Supermoto Racing onboard JP Motorsports provided Husaberg FS570’s!
This past weekend we were invited to come out and participate in some supermoto racing at Qualcomm stadium so we took out our WR250X and a couple brand new Husaberg FS570’s provided by JP Motorsports and had an absolute blast. They have been racing this series for a few months already but this was our first time out. We entered into a couple classes including the street class, in which we got first place!
Here are a couple photos from the day:
Infineon- AFM Round 3 Race Report
This season has been getting better and better. When I left Round 2 I was excited. I had finally figured out how to ride the R6 comfortably. I could feel what it was doing and I was able to put down some decent lap times on it. I also had an understanding of what I needed to work on to get faster. The bike was riding well, I was riding well, and most importantly I could see what areas needed improvement. I was finally able to go to a race weekend and worry about going faster instead of just concentrating on not crashing.
Friday:
I was signed up for the Keigwins trackday before the race weekend. I was the only one of the group I pit with that was going to be there so I was going solo for the day. When I first started doing trackdays on a regular basis I didn’t really know anyone and usually pit by myself. I did this until I started dating Lisa. Having done this for a while and being a Zoom Zoom instructor trackdays were a far more social event for her. She knew everyone and someone was always hanging out. I didn’t realize how different my trackday experience had become until this event. I know a lot of people at the track but pitting by yourself makes the day a quieter and slower experience. My time between sessions usually seems short and filled with lots of discussion with everyone around me. On Friday the time between sessions seemed to take forever and I spent a lot of time with nothing to really do. I found myself actually missing the chaos that surrounds my normal day. I was also surprised by the turn out. The pre-AFM event with Keigwins last year sold out way in advance and was by far the fastest trackday I have ever been to. All the top AFM guys showed up along with a couple of fast AMA racers. John Hopkins was there also. One year later and not only was the day not sold out, but I wasn’t the slow one in A group. There were very few people passing me like I was standing still and there seemed to be lots of empty track. I did manage to put the empty track to good use and spent the day working on getting the rear tire to quit chattering under hard braking. Mike Canfield gave me some advice and did a spring change in my rear shock that seemed to help out a lot. I could only get a relative feel for things because for some reason I can’t seem to practice anywhere near my race pace. I ended the day feeling confident about the upcoming weekend.
Saturday:
Clubman Middleweight:
I was gridded in the front row in position 2. I knew before the start of the race that everyone on the front row had been running decent times in practice and that I was going to have a tough race. I always feel nervous during the warm up lap and for some reason today was worse than usual. I pulled into my position and tried to clear my head. 1 board, sideways, green flag, GO! As soon as I saw the green flag fly I slipped the clutch and managed to get the best start of my life. I knew going into turn 1 that I was in the lead and that I should be able to get through turn 2 without anyone trying to come inside of me. I put my head down and tried to push as hard as I could. I knew that Giya Myshlyayev was going to be all over me and I wanted to try and keep him behind me for as long as I could. Going into turn 7 on the third lap I heard a bike try and come around the outside of me. I figured that it was Giya and he was going to try and pass me on the brakes into 9. Instead he tried for the pass into the esses. I was so surprised that I jumped a little. I knew if I could beat him into the esses it would kill his drive and he would be stuck behind me until turn 9 or later. Just before we get to the entrance I realize that he has a wheel in front of me and has the line and I had to back off to keep from hitting him. He managed to get in front of me and I tried to latch on to him. After two more laps I realized that he was running a solid second a lap faster than me and the I wasn’t going to be able to catch him. I didn’t want to push myself too far and make a mistake so I concentrated on running a smooth fast pace and stay in second. The rest of the race I was alone and watch Giya pull away a little bit every lap. I finished in second place and managed to put up some points for the championship. After the race I found out that I had set a new personal best which made me extremely happy. For the first time I managed to go faster on the Yamaha than I was ever able to on my Honda.
Clubman Heavyweight:
Neither Blaine Bessler or Ian Oss were at this round so I was gridded in first place. I knew that if I rode as well as the previous race I might have a shot at winning my first race. The green flag dropped and I managed to get another great start. I was the first person going into turn 1 but I was passed by Gabriel Limon going into turn 2. I latched on to him and decided I wanted to try and get ahead of him as soon as possible. He was riding a 1000 and kept slowing way down in the corners and use the power of his bike coming out. I kept having to check up mid corner to keep from hitting him and then watch him pull away from me coming out of the corners. When we came around for the second lap I planned to set up and out drive him between turns 2 and 3 and pass him into 3. I tried to gauge the distance so I wouldn’t have to slow down in mid corner and went into 2. Coming out of 2 I got on the gas a little too hard and spun up the rear tire. He managed to out drive me and I decided that I should follow him and try to find a better opportunity to pass him. That opportunity came sooner than I expected. When we went into three he slowed way down again but because I had spun up in turn 2 he had enough of a gap on me that I was able to carry my full pace through 3 and into 3a. As we crested the hill I knew I was going faster than him and already on the gas harder than him. I managed to pass him under braking into turn 4. After that I put my head down and tried to stay ahead of him. I managed to put in a considerable gap and had an uneventful rest of the race. I came across the line and took my first win.
Sunday:
I went into Sunday practice with the idea that I had to try and get myself up to speed quickly. I had two early races and I needed to be ready for them. I have never been good with mornings and have always had a difficult time with both practice in the morning and early races. I can’t seem to wake myself up. I managed to get myself up to a reasonable pace in practice but was still way slower than my race times the night before.
600 Production:
600 Production was race 2. It was the class I had the most points in and the one that I wanted to do best. Being race 2 did not help. I was gridded on fourth row in 15th. I got an ok start and but was pinched off going into turn 2. I managed to get several of the spots back by the end of the first lap. Going into the second lap I was chasing Kenyon Kluge and Adam Lavigna. I managed to make a close pass on Kenyon going into turn three. As I crested the hill in turn 3a I saw a bike on the ground in 4. My first thought when I saw the bike on the ground was “did I just pass under a yellow flag?”. I made that mistake on my very first race weekend and was disqualified because of it. I spent the next couple corners trying to remember if I saw a flag. I knew that there should have been one but didn’t remember seeing one. I was concentrating so hard on getting past Kenyon that I may have missed it. Going through turn 6 I decided that it would be better to let Kenyon back by in case I did pass under a yellow. I’d rather have a finish and get points than risk a DQ for an extra position or two. Coming out of turn 6 I waved Kenyon back by but Cameron Hart came by with him. I managed to get Kenyon back in the next lap and concentrated on catching back up to Cameron and Adam. On lap 5 I made a pass and ended up behind Oscar Fernandez. I chased him for a lap looking for a place to get around him and went for a pass into turn 9. I got on the brakes later than him and went for the inside line. Going into the corner I realized that we were heading into the corner at the same time. We were right next to each other and I wasn’t comfortable with the timing. The only problem I had was that I was as hard on the brakes as I could and I was committed to the corner. All I could do is hope that Oscar would check up so that we wouldn’t come together. I looked ahead and concentrated on getting through turn 9 and went through without any issues. I didn’t see it but somewhere going into the corner he must have decided to give me some room. I looked back coming out of turn 9 and saw that he hadn’t run off track and was behind me. I gave a sigh of relief that it was clean and concentrated on chasing down Adam and Cameron. I wasn’t able to catch either of them by the end of the race and finished in 14th.
750 Superbike:
I was gridded on the fifth row in 19th. The green flag dropped and I got another great start. Going into turn 2 I realized that I was running somewhere around 10th (turned out to be 11th). I tried to latch on to the guy in front of me but also mentally prepared for the group of bikes that usually pass me after I get a great start. The strange thing was that by the end of lap 1 I had only been passed by one rider. On the second lap I was passed by two more but no one else. I saw Andy Carman in the distance and worked on catching him. The rest of the race was pretty uneventful with me chasing Andy. I managed to catch up to him but couldn’t quite close the last little gap and make the pass. My rear tire was starting to have traction issues and I kept spinning up coming out of right hand corners. Somewhere around lap 5 I saw Lenny Hale on the side of the track and then on the last lap I saw both Greg McChullough and Berto Wooldridge’s bikes laying down in turn 9. Due to Lenny’s mechanical and Greg and Berto’s crash I ended up finishing in 11th place.
600 Superbike:
Before the race I decided that it would be a good idea to flip my rear tire. The right side was spinning up but the left side looked like it had plenty of tread. I thought about putting a new rear on but decided against it because this was supposed to be the last time I’d be on this size tire. Pirelli has the new 180/60 out and I had planned to switch after this round. I didn’t want to run a new tire for just one race.
Coming around turn 3a on the warm up lap I saw a bike in the dirt. The rider was facing the wall and I immediately recognized it as Justin Mastalka. As I went past him all I could think was “that sucks, I’ve been there”. Turns out his front just decided to let go going into the corner. I’ve had that happen before too.
I was gridded on the fourth row in 15th place. The green flag came out and I got a poor start. I spent the first couple laps trying to get past everyone I let by me on the start. I managed to make several good passes and then came up on Gavin Owens in the third lap. I tried to pass him on the brakes into 7 but as soon as he saw my wheel he let off the brakes, cut to the inside, then parked it. I had to check up mid corner to keep from hitting him. For the next two laps he rode the most defensive lines I’ve ever seen. Every turn he’d head for the inside line at the last second, park it, then shoot for the outside. I was getting extremely frustrated with trying to get around him. I was also having a problem with my tire. Turns out flipping it made it so that I was not only spinning up coming out of right hand corners, I was doing it in left hand corners also. After two laps of chasing Gavin I thought about just finishing behind him and not risking crashing on the worn out tire. On lap 6 I managed to get a good drive coming out of the corner without spinning up. I had a better drive than Gavin and was lined up for the inside of turn 7. I decided if I could get ahead of him while under power and before braking then I would be ok. I didn’t want to have to check up again to keep from hitting him mid corner. It turned out that my drive was good enough that I was completely past him before I got on the brakes. I kept the inside line to discourage him from passing me back. After that there was no one in sight so I concentrated on not losing any positions. Going into turn 8 on the last lap the flagger pulled out a black flag. I knew the race had ended and that the final position would be based off the last finished lap. I came back into the pits and found out that I placed 9th. My first top ten of the year in an expert class and my first top ten with a full starting grid.
The weekend couldn’t have gone any better. I rode well, placed well, didn’t crash and had a lot of fun. I’m extremely excited for round 4 at Thunderhill and now have to figure out a way to keep up with both Giya and Blaine.
I’d like to thank Lisa Wallace, Josie Gomez, Sam Richards and Mike Canfield for all of their help this weekend. I’d also like to thank my sponsors: Cycle Sector, Shift, and CT Racing. Without their help racing wouldn’t be half as enjoyable as it is.
Infineon- AFM Round 2 Race Report
Round 2 started for me on the Monday before the race weekend. I went to Infineon to ride the Zoom Zoom trackday and see if I could get myself comfortable on my bike. Up until this point I have had nothing but problems with the R6. I’ve been unable to get any where near both mine or the bikes potential and I’ve been plagued with several crashes. I had to figure out how to make this bike work. I knew that part of the problem was me and part was my bike and I had to figure out a way to get both the bike and myself to a point where I was happy to be on it. My goal for both this trackday and the upcoming race weekend was very simple: DO NOT CRASH. My secondary goals were to ride comfortably and consistently but I had to achieve my primary goal at all costs, even if it meant coming in last place and three laps down in every race.
At the trackday I was able to talk with a few people who had a lot more experience and knowledge than me and they gave me some advice as far as where to start with making the bike work better. All advice that was given to me helped and by the end of the day the bike was doing what I wanted it to do. I decided that if I had a good plan for Saturday practice and followed it then I might be able to do reasonably well this weekend.
Saturday:
Saturday practice went well. I had a plan for each session with trying new things with the suspension to see if I could make it better for the race. I was still several seconds off my pace from last year but I was running consistently and with every change I made I could feel noticeable improvements in the way the bike handled.
Clubman Middleweight:
I was gridded fourth in the first row. Not a bad place to start at Infineon. The green flag was waved and I got a good launch that had me in second going into turn 1. I managed to get a good drive up the hill and was in first by by the time I made it to turn two. This was only the second time I’ve ever been in the lead of a race. Leading is difficult. It’s hard to figure out how hard you should ride. I spent the first few corners reminding myself to ride my own race and not ride out of control. I also had to remind myself not to look back. I set myself to a fast pace that didn’t make me feel like I was going to crash. The first three laps were pretty quiet. I didn’t see any one else or even hear a bike behind me. Everything was feeling pretty good except my braking for turns 9 and 11. I still hadn’t figured out how to get the rear wheel to stop chattering. Then on the fourth lap Giya Myshlyayev came by on the brakes going into turn 9. He ended up going too fast into 9 which caused him to slow way up and run really far to the outside of 9a. I managed to get a better drive and passed him back going into 10. Knowing he was behind my I tried to pick up the pace and hold him off. Going into the next lap he came by me again in the same spot but this time he didn’t screw up turn 9. I followed him for the next lap trying to figure out where I was faster than him and where he was making up time. I managed to stay pretty close to him until the exit of 7. Coming out of the turn I realized exactly where I was giving up a lot of time and why he was killing me into turn 9. My line out of 7 and into 8 was wrong. I was losing my drive into 8 and I watched him pull several bike lengths ahead of me through the turn 8 and into 9. He was also braking much later than me into 9. When we came around for lap 6 I pushed harder and tried to catch back up to him. I managed to close the gap and in doing so get the fastest lap of the race. Once I caught back up to him I realized that our pace was too close and the only way I was going to get back around him was if I tried something brave or if he made a mistake. Since my only goal of the weekend was to not crash I opted for hoping he made a mistake. I managed to stay right behind him until the last lap when we caught lap traffic. We caught up to Corey Clough going down the front straight and Giya managed to get ahead of him before turn 1. I wasn’t able to. I had to slow down considerably going into one and couldn’t get past Corey until after the corner. This gave Giya a comfortable gap and I did not have time to catch back up. I happily crossed the finish line in second place.
Clubman Heavyweight:
I knew that this was going to be a tough race with the majority of the grid riding 1000cc bikes. I was gridded in fourth again. The green flag waved and I managed to get another decent launch and was in third going into turn 1. Going up the hill I had a great drive and knew I was either next or ahead of everyone else and I had the inside. I went into turn two late and managed to be the first out. Once again, I’m in the lead and telling myself to calm down. This was shortlived as Blaine Bessler came inside of me going into turn 6 and Ian Oss managed to outbrake me into turn 9. The two of them seemed to be running neck and neck so I tried to hang on and keep them as close as possible. They were running a little faster than me and I only lost a couple bike lengths to them each lap until lap 5 when they both decided to pick up the pace and run a couple seconds a lap faster. From this point out it was a pretty quiet race and I finished in third without seeing another bike.
After the races I decided I needed to figure out a way to get the bike to slow down better. The rear wheel chatter into 9 and 11 was frustrating. I spoke with Greg McCullough and he gave me some advice as to modify my slipper clutch. I made the modifications, had a great dinner thanks to Josie, and went to bed hoping that tomorrow would be as good as today.
Sunday:
Sunday practice started out well. I wasn’t running very fast but I was comfortable and the clutch seemed to be working better. My times were also very consistent and I was happy with that.
750 Superbike:
750 Superbike was race 2. I’ve never been a big fan of the earlier races as I always sluggish in the morning. I’ve never been able to get myself up to speed in the morning. I was gridded in the fifth row in the 19th spot. I bogged the bike a bit on the start and didn’t get a really good drive into turn one. I lost a couple spots on the start and then again going into turn 2. I managed to get a couple positions back in the first half of the lap and ended up behind David Benjamin. I chased him for a lap trying to find a place to get around him and finally managed a pass in turn 6. After I got around him there was no one in sight. Around lap 4 Christy Cooley and I followed her until lap 7 when David tried to pass me going into turn 7. He went into the corner a little too hot and ended up going wide. This let me go right back by him. When we came around the next lap he tried the same pass in 7 but this time was able to make it stick. I knew it was the last lap and I tried pick up the pace in hopes that I might be able to pass him back before the finish line. I ended up carrying too much speed into turn 9 and when I went wide on the exit Giya came around the outside of me just like I had done to him in the middleweight race. I finished the race right behind Giya in 20th. I came into the pits frustrated but I was happy to see that my lap times were about the same as I had done the day before.
600 Superbike:
Right after lunch I gridded up on the fourth row in the 16th spot. I managed to get a decent start but lost a couple spots when I was stuck on the inside in turn 2. After everyone started to spread out I set myself to what felt like a fast pace until lap 3 when C.J. Weaver passed me going into 9. I followed him for a lap and the tried to make a pass into 7. I went into the corner a little too hot and ended up giving the position back to C.J. The next lap I tried for the same pass and was able to make it stick. I decided that I didn’t want this race to end like the 750 Superbike race where I was passed back in the last lap and concentrated on going fast enough to not give up any positions. On the last lap of the race I caught sight of Kenyon Kluge and tried to close the gap but was unable to. I ended up finishing 19th and was the top novice.
600 Production:
This was the Sunday race I was most looking forward to. Because of my points last year I was gridded on row 3 in the 12th position. I really enjoy starting towards the front. Even though I am nowhere near being able to keep up with the front runners of a Sunday race being able to see open track at the start of a race is an exciting feeling. I usually start better and ride faster the closer to the front I start, especially when I can see the track in front of the front row. The green flag waved and I thought I had a great start until halfway up the hill between turns 1 and 2 both Oscar Fernandez and Joey Pascarella passed me like I was standing still. I still managed to pick up a couple places and came out of turn 2 in a better position than where I started. I then remembered the one bad thing about starting towards the front and getting a decent start with all the fast guys in the class: the only direction you go is backwards. I spent the next lap and a half being passed by all the fast guys that didn’t get the grid position I did or didn’t start as well as me. I did manage to catch and pass Kenyon Kluge on the fifth lap and spent the rest of the race following David Raff and Oscar Fernandez. I ended up finishing 15th and top novice.
Overall this weekend couldn’t have gone better. I managed to achieve my goal of bring the bike back in the same condition and was able to comfortably run consistent, fast lap times. I’m getting comfortable on the R6 and now feel that I can start working on going faster.
I’d like to thank my sponsors Cycle Sector, Shift, and CT Racing for all of their support. Without them I wouldn’t have had the parts, gear and tires to run this weekend.
I’d also like to thank Lisa Wallace, Josie Gomez, Sam Richards, and Mike Canfield for all their help in getting me and the bike successfully through this weekend.
Buttonwillow-AFM Round 1 Race Report
This weekend started with me having to get out of Reno early on Friday. I woke up to a text from a friend saying that Donner pass was supposed to get 5 to 9 inches of snow on Friday so I left at 8:00 am. I managed to beat the storm and arrived at Buttonwillow without any issues and got set up for the weekend.
I woke up Saturday morning to heavy overcast. The weather called for rain all weekend and seeing how the AFM doesn’t race in the rain it looked like there would be little or no racing for us. Since it hadn’t started raining yet I went through the normal routine of registering, taking the bike to tech, putting my belly pan back on, putting on my tire warmers and checking my tire pressures, etc. After the riders meeting I got suited up for practice group 3.
My first practice session was cold and almost no one was on track. I’m pretty sure I only saw one other person the entire session. With the cold track and being on a new bike I was taking it pretty easy and my laptimes definitely showed. I decided that I needed to work on getting more comfortable on the Yamaha and make sure that everything was working right rather than go out and try and get myself to race pace. The second session I went out I saw a couple of people but the track still seemed empty. I managed to bring my lap times down considerably from the first session but they were nowhere near what I was doing two weeks ago or even what I was doing last year.
After my second session came lunch. I used that time to mount a fresh set of Pirellis on my bike and start mentally preparing for the upcoming races. My friend Sam came by at this time and asked why I was in practice group 3 and he mentioned that it might be better for me to try and switch to practice group 4. He said I might be able to get myself back up to speed riding with people that were running my race pace. After a quick trip to registration I had a group 4 sticker. Then right before lunch ended all the riders were called to a special riders meeting. The board had decided that since it was supposed to rain on Sunday that we would run 7 of the Sunday races after the next practice session and if the weather held out on Sunday try and finish the rest of the races then. I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to race in the clubman races that afternoon but I am impressed with the decision that the board made. They made it so that almost everyone who showed up on Saturday would be able to race. It was a pretty cool decision.
After a little rain delay I ran my last practice session and Sam was right. I rode better and felt more comfortable riding in the faster group. My laptimes were still not what I wanted them to be but I had at least made an improvement. I was ready to race.
600 Superbike:
I was gridded on the fifth row in 17th position for the start of the first race. This put me on the inside where I am not really comfortable. The green flag dropped and I got a poor launch. I lost a few positions right away and then was stuck on the inside going into turn 1. Not wanting to take anyone out or get taken out I tiptoed through turn 1 and lost several more spots. Things started to clear up by turn 3 and I was able to get myself into a groove. I managed to pick up a few spots by the end of the first lap and started working my way up. I wasn’t being very aggressive with my passing and managed to play a game of “catch the rider in front of me and follow them for a lap”. I did this until the final lap when I saw a yellow flag get thrown with the white one. Coming around turn 1 I saw my pitmate Micah Larson laying underneath his bike holding his arm. Seeing the way he was laying there with the turnworker standing over him I knew that the race was going to be red flagged. Sure enough by the time I made it out of turn two I saw a waving black flag. The red flag meant that the final standing of the race would be based on the order everyone crossed the line on lap 5. That left me in 17th place (the same as I started) and the top novice for the race. I had managed to bring my laptimes back down to where they were last year which wasn’t bad considering the cold weather but I was still a little disappointed with how I rode.
750 Superbike:
Once again I was gridded on the fifth row but in 19th position for the start. This left me closer to the outside which I definitely prefer at this track. The green flag dropped and I managed to get a great launch. Starting is by far my weakest point in racing and getting a good start threw me off. I found myself trying to find holes to squeeze through as I passed several people going down the straight. What I didn’t pay attention to was the fact that I had somehow managed to put myself back on the inside of the track going into turn 1 and had to park it to keep myself from taking out myself and several other riders. This caused me to lose about half of the spots I had gained from my great start. Coming out of turn 2 I found myself two bikes back from David Benjamin. I know that David holds a pretty good pace and I decided that if I could get around him I would be running the pace that I wanted. I set my sights on catching and passing him. I managed to pass the two bikes that were between us but had trouble getting around David. He was trying to get around Joy Higa and they were riding so close I couldn’t seem to find a safe enough place to pass. In the meantime several other riders were getting bunched up behind us. In the second lap I was passed by another yellow plater (not sure who it was) but I managed to get him back into turn 1 on lap 2. He tried to pass me back going into cotton corners but I was able to shut the door and keep him behind me. At the end of the lap David made a move and passed Joy going into the last corner and I tried to make a pass on her going into turn 1. I decided at the last moment that I wouldn’t be able to make the pass stick and backed off. I was immediately passed by Brian Zapalski. I caught back up to Brian in Riverside and made a pass on the brakes going into Lost Hills. I took a tight line through there and screwed up my drive coming out. Brian tried to pass me back and we ended up drag racing all the way to the sweeper. We were inches from each other all the way from the exit of Lost Hills through both left hand kinks all the way until I managed to outbrake him going into the sweeper. It was by far the closest racing I’ve ever done. He passed me back at some point and we both managed to get around Joy. By that time David had managed to put in a couple second gap between us and I knew that with Brian and I constantly going back and forth that I wasn’t going to be able to catch him. I then made plans to get past Brian before the end of the race. On the last lap I found an opportunity to pass him going into the sweeper. I managed to get around him and knew that I would have to go into the last corner fast and late on the brakes to keep him from passing me back. As I turned into the last corner I saw Brian out of my peripheral vision and immediately knew three things:
1. He was going to fast to hold a tight line
2. There was no room in between me and the candy striping for him and his bike to fit
3. This wasn’t going to end well
As soon as I saw him I relaxed my body and looked ahead hoping that somehow we wouldn’t come together and I could finish the race. I’m not sure if he tucked the front first or if our tires hit while we were leaned over but I do know that his bike came up under me and away it went. Because he hadn’t turned in as much I was lucky and the bikes went in different angles. My bike went out from under me and I slid harmlessly into the dirt on my back. Brian didn’t do as well. Somewhere in the crash he hit his head and slid on his face. He got up just fine but told me that he thought he had a minor concussion because his friends said he was “looping” a little bit.
My bike ended up being in pretty good shape with only a bent clipon, broken fairing stay, shattered windscreen, and a little bit damage to the bodywork. I was able to talk to Brian later and found out he faired as well as I did. Neither of us were hurt and our bikes were both in pretty decent shape considering we crashed at speed.
The weather didn’t hold out for us on Sunday and all of the races were cancelled. We packed up and took off. Now it’s time to prepare for round 2 at Infineon.
I’d like to thank my sponsor CycleSector, Shift, and CT Racing for helping me to get everything together for this season. I’d also like to thank Lisa Wallace, Josie Gomez, Sam Richards, and Micah Larson for helping me to make this weekend possible.
Streets of Willow-Round 2 WSMC
Hello to all!
What an amazing weekend it turned out to be! I swear, the weather reports were so negative and I was hoping that big guns up stairs loved racers! I signed up for the Motoyard.com track day because the Friday prior to race weekend and I thought I would be able to use the extra practice. All of the weather reports called for snow, rain and low 20 degree temps all weekend. This isn’t what I had in mind, especially after working double time to get my motorcycle ready from my crash in November at Big Willow. Finally after sorting through a ton of issues with that i.e, paint, clip on issues etc. I finally got it all together. She ran like I champ. As most people know, tires are the #1 expense for most racers. At my level, I can use the same tires for a few months. I was on a set of Dunlop 209 GPA’s and I really liked the feel of the tire. I have tried many other tires, and well I just felt more confident on these than any other ones. I loaded the bike up and made my way up early Friday morning. Took me about 2.5 hours and finally I felt like I was home. Unloaded and suited up for the track day. Friday turned out to be a gorgeous day. It didn’t rain, no snow and just a little over cast. It was a little chilly but it wasn’t something that was going to keep me out off the track. Streets of Willow backwards was a very fun track. I had a great time learning the track and felt like each lap I was making huge jumps in lap times each session. One thing I learned at an early stage in track riding, take the track a section or a turn at a time. Do not go out there and try to learn the whole track in one session, that’s just asking for disaster. I dissected the track a few turns at a time, and by the time I was finished I had cut almost 20 seconds off my lap times. It was time mostly to just focus on how to make up a few seconds here and there. After a half day of riding I was starting to feel like I couldn’t make up any more big laps so I decided to use the rest of the day to be practice consistancy through the track. I tried a few different lines through the bowl (turn 8) and again through the infield area. When I checked my times towards the end of the day, I realized I lost another 2 seconds just from practicing how to be smooth and consistent through out the entire track. This gave me soooo much confidence for the rest of the weekend. We called it quits a little early for the day only because we felt a small drizzle on the track. I felt that I did the best I was going to do for the day and there wasn’t any reason for me to continue.
Waking up on Saturday morning was probably the most miserable thing for the whole weekend. Although we knew it would clear up and warm up a little through out the rest of the day, it was super cold. Race bikes aren’t allowed to have anti-freeze because of the danger of crashing. It’s very slick and so most race org’s ban it. I am running straight distilled water and well straight water and 27 degree over night temps made me a tad nervous. Luckily we found someone who was willing to help us out and let us store our motorcycles in an undisclosed place over night…Thanks Megan! Carrying over from Friday, I practiced, practiced, practiced, practiced consistency over and over again. I tried to make up little bits and pieces of time here and there. Finally, had Luke Huff and Steve Franz follow me around and really helped me out. They both brought something new to the table and it really helped me look at trying different lines and it really showed in my times.
Sunday came way too quick. I was still on the Dunlop 209 GPA tires that I had on since October. I started to feel my confidence on the bike slip away as the bike started to slide around a little on me. I thought it was time to change tires. Now, before I get into anymore of this–I gotta say how expensive tires really are. If you want to run the best stuff, you’re definitely going to pay for it. In any case, I got myself a set of the Dunlop 211 U.S. version tires. Switched them out and went back out. I love those tires. Great feedback under hard braking, and an immense amount of grip at max lean. Great, Great tires overall. I had 2 races to compete in- Novice 750 Superbike and of course still had to complete my new racer race for WSMC. Placed 1st in my 750 Superbike and 4th in the NRR. I think an amazing weekend overall!!
Wera Round 2
I started out the beginging of last week stoked more than you could know ! I was finally gonna get to race ! Vegas round two with WERA Packed up the suv n the dogs and I headed out with full of eagerness and some built up speed I couldnt wait to unleash !
My first time towing a trailer and MAN having to drive 55 in the slow to Vegas …um lets just say it took while ….like 6 hours ! On my way I stop for gas and notice a leak in my tire nothing is open for a patch so i keep going and deal with it when i get to the track . Filled it up with more air and headed off …..30 miles from Vegas ooooh baby I can see the lights n I’m almost there !!!!! ………..my tire blew up :(. Two hundred dollar tow to the track and a new tire later ….my entry fees are gone . Leeson learned as much as I hate AAA its time to renew so that this bad luck never strikes again .
On a postive note I got to see the comptetition and I am headed out to big willow this week end to tweek on some more bike set up issues and rip on some more rubber . The next round is coming up and you can be damn sure I’ll be ready ….WERA, WSMC,CVR…….I want to attack them all !!
Diego Romo
golson911
Cycle Sector's Blog 