John Anner Race Report

Thunderhill, July 21 2003

For comfort in times of distress, I used to think to myself “I may be old and slow but at least I’m younger than Tom Hicks and faster too.” This past weekend at Thunderhill, he whupped my butt in both races and I’m pretty sure I passed him in years after aging significantly during my daughter’s 10th-year birthday parties last week.

At least I was consistent. In the 12 laps over two races, I got nine 2:22s, along with a 2:20 and a 2:21. The variation in the Superbike race was no more than 4/10ths from the fastest lap to the slowest, all within 2:22.

Finally, after many a frustrating day at the track this year, I had a good weekend. The newly-built motor didn’t break or even hiccup, and although I missed the Friday practice day trying to find enough unbroken parts to have Alex Torres put a motor together, I did make it to most of the practice sessions on Saturday – the second practice session Saturday was the first one I’ve managed to complete all year at Thunderhill. So that was immensely rewarding for me. In the first practice session I got black-flagged for smoke coming from somewhere, which turned out to be just some oil escaping from the spark plug drain holes and getting on the header pipe.

Practices went well; I quickly got down to my usual 2:23s and 2:24s – slower than my goals for the year but considering my lack of practice time I felt pretty good about it. Found myself more than once in an extended dice with Tom Hicks; caught him napping one time departing the Cyclone and passed him on the outside at the bottom of the hill – wow, that was fun!

In the 250s race, I was gridded way back on the 8th row, but somehow managed to get myself up Tom’s butt once again. He and I went back and forth a few times, until I got repeatedly spooked by 450 riders appearing in unexpected places, usually right at the apex I was about to turn into.

The 250p race was a lot more interesting. I was on the second row (last position on the outside), for the first time in my career, although I’m not sure how I got there since I don’t really have the points. I was really keyed up at the start, and got a good launch. Not as good as a novice on an orange bike, who came blasting up on my left and clipped my handlebar and hand, causing me a temporary wiggle and “oh shit” roll-off before I settled down. The novice – I don’t remember the number, 934 maybe?, but I’m pretty sure his name is Mac Nolan – beat me into Turn 2, and he, I and Tom Hicks all tried to get around David Crone at the same time. On the exit to 2, I was on the outside and as I went around David I swear my left shoulder was close to grazing his front wheel – at least it felt that way.

I made it safely past, and took up trying to get around Nolan. He has a good motor, and was getting pretty good drive out of the corners, but was taking a defensive line and really holding me up on the entrances – much to my frustration. I could see the lead group a few corners up ahead on the first lap, and I toyed with the idea that I might catch them, but that was simply not to be – they are much faster than me. Finally, on the second lap, I dogged it a bit into 13, kept the revs highs on the short straight, and got a great drive out of 14 onto the front straight, passing him just before Turn 1 and holding him off through T2.

Later I found out that he crashed behind me exiting the Cyclone, but I didn’t know this until I came around on lap 4 and saw his bike down there. Meanwhile, Tom Hicks and Jayce Bell were setting their sights on me (maybe others too, I don’t know). Tom got around me into 10 when I had a moment’s brain fade and downshifted way too early, even before I usually brake. He gapped me a little bit, and I tried to keep close, but then I started having front tire issues about mid-way through the race. I had a small slide in T2, then a larger one in T3, and then a freaking long, chirpy, pucker-inducing front end push through turn 8 on the same lap even thought I wasn’t going any faster than usual. I thought for sure I was going down, but the tire (Pirelli super-soft SC1) held and I decided not to push it much more. I thought that at my relatively slow pace the tire was not really being pushed beyond its limits, but I guess it’s time to change it.

Jayce Bell then came past me on the brakes into 13 on the next lap, and smoothly took off into the distance. He rides really well, and was turning laps in the 17s so I doubt I’ll be seeing much of him again, at least at Thunderhill. I followed Tom around the track until the end, and wound up finishing 9th in the race, with a best time of 2:20.4 (my best ever at T-Hill).

Great fun. My logical mind tells me to leave the motor the way it is – stock – and use the broken crankshaft and cracked ported head from Dan Kimble’s old motor as elements of an art project. On the other hand, it sure would have been nice to have just a little more power at some points during the race! Might not have really helped my lap times, but it would have made passing a bit easier. Maybe I should try to fix that head. . .(?)