Team Barker O’Donoghue – Chuck Sorensen- Round 3 Thunderhill
I was getting excited the weeks leading up to the 3rd round of the AFM Season. I had not been to Thunderhill in almost a year and always enjoy riding and racing this course. This weekend I would have my wife Barbi with me also. Usually she has to work on Friday and Saturday, our dog Jesse would be staying at the Pawington dog resort. Thunderhill is a challenging track that has both high speed, technical turns and good flow to the lap.
We signed up for the track day on Friday prior to the weekend and initially the weather looked perfect, but we arrived Friday morning to cooler temperatures and light sprinkles of rain. That morning forecast called for the rain to stop around 11am and to dry up. We got out for practice after lunch and I started to familiarize myself with the track once again. One of the biggest challenges always is getting your brain to accept the high speed cornering of turns 1 and 2. By the end of the day I got down to a pace just a little faster than I had gone last year on a much slower bike. 1:58.1 In my mind I thought faster times would come easier?
That night with the culinary choices of Willows, CA being few we decided to venture north 15min to Orland to a restaurant called Farwood. Quality continental style food, reasonable prices. We will be coming back here.
We woke Saturday morning to cloudy skies and drizzle at the hotel. By the time we reached the track the skies were clearing and track drying. During practice we tried several different gearing combinations and found one that would see the bike reving to 15,500 in sixth gear on the front straight. Lap times came down and I cut into the 1:56’s before my first race of the weekend.
Gridding up for Formula 40 middleweight I would on the front row position 2. I got a bad start and was 4th into turn one with my pit mate Tom Montano just in front of me. I tried to make quick work of getting around Tom and hold on to the battling duo of Berto and the Ruester ahead of me. I settled into a pace of mid-1:55 lap times but had nothing for front pack. I would finish 3rd in this race.
That night we had a large dinner crew at Casa Ramos, another pit mate Steven Lucker and his family joined us and then it was early to bed as I was beat and wanted to be rested for the races on Sunday.
Sunday morning Barbi and I came out of the hotel to find a dead battery in her car, We had been leaving the doors open while in the pits and killed the battery. We tried to jump it with no luck and hitched a ride with friends. Thanks Mike Norman. Morning practice went smooth and came in to hot pit to do some practice starts.
My first race of the day would be Open GP just before lunch. Open GP has similar entrants to Formula Pacific but its 6 laps not 12. I was placed on the 3rd row for the start and rocketed to 5th place in turn one. I am one of the few smaller displacement bikes in this field. I had a good couple of laps battling with a rider on a ZX10 and passed him going into T3 to get some room to gap him so as not to get passed back on the straights. I would finish this race in 7th place, my best result in this class yet.
My next race would be right after lunch Formula One. This race is almost a rematch of F40 MID but with a few kids on 600’s thrown in. My start was less than stellar on this race and I was probably 10th into turn one. Brandon Crawford took a commanding lead with Berto and Rue in chase. I would have liked to stay with front pack but these guys were about a second faster than me per lap. Not this weekend. I finished F1 in 8th place with a best time of 1:54.9
At the end of the weekend I was a tired happy camper. My friend and team principal Crispin helped us with a new battery for Barbi’s car and we were on our way home.
I would like to thank all our team sponsors. Barker O’Donoghue Construction, SPS Suspension, BARF, Hotel Biron, Authentic Wine Selections, Shoei Helmets, Z2 Trackdays and new sponsor TechSpec tank grips. Also big thanks to Oxymoron for the great pics!!!
I was getting excited the weeks leading up to the 3rd round of the AFM Season. I had not been to Thunderhill in almost a year and always enjoy riding and racing this course. This weekend I would have my wife Barbi with me also. Usually she has to work on Friday and Saturday, our dog Jesse would be staying at the Pawington dog resort. Thunderhill is a challenging track that has both high speed, technical turns and good flow to the lap.
We signed up for the track day on Friday prior to the weekend and initially the weather looked perfect, but we arrived Friday morning to cooler temperatures and light sprinkles of rain. That morning forecast called for the rain to stop around 11am and to dry up. We got out for practice after lunch and I started to familiarize myself with the track once again. One of the biggest challenges always is getting your brain to accept the high speed cornering of turns 1 and 2. By the end of the day I got down to a pace just a little faster than I had gone last year on a much slower bike. 1:58.1 In my mind I thought faster times would come easier?
That night with the culinary choices of Willows, CA being few we decided to venture north 15min to Orland to a restaurant called Farwood. Quality continental style food, reasonable prices. We will be coming back here.
We woke Saturday morning to cloudy skies and drizzle at the hotel. By the time we reached the track the skies were clearing and track drying. During practice we tried several different gearing combinations and found one that would see the bike reving to 15,500 in sixth gear on the front straight. Lap times came down and I cut into the 1:56’s before my first race of the weekend.
Gridding up for Formula 40 middleweight I would on the front row position 2. I got a bad start and was 4th into turn one with my pit mate Tom Montano just in front of me. I tried to make quick work of getting around Tom and hold on to the battling duo of Berto and the Ruester ahead of me. I settled into a pace of mid-1:55 lap times but had nothing for front pack. I would finish 3rd in this race.
That night we had a large dinner crew at Casa Ramos, another pit mate Steven Lucker and his family joined us and then it was early to bed as I was beat and wanted to be rested for the races on Sunday.
Sunday morning Barbi and I came out of the hotel to find a dead battery in her car, We had been leaving the doors open while in the pits and killed the battery. We tried to jump it with no luck and hitched a ride with friends. Thanks Mike Norman. Morning practice went smooth and came in to hot pit to do some practice starts.
My first race of the day would be Open GP just before lunch. Open GP has similar entrants to Formula Pacific but its 6 laps not 12. I was placed on the 3rd row for the start and rocketed to 5th place in turn one. I am one of the few smaller displacement bikes in this field. I had a good couple of laps battling with a rider on a ZX10 and passed him going into T3 to get some room to gap him so as not to get passed back on the straights. I would finish this race in 7th place, my best result in this class yet.
My next race would be right after lunch Formula One. This race is almost a rematch of F40 MID but with a few kids on 600’s thrown in. My start was less than stellar on this race and I was probably 10th into turn one. Brandon Crawford took a commanding lead with Berto and Rue in chase. I would have liked to stay with front pack but these guys were about a second faster than me per lap. Not this weekend. I finished F1 in 8th place with a best time of 1:54.9
At the end of the weekend I was a tired happy camper. My friend and team principal Crispin helped us with a new battery for Barbi’s car and we were on our way home.
I would like to thank all our team sponsors. Barker O’Donoghue Construction, SPS Suspension, BARF, Hotel Biron, Authentic Wine Selections, Shoei Helmets, Z2 Trackdays and new sponsor TechSpec tank grips. Also big thanks to Oxymoron for the great pics!!!
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