photo by Stiegler Insurance

(link to short version coming soon)

Special Thanks to Pacific Track Time for lending us their canopy again for this weekend! East Bay Motorsports for providing cold water for everyone. And Happy Mother’s Day to the Mom’s who were at the track this weekend!

The weekend started off with a bit of chaos. I painted some brand new plastics for Digby the week prior, and we found out last minute as he tried to mount them on the bike that they were for the wrong year GSX-R 600.

Friday morning, before we left for the races Digby came over to my house and we did a quick repair job to his crashed plastics. We vinyl wrapped the tail and the upper and had to sand, fiberglass and paint the belly-pan. By the time everything was loaded and the paint was sprayed, we were already behind schedule by a few hours. We finally got everything loaded and got a chance to breathe as we drove up to Thunder Hill. Meanwhile, Digby’s belly-pan was in the back of the truck drying.

Setup was simple, and with every race our pit setup improves. The bikes took a small amount of time to prep at the track, which is a huge improvement over last year. Last season I think we all thought that the racetrack was actually a garage and spent a significant amount of time working on the bikes.

Saturday practice was going pretty well for Digby and Sergio. Sergio was getting close to the pace he finished last season at, while Digby was working out bugs in the bike and getting comfortable again. I was still struggling to get the suspension set up for the spec Dunlop’s from the week prior. My rear tire was tearing still, and not getting much better. We spent Saturday practice working on the old tire until after lunch when we put on a new harder compound rear tire. I got about 3 laps on the new tire and so far, no tearing—but it’s hard to test a tire when you’re breaking it in and going slow.

Saturday afternoon was the first Clubman race of the year, and both Sergio and Digby were racing Clubman Middleweight, and they were both gridded on the front row. When the green flag dropped they got on the gas hard. Coming out of turn 1, they were still up front, but the grid was aggressive and they would have to fight hard to hold their positions. This race was an eye opener for them both, Sergio had just changed his gearing before the race, and it didn’t work out for the better. In addition to the sprocket problem, his bike was having electrical issues and the power wasn’t consistent. He was slowly dropping from third, losing positions badly. Digby had to fight hard after losing positions on the first lap. Not a great race, but they both finished keeping the bike upright.

Sunday was a MUCH better day; it didn’t quite start out that way for Sergio, though.

Sunday morning practice was short, but I got another lap in to break the tires in for my races. I wasn’t racing until later in the day, so I had a good chance to rest and help out the team. Sergio was first up in the morning with race #1. Gridded on the front row, as he was for all of his races, he had a good opportunity for a great finish. When the green flag dropped, I saw him do a nice big wheelie, but being the wheelie hooligan that he is, he comfortably rode it out without chopping the throttle, allowing him to maintain his position through turn 1.

Unfortunately, a few laps into the race, he didn’t come around to where we were watching. There was no announcement for a down rider so we went back to the pits to find he had pulled off…but why? Because his exhaust fell off! Seriously, the exhaust muffler separated from the mid pipe. Luckily it was still hanging on to the bike and resting in the belly-pan.

The second race for the guys had Sergio again pulling off, this time due to electrical issues. He got back out in the race, but the bike still wasn’t feeling right and this didn’t lead to a good finish. Digby had a good warm-up race and he was getting ready to start fighting for a good finish.

Sergio Finally got a good race without any mechanical issues (other than having to ride without a quick shifter). He took a good start and ended up finished the Nv. Formula I race with a third place trophy! Congrats. Digby also had another good race, and spent the final laps having to fend off the GSX-R 750 of David La Bree. He held him off to the Line and Digby on his GSX-R 600, took 6^th by just half a bike length over La Bree.

Finally it was my turn to race, I didn’t have any time since morning practice to test out the last minute suspension changes we made, so the 750 production race was a bit of a set-up race for us. I was gridded 11^th and when the green flag dropped, I had a nice couple of wheelies which let a number of people go by. It took a couple of laps to work past the group in front of me, and by the time I got by, the leading group had taken off and I had a lonely race and finished in 8^th. Not a bad result for the first race of the year, but it could have been better.

Similarly, in the next race of the day (600 production), my second and Digby’s third, I was gridded 18^th and Digby was gridded 8^th (I believe). I had a much better start, this time with no wheelies and I was moving forward in the pack through turn 1 and turn 2. I had to continue making passes to get towards the front and I was trying hard not to waste time. But just like 750 production race just before, I found myself in a lonely open space after making a mistake in turn 14 and opening the gap on the group in front of me. I finished 10^th. Digs was moving up and had an exciting race (but I didn’t get to see it, sorry) finishing 5^th in the Nv. 600 production class.

