Honey Badger
...iz a girl
With only a few short weeks in between the third and fourth rounds of the AFM season, I was feeling the pressure. To make things worse, I ended up crashing a week before the fourth round while feeling a little too good and not accounting for weather factors (that I knew were present). Thanks to RiderzLaw I was able to afford to rush fix the bike, and DareDevil Motorsports more than earned their keep doing all the heavy lifting on getting the bike back together, fixed, and where it needed to go in the 5 days available.
Since the bike was rideable, I headed to the track on Friday evening to set up my pit and hang out with my friends. My bike wouldn’t arrive until the next morning, so it was an evening of hanging out and chatting with everyone until bedtime.
Saturday dawned warm and pleasant, and while it was supposed to warm up as the day went on, for Thunderhill Raceway, it wasn’t looking too bad at all. There was a threat of some wind, however, which ended up living up to its prediction. Saturday practices went okay. We were, yet again, chasing some set up, as we had gotten the bike pretty dialed in at Laguna, but those settings were NOT working for me at Thill. The first couple sessions were spent just getting things in the ball park, and while I couldn’t really put my finger on it, it never quite felt right, either. Catalyst Reaction does a great job of helping keep things heading in the right direction, and Jim does pretty well with interpreting my less than technical explanations!
Practices wrapped up and we started the afternoon races. Unfortunately, the wind started to pick up about this time, and continued to intensify as the races got going. By the time the AFemme race was headed out, the gusts were bad, taking down canopies and sending items across the paddock. Since I had just learned a hard, expensive, lesson about accounting for wind, I at least went out to my race with a strategy to deal with it.
This weekend it was just Valentine and me on the grid for experts, so it was going to be a fight for who got first. Valentine flubbed her start, giving me a great shot at the start. We hit wave traffic pretty early on, but I was in the lead and hoping to work on using my horsepower to motor past my other weaknesses. As I was coming in to turn 6, however, I went to go for my brake only to find the lever – well, not there. A brief moment of panic, as I started fishing for a “missing” lever, and I found it a good inch lower than where it should be. I managed to slow for the corner, but this situation gave Valentine the perfect opportunity to pass me. Unsure of what the issue was, I took the next several corners to be sure I could actually slow down, and that the lever was find-able. It was, and I could, so after that I started to chase Valentine back down. While I was reeling her in, the checkered came out one lap too soon for me to be in a position to pass her back, so she got to take home the win. It was still a fun race, and I’ve enjoyed getting to battle with her this year.
The evening was spent saying hi to various people and hanging out with some of my friends, and then off to bed at a decent time. Somehow, despite the wind, I still managed to sleep pretty well.
Sunday dawned calmer but a bit cooler. Warm up practice was fine (albeit slow) and races got started on time. First up was Open Superbike, probably my least favorite class of the weekend, but a good one to get my game face on and get into race mode. There were a couple of other riders in the Open classes this weekend who had a relatively similar pace to me, so as the race got going, I knew there were some people to chase down and keep behind me. After a few fun battles, the race wrapped up and I can say I wasn’t last.
Next up was Open GP. I’ve liked this race a little better than SB, and knew there were a few of us fighting for our back of the pack positions, and I looked forward to getting to duke it out with them. My start was meh, and I was in the group for a bit, trying my best to hang but not being too successful. Pretty soon it was down to me and my battle buddies, and we started to fight it out. One of the riders passed me on a flying lap he put in, and I tried to reel him back in but couldn’t quite pull it off. Still didn’t finish last though
Throughout the race, I was VERY consistent, with every single lap falling into less than a second difference. Good information to have, because that means as I figure more things out on the bike, the time won’t be hard to repeat as I change things up.
Throughout the weekend I had been experimenting with some different seating positions on the bike. I was struggling to relax on the bike as much as I felt like I could, and I was really struggling under harder braking. I finally found that I much preferred to be up closer to the tank instead of pushed back. I like my heels under my hips, and since I have such a short torso I can still easily get into a full tuck. I also found this helped a lot with my confidence on the brakes as my legs could take up more of the load, allowing my upper body to free up. Being a girl, upper body strength is definitely an issue most guys aren’t dealing with as much, and I found this seating position was a significant improvement for me.
Then, it was a fair bit of down time until race 13, Open Superstock, which is my favorite of my Sunday races. I knew the three of us would be out there again, and I wanted to play to my strengths, part of which is my endurance. I also wanted to keep my seating position established as it made me much happier on the bike. We gridded up and I had another good start. I knew the guys behind me wouldn’t make this easy though, and sure enough, one of them managed a pass a couple laps in. I was right on his tail however, and there were definitely a few places where I was stronger, so I knew if I could hang close enough in my weak zones, I could get the pass done in my strong areas. Suddenly, however, he started to have a really odd slowdown in a place I wasn’t expecting it – I saw the open door, went for it, and then his bike kicked in and the door slammed. Dang! Okay, waited, and got another shot to pass, but seemed like he was really having some issues as it was way too easy (turns out he was running out of gas). He and the other guy were still back there though, so I had to keep fighting on! Managed to hold them off for the race, crossing the line successfully in front of them.
While fighting for “not last” can seem anti-climatic for on lookers, having some other bikes to be out there fighting it out with made the weekend a blast. It’s also the first weekend since I started on this bike where I didn’t finish last in any of my Sunday races. Small accomplishment, but I’ll take it!
