Each of us has a wild creature which we can not capture. For some it is a beautiful women of desire, for others it is the ability to control their own vices; my unicorn stands atop the box at the podium. I have had numerous races where I have finished 4th or 5th place. With the unicorn within my grasp running down the straightway to the finish, I often fall victim to another challenger's powerful engine which is able to lure the beast away from me. Going into the first race of 2012, I knew in my heart I would be able to wrestle my unicorn to the ground and finally be able to indulge in the magical properties from its alicorn.
Heading into this race weekend I hadn't ridden a motorcycle in months, not even my street bike. I have been so busy with school with up coming finals and many projects needing to be finished, the timing of the race weekend couldn't have been worse. I won't bore you with the details but I'll put it to you this way: full-time job + full-time school + up until 5:30am finishing class projects = tired puppy. My race bike also had some engine problems which left me finishing putting it together into the wee hours of the morning the day we left for the track.
When we showed to the hotel late Friday night I was greeted at the door by Ed Chung #216. Ed informed me that he was harboring Jovan Betton# 990, a new racer whom I offered to mentor on his first race weekend. I went to my room and found Ed and Jovan to be located right across the hall from us, so I went over to meet Jovan and tell him what to expect for the next day. I was there mostly to help make Jovan aware of what was happening, where he had to be, and when he had to be there. One's first race weekend can be very overwhelming and I don't want anyone else to have to go at it alone like I had to do. Having never met Jovan before, I didn't know what to expect, but he turned out to be a great guy and looks to have the drive to be very good, very soon. Good luck, Jovan.
Saturday morning proved to be an interesting case study of forgetfulness. First thing we discovered was that I forgot my tire warmers. Without the warmers I was going to have to alter my timing of the day. This was my first weekend racing on Bridgestone tires and I wasn't sure just how long they would take to get up to temperature by just doing hot-pit practice starts. The last thing I wanted was a cold tire crash for something as stupid as forgetting to bring tire warmers. Fortunately, just before my first practice session, Dave Moss volunteered an extra set for me to use which he had in his trailer. This was a god-send but because of timing I didn't have enough time to get the tires up to temperature to set the tire pressure correctly and had to forgo my first practice session. As the day went on, I came to find that I had forgotten to : 1) charge my on-board video camera; 2) bring a few very needed tools; 3) bring my work mat; 4) bring the new brake fluid I needed for a fluid change; 5) bring batteries for my lap timer; 6) bring one of my school books I really needed to read during the weekend; 7) and a few other things that I can't remember right now, ironically.
Oh yes, I almost forgot. While talking to Jovan between practice sessions about racing lines, my canopy suddenly collapses. It was not a windy day and I have no idea how it happened but a section of the frame suddenly broke in half, rendering it useless. I had to fashion a "weld" out of duct tape and zip ties. It got us through the weekend, but ANY wind in the future will probably tear it apart.
I was moving slow at practice and was feeling very sluggish. What little of my mind was actually working was focused on school work and not racing. Before I knew it, I am getting called out for my first race of the weekend, middleweight.
Middleweight (no on-board video)
Sitting in 2nd position on the grid, I knew I was going to have a battle on my hands going into turn one. The guys nearby me are fast and even faster off the line. Even if I get a god-like start, my underpowered bike will not hold the lead all the way down to turn one in the distance. I quickly devise a plan to avoid losing as many spots as possible. I decide I am going to drive hard to the apex of one and hold a mid-track exit leading to a tight take through turn two. This will held hold off contenders and hopefully everyone will begin other battles and leave me alone. The plan worked out ok as I found myself in a wheel to wheel battle with around six talented riders.
We all went back and forth for a few laps battling for position. As the race went on, I found myself battling with an old foe, #780 Kyle Schirrmacher. Trying a variety of lines on entry and exit of nearly every turn, I found myself easily able to run with, if not quicker than, Kyle in the turns. However, the moment we came to any of the fast and long sections, Kyle would open up his r6 and was simply untouchable. This led me to having to play catch-up in every set of turns and never being able to get around him. I finished in 4th place, right behind Kyle; my unicorn had escaped me once again.
Sunday
Sunday morning I came back to he track to find out that I had been classified as DNS (did not start) in Saturday's middleweight race. Race control explained to me that to prove I had finished 4th I would need to have the 5th place finisher come to timing and scoring and vouch that I had in fact finished in 4th place, ahead of him. However, because there had been issues with timing that weekend, I was not sure if I was even in sight from the 5th place finisher as I came across the finish line. I had to ask around in the pits to gather other credible racers who watched the race and were independently aware of my 4th place finish. Fortunately, #33 Eric "GoGo" Gulbransen had come over after the race on Saturday to congratulate me, complain about my paint job, and try to convince me to get a bike/engine that has power which is on par with everyone else. His emphatic explanation of how everyone ran away from me in the back section reminded me that he watched the whole race and saw me at the line. I found Eric and asked if he would go talk to timing and scoring. It was a good thing that most people like Eric because I may have been screwed out of 4th place otherwise.