All in all it was a successful season opener and we all made progress on our bike setup’s and should be better prepared for the next round at Thunder Hill on June 2-3. Thank you again to our pit crew, BRG racing and Gerry Piazza from GP Frame and wheel for lending a hand in the pits. Thank you to all of our sponsors who help us to keep racing and keep getting faster!

Short report (link to full version)

I want to first thank everyone who was helping out this weekend, Sammy and Shelly from Racer 13, Jim and Nickie from Catalyst Reaction Suspension, of course my crew chief, KC from BRG Racing, my team mate Sergio for being a mechanic this weekend, and of course my Wife and family. Also thank you to those who stepped in with parts when we needed them, Ameen of Meen Motorsports, Steve of Evol Technologies, and the Sadowski bros.

My first lap out of the weekend, I was exiting the carousel (Turn 6) and was holding my line as I moved towards the outside curbing and almost had the bike straight up when out of the corner of my eye I see a rider going for pass on the outside, the outside where there is basically only dirt left. As the rider passed me, we collided and instantly my front end tucked from the collision, throwing me to the ground. I did a quick roll and came to slide at around 80-100 mph, this caused me to miss all of practice.

Qualifying 1 was cut into two 20 minute sessions, further reducing our chance to get the bike sorted and working properly. With all of the commotion of the crash, we didn’t get the tire warmers on in time to properly get heat in the tires. As I went out to finally get some laps in, the bike wasn’t easy to ride. Switching to the Dunlop spec tires meant a few geometry changes that didn’t get accounted for/ set up for.

Saturday morning, in Qualifying 2, I came in to make a few suspension adjustments after about 4 laps, and as I went back out, the fun began. I was on my out-lap and as I came up through Turn-3a the tires didn’t agree with how much throttle and lean angle I was asking them for and the rear tire slipped out quickly. Just as quickly as it lost grip, it regained it, resulting in the bike catapulting me out of the seat and over the front tire! I remember thinking “this is going to hurt” then thinking, “there’s NO way I’m going to crash…again!” the next things that happened are only believable because there is video evidence

With little time to set up the bike and lack of experience, we ended up not making the grid by three tenths of a second, but we will be ready next time.

I would like to thank all of my sponsors who have helped me get this far. KC from BRG Racing, Bell Helmets Brok @ Supermoto, Nickie and Jim from Catalyst Reaction ,K-Tech Suspension and Skip from Orient Express , Ken from Pacific Track, GU Energy, Heroic Racing Apparel, Tech-Spec, Leo Vince Fast systems, Renthal, Viets Performance, Motorex, Woodcraft/ Armour bodies , and of course East Bay Motorsports for providing the fans with some FREE water for the weekend.

See you all at AFM @ Thunder-Hill this weekend, then again at Miller Memorial day Weekend.

Photo courtesy of sportbikeplanet.com - BJ and the Bear

Since late last road racing season I had set my goals on making my AMA Pro Road Racing debut at Infineon this last weekend, and with hard work and support from so many people, I was able to make that goal happen. Well…for the most part.

I want to first thank everyone who was helping out this weekend, Sammy and Shelly from Racer 13, Jim and Nickie from Catalyst Reaction Suspension, of course my crew chief, KC from BRG Racing, my team mate Sergio for being a mechanic this weekend, and of course my Wife and family. Also thank you to those who stepped in with parts when we needed them, Ameen of Meen Motorsports, Steve of Evol Technologies, and the Sadowski bros.

Everything started off ok on Thursday when we were setting up and we thoughtthat we ready. We’ve had a pretty good string of bad events the last couple of weeks that caused us to miss out on testing. About 3 weeks prior to this weekend’s event, we came out to Infineon to test, and after getting about two decent laps in, a bolt broke causing the rear end of the bike to collapse—no rear shock. This ended our day early and didn’t allow us to get any data or setup done to the bike. A similar situation a week and a half later happened at Laguna Seca, the steering head bearings cracked, which made the bike extremely difficult (unsafe) to ride, and again sent us home early.

Before. note bellypan clearance

After no setup time on the bike, and the West Coast Moto Jam being our first ride out on the Dunlop spec tires, we really weren’t prepared for the races. Friday practice came around and we were trying our best to sort out a few last minute details on the bike that didn’t allow us to have tire warmers on, this was a BIG mistake. The Idea was that I would wait until there was clear track and I would go out on brand new, cold tires and get some heat in them at a safe pace.

