly (well, Novice-ly) possible to make getting by me as difficult as I could. It worked, and I not only took 1st but set a new PR of 1:56! I was ecstatic coming into the pits, and congratulated Sam on a terrific battle.
About 20 minutes before my next race, I placed my hand on my rear warmer to discover it cold. My garage mate, #452 Max Zeronian, very generously loaned me his spare warmers (thanks Max!), and thanks to a delayed 1st call I had just enough time to get the tire hot-ish before the race.
600 Superbike - I gridded next to Sam again and knew to expect a good fight; I wasn’t disappointed! I jockeyed back and forth for 1st with Sam and kept him and the rest of the grid (mostly) behind me until he passed halfway through lap 5. The white flag quickly reminded me of just how few passing opportunities remained to secure a win. I held on as best I could but never ended up close enough for a pass in the spots I was comfortable passing. Coming in to the final turn of lap 6 right on Sam’s wheel, I carried as much corner speed as I could and opened the throttle as early as possible. I heard my engine note pick up a fraction of a second before Sam’s; I had a chance! My tiny amount of drive carried me to 1st mere feet before the finish line in an extremely close race; I won by 0.13 seconds, shouting “c’mon go go go go go go!!!” in my helmet all the way down the straight. We congratulated each other on another excellent battle and broke for lunch.
Relaxing and finishing lunch, I heard an announcement about 25 mins before scheduled race start that Formula 1 had been regridded and to check at the clubhouse. As I started walking over to check, another announcement 3 minutes later: Formula 1, 2nd call. Verifying others heard the same I sprinted back to my pit, got dressed (there’s final call!), and rolled over to the track for the warm up lap and grid. As others trickled in and gridded around me we shook our heads and shrugged at each other, as much communication as we could manage about the race calls. (Was anyone else caught off guard with that?)
Formula 1 - Once the green flag went up, a good start netted me 1st into T1 again. Unbeknownst to me, #924 Jackson Burkhart had an amazing start also (and a great 1st lap), passing 5 other riders before passing me to take 1st into Riverside on lap 2. After a couple failed passes I snuck by on lap 3 but quickly lost my advantage on the brakes into T1 of lap 4; I wish I had the confidence to brake that late! Downshifting into T2, my focus on catching up was immediately broken as I discovered the first half of the clutch lever travel was completely loose. In the subsequent few corners I lost the clutch entirely. By the time I determined I should probably pit and figure out what was broken, I had already sailed past pit lane and seeing the white flag at the finish line I decided to limp the transmission (well, more like abuse the hell out of it) to the end of the race. My pace dropped off quite a bit (hey, you try threshold braking while downshifting with no clutch!) and I barely held on to 2nd place; #978 Brian Kellog buzzed by just after the finish line thanks to me not dropping enough gears into Sunset.
Rolling back to the pits I was convinced I snapped the clutch cable, but a quick inspection showed it still intact. I had a couple hours before my next races and got to work figuring out what went wrong. Luckily, it was just a locknut that backed itself off from the cable end. I quickly tightened it (with some RTV to help keep it in place because I don’t like to repeat mistakes), enjoyed lunch, and headed over to watch Formula Pacific. And what a race that was! Chris Siglin, Cory Call, and Deion Campbell swapped positions back and forth continually and made for some exciting racing to watch. After FP I headed back to my pit, checked the bike over, and got as much rest as I could before my last 2 races of the weekend.
600 Superstock - I’m convinced there’s something magical about my bike that makes it easy to launch. It has just enough power to start picking up the front in 1st but not enough to worry about looping it. And the clutch is super easy to modulate (when the cable is connected properly at least). Whatever it is, I’m not going to question it! -I started with another good drive into T1 at the front of the pack and battled for pole against Jackson allllll the way until the last turn of the last lap, where he passed me (on the brakes again! How did he make that stick???). I couldn’t beat his drive out of Sunset and we took 1st and 2nd at the checkered.
750 Superstock - I was extremely tired by the time race 14 rolled around. 6 races is a pretty full weekend! I was slightly disappointed Sam and Jackson weren’t participating but more relieved that I wouldn’t be pulled into another battle lasting the entire 6 laps. 750 Superstock had the Novices starting on the same wave as the Experts which ended up being a lot of fun. My final start of the day had me jockeying for position with the Experts into T1, and I ended up behind #383 Robert McCoy for the first 2 laps. Following into T2, I saw him lose the rear in a big way and prepared myself to dodge a bike and rider. I have no idea how he saved it with the bike trying to buck him off that violently, but he did! I slipped by into open air and tried to maintain my pace but was far too exhausted and Robert reclaimed his spot in front of me a lap later. I tried to keep up and managed to stick with him to the end of the race, taking 1st in the Novice class. The cooldown lap made me realize just how exhausted I was; with the race over I barely had the energy to stay upright.