750 Superbike(N)
The green flag drops and I get the best start I have ever had. Micah Larson #400 gets his usual brilliant start, moves into first place, and beats me to turn one, but by turn two I am on his tail. I know how fast Micah is, so I was rather shocked to be right on his ass in turn two. I had no idea what was going on behind me, but knew I wouldn't have to deal with the chaos if I just kept my head down and stayed with Micah for at least a lap. Going up the hill towards turn nine, Micah is able to muscle up the hill quicker than I and gets quite the drive going down the hill to turn ten as a result. I barrel into turn ten and get right up on Micah yet again at turn eleven. I get an equal drive as he coming out of the essess of 11-12-13 but as we get half way down the back straight he begins to fade in the distance.
This rubber band effect between straights and turns kept up until turn seven of the second lap, when #696 Peter Kemling shoved his way underneath me as I was turning in and almost to the apex. This caused me to momentarily sit up and killed what little straightaway drive I had. Going up the hill to turn nine, I thought I was about to take over the lead as Peter decided to ride the paint on the far left of the straight going into turn nine and not give an inch on the exit to Micah. Fortunately for the the both of them, Micah had the state of mind to sit up, back off, and miss the apex to save them both.
As Micah and Peter begin to pull away when we hit the front straight, #644 Travis Trevethick passes me like I was standing still eating an ice cream cone. A couple laps later, these three are just out of my sight. I found myself making excuses for my poor riding, "you never are good in the first race of the day", "you're not a morning person", "you're never going to be better then forth". A few laps later, I see the white flag and a few turns later something inside me begins to awake. I tell myself to wake up, quit bitching, and give it what I got left in the tank for this race. I work my way up to about 1-1.5 seconds behind the lead group by the time I hit turn eleven. Then I see a yellow flag suddenly fly up in the corner of my eye from the flag station at turn eleven. I come over the crest of turn and see the front of #696 Peter Kemling's bike facing right at me!! Peter had wrecked, got back on his bike, and is attempting to GET BACK ON THE TRACK.
I get away from this craziness as quick as possible and quickly realize that I am now in 3rd place, my unicorn is right in front of me. I have no idea how far 4th place is back, and keep my speed at full (but under control) click and run my fastest lap of the race. I come around turn fifteen and see my girlfriend in the distance signaling someone is coming up FAST. I keep my head down and throttle open, but then at the line #861 Ramsey Junaid sneaks by and takes me at the finish by only .16 of a second. Beat at the line once again by small fractions of a second.
https://contour.com/stories/may-13-2012-afm-r2-thunderhill-750-superbike
600 Superbike(N)
I start this race on pole position, and after my start in 750 Superbike I am thinking I may be able to replicate that start again; I was dead wrong. To my right I see people begin to pass me as we run to turn one. I keep a tight line at the apex, hoping to block anyone behind, and sit in fifth place after the start. As the five of us head up the hill into turn nine, I see #696 Peter Kemling muscle by me on the inside and looking like he may overshoot the turn and take out anyone in his way, almost mirroring the line he took against Micah in the 750 race earlier. I settle in behind him and quickly realize I want to be nowhere near this guy. I decide if I can get the entry into turn ten quicker than he, I may be able to get around #424 Sergio Sanchez-Chopitea and keep Sergio as a buffer between me and Peter. But I simply couldn't get the drive down the hill to get by Peter's motor. I lucked out though when Peter took himself out of the equation my running off on the exit of turn ten, good thing I didn't get that drive on the outside after all.
I quickly catch-up to Sergio and the rest of the lead pack in turn fourteen. As we head down the straight, they get the drive on me and pull a gap, as expected. Unexpectedly however, Peter Kemling is back and at the apex of turn one on the inside of me...oh shit! I stay to the inside on the drive out of one and heading into turn two I stay tight and leave about nine different line options on the outside so we can both safely make it through the turn. But instead, Peter comes right at me, so I back off and get to stay alive. I move up behind Peter as he comes underneath Sergio going into three; and using his trademark dive in and run someone out wide move, Peter pushes out Sergio (who I then see shake his head in disdain). I try to move to the inside to take advantage of this, but was not in the position to safely do so and instead see #889 Stephen Rue move around the outside and begin his ascension up the order toward his eventual win.