Well, I got out on the track and everything seemed as we expected, a bit slippery. I was taking it at a moderate pace and my first lap, I was exiting the carousel (Turn 6) and was holding my line as I moved towards the outside curbing and alost had the bike straight up when out of the corner of my eye I see a rider going for pass on the outside, the outside where there is basically only dirt left. This rider was probably not on his out lap, and was moving quite quickly. As the rider passed me, we collided and instantly my front end tucked from the collision, throwing me to the ground. I did a quick roll and came to slide at around 80-100 mph. I watched my shiny new paint job slide down the track directly in front of me for some time before I finally slowed down enough to stand to my feet.

After. again, note bellypan clearance

When there was a safe opportunity, I went to the bike on the side of the track and attempted to move it. There was mud jammed in the front brake lever that was holding the bike in place, once that was clear I noticed the shift lever rod was broken and the bike was still in gear. The turn worker and I decided the bike wasn’t going to be moved and left it there. From here I started my long walk back to the hot pits to inform my crew…

We had to wait until the end of the 50 minute practice session to get the bike back, missing out on our only chance to set up the bike before qualifying later that afternoon. However, with an amazing team effort and help from those mentioned earlier, we were able to get the bike back together and ready for qualifying a few hours later.

Qualifying 1 was cut into two 20 minute sessions, further reducing our chance to get the bike sorted and working properly. Again, with all of the commotion of the crash, we didn’t get the tire warmers on in time to properly get heat in the tires. As I went out to finally get some laps in, the bike wasn’t easy to ride. Switching to the Dunlop spec tires meant a few geometry changes that didn’t get accounted for/ set up for.

Saturday morning, in Qualifying 2, I came in to make a few suspension adjustments after about 4 laps, and as I went back out, the fun began. I was on my out-lap and as I came up through Turn-3a the tires didn’t agree with how much throttle and lean angle I was asking them for and the rear tire slipped out quickly. just as quickly as it lost grip, it regained it, resulting in the bike catapulting me out of the seat and over the front tire! I remember thinking “this is going to hurt” then thinking, “there’s NO way I’m going to crash…again!” the next things that happened are only believable because there is video evidence

If you’ve ever ridden the bike with your body on one side like I was, you’ll understand how difficult it is to steer. Once I was first riding the bike on the side, my first instinct was to stay off the racing line and coast to a stop in the runoff ahead. As I tried to steer, I failed miserably to stay off the line. I started to try and move my weight to the left side of the bike in attempt to steer, I realized after the second weight shift that I could get my legs back over and I did, completing a once in a life time save! Huge props to California Supermoto School for giving me the feel I needed to control the bike, and my gymnastics background for the rest.

Photo courtesy of sportbikeplanet.com - BJ and the Bear

I did hit my ribs pretty hard on the tank during my stunting, but I was more focused on the fact that the rear tire was slipping really bad—even on hot laps once the tire should have been up to temperature. I didn’t have time to focus on the incident, and came back in to make a few more adjustments to the setup, but the bike still wasn’t acting the way it should. In the end, with all of our short comings added up, we just barely missed qualifying by three tenths of a second; a big bummer for all of us.

Although I was done riding at this point for the weekend, I switched my focus and started give my support to the other two riders we pitted with, Bruce and Ricky. I’m glad I was able to provide some support for Ricky, since he was having battery troubles and we ended up pulling the Anti-Gravity Battery out of my bike and putting it in his for Race 1 on Saturday.

I had a chance still to participate in the fan walk on both Saturday and Sunday and had a great time meeting the fans and signing some posters for the first time I’m sure those of you who got your free East Bay Motorsports water were happy on such a hot day. I can’t wait to do everything again at Miller in a couple weeks from now, and this time we will be better prepared.

Again I would like to thank all of my sponsors who have helped me get this far, and who I hope to have continued relationships with for our success in the future. Thank you KC from BRG Racing for getting me up to speed, and being a valuable mentor, Bell Helmets for stepping in last minute to get me a helmet for the race (luckily my head never hit the ground this weekend), Brok & Supermoto Schools for training me and giving me the feel for the bike, Nickie and Jim from Catalyst Reaction Suspension for your amazing support in the pits this weekend and everything else you’ve helped with, K-Tech Suspension and Skip from Orient Express Racing for getting me off my stock suspension and onto something I can get feedback from, Ken from Pacific Track Time for the awesome canopies and the guidance that got me racing in the first place, GU Energy, Heroic Racing Apparel, Tech-Spec for getting me some tank grips this season!, Leo Vince Fast systems, Renthal, Viets Performance, Motorex, Woodcraft/ Armour bodies for great parts and bodywork that holds up well in a crash, I’ve used lots of different bodywork and crashed the Armour bodies at the highest speed and they held up great! And of course East Bay Motorsports for providing the fans with some FREE water for the weekend.

