Lightning Strikes at Thunderhill / AFM Rd. 2

Brenden took full advantage of the added power and capacity of the V3 bike to take key wins in AFM Round 2 at Thunderhill.

With Jayson Uribe and Andrew Lee out with the majority of the Orange Cat Racing team at Road Atlanta for Round 1 of the MotoAmerica SuperStock 1000 class, racing duties would fall to Brenden Ketelsen to keep the momentum going from a successful Round 1 with AFM in April. Luckily, Brenden is no stranger to AFM or these tracks as he's the current no.1 plate holder and has been dominant in the classes he races over the past several years. So... we knew our rider was fast and capable, the real challenge was finding a setup for our new V3 bike at a faster track like Thunderhill Raceway East with its long front straight and sweeping corners.

Gearing is critical for lap times at a track like Thunderhill with longer straights. With only a constant mesh gear reduction, the rider has only one ratio for the entire lap!

Generally, the nature of tracks like Buttonwillow Raceway, Laguna Seca, and even Barber Motorsports Park tend to favor the strengths of the Lightfighter with relatively short straight aways connected by technical corners that reward acceleration and drive off the corner, something that smooth delivery and a prodigious amount of low-speed torque provides in spades. The challenge with a faster track like Thunderhill is that the longer straights force us to change gearing and give up some of that advantage by reducing the available torque at the rear wheel. With only one gear ratio (the final drive chain sprockets) to adjust, missing the window on the trade-off can be catastrophic to lap times and even efficiency. In other words - if we get it wrong, we could not only go slower, but we could also end up consuming our battery energy too quickly.

With the OC crew in Atlanta, wrench turning and laptop button pressing fell to Nick, Tucker, and myself. Working under a canopy with a small crew and a single rider - it felt just like the good 'ol days! Or... maybe that was just last year. ;)

Lightfighter got back to basics for Round 2 with a single rider and small crew working under a pop-up tent in the CA sun at Buttonwillow Raceway in Northern California.

Brenden adapted quickly to the V3 bike, dropping into our previous record pace on the V2 within the first couple of practice sessions. A testament to the rider and improvements made over a season!

AFM is currently going through some changes and trying to find the right balance of classes and races to keep the club relevant in an ever-changing motorsports environment. They've tried some endurance races and extended race distances for their premier Formula Pacific event, and this round were interested in mixing things up in the classes we compete in as well. For us, that meant a short 4-lap sprint race on Saturday to set qualifying position for the Formula 2 race on Sunday. And while our Middleweight Superbike race would remain at the classic 6 lap distance; the Formula 2 race was extended by 2 additional laps. This was also going to be a double-points scoring round, which meant not finishing would be a disaster for the championship. Last season, Jayson took the win in Formula 1 (same bikes as this season's Formula 2), but used almost all the available energy in that 6 lap race. We were hopeful that V3 provided enough additional energy and efficiency to add those additional 2 laps and still be competitive.

Our 4-lap sprint race on Saturday started off with Brenden taking the holeshot into Turn 1 and then nearly launching himself off the bike on the exit of Turn 5, the steep downhill from the corner they call the "cyclone"! Every Lightfighter rider seems to need to experience that lap 1 phenomenon at least once to understand that it's best to wait until tires reach full temp before pushing all the torque to the ground. Luckily, Brenden stayed upright and while I would've needed a moment (I did even on the pit wall, actually), he just got straight back to business and finished the race with a solid victory while setting a new EV lap record of 1'51.279, 1.5 seconds better than last season's best. That's some real progress!

Brenden in full tuck down the front straight. The paddock is used to seeing this kid in green, but we've turned him into an Orange Cat! We'll be searching for a bit more top end when we're back in June. Photo: Tucker Swanson

Sunday's races were all about finding the right balance of power mapping to ensure Brenden could finish the extended Formula 2 race. We also had some gnarly wind blow in overnight that was going to make everyone's race a challenge. We reviewed the data from the practice and qualifying race and Nick programmed a power map that would theoretically give him as much power as possible for 8 laps. This lower tune brought the field closer and Brenden needed to fend off a couple of fast riders towards the start of the first lap. He never lost the lead though and as a testament to Nick's programming, the bike hit LVC (Low Voltage) as Brenden pulled into the pit after the cool-down lap. We had to push him 100 yards to our tent in the paddock...

Lower tune power mapping brought the field a lot closer for the first lap or two in Sunday's races. Brenden was still able to lead every lap on his way to victory though! Photo: Caliphoto

Brenden finished the weekend 3 for 3, taking victories in the Formula 2 Superpole race, Formula 2 Endurance race, and Middleweight Superbike. His feedback allowed the team to continue to develop chassis settings and should provide a reasonable base for our return to the track in much hotter conditions in late June for Round 3.

Brenden went 3 for 3 on his Lighfighter V3. He now leads the AFM championship in Middleweight Superbike, Formula 2, and Overall points. Photo: Caliphoto

High fives all around. It was great having Ely and Ryder come out to help and working more closely with Dean Ketelsen, who is Brenden's Dad and no.1 fan - no matter what bike he's riding. Photo: Tucker Swanson

Sorry for the lack of video content for this round with our shared media master, Robert Martinez, doing the work at Road Atlanta. You'll find some iPhone videos on our instagram page in the saved stories sections.

Until next time, keep the rubber side down and we appreciate your support! Thanks!

-Brian, Lightfighter Racing