After I got back I started loading up my gear and bike. I said my goodbyes to friends from Round 1 and new faces from Round 2, lent a hand here and there, and started the long drive back to Reno. Stopped for food with some of the AFM staff along the way, said hi to Jason of Dunlop at a very cold rest stop in Truckee (I had to deal with chain controls over the 80 during Round 1, and guess what happened again on the way back from Round 2?), eventually made it home, and was finally in bed at 2:30am.
All in all it was an excellent weekend; I found more speed and more smoothness, the bike did admirably (minus a simple mechanical issue), and I got to know the other racers at my level. The coming battles with them should be great! Huge thanks to #452 Max Zeronian and #977 Eric Fox, we all split a garage for the weekend and helped each other out getting ready for and getting back from the races. Very excited for Round 3!
After finishing loading up the bike and my gear, I hit the road at 5pm in Reno, NV. A long and boring drive down the 5 brought me in to Buttonwillow around 11:30. I met my pit mates (we were splitting a garage which was a first for me, so luxurious!), unpacked, and called it a night. After waking up, I breezed through Tech in the morning and prepared to hit the track.
The practice sessions were fairly uneventful (and slow) as I was still learning/remembering the track. My best lap was 1:58 at Round 1 and I got down to 2:00 flat in practice, so I was confident I wouldn’t be losing any time once I found my race pace. Round 2 was my 2nd time at Buttonwillow, the first being Round 1. The track is definitely growing on me; there are some places I know I’m still losing out on time, but overall my speed and smoothness improved a bit since Round 1. After Saturday practice I mentally geared up for my first race, Clubman Middleweight.
Clubman Middleweight - 3rd grid spot in the front row of Novice and a pretty decent start put me juuuuust ahead of the rest of row 1 into T1. I remember thinking “Someone’s going to brake first, and it’s not going to be me!!!”. I led the group for the first lap (and realized I don’t yet know how to maintain a quick pace without someone to follow) before #728 Sam Gluss flew by on lap 2. I latched on and let him tow me for the rest of the race into a 2nd place finish (translation: I tried everything I could to get close enough for a pass but I couldn’t make it happen).
After a day of driving followed by a day of riding, I was absolutely beat. I wandered the pits a bit, cooked some dinner, and unintentionally called it an early evening (fell asleep in my chair) at 8:30pm. Fortunately I woke up a bit more refreshed on Sunday, and after a quick warm-up session to make sure I still remembered which direction the track went, I was ready to race.
750 Superbike - Gridded 1st row, and a tremendous start let me secure the holeshot into T1 again (sorry clutch). Knowing I pace down with no leader, I tried to wick up the speed in an attempt to hold the field at bay but Sam Gluss passed me closely and cleanly after Riverside on lap 4. We shortly caught up to a couple riders from the previous wave who were embroiled in their own battle and tried to find a way around. Sam worked his way between them on lap 5 and I squeezed behind him with a pass on the brakes up over Phil Hill; that’s an exciting maneuver! While he was briefly stuck behind the lead rider through Sunset I stayed back just a hair and drove out hard, carrying by both of them down the front straight into lap 6. I tried my best to hold a defensive line through the spots Sam passed me during Round 1 while also carrying as much speed as humanly (well, Novice-ly) possible to make getting by me as difficult as I could. It worked, and I not only took 1st but set a new PR of 1:56! I was ecstatic coming into the pits, and congratulated Sam on a terrific battle.
About 20 minutes before my next race, I placed my hand on my rear warmer to discover it cold. My garage mate, #452 Max Zeronian, very generously loaned me his spare warmers (thanks Max!), and thanks to a delayed 1st call I had just enough time to get the tire hot-ish before the race.
600 Superbike - I gridded next to Sam again and knew to expect a good fight; I wasn’t disappointed! I jockeyed back and forth for 1st with Sam and kept him and the rest of the grid (mostly) behind me until he passed halfway through lap 5. The white flag quickly reminded me of just how few passing opportunities remained to secure a win. I held on as best I could but never ended up close enough for a pass in the spots I was comfortable passing. Coming in to the final turn of lap 6 right on Sam’s wheel, I carried as much corner speed as I could and opened the throttle as early as possible. I heard my engine note pick up a fraction of a second before Sam’s; I had a chance! My tiny amount of drive carried me to 1st mere feet before the finish line in an extremely close race; I won by 0.13 seconds, shouting “c’mon go go go go go go!!!” in my helmet all the way down the straight. We congratulated each other on another excellent battle and broke for lunch.
