Race Report: AFM Sears Point April 2010 w. lots of pictures

[2WheelGuy]

Last weekend I raced 3 races at Infineon Raceway with the American Federation of Motorcyclists, AFM. I raced the 250 Production, 500 Twins and 250 Superbike classes. I had epic battles in all my races especially the 250 races where I traded paint with bike number 676 in almost every turn of almost every lap. Our battles started at the first event at Buttonwillow Raceway and continued this past weekend. He pushed me to my lowest lap times at this track, 2:06s. I believe the fastest by a bike prepared like mine with zero motor work was ridden by Gary Jaehne, turning 2:05s. Once I find that one more second I'll do some tuning to the motor.

Here are a few photos:

Turn 9a


Entering Turn 9 with a gaggle of 250s behind me. Coming down this hill we hit the bikes top speed of around 100mph and have to brake hard for the very slow (20-25mph) turn 9 chicane.


Braking contest into turn 9. This is a favorite overtaking spot and I got got here several times. I was braking so hard that I was getting a rear end waggle that I had previously only experienced on big bikes. By the end of the race my brake lever was coming in almost to the bar. My competitor said his was all the way to the bar.


Turn 2


Turn 3a


Turn 11 trying to get a good drive up the front straight.


Turn 11 with my shadow.


Turn 11 again.


Turn 11 avoiding getting stuffed on the entrance.


Yours truly

[ninja250]

Sweet pics.
I don't know how comfortable I would be riding with so many people around all those corners.
Your color scheme is pretty catchy too.

[sharky nrk]

Great pics - I wish they had a 250 racing class at some local tracks here

[mikedabike64]

Thanks for sharing, I read 2 books by Gary Jaehne too. Looks like a whole lot of fun.

[mikedabike64]

was gary j on a pre or post gen 250?

[2WheelGuy]

Originally Posted by mike h

was gary j on a pre or post gen 250?

Gary was riding a 2010 model bike. It is an identical twin to bike 676 in the photos, almost the same as mine i.e. no work done beyond a pipe and jet kit.

[ithaca00]

Here's the video of the race: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6440091

Skip to ~34:30 minute mark

[lockie]

Nice pics. Thanks.

[ztrack157]

How did the ignition do? I wish AFM could get the results up quicker.

[Alex]

Nice!

[ithaca00]

Results are up but only accessible right now in MyAFM...

[KTRacing38]

Wow! That looked like fun! I can't wait to race mine in a couple of weeks.

[2WheelGuy]

Originally Posted by ztrack157

How did the ignition do? I wish AFM could get the results up quicker.

Having a higher rev limit really helped. It was really noticeable. Going to turn one my nemesis was forced to up shift then a couple hundred yards later going into turn one he had downshift. I carried the same gear letting the revs go past 14,000rpm and gained significant ground on him.

[Snake]

Wow those are some great pics. Thanks for sharing.

[2WheelGuy]

Originally Posted by ithaca00

Results are up but only accessible right now in MyAFM...

Yeah, there is a lot of bitching about the AFM website. There is a thread on BARF about needing a new webmaster.

[ztrack157]

They should just let you do it Craig.

[2WheelGuy]

250 Production Grid


250 Production Start

[RaceBikeRentals]

Looking good, Craig. I take it you're pretty happy you got the new gen? Anyone break into the 59s? Great photos & good to see the big grid this year. Last year, I think we had 4 or 5 bikes on the grid for the first Sears round.

[2WheelGuy]

I'm really liking the new-gen chassis, and the big grids this year. My old bike definitely had a stronger engine but the new bike is much more fun to ride.

Brian Bartlow and Kirk Korenko both broke into the 59s. I've got a ways to go to hang with those guys.

You and Brian have done a lot to promote 250s, along with the poor economy has a lot of people looking to 250s as a less expensive way to keep racing.

[ztrack157]

Here is the 250 production class

250 Production - April 24-25, 2010 @ Infineon Raceway
Pos Number Lic Name Best Lap Points Season Make
1 200 E KORENKO, KIRK 01:59.410 52 100 2009 Kawasaki
2 129 E BARTLOW, BRIAN 01:59.347 45 86 2008 Kawasaki
3 603 NC RUNDALL, WESLEY02:01.040 39 2010 Kawasaki
4 793 N WEAVER, CHARLES02:02.270 34 59 2010 Kawasaki
5 893 E MC KINNEY, MARK 02:02.304 29 64 2008 Kawasaki
6 88 E KINBERGER, LISA 02:03.833 24 54 2008 Kawasaki
7 13 E JAEHNE, GARY S. 02:06.516 20 20 2009 Kawasaki
8 676 N BROWN, RICKY 02:07.952 17 27 2010 Kawasaki
9 278 E HARRIS, CRAIG 02:08.164 14 27 2009 Kawasaki
10 383 E SEYL, DAVID A 02:08.747 12 12 2010 Kawasaki
11 739 N GRIESSHABER, JORDAN 02:09.643 10 10 2008 Kawasaki
12 713 N WETTERAU, ROBERT 02:11.497 8 12 2005 Kawasaki
13 118 E AZAR, DAN 02:11.140 6 6 2000 Kawasaki
14 854 NC GRICE, NICK 02:11.001 4 4 2009 Kawasaki
15 786 N KREMLICK, T.J. 02:08.519 2 8 1990 Honda
16 880 NC MATTHEWS, ZACKARY 1 1 2009 Kawasaki
17 867 NC SAVILLE, RYAN 02:09.982 0 2008 Kawasaki

[ztrack157]

Super bike

Lap Points Points in Class Make
1 49 E FLOREA, ALEX 01:56.120 46 90 Honda
2 35 E CAPPS, RICHARD 01:56.843 39 39 Kawasaki
3 200 E KORENKO, KIRK 02:00.159 33 70 Kawasaki
4 793 N WEAVER, CHARLES C.J. 02:01.421 28 49 Kawasaki
5 603 NC RUNDALL, WESLEY02:01.698 23 32 Kawasaki
6 893 E MC KINNEY, MARK 02:03.161 18 44 Kawasaki
7 13 E JAEHNE, GARY S. 02:05.419 14 14 Kawasaki
8 676 N BROWN, RICKY 02:06.512 11 11 undefined
9 278 E HARRIS, CRAIG 02:06.631 8 20 Kawasaki
10 383 E SEYL, DAVID A 02:10.976 6 6 Kawasaki
11 118 E AZAR, DAN 4 4 Kawasaki