oliver
Well-known member
All good things must come to an end
This sure snuck up on me. The last race of the season has come and gone and I gotta say, I wanna keep racing. There’s something about waking up at 6, sweating your ass off all day, eating crappy food, and going to bed late in Middle of Nowhere, CA that’s strangely…relaxing. But I digress…
The last race of the 2007 AFM took place at Buttonwillow this past weekend, and we ran the “backwards” configuration. I use quotes because not only is it backward, it’s different than the forward configuration. I’d heard some people say that the track is more fun backward than forward, and after about 3 sessions, I agreed. There is a lot more to the track in this direction, ranging from extremely fast and flowing to extremely slow and technical. I have always done well at faster tracks, and with the forever-long straight and fast, fifth gear turn right after, I definitely was in my element. Even though that fifth gear turn (“Riverside”) is VERY fast, your tasks on the bike actually come at you very slowly since the turn is so long. If you can just get over the fact that you’re doing 100+mph, the turn is very easy and lethargic. Luckily, many can’t get over than first part … :teeth
Anyway, it became pretty clear by the end of Friday that I was one of the faster SVs out there, and I just knew this was going to be a good weekend. The one wrench in the works was that Pirelli was out of the tire I normally use, and would ultimately never receive the shipment it hoped for on Saturday. So I tried a Metzler rear slick, and in practice it felt very similar. The carcass of the Metzler, after all, was the same and only the compound was somewhat of a mystery.
When raceday came along, I threw on another new Metzler rear and the only thing close to my normal (SC1 slick) front that I could find – an SC0 DOT that looked like it had been living in the Pirelli trailer all season. Both tires felt fine, however, and I was either the quickest or second quickest SV in morning practice (I don’t remember). When the green flag flew for the Formula IV race, I reacted properly for once and was in roughly 4th place by the time we emerged from turn one. I’ll tell you guys now that my motor is at a disadvantage compared to the carbureted bikes, and even though the motor work done to it made a huge difference, I still don’t win many drag races. I actually thought, briefly, that I had the holeshot, but the others caught up and passed me by the time we got to Turn 1.
I felt GREAT, riding at what felt like 95% and catching the guys in front of me (well, maybe not Jeff). I made two passes in the first 3 laps and set about at least trying to do something about Jeff in the lead, who was about 2 to 3 seconds ahead of me. Then we had a red flag for some reason, and for another (unknown) reason, the race was restarted even though we’d already seen the halfway flags. So I had to do it all over again, and unfortunately got a less stellar start this time, ending up well outside the top 5 after the first turn. I picked off a few bikes here and there though, and again ended up in second place, though this time Jeff was way out ahead of me and there were only one or two laps left.
And that’s how things ended…a second place finish! I was pretty happy, and thought I had a good chance to repeat the performance in the 650 Twins race.
It was not to be though, as I was accosted by what felt like half the field in turn one, and had to fight mightily to get back up to fifth. I caught one of the two-stroke bikes that started in front of us in a bad place, and tried to outbrake it from waaaaay too far back, but thought better of it at the last second. I then spent what felt like a minute chasing the rear end down as chattered, hopped, and wagged back and forth under braking, trying not to hit the slower bike. I lost a bunch of time there, and lost even more a few turns later trying to make up for the time I’d just lost…by swinging wide out into the dirt coming onto the front straightaway. I began to over-ride the bike, and spun up my rear tire too many times for comfort, cussing and whining to myself that things were going so poorly in this race. I literally felt like parking the bike off the side of the track and going home, right then and there. I didn’t and finished fifth, which I should be pretty happy with. A few races ago fifth place would have been my high water mark.
So that’s how the season ended. Fifth for the year in Formula IV, Fourth in 650 Twins, and Top Novice overall…with a pretty cool 2nd place finish in the last race of the season.
And that’s how my motorcycle racing career is going to end too. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, which I have done while managing to not hurt myself. I’ve had more fun this year than in all of my four-wheeled racing seasons combined, as I said above, and have met some of the best people imaginable. I will miss them more than racing, actually. Even personas that I’d “met” on BARF and perhaps not liked a whole lot turned out to be stand-up, honorable people, who would lend a spare part to a rival…even if that rival had his motor built by someone else :teeth. Thanks for your help, Zoran. I would have given you your little Brembo washer back after the race, but I dropped my bike in THE PITS afterward and, you guessed it, broke the washer again.
David, you and the rest of the crew from Zoom Zoom have proven to be an ally that no new racer should go without. You consistently went out of your way to make sure I knew what to do, and when to do it (both on-track and off) this year, and I really would have been lost without your help. The Top Novice trophy belongs to you guys as much as anyone else.
So the bike is up for sale in the BARF classifieds if anyone is interested in a very good ride. Even though they’re down slightly on power relative to the Gen 1 bikes, had I to do it all over again, I’d get another Gen 2 bike with its easy quick-shifter installation, fuel injection, and likely shorter race history. It’s always hard to see something go that you have some type of story to go along with, and watching someone else load her up onto a trailer is not something I am looking forward to. Nothing on it broke (on its own, anyway) all season, it always started, looked good, and delivered memories that will last the rest of my life.
I was looking forward to seeing all of you at the awards banquet, but of all the days in the year, I am in a wedding in Mexico on the very same day. Jenn, Jason, Greg, Rick, Christie, Christian -- thanks for making every race a vacation. Jeff, Dan, Kevin -- thanks for letting me race with "bitter" rivals and laugh about it afterwards. Never done that before
This thread has been a blast for me, and I hope a few of you got a kick out of it as well. I will probably make it out to a few races next year, as a fan, and hopefully I’ll get to see some of you again.
