Buttonwillow-AFM Round 1 Race Report

This weekend started with me having to get out of Reno early on Friday.  I woke up to a text from a friend saying that Donner pass was supposed to get 5 to 9 inches of snow on Friday so I left  at 8:00 am.  I managed to beat the storm and arrived at Buttonwillow without any issues and got set up for the weekend.

I woke up Saturday morning to heavy overcast.  The weather called for rain all weekend and seeing how the AFM doesn’t race in the rain it looked like there would be little or no racing for us.  Since it hadn’t started raining yet I went through the normal routine of registering, taking the bike to tech, putting my belly pan back on, putting on my tire warmers and checking my tire pressures, etc.    After the riders meeting I got suited up for practice group 3.

My first practice session was cold and almost no one was on track.  I’m pretty sure I only saw one other person the entire session.  With the cold track and being on a new bike I was taking it pretty easy and my laptimes definitely showed.  I decided that I needed to work on getting more comfortable on the Yamaha and make sure that everything was working right rather than go out and try and get myself to race pace.  The second session I went out I saw a couple of people but the track still seemed empty.  I managed to bring my lap times down considerably from the first session but they were nowhere near what I was doing two weeks ago or even what I was doing last year.

After my second session came lunch.  I used that time to mount a fresh set of Pirellis on my bike and start mentally preparing for the upcoming races.  My friend Sam came by at this time and asked why I was in practice group 3 and he mentioned that it might be better for me to try and switch to practice group 4.  He said I might be able to get myself back up to speed riding with people that were running my race pace.  After a quick trip to registration I had a group 4 sticker.  Then right before lunch ended all the riders were called to a special riders meeting.  The board had decided that since it was supposed to rain on Sunday that we would run 7 of the Sunday races after the next practice session and if the weather held out on Sunday try and finish the rest of the races then.  I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to race in the clubman races that afternoon but I am impressed with the decision that the board made.  They made it so that almost everyone who showed up on Saturday would be able to race.  It was a pretty cool decision.

After a little rain delay I ran my last practice session and Sam was right.  I rode better and felt more comfortable riding in the faster group.  My laptimes were still not what I wanted them to be but I had at least made an improvement.  I was ready to race.

600 Superbike:
I was gridded on the fifth row in 17th position for the start of the first race.  This put me on the inside where I am not really comfortable.  The green flag dropped and I got a poor launch.  I lost a few positions right away and then was stuck on the inside going into turn 1.  Not wanting to take anyone out or get taken out I tiptoed through turn 1 and lost several more spots.  Things started to clear up by turn 3 and I was able to get myself into a groove.  I managed to pick up a few spots by the end of the first lap and started working my way up.  I wasn’t being very aggressive with my passing and managed to play a game of “catch the rider in front of me and follow them for a lap”.  I did this until the final lap when I saw a yellow flag get thrown with the white one.  Coming around turn 1 I saw my pitmate Micah Larson laying underneath his bike holding his arm.  Seeing the way he was laying there with the turnworker standing over him I knew that the race was going to be red flagged.  Sure enough by the time I made it out of turn two I saw a waving black flag.  The red flag meant that the final standing of the race would be based on the order everyone crossed the line on lap 5.  That left me in 17th place (the same as I started) and the top novice for the race.  I had managed to bring my laptimes back down to where they were last year which wasn’t bad considering the cold weather but I was still a little disappointed with how I rode.

750 Superbike:
Once again I was gridded on the fifth row but in 19th position for the start. This left me closer to the outside which I definitely prefer at this track. The green flag dropped and I managed to get a great launch. Starting is by far my weakest point in racing and getting a good start threw me off. I found myself trying to find holes to squeeze through as I passed several people going down the straight. What I didn’t pay attention to was the fact that I had somehow managed to put myself back on the inside of the track going into turn 1 and had to park it to keep myself from taking out myself and several other riders. This caused me to lose about half of the spots I had gained from my great start. Coming out of turn 2 I found myself two bikes back from David Benjamin. I know that David holds a pretty good pace and I decided that if I could get around him I would be running the pace that I wanted. I set my sights on catching and passing him. I managed to pass the two bikes that were between us but had trouble getting around David. He was trying to get around Joy Higa and they were riding so close I couldn’t seem to find a safe enough place to pass. In the meantime several other riders were getting bunched up behind us. In the second lap I was passed by another yellow plater (not sure who it was) but I managed to get him back into turn 1 on lap 2. He tried to pass me back going into cotton corners but I was able to shut the door and keep him behind me. At the end of the lap David made a move and passed Joy going into the last corner and I tried to make a pass on her going into turn 1. I decided at the last moment that I wouldn’t be able to make the pass stick and backed off. I was immediately passed by Brian Zapalski. I caught back up to Brian in Riverside and made a pass on the brakes going into Lost Hills. I took a tight line through there and screwed up my drive coming out. Brian tried to pass me back and we ended up drag racing all the way to the sweeper. We were inches from each other all the way from the exit of Lost Hills through both left hand kinks all the way until I managed to outbrake him going into the sweeper. It was by far the closest racing I’ve ever done. He passed me back at some point and we both managed to get around Joy. By that time David had managed to put in a couple second gap between us and I knew that with Brian and I constantly going back and forth that I wasn’t going to be able to catch him. I then made plans to get past Brian before the end of the race. On the last lap I found an opportunity to pass him going into the sweeper. I managed to get around him and knew that I would have to go into the last corner fast and late on the brakes to keep him from passing me back. As I turned into the last corner I saw Brian out of my peripheral vision and immediately knew three things:
1. He was going to fast to hold a tight line
2. There was no room in between me and the candy striping for him and his bike to fit
3. This wasn’t going to end well
As soon as I saw him I relaxed my body and looked ahead hoping that somehow we wouldn’t come together and I could finish the race. I’m not sure if he tucked the front first or if our tires hit while we were leaned over but I do know that his bike came up under me and away it went. Because he hadn’t turned in as much I was lucky and the bikes went in different angles. My bike went out from under me and I slid harmlessly into the dirt on my back. Brian didn’t do as well. Somewhere in the crash he hit his head and slid on his face. He got up just fine but told me that he thought he had a minor concussion because his friends said he was “looping” a little bit.

My bike ended up being in pretty good shape with only a bent clipon, broken fairing stay, shattered windscreen, and a little bit damage to the bodywork. I was able to talk to Brian later and found out he faired as well as I did. Neither of us were hurt and our bikes were both in pretty decent shape considering we crashed at speed.

The weather didn’t hold out for us on Sunday and all of the races were cancelled. We packed up and took off. Now it’s time to prepare for round 2 at Infineon.

I’d like to thank my sponsor CycleSector, Shift, and CT Racing for helping me to get everything together for this season. I’d also like to thank Lisa Wallace, Josie Gomez, Sam Richards, and Micah Larson for helping me to make this weekend possible.