Coming off a pretty decent crash less than a week earlier, and having a blast all weekend made it a win in my book. Put in a couple more pieces of the puzzle on the bike, and am looking forward to the next one!
Since the bike was rideable, I headed to the track on Friday evening to set up my pit and hang out with my friends. My bike wouldn’t arrive until the next morning, so it was an evening of hanging out and chatting with everyone until bedtime.
Saturday dawned warm and pleasant, and while it was supposed to warm up as the day went on, for Thunderhill Raceway, it wasn’t looking too bad at all. There was a threat of some wind, however, which ended up living up to its prediction. Saturday practices went okay. We were, yet again, chasing some set up, as we had gotten the bike pretty dialed in at Laguna, but those settings were NOT working for me at Thill. The first couple sessions were spent just getting things in the ball park, and while I couldn’t really put my finger on it, it never quite felt right, either. Catalyst Reaction does a great job of helping keep things heading in the right direction, and Jim does pretty well with interpreting my less than technical explanations!
Practices wrapped up and we started the afternoon races. Unfortunately, the wind started to pick up about this time, and continued to intensify as the races got going. By the time the AFemme race was headed out, the gusts were bad, taking down canopies and sending items across the paddock. Since I had just learned a hard, expensive, lesson about accounting for wind, I at least went out to my race with a strategy to deal with it.
This weekend it was just Valentine and me on the grid for experts, so it was going to be a fight for who got first. Valentine flubbed her start, giving me a great shot at the start. We hit wave traffic pretty early on, but I was in the lead and hoping to work on using my horsepower to motor past my other weaknesses. As I was coming in to turn 6, however, I went to go for my brake only to find the lever – well, not there. A brief moment of panic, as I started fishing for a “missing” lever, and I found it a good inch lower than where it should be. I managed to slow for the corner, but this situation gave Valentine the perfect opportunity to pass me. Unsure of what the issue was, I took the next several corners to be sure I could actually slow down, and that the lever was find-able. It was, and I could, so after that I started to chase Valentine back down. While I was reeling her in, the checkered came out one lap too soon for me to be in a position to pass her back, so she got to take home the win. It was still a fun race, and I’ve enjoyed getting to battle with her this year.
The evening was spent saying hi to various people and hanging out with some of my friends, and then off to bed at a decent time. Somehow, despite the wind, I still managed to sleep pretty well.
Sunday dawned calmer but a bit cooler. Warm up practice was fine (albeit slow) and races got started on time. First up was Open Superbike, probably my least favorite class of the weekend, but a good one to get my game face on and get into race mode. There were a couple of other riders in the Open classes this weekend who had a relatively similar pace to me, so as the race got going, I knew there were some people to chase down and keep behind me. After a few fun battles, the race wrapped up and I can say I wasn’t last.
Next up was Open GP. I’ve liked this race a little better than SB, and knew there were a few of us fighting for our back of the pack positions, and I looked forward to getting to duke it out with them. My start was meh, and I was in the group for a bit, trying my best to hang but not being too successful. Pretty soon it was down to me and my battle buddies, and we started to fight it out. One of the riders passed me on a flying lap he put in, and I tried to reel him back in but couldn’t quite pull it off. Still didn’t finish last though
Throughout the race, I was VERY consistent, with every single lap falling into less than a second difference. Good information to have, because that means as I figure more things out on the bike, the time won’t be hard to repeat as I change things up.Throughout the weekend I had been experimenting with some different seating positions on the bike. I was struggling to relax on the bike as much as I felt like I could, and I was really struggling under harder braking. I finally found that I much preferred to be up closer to the tank instead of pushed back. I like my heels under my hips, and since I have such a short torso I can still easily get into a full tuck. I also found this helped a lot with my confidence on the brakes as my legs could take up more of the load, allowing my upper body to free up. Being a girl, upper body strength is definitely an issue most guys aren’t dealing with as much, and I found this seating position was a significant improvement for me.
Then, it was a fair bit of down time until race 13, Open Superstock, which is my favorite of my Sunday races. I knew the three of us would be out there again, and I wanted to play to my strengths, part of which is my endurance. I also wanted to keep my seating position established as it made me much happier on the bike. We gridded up and I had another good start. I knew the guys behind me wouldn’t make this easy though, and sure enough, one of them managed a pass a couple laps in. I was right on his tail however, and there were definitely a few places where I was stronger, so I knew if I could hang close enough in my weak zones, I could get the pass done in my strong areas. Suddenly, however, he started to have a really odd slowdown in a place I wasn’t expecting it – I saw the open door, went for it, and then his bike kicked in and the door slammed. Dang! Okay, waited, and got another shot to pass, but seemed like he was really having some issues as it was way too easy (turns out he was running out of gas). He and the other guy were still back there though, so I had to keep fighting on! Managed to hold them off for the race, crossing the line successfully in front of them.
While fighting for “not last” can seem anti-climatic for on lookers, having some other bikes to be out there fighting it out with made the weekend a blast. It’s also the first weekend since I started on this bike where I didn’t finish last in any of my Sunday races. Small accomplishment, but I’ll take it!
Coming off a pretty decent crash less than a week earlier, and having a blast all weekend made it a win in my book. Put in a couple more pieces of the puzzle on the bike, and am looking forward to the next one!
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