AFM Weekend @ Sears Point Raceway - March 23, 2002

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Jel's Write up

Dave and I met up there to root the boys on. Rob, another rider from the NorcalYZF600Rs group hung out with us. Shawn, Dito, Jesse, and Steve got a garage again so they were sitting pretty in garage 27-28. Jim was close by under an EZ-UP, and we found Andy tucked away behind the Honda Milpitas GMD Computrak trailer.

Most of the day was nice and sunny however the last 4 races of the day were cancelled due to the rain coming in.

We watched the 600 Production from a VIP booth in the grandstands. The door was ajar so we crashed some peoples booth.

Andy took 2nd in the 600 Production class. GO ANDY!!!!

Steve has really picked up the pace, Jesse and Dito were looking good out there as usually. You thought Dito picked up the pace last race. Jesse and Steve came right back at him and finished ahead of Dito. Shawn had some unrepairable engine problems so was unable to race. Bummer for Shawn and his engine woes.

Jim Gentz did better than last time on his R1 in Open Superbike and Open GP. He was running slicks this time and knocked 3 seconds off his lap times. His goal was to get under 2:00 and I think he got it. Its his first year as well.

We saw some old buddies from labusas.org. Felipe Cabezas and Paul "Troynova" Johnson. They were both racing SV650's.

Cary's friend Kim Nakashima was there dicing with the AFM boys. He ran in several races but was on his "B" bike cause a buddy crashed his "A" bike. Kim races in the AMA as well so he'll be out there next weekend running in the AMA Superbike race and possiby Formula Extreme.

Jeff Tigert took 1st place in the Formula Extreme, beating Randolf and Stanton. Ken Hill was running 5th or 6th until he had some problems and fell back.

Dave and I left right after they cancelled the Formula II race. The 600 Superbike race was scheduled right after it. But I figured we'd get out of there to beat the traffic.

I was bummed that the rain came and cause the last 4 races to be cancelled.

Jel

Andy's Write up

my race went pretty good. i got off the line in second behind
siglin, and passed him in T4. i held the lead until the second lap
where earnest passed me when i left 1 foot too much space in T7, $%
^&*. he was a bit faster and i couldn't quite hang onto him. he had
me beat by about 1/2 second a lap. i know i can pick it up that
much, i just didn't ride at quite 100%, but picked up $1000 from
honda for second place. so, it was the largest payout ever for me.
thanks for coming out guys, and once again palmer helped out with pit
duties. a big thanks to mike norman at G-Force, i couldn't have done
it without either of them. if any of you guys need bike work, check
out G-Force. i'll get earnest next time, so stay tuned. congrats to
the other CS racers, looks like the lap times are falling, and shawn
is dito's only bitch now. i have a couple of days off, and then it's
off to the ama races where i'll be in the 750 and 600 races. someone
please tape the races so i can see how much i hold the leaders up if
i get lapped.

the 600sb race was cancelled due to rain, so i guess you guys all
tied me. that race would have been interesting. originally i was
gridded on the 8th row, but i talked them into putting me on the 4th
row (where they put reciprocity riders with no points). even so,
it's been ahwile since i started anyplace but the front row, so i was
looking fwd to the good old days of raging through traffic on the
start. but the rain came about 20 minutes too soon. we'll have to
wait til the next race to try that.

big congrats to jeff tigert(former 600 fast guy) for whipping up on
those formula pacific former fast guys. and it was a beat down,
those guys lost big time with jeff leading by 5 seconds with maybe
three laps to go. randolph was on his third bike rebuild, but tigert
would have beat him anyway. i doubt the former fast guys are too
happy, as they all got kicked down. my money's on jeff for the #1
plate this year.

AndyC

Steve's Write up

Here's my write up.... okay, i was in the 8th row, outside, boom there goes the flag, i get a decent start, go around on the outside, and then went on the outside of 2. We were clustered for a while, then we thinned out, I passed about 4-5 people, then there was a group of 2 that was about half a straight away. Caught up with them, but got passed by some dude who got disqualified, he stayed behind those 2. We stay that way all the way to the end, i think i good of made some more passes if it wasnt for the red flag. I was out breaking em everywhere. IT was a blast!! Saw the dude highside in the middle of 5, almost hit my friend Joe Corey who was leading us. Ended up in 23place, started in 32, and a fast lap of 149.5

Steve

Videos - AFM @ Sears Point - 4-27-03

Andy Carman #33 on the front row of the 600 Production Race

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1st lap through the backside of Sears Point, Andy leads the race.

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Dito "Skywalker" Milian #170 down the front straight and into T1 and T2

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Steve Grajeda #678 heads into T1

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Start of the Open Production race with Jim Gentz #778

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2nd lap of the Open Production Race, Jim Gentz #778

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