AFM last round. 10-1-11, just some notes.

I was able to make it to the final round of the AFM schedule on October 1-2, 2011.

What a blast.  Started the weekend, by driving the long way up to Willows thru the California countryside, and found an amazing road that I'm going to have to explore on my motorcycle.  A single track climb up and over the mountain range, with no railings, and large canyons that would swallow your truck, and nobody would know.  I don't think we saw another car in 60 miles.

After driving north on hwy 16 and connecting with Hwy 20, we turned off here, at a non-descript turn off into a grove of trees.  

The road quickly turns to a single track, rolling thru the countryside.

 Took a shot from one of the spots high above.  You can see the road below.  there was about 3 switch backs on this photo.  fun ride.

Stopped to take a shot of this group of horses.  You can also see the cracks in the ground.  I think, not sure, that the fault lines may go thru this region...since there were a lot of these "cracks" in the ground for miles on end.  pretty cool.

 Near the end of our trip, we stopped here for a break, and I took some shots of the older Stonyford bridge, and then the new bridge.  The water/terrain was pretty interesting.  It made the water flow in two directions, horizontal and vertical, from the view I had on the bridge.  The sun was setting nicely, and it couldn't have been more peaceful.

After a nice break, we made our way to Thunderhill raceway, only to find out we can not enter the track tonight, but must camp out, outside the gate.  Oh well, we roll into town and get a room, just to make things easy.  Adam, with the trailer, wouldn't be getting in till really late.  Linked up with some other friends that were coming for the race weekend, and we had a great dinner and chilled.

Friday morning is trackday.  with Zoom Zoom Trackday providers.  One of the best groups to start with and progress with.  One of their riders broke the track record this weekend. (1:49.6)  pretty awesome.

The trackday went without a hitch, and I continued to gain speed in some of the corners I was working hard to progress on.  Going in faster, deeper, later on the brakes.  With the wind changing, we also had to take that into account, since on the front straight, I added about a hundred feet of "throttle" at the end of the front straight, into T1.  mostly because the wind was so high, I could afford to go so far past my brake markers.

After a long day of great riding, and hanging out with friends, we set up our pits for the race weekend, moving closer to the track.  After a hearty dinner, we were off to bed pretty early. 

Saturday, we got up and teched our bikes, and then prepared ourselves, and I signed up for an extra race today, to run with my roommate Adam.  Clubman Lightweight.  This will be his one year anniversary, of being run over at this track, at the start of his 600superbike race last year.  A year to the day on 10-3-2011.  After spending 2 weeks in the ICU after being run over, after being knocked off his bike at the start, he has made a healthy (haha) recovery, and came back out to race.  So I signed up to race in the same one, for support, and because I like to race. :D

Clubman Lightweight, gridded up, ready to go, 2 board is up, turns to the 1 board (minutes), goes sideways, GREEN FLAG!!!!

What a great race, got some good run in there, and chased down a few of the fast guys.  I managed to set a PR for myself, at 2:04.5  

Another quick shot at the grid, I think the green flag has flown and we're all initiating power.

I think this was my 650 Twins race on Sunday.  Sunday was great.  I managed 3 races and one solo race lasting 30 minutes +1 lap.  I ran 33 minutes total, and clicked off 16 laps, and came in 7th.  Not too shabby.  Endurance races are the best, because you can just try new lines each time.  I think it was about the same as almost running 3 races in a row.  (each race is 6 laps).

Okay, lets get to some pro photos, taken by my friend Dito, at gotbluemilk.com  He does phenomenal work, and always makes us look so good, and fast, when we're not.  hahahaha

Here is a shot of me coming into T10.  I was managing more and more speed, since it's a deceptively fast corner. 

One final one, coming out of Turn 2, and playing around with the cameraman.  :D

Hope you guys enjoyed.  I'll put together a better race report and add it.  :D

Had a phenomenal weekend, my roommate Adam completed his races, all of them, we both kept the bikes up, no crashes, some PR's, and lots of amazing friends.  
My results:
Saturday Clubman Lightweight race: 9th place.
the first 2 Sunday races (races 2 and 3) were back to back, so after my cool down lap, I went right back out and gridded up for open twins.
650 Twins race: 17th place from 26th start.
Open Twins race: 10th place (Top Novice)
Formula IV race: 13th place (Top Novice)
Solo lightweight endurance race: 7th place.

couple trophies this weekend makes for a great race season ending.  :)