See you all at AFM @ Thunder-Hill this weekend, then again at Miller Memorial day Weekend.

I wish I had used a more accurate scale, this one only works in half lb. increments. But you get the idea

The second gen Antigravity comes with five nice foam blocks that allow you to install it in a secure fashion, however you like. This is what we went with on our R6.

Next, we got the bike up on the Dyno and KC started to work his genius at the fuel mapping and ignition timing. This season we are excited to be using the Leo Vince Fast II system. Our first test run will be Monday. We made some great progress with the performance of the bike, but it still needs a little work in the engine to get some competitive numbers.

On a separate note, Digby also had his GSX-R 600 at BRG Racing this past week. After a full shake down of his bike and a dyno tune, his monster of a machine looks like it will give him some good times tomorrow at Thunderhill Raceway. We’ll see what happens at the track

KC from BRG Racing working his dyno tuning magic with the Leo Vince Fast II

Our hearts go out to the Simoncelli Family and everyone involved in The Malaysian GP accident.  The shocking news of his “one in a million” accident is extremely saddening.

I didn’t know Simoncelli very well, I only started following his career when he moved to MotoGP and really didn’t take much notice until this season. I knew he was a fast guy coming from his championship on the 250cc GP bikes, but didn’t know much else.

At the beginning of this season, it was frustrating for me to see Simoncelli’s aggressive riding style have consequences on other riders, but I knew he was talented. After I saw him lead a race for a few laps, I knew he had potential. Once he calmed down this season, I really enjoyed watching him progress and watching his unique riding style entertain the entire MotoGP audience.

It is such a shame to the motorcycle racing/ riding community to lose such a great talent. Watching MotoGP won’t be the same without Super Sic #58.

Excitement was running high for all of us as the final AFM round at Thunder Hill Raceway approached. We were all ready to battle it out and do our bests this weekend. However with the weather being twenty degrees colder this round than round 7, it was going to make things a little different.

Saturday morning practice went by normal for all of us, I was bumped to practice group 4, which I had mixed emotions on. On one hand I could get a tow from the fast guys in group 4, but on the other hand I didn’t get to ride around with my teammates. I wish I could say that morning practice went incident free, but I had a little incident.

Those of you familiar with Thunder Hill will know that pulling a wheelie over Turn 9 just happens sometimes; this time I got a nice big wheelie (by my standards, so probably not really that big) and closed the throttle a little too much, set the bike down aggressively and crushed my lower region against the tank so hard I couldn’t see. At this point I couldn’t ride the motorcycle anymore, I felt like I was going to die and was ready to put the bike down in Turn 10. Somehow I managed to get a hand up and make it to the track exit without causing anyone to crash into me.

If you saw me pull in after this and was wondering to yourself “what is this newb yellow plate doing riding through the pits in a full tuck?!” well…now you know. I got the bike to our pit area and had someone grab the bike as I painfully slid off the bike onto the ground. Worst experience ever!

Good news was, now it was lunch and I had a good sized break before the next time I had to go out. I would be lying if I told you that the pain went away at all this race weekend. But it was time to get back to work. I put on my forks that I had Barry from KFG suspension refresh, and off to CRST to get the bike set up for the race.

Clubman Middle weight had me a little stressed and my adrenaline pumping. I finally got to ride with my teammates after being in a different practice group and there’s nothing like racing your teammates! My season goal was to finish top 10 in the overall points for Clubman Middle Weight, but with my off road excursions this season, I was in 11^th going into the final race. I put my head down to get the job done.

Laura helping find parts from Sergio's bike.

Unfortunately Sergio had bad luck with Turn 5 again this round. This time it was the bottom of Turn 5, 5a to some of you. He had been having work related wrist pain for a while now and it was acting up, his attempt at taking pressure off his wrist resulted in less than ideal body positioning on the bike which ultimately led to losing the rear and the whole bike, at the bottom of Turn 5.

I was extremely bummed out when I saw the crash before me, as was Digby when he came around. All we could do was finish our own races and wait. Luckily on the cool down lap we could see him walking and pushing the bike, so we thought all was good. Not so much.

When I finally got to his bike at the very opposite end of the track from where we were pitted, I tried to push it back. What a work out! Thank you Hollis and everyone else who helped me get it back to the track entrance where our team could help push it back. It was at this point I realized the rear tire was flat; no wonder we had so much trouble pushing it.

Assessing the damage of Sergio’s R6, he was done for the weekend; such a bummer of a way to end the season on the track. On a positive note, to celebrate the seasons’ close, I brought a nice fancy (gluten-free) chocolate raspberry cake. Also our 2011 season T-shirts were here and we looked more like a team. It was the least I could do to thank everyone that has helped keep the team alive. Thanks everyone!

