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Pat's Report from AFM - Infineon Raceway
08/12/05 - 08/14/05 Sonoma, CA
click here for video montage
Tom has been telling me how good the AFM races are for months. He went
to the last rounds at Thunder Hill and Infineon. At our local CCS races
we are lucky to have 10 racers on the grid. AFM has as many as 70. This
would be a tough weekend to go away, August 14th is my 12th wedding
anniversary. Yes, I am married. Michele and I spent the previous weekend
in Las Vegas just gambling and having fun. Rian took Tom’s truck and
trailer to northern California in mid June for the races at Thunder
Hill. Tom and Sally flew there and back. After the races, Rian drove up
to Portland and stayed at his parents house until we were done with the
Infineon round. Since our bikes were already in the Northwest, Tom flew
to Seattle for a charity track day at the end of July. Tom, Sally and I
flew to Oakland on Thursday and met Rian at the hotel.
Tom talked me into racing in the AFM 4 hour endurance race. We had a
choice of riding the 749r or Tom’s CBR1000rr. I am not too fond of Tom’s
bike. I think it’s too big and heavy. Tom seems to be able to ride any
bike and be fast, so we decided on riding the 749r in the 4 hour race. A
lot of people thought we were stupid for racing a Ducati for four hours.
Rian spent a lot of time with the safety wire and orange silicone to
make the sure the bike stayed together. We enlisted the help of Alex
Florea (Northern Cal Michelin Rep) for our third rider. We have never
done an endurance race before. The only thing close has been the Team
Sprints at Arroyo Seco. Those races are 20 minutes with a rider change
at the halfway mark.
We get to the track at 6:45 AM on Friday morning. The track gates open
at 7 AM. This would be our longest wait of the whole weekend. AFM has
been around 50 years and you can tell why. They run a first class
operation. It took us about 90 seconds to register and 5 minutes to go
through tech inspection. It’s much harder to go through tech than CCS.
Just about everything needs to be wired. Rian used the time between
rounds to get the 749r ready for this event. The only thing CCS does
better than AFM is at CCS to go through registration and tech once and
you’re done for the weekend. At AFM, you register and go through tech
every day. AFM also has much stricter rules. If you crash at an AFM
event, you are done for the weekend. At CCS, we had a guy crash three
times in one day!
I have never been to this track before. In the Southwest, all our tracks
are flat. Infineon has a lot of elevation changes. This has been hard to
learn. It had been the same at Streets of Willow and Barber. We had a
full day of practice on Friday. AFM groups their practice sessions by
lap times. I tried to get in the same session as Tom, but they put him
in group 3 and me in group 2. I went out at the back to learn the track.
It took me all day to get most of it down. My best time was only a 1:56,
much slower than Tom’s best of 1:49 from the May round. Last year I used
to be able to race with Tom. This year, if I can get within two seconds,
I’m doing good.
We loaned Rian to Alex to help change tires and Tom, Sally and I were
off to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco for dinner at Joe’s Crab
Shack. I’d like to come back soon with Michele and the kids for a
weekend in San Francisco.