Thanks everyone.
This sure snuck up on me. The last race of the season has come and gone and I gotta say, I wanna keep racing. There’s something about waking up at 6, sweating your ass off all day, eating crappy food, and going to bed late in Middle of Nowhere, CA that’s strangely…relaxing. But I digress…
The last race of the 2007 AFM took place at Buttonwillow this past weekend, and we ran the “backwards” configuration. I use quotes because not only is it backward, it’s different than the forward configuration. I’d heard some people say that the track is more fun backward than forward, and after about 3 sessions, I agreed. There is a lot more to the track in this direction, ranging from extremely fast and flowing to extremely slow and technical. I have always done well at faster tracks, and with the forever-long straight and fast, fifth gear turn right after, I definitely was in my element. Even though that fifth gear turn (“Riverside”) is VERY fast, your tasks on the bike actually come at you very slowly since the turn is so long. If you can just get over the fact that you’re doing 100+mph, the turn is very easy and lethargic. Luckily, many can’t get over than first part … :teeth
Anyway, it became pretty clear by the end of Friday that I was one of the faster SVs out there, and I just knew this was going to be a good weekend. The one wrench in the works was that Pirelli was out of the tire I normally use, and would ultimately never receive the shipment it hoped for on Saturday. So I tried a Metzler rear slick, and in practice it felt very similar. The carcass of the Metzler, after all, was the same and only the compound was somewhat of a mystery.
When raceday came along, I threw on another new Metzler rear and the only thing close to my normal (SC1 slick) front that I could find – an SC0 DOT that looked like it had been living in the Pirelli trailer all season. Both tires felt fine, however, and I was either the quickest or second quickest SV in morning practice (I don’t remember). When the green flag flew for the Formula IV race, I reacted properly for once and was in roughly 4th place by the time we emerged from turn one. I’ll tell you guys now that my motor is at a disadvantage compared to the carbureted bikes, and even though the motor work done to it made a huge difference, I still don’t win many drag races. I actually thought, briefly, that I had the holeshot, but the others caught up and passed me by the time we got to Turn 1.
I felt GREAT, riding at what felt like 95% and catching the guys in front of me (well, maybe not Jeff). I made two passes in the first 3 laps and set about at least trying to do something about Jeff in the lead, who was about 2 to 3 seconds ahead of me. Then we had a red flag for some reason, and for another (unknown) reason, the race was restarted even though we’d already seen the halfway flags. So I had to do it all over again, and unfortunately got a less stellar start this time, ending up well outside the top 5 after the first turn. I picked off a few bikes here and there though, and again ended up in second place, though this time Jeff was way out ahead of me and there were only one or two laps left.
And that’s how things ended…a second place finish! I was pretty happy, and thought I had a good chance to repeat the performance in the 650 Twins race.
It was not to be though, as I was accosted by what felt like half the field in turn one, and had to fight mightily to get back up to fifth. I caught one of the two-stroke bikes that started in front of us in a bad place, and tried to outbrake it from waaaaay too far back, but thought better of it at the last second. I then spent what felt like a minute chasing the rear end down as chattered, hopped, and wagged back and forth under braking, trying not to hit the slower bike. I lost a bunch of time there, and lost even more a few turns later trying to make up for the time I’d just lost…by swinging wide out into the dirt coming onto the front straightaway. I began to over-ride the bike, and spun up my rear tire too many times for comfort, cussing and whining to myself that things were going so poorly in this race. I literally felt like parking the bike off the side of the track and going home, right then and there. I didn’t and finished fifth, which I should be pretty happy with. A few races ago fifth place would have been my high water mark.
So that’s how the season ended. Fifth for the year in Formula IV, Fourth in 650 Twins, and Top Novice overall…with a pretty cool 2nd place finish in the last race of the season.
And that’s how my motorcycle racing career is going to end too. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, which I have done while managing to not hurt myself. I’ve had more fun this year than in all of my four-wheeled racing seasons combined, as I said above, and have met some of the best people imaginable. I will miss them more than racing, actually. Even personas that I’d “met” on BARF and perhaps not liked a whole lot turned out to be stand-up, honorable people, who would lend a spare part to a rival…even if that rival had his motor built by someone else :teeth. Thanks for your help, Zoran. I would have given you your little Brembo washer back after the race, but I dropped my bike in THE PITS afterward and, you guessed it, broke the washer again.
David, you and the rest of the crew from Zoom Zoom have proven to be an ally that no new racer should go without. You consistently went out of your way to make sure I knew what to do, and when to do it (both on-track and off) this year, and I really would have been lost without your help. The Top Novice trophy belongs to you guys as much as anyone else.
So the bike is up for sale in the BARF classifieds if anyone is interested in a very good ride. Even though they’re down slightly on power relative to the Gen 1 bikes, had I to do it all over again, I’d get another Gen 2 bike with its easy quick-shifter installation, fuel injection, and likely shorter race history. It’s always hard to see something go that you have some type of story to go along with, and watching someone else load her up onto a trailer is not something I am looking forward to. Nothing on it broke (on its own, anyway) all season, it always started, looked good, and delivered memories that will last the rest of my life.
I was looking forward to seeing all of you at the awards banquet, but of all the days in the year, I am in a wedding in Mexico on the very same day. Jenn, Jason, Greg, Rick, Christie, Christian -- thanks for making every race a vacation. Jeff, Dan, Kevin -- thanks for letting me race with "bitter" rivals and laugh about it afterwards. Never done that before
This thread has been a blast for me, and I hope a few of you got a kick out of it as well. I will probably make it out to a few races next year, as a fan, and hopefully I’ll get to see some of you again.
Thanks everyone.
