csik magnet
Well-known member
AFM Round 7 was one for the books! This season was my first with AFM and I had managed to make every round so far. Despite a couple setbacks and missed races over the months, I was in the running for all 6 of my championships and (after dropping our lowest round) leading Top Novice by a scant 2 points. I was painfully aware how important Round 7 would be for placing well (in everything)!
*****
Fri: Thanks to working the Fun Track Dayz event on Monday, the bike and I were ready for the weekend fairly early. I finally achieved a goal I’ve been working towards all year: I wasn’t up after midnight on Thursday getting everything packed and loaded! I got a call on Friday; Nik Thompson’s belly pan had been left back at the shop, and since I was coming from Reno as well I stopped by and picked it up on my way out of town. I made it to the track around 8:30, set up my pit, wandered around and said hi to friends, then called it an evening.
Sat Practice: My best time at Thunderhill was a 1:57.1 from last round, my friend and competitor #728 Sam Gluss was very proud of the 1:56.8 he managed on Friday. We were both very hopeful of lapping in the lower 56s and (if we somehow found a looooot of speed) maybe even a 55!
This was my first time in practice group 5 and it definitely improved my riding. There were so many fast riders to follow! By then end of practice I had beaten my PB from last round and taken a tenth off of Sam’s best, managing a 1:56.7 in the last session of the day.
During Monday’s trackday, my main rival for Overall Novice #924 Jackson Burkhart popped his motor; the rattle of a rod knock meant it was definitely dead-dead. Thankfully he was able to borrow a bike from Tomas at Catalyst Reaction and spent the week migrating his suspension, front end, and bodywork to it. He didn’t lose much speed either, and was turning some pretty quick laps by the end of Saturday practice!
After practice I traded some friendly banter with the competition and went to prepare for my first of 6 races, Clubman Middleweight.
Sat R3, Clubman Middleweight: A great start and I had the holeshot into turn 1, but being on the far left made it difficult to carry enough roll speed and I cornered a bit more slowly than optimal.
While trying to hold off Sam I was quickly overtaken by #426 Eli Maddock. I was met with a surprise later in the race when newcomer #706 Hugo Peralta worked his way in front and knocked me into 3rd, coming all the way from the back of the grid! I tried to stay with the leaders as best I could, and while I didn’t have much luck closing in on them I managed to keep ahead of Sam to finish solidly in 3rd. Post-race showed I definitely paced up to stay with them, setting a slightly new best at 56.6.
Saturday night was a blast! The Halloween party and festivities were a hoot. I managed to get myself cleaned up and into costume just in time for the contest, taking 3rd place in my authentic leiderhosen. After a bit more food and fun (and beer) I went to bed a bit early to be ready for the morning.
Sun: A quick practice session in the morning to make sure I was awake and everything was working right, and it was time to fight for some championships.
R2, 750 Superbike: A decent launch put me at the front of the Novices and into the middle of the Experts on lap 1. #728 Sam Gluss made a couple moves to overtake and I picked up my pace as much as I could to hold him off. We traded places back and forth for 2nd, following #829 Jesse Carter through most of laps 1 and 2. T14 was the only point on course I felt I could sneak by Jesse, and on the 2nd lap I set up the move and passed on the inside. In making sure I was presenting myself I didn’t get on the brakes early enough. With a shallow entry and coming in hot I tried to scrub as much speed as possible, realizing I would blow the apex but still complete the turn. As I started to tip in I felt the front quickly skip and tuck and I was on the ground. The bike and I slid away into the dirt and when I got up I saw Jesse and his bike in the outfield as well.
My trajectory left him nowhere to dodge and he also lost the front while braking to avoid me. -Taking someone else out has been the worst part of racing for me. If I can go the rest of my racing career without repeating that mistake... I apologized profusely afterwards and Jesse was amazingly polite and gracious. Fortunately we were both okay and the bikes needed only minor repairs. Jesse made his next race (and won it!), while I missed 600 Superbike (Race 4, there wasn’t quite enough time) but was prepared for Formula 1 just after lunch.
R7, Formula 1: #924 Jackson Burkhart had taken 2nd in the 600 Superbike (while I was still turning wrenches on my bike), netting him 49 points towards Top Novice thanks to his excellent riding at the front of a massive grid. Formula 1 and 600 Superstock were the only races I had remaining that could be worth enough points to retake the overall championship. After spending lunch verifying the bike was OK and mentally reflecting on my crash, I knew I would be a bit timid and would have some trouble pushing a quick pace. I also realized it would be an entirely mental block; I knew what I did wrong and why I crashed (my telltale showed I had completely bottomed out my forks, and I knew I had a poor line and too much speed going into the turn). Since I understood my error and how to avoid it, everything else that would slow me down was going to be internal to myself. I resolved to push even harder than usual to compensate and maintain some semblance of my previous speed. I figured if I could stay in the 57s post-crash, I would be able to recover enough to have a fighting chance.
