First race at AFM Round 2!

[ithaca00]

Just to join in the fun of telling my story...

The weekend was great!!!

It started off really hectic for me in that I didn't get my race bodywork until 9am Friday and still had a couple loose ends to tie up with the bike. I had planned on getting down there Friday night but was working on the bike and packing the car until nearly midnight. We left for the track at 4am Saturday morning and put my numbers on the bikes while waiting for the gate to open...

Saturday practice had me riding my new 2008 Ninja 250 and forsaking my '94 to the scrap heap. The new bike feels really good. The sessions were going alright for having ridden Infineon once, in 2009, on the old bike and for a couple sessions in the rain for the NRS event over Easter. My times were hovering around the 2:20 mark with a best of 2:18 and I was a bit anxious to make the 2:20 cutoff for 250 Production during the Clubman race. During the race, I was having a rough go of it and I wasn't able to string together a good lap. Coming across the start/finish line the white flag was waving for me but the guy with the checkered flag was creeping up behind him. That meant the race winner was hot on my tail and as soon as my front wheel crossed the line the checkered was waved. I still had a lap to go and I wasn't going to let up just because of that guy so I kept the throttle open and focused on the upcoming turn. Turn 1 at Infineon changes during the race, on the starting lap it's opened up to allow for the 70 bikes make it through safely but after that it's closed down to a very narrow, 90* left hand turn. Coming out of this turn for the last time I saw a rider that appeared to be coming out of the hot pits for a warmup lap. I was a bit disconcerted, yelling in my helmet that I was still racing and this further enforced that I was having a crappy race. Through the rest of that lap I was pissed off. Here was this guy on a cool down lap, waving to the spectators and corner workers and getting in my way. The really sad part is that he wasn't in my way, on his cool down lap he was still faster than me. I finished the lap and my cool down lap and came into the pits dejected. My "mentor", Lisa Kinberger, had told me the key to the Clubman race was to have fun and finish. I finished but I did not have fun. I was really humbled by that race and even questioned my being there.

My pit crew (Grandma and GF) was there to congratulate me, even though I felt no congratulations were in order. They let me know that my times were in the 2:21-2:23 range. As I was taking off my gear Lisa came up to me and asked "What happened in that last lap? There was a couple second difference." Oh ****, was that last lap that much worse than the others? I started to explain what happened with the other rider then Lisa broke the news that I had recorded a 2:17 on that lap! I was so happy; I qualified for the production race!!! The rest of that day was a little bittersweet but I had good people around me and they cheered me up.

Sunday morning practice felt really good and I was trying a few new things. My times were still in the 2:20 range with a best of 2:19. Not what I had expected having felt that good but I still had high spirits. Lisa gave me another mantra to think about for this race, being different that the Clubman race on Saturday: "Go fast, take chances". I was still thinking of having fun though...

Come race time I was nervous, less than the Clubman race the day before but it still took a bit of effort to "organize the butterflies". What was really cool was gridding up with the same instructors that I've ridden with during trackdays with Z2 and PTT. These are the same people that I look up to and come to for advice so being a "peer" for a couple minutes at the start was neat. I took my starting position at the back of the pack of 18 riders with only one rider behind me.

I got a great start and was up to mid pack going into Turn 2, or at least that's what I remember. I know that I was next to Craig Harris (#278) heading up the hill. I stayed with the pack through to about Turn 9 but was slipping back at each of the heavy breaking corners (4,7,9) as that is my Achilles heel right now. What really had me smiling in my helmet was the fact that there were riders around me, from my own class. I would pull on some and then lose them under braking but I was having fun.

One of the key things that I had been working with Lisa on was throttle position at a few sections of the track, primarily coming out of Turn 4 through the exit of Turn 6. I had worked on them in practice and noticed a big difference so I used them during the race too with good results. Going through Turn 6 I had been on and off the throttle to help control line but in the race, Lisa's voice popped into my head "Go fast, take chances" and I rolled on the throttle even more.

Towards the end of the race I was able to make a pass on the front straight as the rider in front of me (#880) bobbled coming out of Turn 11. I made it to Turn 1 just in front of him and carried that lead for the rest of the race. On the next lap I caught up to the next rider (#713) coming out of Turn 6 and made the pass on the drag strip only to have him pass me back on the brakes coming into Turn 7. I knew that I'd be able to pass again pretty soon so I wasn't too upset. Actually I was happy to have been able to "dice" it up a little. My joy was short lived though as the black flag was waving in Turn 8 so the race was over.

Coming back to the pits I was ECSTATIC! I really had fun in that race and wanted more. When I got back, my pit crewand some friends were waiting for me with congratulations. It was only then did I realize the extent of the congratulations. My first lap (from a standing start) was a 2:16. The next lap was a 2:14, then 2:11, 2:10 and the last lap was a 2:09!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's a whopping eight seconds off my previous best race time!

Hearing the times I ran off trying to get into the 250 Superbike race but, because of the red flag race, they dropped the last lap. 250SB has a cutoff of 2:09 at Infineon. Sad indeed but I was happy having done so well in the production race. The other sad news is that, because of the red flag and the dropped last lap, I finished last. Apparently the pass I made on the front straight had been just after the start line and therefore was not counted. Even if the race hadn't been cancelled, according to the rules, I wouldn't have been able to use my race time to qualify for 250SB; all qualification times must be recorded in a clubman race.

No matter what, I had a great weekend and it was awesome having family and friends out there! I can't wait until Round 3!!

Oh, and the pictures that Dito got are here: http://gallery.atpic.com/34892 Unfortunately, in the rush to get the bike together I forgot to mount my GoPro so I don't have any footage of the event

[RaceBikeRentals]

Ryan, AWESOME write up! You have your newbienovice stuff out of the way, so time to go racing! Huge congrats on shaving so much time off your laps and bringing it home in one piece!

[ithaca00]

Thanks Richard. I definitely didn't want to mess up that new bodywork and clip-ons

[ztrack157]

Not bad Ryan. I'll call you later to hash things out for Monday.

[2WheelGuy]

Good write up Ryan. The path from utter confusion to getting your "Race Face" is a quick one. Looking forward to doing it again next month.

[Alex]

Great writeup!

[ithaca00]

Originally Posted by 2WheelGuy

Good write up Ryan. The path from utter confusion to getting your "Race Face" is a quick one. Looking forward to doing it again next month.

The second race was much "easier" and seemed to go smoother. Next time I hope to be able to see you for more than half a lap...