kevo
Well-known member
AFM Round 9 2005 Butonwillow
The 2005 AFM season ended on a good note, despite being plagued mechanicals all season. I crashed in Round 4 and Rounds 5, 7, & 8 my bike was not running right if at all.
We started out the weekend on Thrusday with Zoom Zoom at their pre-AFM Buttonwillow trackday. My first session was black flagged on the first lap, as was the following session on my second lap. The next session my bike died going into Cotton Corners. I coasted off track with my hand up and leaned the bike up against the tires while I watched the entire session from the corner stations for yet another time. The session ended early due to a crash that required medical attention. So I pushed the bike back to the paddock in the soft powdery dirt. (The weekend before I pushed the bike back from the Esses.) :rolleyes
I poked and fiddled and could not find what caused the bike to feel like it ran out of gas. So after the early lunch break, I took the bike back out again. And again it died, this time going in the Riverside. This time I took the crash truck in with a singles guy with what looked like a NSR frame. He too saw his bike die in Cotton Corners. Back in the paddock, I removed the bodywork again and sought the problem out. This problem had beleaguered me all season with no rhyme or reason. Only now it was getting more frequent.
I figured it was a long shot, but I checked my gas tank vent tube, that runs to the catch-reservoir for the cooling system. There was a little bit of water and the tube’s end was immersed in it. All along I thought it was something complicated and beyond my grasp in the world of 2-strokes. Who would have thought it would be something so simple?!?! I hoped it was fixed and I missed something so simple, as I went back out on the track for even more punishment if I was wrong.
Sure enough, the bike ran well and ran well all weekend. I completed a total of 12 laps or so on Thursday with a best time of 2:10. I was happy since my latest personal best time at this track was 2:07 in a race environment. I practiced a half-day each on both Friday and Saturday. Michael Barrett and I diced on both days, me seeing a best time of 2:05 and Michael seeing 2:07. By Saturday afternoon, I was tired and my times were getting worse as I could not get around riders I knew I was faster than.
My first race on Sunday was Formula II and it was the third race of the morning. I missed practice in the morning since I decided new tires would be a little bit of insurance towards finishing the weekend with a race completed. I was in Row 5 and position 23. This was a great spot on the outside of a 5 position row. Chas was to my left in position 22. He too had been on a slight hiatus from racing for the past few months. He had 2 more points than me and I knew I had a good chance to beat him since he was struggling all weekend with slow lap times.
Sidewaaaaaaays…. GREEN FLAG! I got a great launch and beat my row off the line. I aimed for the outside to get around the congestion on the inside of T1. There was a 125 trying to get around me but he ran out of real estate pretty quick. As we got to T1, he finally came around me on the candy striping. This was the scariest race start I had seen all season. Everyone was zig-zagging around to find a good position going in to the first turn. I backed off a little and things began to settle down as we squeezed into the chute before T2.
The race itself wasn’t entirely exciting. I passed a bike or two and got passed by a few. I mostly rode by myself as the grid thinned out. I was too far behind to catch the next bike in front of me and I thought I had a pretty nice lead on the bikes I did pass. Kelly Winklebauer passed me going into the Bus Stop. He started dicing with the 125 that was in front of me. In doing so, they slowed down enough for me to get closer but not quite close enough to pass either of them.
I finished the race in 19th place with a best time of 2:02.1 Upon checking the results, I found that I also got Top Novice for the class since the fast Novices who were taking the Top Novice trophies did not attend this last race of the season. With such an awesome end to my FII season, I decided against doing the FI race.
My first year of racing in the AFM was a very enjoyable one. I forged a lot of new friends and got even closer with old ones. I also received a lot of support, encouragement, and help from these friends and sponsors. I would like to thank my sponsors: Suomy, Sidi, Spidi, Lockhart Phillips, Catalyst Reaction Suspension Tuning, Eason Auto Works, Utopia Optics, Pump-X, RK Racing Chains, Cycle Gear & RB Components.
Thanks especially to Wendy, who gave me the most support and sponsorship through all the trials and tribulations. Thanks to the Stewarts, Cheeky Dragon Baseball team, the Barretts, the Paslays, Mossy, and the Airforce Williams who watched in awe as Si and I battled for the most broken down bike of the year award. Thanks to Oz for chronicling my first season in vivid color. Thanks to Kelly and Sue for all the help with the bike and spares. Thanks to Bill his mechanical expertise in get the bike working well. Thanks to Chas and Tam for the spirited competition and fun times hanging out. Thanks to Chuck, who helped me finally get the jetting right. Thanks to Jeff for his meat and Kathy for her rub. And thanks Tim for getting my leathers to me.
Thanks to Zoom Zoom and Keigwin’s at the Track for more track time than I could ever get time off for. Thanks to the cornerworkers, NMPs, and volunteers of the AFM!
