An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for formatting a timing-based servo pattern on a magnetic tape. A first write head concurrently writes a base number of stripes to a plurality of first stripe patterns with a first and third element and writes the base number of stripes to a plurality of second stripe patterns with a second and fourth element of a first write head in response to at least one first write signal. A second write head concurrently writes an incremental number of stripes to a specified first stripe pattern to form a first incremental stripe pattern with a fifth write element and writes the incremental number of stripes to a specified second stripe pattern to form a second incremental stripe pattern with a sixth write element.