At the green flag I led the field and did the usual deathmatch with Sam until #426 Eli Maddock and #706 Hugo Peralta worked their way past (man those guys are fast!). I latched on, opening a gap on Sam but never closing the gap to the frontrunners. I finished 3rd, good enough to win the F1 Novice championship but not enough to reclaim Overall Novice. When I returned to my pit I received some excellent news: despite my trepidations of being slow, I set a new personal best of 1:54.888! I was ecstatic, I blew right through the 55s in my attempt to not be too timid from crashing earlier. Even if I ended up losing the Novice championship I would be comforted with achieving and exceeding my personal goal for the weekend. I rested and readied myself for 600 Superstock, my one remaining chance to retake Overall.
R12, 600 Superstock: As Jackson had earned 49 points from Race 2, I knew I needed to finish not only ahead of him but in 1st or 2nd place to take the top spot Overall (unbeknownst to me at the time, the smaller grid of 600 Superstock meant only a 1st would secure Top Novice). With Eli Maddock not in this race I knew I would be trying to hold off Sam while getting enough of a head start to keep Hugo Peralta from catching and passing before the checkered.
Even without the overall championship on the line, this was the most exciting race I’ve participated in yet. Jackson had the holeshot, but in my desperation to gain as much ground as early as possible I wrestled 1st from him on the outside of turn 1, tore through turn 2 like it was turn 7, and wrung every hundredth of a second out of every inch of asphalt I could. Sam was with my every inch of the way, and we constantly swapped 1st and fought for advantage every corner of every lap. After countless overtakes I ended up tailing him out of T13 on the final lap. I managed a better drive down the back straight and passed on the inside just before the bridge (while PTSD flashbacks of my race 2 crash were blaring alarms in my head). I went to the brakes fairly deep and Sam refused to yield a millimeter. After a few seconds of sheer undiluted terror in the braking zone for me (pleasedontcrashpleasedontcrashpleasedontcrash) we entered T14 two bikes wide, perched on our fronts with the rears sliding everywhere. I capitalized on my miniscule lead and outdrove Sam to T15 and down the front straight, grabbing 1st at the checkered with less than a bike length separating us. No time to celebrate though, I quickly returned to my pit to rehydrate and cool off before heading out for my final race, 750 Superstock.
R14, 750 Superstock: Us Novices started on the same wave and a couple rows behind the Experts in this race. A very small, 4-bike Expert grid combined with a good start propelled me into 3rd among the Experts into turn 1. I spent the race battling #143 Jordan Edginton for 2nd overall while trying (and failing) to catch up with frontrunner #823 Robert Brittain. I made a last-minute pass into T14 for 2nd on the last lap, but I was overcommitted and was too spooked to successfully complete it. I was able to get my braking done and carved a good line through T14 but I was so focused on braking I wasn’t able to hit any downshifts! Digging out of that corner in 5th gear does not work well. Jordan passed me right back before T15 and I ended in 3rd place among the Experts (1st in Novice). Afterwards Vik stopped by to say he had a great time announcing that race and that calling out yellow plates fighting for position among the front of the Experts was hilariously good fun. I’m glad we could make it exciting and enjoyable to watch, it certainly was to race!
*****
Just like every round, I’m amazed at how much progress I made this weekend. While my crash and being out of 2 races knocked me down in a couple championships I finished the rest strong, claimed Overall Novice, and set a new personal best that was far beyond my aspirations for the weekend.
With this round being the end of the season it lends itself to looking back at the entire year. I remember my first Clubman race at Round 1; I launched well and held on to 3rd for most of the race (finished in 4th) which solidified the thought in my mind “Hey...I can do this.” I went home with a few trophies that weekend but much more valuable to me were the memories, the battles, the progression. I pushed myself faster than I ever had before, throttled earlier, braked smoother, cornered harder, and improved. I’ve continued to do that every round since, setting a new personal best each and every race weekend. I’ve learned what asphalt feels like at 90mph and how much it sucks to drop out of a race (from first place!) because you ran out of gas, or miss it entirely because your oil light came on during the warm up lap (twice, I did that twice. You’d think I would have learned after the first one). I’ve made friends and had some amazing rivalries (no enemies though I hope!). I ran in 32 races this season and loved every moment of it.