Relaxing and finishing lunch, I heard an announcement about 25 mins before scheduled race start that Formula 1 had been regridded and to check at the clubhouse. As I started walking over to check, another announcement 3 minutes later: Formula 1, 2nd call. Verifying others heard the same I sprinted back to my pit, got dressed (there’s final call!), and rolled over to the track for the warm up lap and grid. As others trickled in and gridded around me we shook our heads and shrugged at each other, as much communication as we could manage about the race calls. (Was anyone else caught off guard with that?)
Formula 1 - Once the green flag went up, a good start netted me 1st into T1 again. Unbeknownst to me, #924 Jackson Burkhart had an amazing start also (and a great 1st lap), passing 5 other riders before passing me to take 1st into Riverside on lap 2. After a couple failed passes I snuck by on lap 3 but quickly lost my advantage on the brakes into T1 of lap 4; I wish I had the confidence to brake that late! Downshifting into T2, my focus on catching up was immediately broken as I discovered the first half of the clutch lever travel was completely loose. In the subsequent few corners I lost the clutch entirely. By the time I determined I should probably pit and figure out what was broken, I had already sailed past pit lane and seeing the white flag at the finish line I decided to limp the transmission (well, more like abuse the hell out of it) to the end of the race. My pace dropped off quite a bit (hey, you try threshold braking while downshifting with no clutch!) and I barely held on to 2nd place; #978 Brian Kellog buzzed by just after the finish line thanks to me not dropping enough gears into Sunset.
Rolling back to the pits I was convinced I snapped the clutch cable, but a quick inspection showed it still intact. I had a couple hours before my next races and got to work figuring out what went wrong. Luckily, it was just a locknut that backed itself off from the cable end. I quickly tightened it (with some RTV to help keep it in place because I don’t like to repeat mistakes), enjoyed lunch, and headed over to watch Formula Pacific. And what a race that was! Chris Siglin, Cory Call, and Deion Campbell swapped positions back and forth continually and made for some exciting racing to watch. After FP I headed back to my pit, checked the bike over, and got as much rest as I could before my last 2 races of the weekend.
600 Superstock - I’m convinced there’s something magical about my bike that makes it easy to launch. It has just enough power to start picking up the front in 1st but not enough to worry about looping it. And the clutch is super easy to modulate (when the cable is connected properly at least). Whatever it is, I’m not going to question it! -I started with another good drive into T1 at the front of the pack and battled for pole against Jackson allllll the way until the last turn of the last lap, where he passed me (on the brakes again! How did he make that stick???). I couldn’t beat his drive out of Sunset and we took 1st and 2nd at the checkered.
750 Superstock - I was extremely tired by the time race 14 rolled around. 6 races is a pretty full weekend! I was slightly disappointed Sam and Jackson weren’t participating but more relieved that I wouldn’t be pulled into another battle lasting the entire 6 laps. 750 Superstock had the Novices starting on the same wave as the Experts which ended up being a lot of fun. My final start of the day had me jockeying for position with the Experts into T1, and I ended up behind #383 Robert McCoy for the first 2 laps. Following into T2, I saw him lose the rear in a big way and prepared myself to dodge a bike and rider. I have no idea how he saved it with the bike trying to buck him off that violently, but he did! I slipped by into open air and tried to maintain my pace but was far too exhausted and Robert reclaimed his spot in front of me a lap later. I tried to keep up and managed to stick with him to the end of the race, taking 1st in the Novice class. The cooldown lap made me realize just how exhausted I was; with the race over I barely had the energy to stay upright.
After I got back I started loading up my gear and bike. I said my goodbyes to friends from Round 1 and new faces from Round 2, lent a hand here and there, and started the long drive back to Reno. Stopped for food with some of the AFM staff along the way, said hi to Jason of Dunlop at a very cold rest stop in Truckee (I had to deal with chain controls over the 80 during Round 1, and guess what happened again on the way back from Round 2?), eventually made it home, and was finally in bed at 2:30am.
All in all it was an excellent weekend; I found more speed and more smoothness, the bike did admirably (minus a simple mechanical issue), and I got to know the other racers at my level. The coming battles with them should be great! Huge thanks to #452 Max Zeronian and #977 Eric Fox, we all split a garage for the weekend and helped each other out getting ready for and getting back from the races. Very excited for Round 3!
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