The original plan for the endurance race was for each rider to do two 40
minute sessions on the bike. That went out the window when I let Tom
start the race. You just can’t get that guy off the bike. There were 47
teams entered in the race. Tom started the race and rode until the low
fuel light came on. He rode for an hour with his lap times around 1:50
and 1:51. His best lap time was a 1:49.2 and his worst was a 1:53 after
being held up by traffic. He came into the pits, we refueled the bike
and I was off. I did not ride in the practice sessions in the morning. I
let Tom and Alex get used to the bike. I was already sore from the
previous days riding, so it took me a lap or two to get warmed up. I was
lapping in the 1:57 range. They had a big clock at start/finish so the
rider could see how much of the race was left. At about the twenty
minute mark I started getting tired. I couldn’t let Tom get the best of
me. I tried to conserve as much energy as I could. I would hang off less
and rest on the straights. At the 40 minute mark, I was still feeling
pretty good. Rian had the pit board out and I could see I was still
doing 1:57s. I started to think, If I go an hour and then Alex does an
hour, we can finish this with only 2 stops and maybe a podium finish. I
rode until the low fuel light came on, ONE HOUR!!!, same as Tom. I
couldn’t let Tom get the best of me. He did say that he could ride two
hours at the speed I was riding. I have never rode more than 30 minutes
before. When I got off the bike, it was hard to stand up and my hands
were tingling pretty good. I thought my right ankle was healed from my
Arroyo crash. At about the 40 minute mark, I had to ride flat footed and
not weight the peg. I thought I would ride long enough so I would not
have to get on that DAMN bike again! Alex was next and he was able to
knock off consistent laps in the 1:50 to 1:52 range. We were not able to
completely fill the fuel tank for his session, so he was only able to do
45 minutes before the fuel light came on. Tom got on the bike again with
an hour and ten minutes to go. He was again very consistent with his
laps. Even his last laps were within a second or two of his best times
of the day. He rode an hour and four minutes until the fuel light came
on. He did 2.5 laps with the light on and came in for fuel with 90
seconds to go!!! I have the larger 749r fuel tank at home in the garage.
I took it off for safe keeping and put a dented 749 Dark tank on the
bike. We sure could have used the extra fuel capacity. With the larger
tank, we’d be able to finish a four hour race with only two stops. We
put some fuel in and sent him off. We finished sixth in class and 15th
overall. For our first attempt at a four hour and a lousy plan, I think
we did pretty good. I have to make sure we use my bike next year or Tom
and Alex may want to get a faster teammate. The only casualty was a
broken exhaust spring on the 749r. The 16.5” Michelin slicks worked
flawlessly, with only the rear getting a little greasy towards the end.
I used the same front during my race on Sunday.
After the race, we went back to the hotel, got something to eat and went
straight to bed. I know I was pretty beat and I hope Tom was beat also.
The old guy ran over half the 4 hour race. On Sunday, I only entered one
race, Open Twins. During Sunday morning practice, I was easily able to
knock off some 1:55s. I felt like I knew the track well, but was still
extremely stiff from the two previous days. Since AFM grids by points
and this is round 6, I was dead last on the grid. I was on row 11 in
50th spot. The Open Production class was gridded in front of us, leaving
31 racers in the Open Twins class with not a single SV650 on the grid. I
got a good start and I railed on the outside of turn one passing about
15 bikes. Unfortunately, having never started a race here, it put me in
bad position for turn two and about five bikes passed me in turn two. I
was nose to tail with about 10 bikes during the first two laps at 1:58
and 1:56. I finally got around the slower riders and my last two laps
were at 1:53 and 1:52. I finished 18th out of 31 riders. I feel that
with some more aggressive passing I could have been in the top twelve.
Racing with AFM will definitely get you the experience needed to race in
large groups. I never felt like there was anyone out there that did not
belong. CCS has some guys that just circulate the track and our a danger
to themselves and everybody else on the track.
We had a great weekend and I’d like to come back again and do another
AFM event. They put on a good event. There is a reason we went 14 hours
away for a race. I started feeling comfortable on the bike for the first
time since Barber in early May. My 999r is currently with Mark Sutton at
Duc Shop in Atlanta to get the motor freshened up and the transmission
fixed. I plan to have it back, in time for the ROGUE track day at
Thunder Hill on September 4th and 5th.
I’d like to thank Tom and Sally, Rian, Alex Florea for all the help
before, during and after the races.
The biggest thanks to Michele for allowing me to miss our anniversary.
(happy 12th).
Thank you to the sponsors: Section 8 Superbike, Duc Shop, Michelin
Tires, Moto Wheels, Vesrah Brake pads, Motorex, Sidi, Desert Truss,
Savoca Construction, Speedy Moto, Universal Forest Products, Vortex,
Lockhart Phillips, Suomy, All Out Graphics and VaporBlue.
Pat Bushell
#468
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