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Pat's Race Report from Arroyo Seco Raceway
09/11/05 - 09/12/05 Deming, New Mexico
ASMA Round 5
We had originally planned on doing the AFM round at Buttonwillow, but
Roger is putting a lot of effort in to make ASMA the best race series in
the Southwest. The 999r was in transit from Atlanta, so I would be
riding the 749r. Mike and Tom Boge were to meet us at the track on
Saturday afternoon. I think Brian quit racing. He had a baby this year
and comes up with every excuse in the book to ditch his teammates. (publishers
note: PUNK Pat!!)
I have never liked Arroyo Seco as a track. Mainly because I suck there!
When we first came to Arroyo, the esses were just something to get
through. Nobody makes up time there and you can’t pass there. Well,
that’s a bunch of crap! To go fast at Arroyo, you have to fly through
the esses. We would discuss how violent you have to be with the bike to
make time there. No swoopy lines, just quick, hard direction changes. At
the track day on Saturday, I would follow Tom. He has a CBR1000 so he
would quickly gap me on the straight and I would work hard through the
esses to be right on his ass going through Yucca. Ivan Garza would join
us for a few sessions. Ivan is one of the nicer guys at the track and
just started racing in the AMA ranks. We were lapping in the high 1:13s
to low 1:14s. I could hang with them for five or six laps and then fall
back. These times were probably the quickest I‘ve done at this track. I
was very happy with my lap times, considering my other bike is 2-3
seconds a lap faster (OK, maybe with somebody else on it). We would do
this for most of the day. After each session, we would discuss where to
go faster. At the end of the day, I could no longer catch up to Tom in
the esses.
Arroyo Seco has about five or six very fast experts and the rest of the
experts are much slower. Most of the fast amateurs are faster than the
mid level experts. I have fallen into the mid level expert category. Not
fast enough to hang with the leading experts and slow enough to let the
fast amateurs catch me. Most of the fast guys are on 600s. Tom was now
fast enough where if he got in front of the fast experts on the
straights, they would not be able to pass him unless he made a mistake.
After riding hard for a lot of miles on Saturday, I awoke very stiff and
sore on Sunday. At my very old age, the body does not recover too
quickly. My first race was Heavyweight Superbike. There were three of us
on the grid. Roger Heemsbergen (track owner and ex AMA racer), Ivan
Garza (AMA racer) and myself. I knew where I would finish in this one.
The only drama would be “How far back”. After losing touch with Roger
and Ivan, I hit a curb going through Yucca and rode off the track. I got
back on the track behind all the amateurs, and that’s where I finished.
Not the way I wanted to get my first expert (non twins) podium.
In the Southwest Thunder race, it would be between Aaron Grigsby, Mike
Coberly (my teammate) and myself for the victory. I really thought I
would win this race. My bike was the slowest of the three, but if I rode
like I did on Saturday, I should win easily (typical overconfident
racer). Well, today was not Saturday! At the start I had to almost stop
or run off the track to avoid hitting the leader into turn one. The
three of us circulated the track with the same intervals for all the
laps. I reverted to my old way of going through the esses and wasn’t
able to make up any ground on Mike and Aaron. I finished a very
disappointing third. It was good for $200 in Ducati contingency.
The next race was Formula Arroyo. This is the big money race. Looking at
lap times, I finished exactly where I should have, seventh. This is the
race I need to get up in the pack with, to race with the fast guys. Tom
was in third for most of the race and gaining on second place. On the
second to last lap, Tom almost high sided going through the small
carousel. This allowed former #1 plate and lap record holder, Mike
Shreve to squeeze through for third. Tom lowered his personal best lap
time to 1:11s.
Our last race of the day was Team Sprints. This is a team race (two
riders, one bike) with a Le Mans start. Running with leathers and helmet
is not easy! Each rider rides for ten minutes and then comes into the
hot pit and changes riders. With a good result in this race, we can take
over the series lead. We would already be leading, but Tom crashed out
of first at the April race. I always ride first. Tom is just coming off
back to back races. I get off the line in fourth place. Going into turn
one, I’m just about to go around Clay, when I remember that this is
supposed to be a fun race and this will be Clay’s last race for a while.
Clay looked after my injuries after my April crash. I figured I’d wait
for the straight. Well, it took me almost two laps to get around him.
Roger (track owner) took the fastest amateur (Jeremy Hale) as his
teammate and disappeared. The points leaders were in second. Once I got
into third place, I was able to gap fourth and fifth place pretty
quickly. I was finally warmed up and ready to ride. Three races late,
but, I probably equaled or bettered my times from Saturday in this race.
I hand the bike off to Tom. He is about a half a lap down from second
place. We wonder if there is enough time to catch him. At the end of the
straight, on the last lap, Tom makes the pass into second place. We are
now the Team Sprints points leader by one point, with two rounds to go.
Both Tom and I made a lot of progress this weekend. We finally figured
out those damn esses! (I hope). Alas, next round we go the other way.
I’d like to thank my teammates, Tom, Mike, and Brian (quitter). Thanks
also to my sponsors, Section 8 Superbike, Speedymoto, Moto Wheels, Duc
Shop, Vortex, Sidi, Motorex, Desert Truss, Savoca Construction,
Universal forest Products, All Out Graphics, Vesrah Brakes, Lockhart
Phillips, Racer’s Edge, Michelin Tires, Suomy.
It was also fun to hang out with Tom Boge in the pits and as always,
thanks to Roger for providing an always enjoyable race series.
Pat Bushell
#468
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