In a nutshell: Hot.  No, hotter.

Round 3 of the USGPRU Western Region Series found its way to the Northern California confines of Thunderhill Raceway Park for a slightly 'rushed' event hosted by AFM.  In true form, the host organization layed down its own, unique rules and requirements for the event, which ended with having practice, qualifying and racing scheduled to be completed on a single Saturday practice day.  It was bound to be interesting....

The now familiar teaming of the Möbius and NSP camps invoked a new method for this round, in anticipation of the recent wave of heat hitting the West Coast.  With record high temperatures being recorded up and down the state, the boys concluded it might be easier to invoke a divide and conquer methodology in hopes of avoiding more overheating episodes between the Möbius transporter and the infamous Tejon Pass.  The result was a relatively early Friday departure for the 800km jaunt up to Willows with Mike pulling the NSP trailer while Vince followed in the Möbius van.  Once clear of Grapevine, and the 1300m pass, the NSP trailer was reunited with the Möbius tractor and the party continued without further adieu to Willows and the site of the ensuing war.

With the experience gleaned from the previous months T-hill outing with AFM, the boys were feeling very good with all things considered.  Without a doubt the pace was going to be set by the quick group of AFM regulars with the non-AFM'ers left to tussle for scraps.  All of this was sitting quite well with Vince who was looking to consolidate points after our previous outings fiasco at PIR.  So, the order for the abbreviated weekend was to make good work, a strong finish and, most of all, no incidents!

Things started off ominously with Vince snapping the fuel tank retaining strap just after the boys had setup the pit on Friday night while going about some routine setting of the bike.  This was, perhaps, a sign for the remainder of the weekend.  On the upside, boyhood stitching duties with mother were quick to payoff as the strap was 'sewed' to useability with the help of some fine safety wire and a frosty Guinness.  With a long day ahead, it was quickly to bed following the mend.

Saturday started off well enough with both pilots, and bikes, ready and able for the first session of the day which was - nicely enough - devoted exclusively to 2T's, thanks to the USGPRU presence.  However, it was clear straight away that this one day weekend was going to be quite the scorcher.  Despite a bid to the contrary by Thunderhill's PA announcer, the early morning temperature rose quickly from the overnight low and by first practice at 08:15 the thermometer was already over 31° C!  Vince was straight away into the previous outings race pace of 2:04; a good sign that improvement lay ahead.  The session wasnt without some drama as toward the end of the session, Vince noticed the temperature up near 63° C on the bike.  Normally, the bike tends to run sub-60 and although not drastically alarmed the pilot was alerted.  The odd part, specifically, was that the newly installed kit radiator was running with no tape.  Surely the temps should be lower than 60, no?  This, going through the mind of the rider was suddenly punctuated by a brief, if not distinct, 'dropout' of the motor!  A seize, possibly?  Hesitation marked the final lap back to the pits.

Upon inspection - by removal of each exhaust and a glance up the exhaust header - it was noted that the left (upper) piston may have, in fact, touched down with the cylinder as there was evidence of a mild, narrow, vertical score up and down the length of the cylinder and piston; centered cleanly at the fore and aft most points.  Inspection of the second cylinder showed nothing and with the ring and its groove appearing well enough the motor was deemed functional if not on edge.  Furthermore, with the morning's carburetor setting being based on anticipation of the increasingly rising temperatures, it would be inaccurate to say the setting wasn't toward the lean end of the spectrum; or at least that was the supposition of the team.

Second practice session at 09:40 and the temp was up as expected, then cresting 35° C as the boys rolled out.  With Vince keeping an eye on the temperature gauge, it was all systems go on the NSP side of the garage with Mike plugging away, keen to make progress where things left off the month prior.  The 2:10 barrier was proving difficult and the heat was likely not helping things with its effects on both pilot and motorcycle but in the end the effort was rewarded thusly.  This time out no further problems were encountered, despite a slight rise in the bike temp to something in the neighborhood of 68° C - a quite high temp to witness on the Möbius machine.  On the upside, the times were down into the 2:02 range, which was on par with the fastest race laps run previously, so again progress was at hand easing the pain of the heat on the team.