At turn 14, I get my Sergio on the brakes, and on the following lap do the same to #607 Jeff Keohen; I am now back into 5th place and running with the lead pack. We come up on slower traffic and I begin trying to utilize the opportunity to get around Micah, but he shuts the door on me at every attempt and is just a hair too fast. I come out of turn fifteen and cut my exit short to avoid Peter again, who is coming out of the dirt from when he ran off exiting the turn. Then directly next to me on the right side, #771 Sergio Fernandez leans his body off to the left and almost lays his shoulder on me. I quickly realize he was coming up on me fast and was going to get pinned behind the slower traffic on the right. Pushing his body over was a much better choice than steering into me or running into the back of traffic. I get caught behind slower riders, but am quickly coming back in the hunt, when Peter makes a nice tight turn on the inside of me in turn three.
We all begin trading positions as we work our way through the slower white platers, I find myself shuffled behind Peter again. He tries his dive-bomb line in turn nine again and once realizing there is no way he won't kill Fernandez, sits it up and narrowly avoids the accident. I try to use this to my advantage and get around him before a turn but am only able to poke a wheel to his outside while running down into turn ten. I didn't even want to think about trying to be to his outside in this turn after what I saw earlier, and backed off with the intent to pass on the brakes on the inside going into turn fourteen. But, Peter took care of this issue himself and wrecked in turn eleven again, right in front of me.
I'm now in 5th, make a great run down the backside and into turn fourteen, leaving me right with the pack and almost able to touch Fernandez's back tire. Fernandez lights up his rear tire at the apex of turn fifteen, forcing me to check up, run out wide, and get a little wobble; killing my drive. I put my chin down and do my best to stay ahead, but Fernandez is quickly accelerating by me like he was trying to go back in time. I ended this interesting race in 5th place, just behind Fernandez.
https://contour.com/stories/may-13-2012-afm-r2-thunderhill-600-superbike
Formula 1(N)
By the time formula 1 rolled around, I had already begin to worry about the three presentations I had to do on Monday morning. My mind wasn't where it needed to be, I had been riding slower than normal for thunderhill, and was a little annoyed that I keep losing the podium at the very end of my races. But I said it earlier in the day and I still felt it to be true, formula 1 would be my race.
The flag drops and I find myself in 4th behind the usual suspects in turn one. At turn ten I was able to sneak in the inside on the brakes underneath #644 Travis Trevethick into 3rd place. The possibility of winning began to enter my mind; I felt as happy as a puppy with two penises at this point. I reminded myself that this was only the beginning of the race and I still had a ways to go. I gathered myself and focused on the next target, #424 Sergio Sanchez-Chopitea. We had some close racing this whole weekend, and because I was behind him more than he was me, I felt I had the advantage in the strategy department ... but then we hit the front straight. I soon began to remember exactly what was happening to me all day as Travis comes by like a bat out of hell.
I try to use every advantage I have in the turns to the best of my abilities and go around both Sergio and Travis on the outside of turn two, only to see Sergio power back getting to turn three. I chase Sergio around the track until we get to the crest of turn nine where my bike retaliates in anger for pushing it beyond its means. The handlebars violently slam from side to side and the rear bucks me right off the seat. My feet dismount from the bike and almost get sucked under the bike while I land back on the seat. I am in shock, but am thankful it wasn't worse. I try to dismiss it as quickly as possible, but it stays in my mind for a few more seconds.
In the meantime, Sergio has pulled away and I had to reel him in. I get by him on the inside of turn fourteen and do my best to find a line which is a combination of a block pass and a line for the maximum drive, just in case I need it later. This line was not too bad, I held my lead over Sergio and Travis down most of the straight, but they both still beat me at the line. I was going to need more entry speed to carry into fourteen if I am ever going to keep them at bay going into turn one or a run for the checkered flag.
We continue to battle until the very last lap, when I get the the drive of my life coming out of turn thirteen and run around the outside of Sergio, putting me in 3rd place. By the time I get to the bridge, Sergio has not yet passed me and I assume he has decided to try and beat me to the line. I hold a mid-track entry to block any pass attempts into fourteen and hope to get a drive like the one I used earlier to pass; now that I am ahead rather than behind, it should give me just enough to hold him off until the line. But I go in a hair to hot, leave the door open underneath, and Sergio runs away from me. I scream at the top of my lungs, leaving me in 4th place ... without my unicorn.
https://contour.com/stories/may-13-2012-afm-r2-thunderhill-formula-1
Thanks, John; I'm trying. While the shenanigans are entertaining, it is a little scary when it happens right in front of you.
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