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AFM Race 1: Buttonwillow March
21-22 |
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2009 would be a
new year. We decided to center our season around Ironman Austria in the middle
of summer and book-end our triathlon racing with moto racing in the spring
and fall. This would allow us to focus on one activity at a time with fewer
compromises between the two.
The first AFM
race of the year would be at Buttonwillow. We were fresh off of two rounds of
racing down south at Willow Springs but Formula 40 would be the
first race meeting for most of our competitors so we expected nerves to come
into play. Indeed, shortly into the race a red flag appeared with Brian
Parriott crashing out in the fast Riverside section. Although F40 was now
split into Heavyweight (>600cc) and Lightweight (<601cc), F40 HW still
registered 33 entries and we managed to bring home a 3rd place.
Open Twins would
throw out a new challenge for us. Having stalled on the grid (later to learn
that a grabby clutch was the culprit), we started two corners behind the
entire field. After lap one, we had made up four positions. Lap two saw us
gain one more. Lap four went by and we had moved up another spot. However, the
checkered flag would record us in only 7th as the laps ran out.
After the experience
in Open Twins, we tried a conservative (albeit slow) start in Open Superbike
which saw us lose several positions before the first turn. We made up a few of
those during the first couple of laps but we never progressed beyond 11th.
Axcel Fast
Graphics, one of our
newest sponsors, gave our Suomy helmet a one-of-a-kind custom paint job, just
in time for Infineon! These guys are known in the industry for custom painting
well-recognized lids such as those of Mike and Jeff Alessi in
supercross/motocross, Townsend Bell and Scott Dixen in IndyCar, Ben Spies in Superbike
and now Team JaS! |
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Open Twins: 7th Formula 40: 3rd Open Superbike: 11h Fastest lap: 1:55.981, 93.1mph |
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AFM Race 2: Infineon April 25-26 |
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After filing
smooth the clutch basket and installing a fresh clutch pack, we were ready
for some better starts at Infineon the following month. Buttonwillow had
taught us the harsh reality that our 1098 R would burn through a new clutch
pack every EIGHT race starts so practice starts were not an option. We would
have to trust that the clutch was good.
We cautiously
launched our bike in Formula 40 and boy, was that clutch smooth! Second place
was ours and we were right on the tail of #784 who had holeshot the field. Peter
O’Sullivan, current points leader and #7 plate holder, made a decisive pass
on us into turn 4 and demoted us to 3rd before the first lap was even
over. O’Sullivan soon realized that he had to break away soon because #784
was holding us both up. He got by in turn 7 and we made our own move on #784 into
the turn 9 chicane. Although our lap times were consistently within a few
tenths of a second during the next three laps as we tried to close the gap, it
was still off the pace of O’Sullivan who continued to pull away. By halfway
into the race, we were already in the midst of the Lightweight wave which had
started behind us! We were successful at putting backmarkers between us and 3rd
place but the last two laps saw our times increase by two seconds as we got
further up the Lightweight field. By turn 9 on the final lap, our comfortable
lead over 3rd place was virtually non-existent and a bobble in the
last corner was enough to push us off the second step of the podium! For the
second time this season, we would have to settle for 3rd!
Open Superbike on
Sunday would see our best race performance of the weekend. An unfortunate red
flag evaporated our first turn 8th position in exchange for 13th
while shortening the race to only six laps. We were up to 12th by
lap two, 11th by lap four and 10th by lap five but by
the time we made it up to the rear wheel of 9th, we had no more
laps left even though we recorded our fastest time of the weekend on the very
last lap!
After only two
races, our rear tire was already showing signs of wear and we chose to flip
the tire rather than replace it with a new one for Open Twins. This proved to
be a mistake which saw us fade from 7th to 5th as we
struggled with rear grip - by the end of the race, both sides were shredded!
We also had trouble keeping the front end down!
Overall, we had
a lot of fun but realized we had some work to do in terms of bike set-up. But
the weekend’s success was dampened by the news that our friend Eric Arnold
was seriously injured in the red flag incident at the start of the Open
Superbike race. Our thoughts have been with him ever since as we follow his
progress via this blog:
http://ericstatus.blogspot.com/
We have decided
to enter the May AFM round to go for our best result from the front row in
both F40 and OT while foregoing the OSB race until round six. We’re excited
for this next round before our summer break having just spent a day testing
& tuning with Catalyst Reaction
Suspension Tuning
which
proved to be quite enlightening! In addition, we have been privileged to
train again with Rich Oliver!
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Open Twins: 5th Formula 40: 3rd Open Superbike: 10th Fastest lap: 1:45.559, 75.7mph |
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Enjoy the ride! --Team JaS
Special thanks to our sponsors: |
