Race Report, May 27-28, Infineon Raceway

I heard a passerby on the street the other day quote a purported Chinese proverb: "When a man has an excuse for everything, all he has are excuses." So there are plenty of excuses, but I won't use any of them.

The weekend started out well, with practice on Saturday. The new bike felt very familiar (since it's the same as the old one), so there weren't really any problems with it. Different suspension and brakes took a little getting used to, but nothing major. I spent some time with a suspension guru who tweaked and fiddled and I could actually feel the bike getting better each time. I picked up speed through the day and by the end of the last practice session, I was back within a couple seconds of my times from last October.

The AFM has a new class this year, called Clubman. It races on Saturday afternoons and is for new racers and those who can't meet a lap time cutoff required for entry in the Sunday races. I signed up for the Lightweight Clubman race on Saturday because I was close to the cutoff time and knew I would need seat time on the new bike.

So we grid up for my first race of this season, and once again I get a horrible start and really didn't have any confidence in traffic. I was gridded about halfway back but I was probably 3 or 4 from the back by the time we got to turn 2. But since these were newer, slower riders I was able to start picking people off sooner and made some pretty good lap times. I did the full 7 laps, didn't get lapped, passed a few people, dropped my lap times down to nearly respectable (although not where I was last year yet), and all in all had a really good race. I finished 16th out of about 25 or so. I left the track on Saturday feeling really good.

Sunday morning started with some frantic mechanical work to fix a flaky rear brake on the new bike. With help from my pitmates, we got it working again in plenty of time for the morning practice. I was quite slow, but it was very early in the morning, the track was cold, and it was definitely not the time to go out and push things.

I was in race 1, the 650 Twins class, so as soon as the practice sessions were over, it was time to grid up. Revs go up, flag waves and we're off. I was really squirrelly in traffic once again and was dead last out of turn 2. There was another SV a little ways ahead of me and I spent 3 laps chasing him, trying to put my usual start slow then pick 'em off scheme to work. I was gaining very slowly when he pulled off with a mechanical problem. After that I was completely on my own. The next bike in my race was far enough ahead that I couldn't see him, so I didn't have the carrot to chase. I settled in to bring it home in one piece. The leaders of my race caught me with about 1 1/2 laps to go, including my pitmate Ian, who was in a solid 2nd place, until he crashed in the turn 9 chicane on the last lap. I finished dead last, 39th place, collecting 1 point for passing Ian as he lay on the ground.

Then the waiting began. It was a noteworthy day for the number of crashes and race restarts, so by the time Race 9 rolled around, they had shortened lunch, cut the races from 8 laps to 6 and were still about 45 minutes behind schedule. Finally we rolled out to the grid, and I was next to an SV I knew was modified down to 500cc. I figured if nothing else I could beat one person in this race. You can probably guess the outcome. After a very tentative start on my part the SV500 started slowly pulling away. One rider ran off in turn 9 and I got around him and held him off for a full lap, but he got back by and I had nothing for him. I was way slower in this race than I was in the morning. Because it was a shortened race, I didn't get lapped by our leaders, but I was still DFL again and received 0 points for my 41st place finish. Fastest lap in the race was a full 5 seconds slower than I went last October. Ugh.

Positives for the weekend were 3 race finishes and a reasonably successful Saturday in which I got acclimated to a new bike and remembered my way around the track.

Things I need to work on are pretty much anything that happened on Sunday. I lost concentration and was dramatically slower than I know I can go. I'm heading up to the track next week for a practice day where I intend to pick the brains of some of the faster guys about keeping my head in the game.

Next 2 races are at Thunderhill, June 17-18 and July 15-16. Thunderhill in June is where I crashed last year, so I'll be concentrating on not repeating that performance.

Thanks this time to Dave C. for providing transportation for the Rusty Camaro Motorsports team this weekend, my old neighbor Roger Pujol, a 4-wheel racer who came out to see how the 2-wheeled set does it, and of course Heritage Service Centre for their continued support in the face of miserable results. I think I might actually be hurting their business.

Cheers...