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AFM Race 3: Infineon May 23-24 |
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This would be a
weekend to forget. We started off by destroying our gearbox shearing both 2nd
and 3rd gear at a track day with minimal time for repairs. Once
again, Desmoto Sport came to our
aid and installed Matt Green’s 999 R transmission along with a tall (2.00) Corse
first gear. The new gearbox would be less fragile than the 1098 R
transmission (which had been significantly lightened to race in homologated
form for World Superbike) with closer gear ratios (5th gear would be
equivalent to 6th in the old gearbox). However, the tall 1st
gear (2.00) was now very similar to 2nd (1.75) and would be difficult
to launch even though it could be put to use in slower corners.
The first day
presented us with another broken quick-shifter! We quickly replaced it with a
spare (sans electronics) and then chose a medium/hard (6680) rear and medium (6136)
front tire for the races.
We were situated
2nd on the AMA 4-4 staggered grid for Formula 40 which was a safer
starting configuration adopted by the AFM after the unfortunate
incident with Eric Arnold at the last round. The taller 1st
gear along with a heavy dose of rider error contributed to a scary double
wheelie at the start. Our best time was only 1:47.172 after our poor start
and we fought our way to a 9th placing out of 24. This relegated
us back to 3rd in the championship with 121 points.
But the worst
was not yet over. Open Twins saw another rider-induced faulty start from 5th
on the grid, this time resulting in a crash. Luckily we were not run over and
but our DNF closed our weekend. We would have to settle for 5th in
the championship with 55 points prior to taking our hiatus to prepare for our
ironman.
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Open Twins: DNF Formula 40: 9th Open Superbike: DNS Fastest lap: 1:46.190, 75.3mph
(track day) |
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Enjoy the ride! --Team JaS
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