See everyone in 2006!
Kev
The 2005 AFM season ended on a good note, despite being plagued mechanicals all season. I crashed in Round 4 and Rounds 5, 7, & 8 my bike was not running right if at all.
We started out the weekend on Thrusday with Zoom Zoom at their pre-AFM Buttonwillow trackday. My first session was black flagged on the first lap, as was the following session on my second lap. The next session my bike died going into Cotton Corners. I coasted off track with my hand up and leaned the bike up against the tires while I watched the entire session from the corner stations for yet another time. The session ended early due to a crash that required medical attention. So I pushed the bike back to the paddock in the soft powdery dirt. (The weekend before I pushed the bike back from the Esses.) :rolleyes
I poked and fiddled and could not find what caused the bike to feel like it ran out of gas. So after the early lunch break, I took the bike back out again. And again it died, this time going in the Riverside. This time I took the crash truck in with a singles guy with what looked like a NSR frame. He too saw his bike die in Cotton Corners. Back in the paddock, I removed the bodywork again and sought the problem out. This problem had beleaguered me all season with no rhyme or reason. Only now it was getting more frequent.
I figured it was a long shot, but I checked my gas tank vent tube, that runs to the catch-reservoir for the cooling system. There was a little bit of water and the tube’s end was immersed in it. All along I thought it was something complicated and beyond my grasp in the world of 2-strokes. Who would have thought it would be something so simple?!?! I hoped it was fixed and I missed something so simple, as I went back out on the track for even more punishment if I was wrong.
Sure enough, the bike ran well and ran well all weekend. I completed a total of 12 laps or so on Thursday with a best time of 2:10. I was happy since my latest personal best time at this track was 2:07 in a race environment. I practiced a half-day each on both Friday and Saturday. Michael Barrett and I diced on both days, me seeing a best time of 2:05 and Michael seeing 2:07. By Saturday afternoon, I was tired and my times were getting worse as I could not get around riders I knew I was faster than.
My first race on Sunday was Formula II and it was the third race of the morning. I missed practice in the morning since I decided new tires would be a little bit of insurance towards finishing the weekend with a race completed. I was in Row 5 and position 23. This was a great spot on the outside of a 5 position row. Chas was to my left in position 22. He too had been on a slight hiatus from racing for the past few months. He had 2 more points than me and I knew I had a good chance to beat him since he was struggling all weekend with slow lap times.
Sidewaaaaaaays…. GREEN FLAG! I got a great launch and beat my row off the line. I aimed for the outside to get around the congestion on the inside of T1. There was a 125 trying to get around me but he ran out of real estate pretty quick. As we got to T1, he finally came around me on the candy striping. This was the scariest race start I had seen all season. Everyone was zig-zagging around to find a good position going in to the first turn. I backed off a little and things began to settle down as we squeezed into the chute before T2.
The race itself wasn’t entirely exciting. I passed a bike or two and got passed by a few. I mostly rode by myself as the grid thinned out. I was too far behind to catch the next bike in front of me and I thought I had a pretty nice lead on the bikes I did pass. Kelly Winklebauer passed me going into the Bus Stop. He started dicing with the 125 that was in front of me. In doing so, they slowed down enough for me to get closer but not quite close enough to pass either of them.
I finished the race in 19th place with a best time of 2:02.1 Upon checking the results, I found that I also got Top Novice for the class since the fast Novices who were taking the Top Novice trophies did not attend this last race of the season. With such an awesome end to my FII season, I decided against doing the FI race.
My first year of racing in the AFM was a very enjoyable one. I forged a lot of new friends and got even closer with old ones. I also received a lot of support, encouragement, and help from these friends and sponsors. I would like to thank my sponsors: Suomy, Sidi, Spidi, Lockhart Phillips, Catalyst Reaction Suspension Tuning, Eason Auto Works, Utopia Optics, Pump-X, RK Racing Chains, Cycle Gear & RB Components.
Thanks especially to Wendy, who gave me the most support and sponsorship through all the trials and tribulations. Thanks to the Stewarts, Cheeky Dragon Baseball team, the Barretts, the Paslays, Mossy, and the Airforce Williams who watched in awe as Si and I battled for the most broken down bike of the year award. Thanks to Oz for chronicling my first season in vivid color. Thanks to Kelly and Sue for all the help with the bike and spares. Thanks to Bill his mechanical expertise in get the bike working well. Thanks to Chas and Tam for the spirited competition and fun times hanging out. Thanks to Chuck, who helped me finally get the jetting right. Thanks to Jeff for his meat and Kathy for her rub. And thanks Tim for getting my leathers to me.
Thanks to Zoom Zoom and Keigwin’s at the Track for more track time than I could ever get time off for. Thanks to the cornerworkers, NMPs, and volunteers of the AFM!
See everyone in 2006!
Kev
Last edited:
