In a nutshell: Prosaic. Second time out
with AFM; first time at Thunderhill; mission accomplished.
Race #4 of the AFM schedule, held at the Thunderhill Raceway
Park, beckoned for the Möbius / NSP boys to pack it up and head again for parts north.
This will be a common theme for the next several races as the 500 mile drive up to Willows is only a precursor for
the upcoming round in Portland. Truth be told, the lads were headed
to TRP as a preparation for their return to its northern locale for the third race of the USGPRU series. So, in an effort to get a ‘leg up’ on the rest of the field, our men figured a race weekend’s
worth of practice might be a wise move. We shall see….
After last month’s easy time with the trailer, the
mood was a bit on the trepidatious side as the party departed Pasadena. With the midday heat, the climb over to the Grapevine was a tall task, but the Möbius
tractor suffered nary a hiccup lugging the NSP trailer in tow, and arrived timely enough in the late evening on Friday, with
plenty of time remaining to setup the pit. With the forecast calling for intermittent
showers throughout the weekend, it was fortunate enough that the pit location was erected under a newly-built, permanent awning
structure in the center of the paddock. Grazi TRP.
The first of the weekends snafus came as kharmic payback. After the the prior outing to Infineon resulted in getting lumped into the slow practice
group, the request was made to the AFM powers to contemplate a modification to the group selection. To this end, said powers graciously stuck Vince in the fastest of the 5 practice groups, with Mike in group
4. This all would have been fine, of course, were it not for the simple fact
that neither of our protagonists had seen the track before and Thunderhill is not a layout that comes to a rider quickly. As it is, the course has a number of blind, off-camber corners and quite significant
elevation dolloped on as well.
The condition that persists with this problem was quickly
noticed on the first practice session, whereupon Vince was absolutely being tossed around the track by the myriad ultra-quick
AFM’ers, most of whom were scoffing as they bounced past our poor lad. The
condition was, in fact, probably quite hazardous but remained nonetheless. Trying
to negotiate the course was quite a challenge and, despite the fact that it took until the final session of the rain-delay-interrupted
day to find anything resembling a rhythm, Vince seemed quite prepared to persevere.
Off the moderately long straightaway that borders one side
of the paddock, it’s a fast, uphill left with positive camber that sends the riders off over a slight rise toward turn
2. In fact, this corner is quite like an inverted version of the first curve
at Willow Springs; not coincidentally. T2 is a long, sweeping, 180° left that brings the riders back toward the paddock. It is flat, if not quite bumpy, and can be taken as quickly as the suspension will allow. The exit opens nicely onto a short chute with a slight downhill approach to the right handed turn 3, which
is also obscured by the presence of a hill to the riders right. The corner is
a bit of a gasper, as it quickly falls off camber as well as having its own set of ripples with which to contend. A quick squirt of the gas and the bike is wrestled over to its left side for the quick T4 and the shot
up the face of what appears to be a wall! The first time through turn 5, aka
the ‘Cyclone’, was a bit interesting. Modeled after the corkscrew
at Laguna Seca, the slightly right handed approach up the hill leaves the rider guessing as to where track is headed until
the curbing on the left side of the track indicates to head west. However, once
the line is set and the bike is settled, its time to bang it back hard to the right for the drop back down the equally-steep
decent and the increasingly fast exit through 5a. With the ‘technical’
section of 2-5 behind, its time to wick it up and turn it wide open. The left
handed T6 requires a small break on the gas, but its WFO from there as the bikes wail through the left handed kinks of T7
& 8. The left side of the tire has plenty of time to roast on this three-corner,
(curb-to-curb)3 section. Out of the final T8 kink it’s a downshift
to fifth for the hard drive up the long hill approaching T9, which is a totally blind, cresting left, which can be taken as
quickly as the experience on where the exit goes will allow! No matter how far
inside a novice to TRP holds his line, it still means a sphincter-clenching moment as the track suddenly comes into view –
only it is not where the bikes are headed! This is all due to a right handed
kink in the exit, which tightens the right side of the track up and makes the exit through 9 critical; moreso because it sets
up the drive back down the long hill to the quick, blind, cresting left-handed turn 10 (notice a trend here?). Another short chute sets up the second-slowest corner (after T5), T11, a tight left whose exit is kept
honest by the T12 / 13 right / left chicane at its exit. Another critcal exit
is formed as the back straight is the only thing between this section and the final two curves, right handers taken as a pair. The first is approached blind and remains a blind exit due to another hill on the
inside of the course. Myriad bumps and pavement sealer strips make it another
section where experience, and testicular fortitude, are indisposble.
If the mission was to learn the layout (it was), then Saturday
was an overall success. The usual suspects were in order on the time sheets and
AFM’s large turnout and resultant grids would surely provide for good racing on Sunday.
With some points for the Infineon finish now in hand, Vince was also rewarded with an improved grid slot: P18 on row
4!
With the highest priority being not to pile the bike one
week before PIR, Vince gridded up to complete the weekends of mission of ‘practicing’. This is always difficult come racetime!
Off the start it was another decent launch. Adaptation to the newly installed clutchpack was not an issue and the herd stormed down toward T1. Vince playing things safe quickly hooked in behind one of the Snowden Hondas and went
about finally figuring out some lines with the assistance of a pack of like bikes. As
the opportunities to pass presented themselves, they were unselfishly accepted and a general migration forward was the result. As the laps wound down Vince had wittled his way from 18th to 6th,
with 5th just ahead. At the completion of the penultimate lap, it
was also noted that the top four were still nose-to-tail as they headed out of T3 whilst our man crossed start/finish for
the final circulation. With 5th a good bit ahead, albeit buried in
a pack of out-of-class bikes, Vince seemed to settle into 6th with esteem.
However, on the run down the back straight for the last time, Vince noticed that Mr. #5 had backed it way down, not
fully realizing the threat to his ontrack position. Our man, willing to concede
the position, came up so quickly that he recognized the offering being presented to him and made a quick move for the position
in the unusual passing zone betwixt the final two curves. Comprised of only one
valid racing line, and with the notification offered by the obnoxiously loud exhausts of the 224 bike, #5 just as quickly
closed the door to the apex of the final corner and powered out down the straight, leaving our man to check up in avoidance
of any mayhem and follow behind by a not-so-bad 2 seconds.
Sixth from 18th and no crashes; mission accomplished. Only one point remained: the trip back down to So Calif. Now, as fate would have it nary a problem was to be had until halfway up the Tejon Pass and the van decided, finally, to
cry ‘Uncle’. Spewing coolant and generally decrying her pain at pulling
the small trailer, ‘Vanny’, as she is affectionately known to the team was able to rise to the occasion after
the passage of several quarter-hours and, with the infusion of some fresh liquid, the team continued home without further
incident. …and with no inidication of why the sudden dissent from
the rig… to be continued.
Race conditions:
RAD=92%; P=30.66"; T=68°; H=52%
Sunny, Dry