I’ve progressed and experienced so much more from 1 season of racing than I have in my years of trackdays before this. The AFM family is an incredible community, and I can’t wait to dice it up with you guys again (and then relax in the pits with friends new and old) next year.
I’ll see you all in January!
Nick Csik #775
*****
Fri: Thanks to working the Fun Track Dayz event on Monday, the bike and I were ready for the weekend fairly early. I finally achieved a goal I’ve been working towards all year: I wasn’t up after midnight on Thursday getting everything packed and loaded! I got a call on Friday; Nik Thompson’s belly pan had been left back at the shop, and since I was coming from Reno as well I stopped by and picked it up on my way out of town. I made it to the track around 8:30, set up my pit, wandered around and said hi to friends, then called it an evening.
Sat Practice: My best time at Thunderhill was a 1:57.1 from last round, my friend and competitor #728 Sam Gluss was very proud of the 1:56.8 he managed on Friday. We were both very hopeful of lapping in the lower 56s and (if we somehow found a looooot of speed) maybe even a 55!
This was my first time in practice group 5 and it definitely improved my riding. There were so many fast riders to follow! By then end of practice I had beaten my PB from last round and taken a tenth off of Sam’s best, managing a 1:56.7 in the last session of the day.
During Monday’s trackday, my main rival for Overall Novice #924 Jackson Burkhart popped his motor; the rattle of a rod knock meant it was definitely dead-dead. Thankfully he was able to borrow a bike from Tomas at Catalyst Reaction and spent the week migrating his suspension, front end, and bodywork to it. He didn’t lose much speed either, and was turning some pretty quick laps by the end of Saturday practice!
After practice I traded some friendly banter with the competition and went to prepare for my first of 6 races, Clubman Middleweight.
Sat R3, Clubman Middleweight: A great start and I had the holeshot into turn 1, but being on the far left made it difficult to carry enough roll speed and I cornered a bit more slowly than optimal.
While trying to hold off Sam I was quickly overtaken by #426 Eli Maddock. I was met with a surprise later in the race when newcomer #706 Hugo Peralta worked his way in front and knocked me into 3rd, coming all the way from the back of the grid! I tried to stay with the leaders as best I could, and while I didn’t have much luck closing in on them I managed to keep ahead of Sam to finish solidly in 3rd. Post-race showed I definitely paced up to stay with them, setting a slightly new best at 56.6.
Saturday night was a blast! The Halloween party and festivities were a hoot. I managed to get myself cleaned up and into costume just in time for the contest, taking 3rd place in my authentic leiderhosen. After a bit more food and fun (and beer) I went to bed a bit early to be ready for the morning.
Sun: A quick practice session in the morning to make sure I was awake and everything was working right, and it was time to fight for some championships.
R2, 750 Superbike: A decent launch put me at the front of the Novices and into the middle of the Experts on lap 1. #728 Sam Gluss made a couple moves to overtake and I picked up my pace as much as I could to hold him off. We traded places back and forth for 2nd, following #829 Jesse Carter through most of laps 1 and 2. T14 was the only point on course I felt I could sneak by Jesse, and on the 2nd lap I set up the move and passed on the inside. In making sure I was presenting myself I didn’t get on the brakes early enough. With a shallow entry and coming in hot I tried to scrub as much speed as possible, realizing I would blow the apex but still complete the turn. As I started to tip in I felt the front quickly skip and tuck and I was on the ground. The bike and I slid away into the dirt and when I got up I saw Jesse and his bike in the outfield as well.
My trajectory left him nowhere to dodge and he also lost the front while braking to avoid me. -Taking someone else out has been the worst part of racing for me. If I can go the rest of my racing career without repeating that mistake... I apologized profusely afterwards and Jesse was amazingly polite and gracious. Fortunately we were both okay and the bikes needed only minor repairs. Jesse made his next race (and won it!), while I missed 600 Superbike (Race 4, there wasn’t quite enough time) but was prepared for Formula 1 just after lunch. R7, Formula 1: #924 Jackson Burkhart had taken 2nd in the 600 Superbike (while I was still turning wrenches on my bike), netting him 49 points towards Top Novice thanks to his excellent riding at the front of a massive grid. Formula 1 and 600 Superstock were the only races I had remaining that could be worth enough points to retake the overall championship. After spending lunch verifying the bike was OK and mentally reflecting on my crash, I knew I would be a bit timid and would have some trouble pushing a quick pace. I also realized it would be an entirely mental block; I knew what I did wrong and why I crashed (my telltale showed I had completely bottomed out my forks, and I knew I had a poor line and too much speed going into the turn). Since I understood my error and how to avoid it, everything else that would slow me down was going to be internal to myself. I resolved to push even harder than usual to compensate and maintain some semblance of my previous speed. I figured if I could stay in the 57s post-crash, I would be able to recover enough to have a fighting chance.