With the jetting adjusting again to cure some midrange hesitation picking up the throttle by way of a pair of tighter nozzles, the Möbius colors were on track for the third and final pre-lunch - and pre-qualifying - practice of the day.  37° C meant that the boys were literally beginning to roast in the sun and the high (for the area) humidity of 30% was not helping the feeling.  With the warm Willows air being pushed aside, Vince cut his fastest laps to date on the track at 2:01, finally seeing the light on a couple of T-hill's notoriously difficult sections, namely the T9 left over and down the hill and the following section of T10-13.  Both of these areas dump onto relatively longish straights and it was noticed while following some of the fast locals that Vince was losing significant time getting out of those areas.  Some thought and subsequent line revision presumably lead to the quick improvement with, according to rider, much more to be had!

As the lunch bell tolled, Vince was busy changing tires on the bike in preparation for the afternoon qualifying session and the ensuing race.  The longish break also afforded the requisite 'track sofa' siesta on the bench removed from the Möbius transporter.  Unfortunately, the steadily increasing heat tempered the relaxation and by the 13:40 horn signifying the start to the 20min qualifying session the temperature had climbed past an unholy 42°C!  Vince, not acclimatized to such an environment due to the shield provided by the temperate environs of the beach, was sure to employ his now familiar 'modus operandi qualificanus' of a quick shot out for a fast lap followed by a hasty retreat to the pits, did just that; lapping not once more than thrice around T-hills undulating circuit.  The theory, of course, was to minimize the energy expenditure of both pilot and equipment; saving the majority for the grand prix.  It was a pleasant surpise then, when Vince learnt of his strategy converting to a quite unexpected front row start with a time of 2:00.266.  With the abundance of local boys flying about, the team was fully expecting to find themselves fronted by at minimum one row, so the reality of qualifying fourth was a nice surprise indeed.  Of course, the team was under no illusion that the race was suddenly parlayed into anything other than an all out battle; a war of attrition against the oppressive heat and each other.

Race time then! 16:15 and the thermometer has peaked: 44.5ºC (that's 112° F for those 'holding out').  Where the hell are w...uh, nevermind!

Now, before we begin the end of the tale, it must be clearly conveyed that our man was fully expecting an exhausting race at best, and truly did take most of the precautions deemed necessary in preparation.  A small disclaimer - of sorts - so as not to upset 'the boss'.  ;)

From fourth on the grid Vince got an average jump on the green flag; not fully having acclimated to AFM's starting protocol, we can cut our man some slack.  Not surprisingly, and in a bit of an unnervingly reminicent scene from the teams previous outing at PIR, it was a gaggle of fast Hondas - this time with the unfortunate addition of a couple quick Yamahas - that streaked ahead on the drive to turn one.  Noting that this flock of buzzing motors was comprised of the expected AFM regulars, Vince went about the business of running his race.  As the pack approached T1, it was an unknown rider (who started 5th) who swooped down on Vince claiming the T1 line as his own in a brazen maneuveur that can only be characterized as, well, bloody brilliant!  Too bad it wasnt our man that executed it!  Vince settled in behind and began to give chase to what had established itself by the following curve to be fifth position.  So, starting 4th and dropping to 6th isn't exactly the way we want to see the Möbius bike moving as is not having much to talk about.  But for some odd reason, the two paired end up with a slightly pleasing complement.  You see, that is about it.  Well, not quite.  From T2 through the checkered flag it was Vince in 6th position.  One through four quickly cleared off running a pace in the mid 1:50's and Vince gave it everything he could, improving to a new personal best time of 2:00.185 on lap 3, to keep with fifth position on track, but when a quick look back confirmed there was no reason to rush - and fifth looking impossible to achieve, the pace was tempered back into the 2:02 range and sixth remained the finishing position.  Pas mal.  And then...  as Vince came off track, our poor old man had given a little too much.  With the combination of the extreme heat of the day and the fatigue of the race it was all our rider could do to keep alive!  A mild case of heat exhaustion aside, the boys were on their way to getting packed up and making a hasty and early retreat back to their respective bases in SoCal...mission complete.

Race conditions:

RAD=84.2%; P=30.00"; T=109°; H=30%