Team No Excuses Racing heads to Thunderhill Raceway for Round 4 of the AFM Series with Videos
The following is from Team No Excuses Racing...
Photos courtesy of 4theriders.com & Steve Larman
Team No Excuses Racing was looking forward to Round 4, so much so that Hollis arrived early on Thursday evening to stake out our spot and get ready for Friday practice. Thunder and lightning persisted throughout the night but luckily the rain was at a minimum and by Friday was gone entirely, leaving cool weather in Willows, CA making for a perfect day to practice.
With such a light turn out the team opted for a half day of practice on Friday. This worked out great with the 30 minutes sessions giving plenty of time to test changes in set-up. Hollis finished the day Friday within 0.3 of best ever time at T-Hill but was still unhappy with gearing in some of the faster sections on track. Scott ended up making a gearing change and running 1 second faster than his best laptime at Thunderhill with the assistance of Hollis helping him work on some new lines.
Friday Practice
Once again the strength and support of the team showed on Friday evening. As Hollis has probably done a thousand times, he went to swap his Production wheels for my 16.5's but there was a problem removing the front wheel. The front axle bolt's threads had galled up, making them nearly impossible to get apart. Jason calmly approached the situation and came up with a solution to remove the axle and get the front wheel off. Special thanks to Kevin at garage 16 at Thunderhill for getting the axle/bolt repaired enough to last the weekend, averting what could have been bad situation turning into a disaster
Saturday Practice
Saturday began for Team No Excuses with us on schedule, Tech. inspections complete, and ready for another day of practice. Hollis’ tires were on their second day of use so crushing his best lap times would be out of the question. He would spend the day focused on chassis set up and fixing the gearing issue. Happy with the setup of the bike, Scott was focusing on dialing in the line learned in the previous day, with Jay working on suspension setup and continuing to get re-acclimated with the track as it had been some time since the two of them had been to Thunderhill. Saturday ended on a successful note with Hollis settled on proper gearing and Jay and Scott likewise ready for Sunday’s races.
Sunday Practice
Sunday began with morning practice and there’s nothing like a brand new set of Pirelli tires to restore confidence in smashing personal lap records. The team was ready to go racing!!!!
Big thanks to Jeff from Axial video for bringing us video footage of Hollis races for the first time. Installation and set-up was a snap and at the end of the day Hollis left the track with my own copy of all of my races on disc, quick and easy.
Race 6: Jason and Scott in Open Twins, Hollis in Open Production
Race 6 is runs in two waves (Twins and Production) and Jay and Scott were gridded in the Open Twins race on rows two and three respectively in Wave 1 of Race 6. Both riders had finished in the top 10 in the past two races and had every intention of continuing to do so. Jay and Scott got a clean start, Scott’s much better than he had done in the past. He passed two riders in turn three and tuck in about three bikes behind Jay.
While Jay and Scott were doing work in the Open Twins race, Hollis was sitting on the Open Production grid on the second row, in Wave 2 of Race 6. Approximately thirty seconds into the Open Twins race, the green flagged waved for the Open Production Race. Hollis lost a couple positions at the start, which put him behind Ken Casey and Neil Atterbury, and set to work to get around them
Back in the Open Twins race, Jay was working to keep up with the lead pack, but they slowly slipped away. Jay was pushing hard but struggling with the front end of his bike, “The thing is terrible mid corner. It’s really unstable.” Scott managed to work his way past the three bikes behind Jay and pulled up behind him. For the next several laps Scott worked to get around his teammate but was struggling on the straightaway, where Jay’s 1098S was extremely fast.
Hollis continued to push in the Open Production race and worked his way past Neil and Ken by getting a ripping drive out of turn 13 on the back straight and getting deep on the brakes into 14. From there Hollis put his head down to try to run down Gabe Santa Coloma in 4th place. Unfortunately, the clear track ahead was short lived, as Hollis quickly came upon the Open Twins grid and had to work his way through traffic. On the penultimate lap Hollis caught and passed his teammates battling for position going into 14. He continued to push to try to catch 4th place, but ultimately, “The gap was too large to close and on with the traffic from Open twins and I had to settle for a strong 5th”.
Jay lead Scott onto the straight of the last lap and pulled a gap, which Scott was abl. to reel in between Turns 1 and 2. Coming out of the cyclone going into 6, Jay went wide to get a late apex and drive out of 6, which gave Scott a chance to slip up the inside. “I thought Jay would get back around me as I was so tight to the inside I couldn’t get a strong drive out of 6.” Jay laughing would later say “I had a false neutral in 7, and saw Scott pulling away. I was yelling; “No, No No! Laughing”. Jay worked to reel Scott back in, but got into 14 too hot and ran wide. Scott was able to hold the position, finishing in front of his team mate for the first time since he started racing last season. Scott was happy with another top 10 finish, but disappointed with his lap times. “I didn’t achieve my goal this weekend as far as lap times go, so I’m bummed about that. I'm going to have to step it up next round.”
Race 10: Hollis in Open GP
Hollis started his second race of the day on the 2nd Row. Unfortunately, he again got a poor start which left him fighting with Jessie and Ken Casey watching the guys up front pull away. Hollis got around them by end of lap 1 and could see Harley Barnes and Craig Smith about a second ahead of him. Hollis left it all on the table, and could close in on them in 1-6 but they would pull away from him on the backside of the track.
On lap 4 Scott Wilson got around Hollis on the front straight. Hollis could out ride him on the brakes and mid corner but Wilson had motor and would pull away on the straights. Hollis passed Wilson on the backside of the track and lead coming out of turn 15, but Wilson again powered by on the straight, and Hollis, somewhat disappointed, finished in 7th place. Taking away a positive for the weekend, Hollis destroyed his previous best lap time, running a 1:52.976 with his average lap time in the 1:53's!
Hollis summed up the weekend saying, “I always pride myself on riding smart and bringing the bike home in one piece so i can go to work on Monday. The Team No Excuses Suzuki and my Pirelli tires performed great this weekend! The truth is I am gonna have to step it up a notch and be willing to throw it in there for that next position if i plan on being up front regularly.”
Team No Excuses Racing would like thank all of those who make our racing possible: Pirelli Tires, Keigwins @ the Track, Catalyst Reaction Suspension and Dave Moss, Motogenex, 2Wheeltimes.com, 4TheRiders.com, Suomy Helmets, Honda Peninsula Ducati, Lockhart Phillips, Ducshop, Sidi Boots, Gilroy Screen Printing and our families.
On bike Videos from Team No Excuses Racing!
Hollis Adams riding his Suzuki GSXR1000 in the AFM Round 4 Open Production Race at Thunderhill Raceway Park, 6/14/09
Hollis Adams riding his Suzuki GSXR1000 in the AFM Round 4 Open GP Race at Thunderhill Raceway Park, 6/14/09