At the green flag I led the field and did the usual deathmatch with Sam until #426 Eli Maddock and #706 Hugo Peralta worked their way past (man those guys are fast!). I latched on, opening a gap on Sam but never closing the gap to the frontrunners. I finished 3rd, good enough to win the F1 Novice championship but not enough to reclaim Overall Novice. When I returned to my pit I received some excellent news: despite my trepidations of being slow, I set a new personal best of 1:54.888! I was ecstatic, I blew right through the 55s in my attempt to not be too timid from crashing earlier. Even if I ended up losing the Novice championship I would be comforted with achieving and exceeding my personal goal for the weekend. I rested and readied myself for 600 Superstock, my one remaining chance to retake Overall.
R12, 600 Superstock: As Jackson had earned 49 points from Race 2, I knew I needed to finish not only ahead of him but in 1st or 2nd place to take the top spot Overall (unbeknownst to me at the time, the smaller grid of 600 Superstock meant only a 1st would secure Top Novice). With Eli Maddock not in this race I knew I would be trying to hold off Sam while getting enough of a head start to keep Hugo Peralta from catching and passing before the checkered.
Even without the overall championship on the line, this was the most exciting race I’ve participated in yet. Jackson had the holeshot, but in my desperation to gain as much ground as early as possible I wrestled 1st from him on the outside of turn 1, tore through turn 2 like it was turn 7, and wrung every hundredth of a second out of every inch of asphalt I could. Sam was with my every inch of the way, and we constantly swapped 1st and fought for advantage every corner of every lap. After countless overtakes I ended up tailing him out of T13 on the final lap. I managed a better drive down the back straight and passed on the inside just before the bridge (while PTSD flashbacks of my race 2 crash were blaring alarms in my head). I went to the brakes fairly deep and Sam refused to yield a millimeter. After a few seconds of sheer undiluted terror in the braking zone for me (pleasedontcrashpleasedontcrashpleasedontcrash) we entered T14 two bikes wide, perched on our fronts with the rears sliding everywhere. I capitalized on my miniscule lead and outdrove Sam to T15 and down the front straight, grabbing 1st at the checkered with less than a bike length separating us. No time to celebrate though, I quickly returned to my pit to rehydrate and cool off before heading out for my final race, 750 Superstock.
R14, 750 Superstock: Us Novices started on the same wave and a couple rows behind the Experts in this race. A very small, 4-bike Expert grid combined with a good start propelled me into 3rd among the Experts into turn 1. I spent the race battling #143 Jordan Edginton for 2nd overall while trying (and failing) to catch up with frontrunner #823 Robert Brittain. I made a last-minute pass into T14 for 2nd on the last lap, but I was overcommitted and was too spooked to successfully complete it. I was able to get my braking done and carved a good line through T14 but I was so focused on braking I wasn’t able to hit any downshifts! Digging out of that corner in 5th gear does not work well. Jordan passed me right back before T15 and I ended in 3rd place among the Experts (1st in Novice). Afterwards Vik stopped by to say he had a great time announcing that race and that calling out yellow plates fighting for position among the front of the Experts was hilariously good fun. I’m glad we could make it exciting and enjoyable to watch, it certainly was to race!
*****
Just like every round, I’m amazed at how much progress I made this weekend. While my crash and being out of 2 races knocked me down in a couple championships I finished the rest strong, claimed Overall Novice, and set a new personal best that was far beyond my aspirations for the weekend.
With this round being the end of the season it lends itself to looking back at the entire year. I remember my first Clubman race at Round 1; I launched well and held on to 3rd for most of the race (finished in 4th) which solidified the thought in my mind “Hey...I can do this.” I went home with a few trophies that weekend but much more valuable to me were the memories, the battles, the progression. I pushed myself faster than I ever had before, throttled earlier, braked smoother, cornered harder, and improved. I’ve continued to do that every round since, setting a new personal best each and every race weekend. I’ve learned what asphalt feels like at 90mph and how much it sucks to drop out of a race (from first place!) because you ran out of gas, or miss it entirely because your oil light came on during the warm up lap (twice, I did that twice. You’d think I would have learned after the first one). I’ve made friends and had some amazing rivalries (no enemies though I hope!). I ran in 32 races this season and loved every moment of it.
I’ve progressed and experienced so much more from 1 season of racing than I have in my years of trackdays before this. The AFM family is an incredible community, and I can’t wait to dice it up with you guys again (and then relax in the pits with friends new and old) next year.
I’ll see you all in January!
Nick Csik #775
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