The day wasn’t over this time with CMW, Digby entered in the Formula 40 race for the first time, and was gunning for a top novice trophy finish in this race! He got a great start, after a couple laps I no longer needed to give him signals from the wall because he had no one threatening his trophy behind him. As I met up with the rest of our team watching from Turn 1, we stopped seeing him go around. “Uh oh, not a crash!” we all thought.

He ended up rolling into the pits mid race with engine troubles. We just couldn’t catch a break on Saturday. He was so close to finishing his first formula 40 race with a trophy. Saturday night was spent pulling his bike apart and trying to figure out where the loss of power was coming from. I’m sure it’s the same with most of you; it’s not an AFM race at Thunder Hill unless you make a stop at Wal-Mart.

We narrowed the problem down to the throttle position sensor, thank you Rory for lending us the security Torx tool we needed to get the job done. It turned out; the TPS was loose and just needed to be tightened for Sunday’s races.

Celebratory cake we had on Sat. night

Unfortunately Sergio could not participate in the actual racing of the Sunday, but he did an excellent job as Crew Chief. My races went great, no incidents and smooth riding. It could have been the cold weather, but I never beat my lap record from Round 7 or found a good rhythm this round. Never the less, I got great starts in both the 750 Superbike and 750 Production; bringing home my one and only top novice trophy

Digby did a great job as well in all three of his races. He got some great battles in with his usual Rivals and ended up ahead of all of them in every race. He will definitely be a strong contender in all of the classes he decides to race in next year.

Thank you everyone again for helping make this round another great round for our team. Huge thanks to the guys and gal and Catalyst reaction suspension for getting my bike set up so quickly and accurately. Now it is time to prepare for the nest season of AFM racing.

The first half of the season saw a number of frustrations from the two of us on the team that were running Dunlop GP-A’s. The wear and the life of the tire just weren’t meeting out needs. The Dunlop N-Tec Euro tires are great, but with such a heavy price tag, they just weren’t economical for us to use consistently for the season.

After talking to a lot of people on which tire to go with, Pirelli or Bridgestone, we made the decision to go with Bridgestone’s for everyone. Sergio had been on Bridgestone slicks all season and was having great results with them. With Hollis Adam’s success on the new R10 tires and Dave Moss’s extensive review/ recommendation of the tire, it seemed Bridgestone’s were the way to go.

Jeff from Viets Performance helped us out and got Digby and I set up on the new R10’s for AFM round 7 at Thunder Hill Raceway. I decided to go with one of Hollis’ take off 190 rear tires, the Dunlop was a 190 and that’s what I was used to, so no problem there. With a little life left in the tire, I went out and set a personal best at Thunder Hill Raceway 2 seconds faster than my previous record.

After AFM round 7, Digby and I went to Infineon for an awesome Pacific Track Time track day and both set personal bests there as well, and keep in mind we were still on the used up tires that had been worn through the wear bars, and used up ALL of the tread on the left side and the tire was still gripping up at getting us down to 1:49’s at Infineon (new personal bests).

To sum it up, the Bridgestone R10’s are a great tire. They last long, have a wide operating range which gives you plenty of options on setup. Please check out Dave Moss’s excellent, detailed write up on the tires for more detailed information. We are happy to be on the Bridgestone’s and look forward to a season on them in 2012.

AFM round 7 at Thunder Hill Raceway l wasn’t looking too good for me in the week prior. I got sick the Sunday before and wasn’t getting better. Since this round was a makeup round from round 4 being cancelled due to rain, it was scheduled very close to round 6 (two weeks after) and my wallet hadn’t had time to recover properly.

As much as I really should have skipped this round due to my finances and my health, Laura encouraged me to go and at least race in Clubman Middleweight to keep my points in the championship. My parents also wanted to go watch me race, so they helped out and encouraged me to race.

By Friday, I still felt awful on the drive up and had little motivation. We got to the track at around 11pm and set up camp. Even though I got a decent amount of sleep Friday night, Saturday morning I wasn’t feeling any better. The hardest part of the morning was walking the bike to tech inspection and back. The walk felt like a hike up Mt. Everest; when I got back I was exhausted with no energy left to ride.

Somehow I managed to make the practice sessions, but now my other problem was surfacing again. My Dunlop’s were taking some bad wear and shredding faster than cheese on at Taco Bell. Both tires were sliding and even with all the help from Dave, Jeff, and Nikki at Catalyst Reaction, the tire wasn’t going to get any better. The GP-A’s just aren’t meant for Thunder Hill. I wasn’t alone; Digby was also having a nightmare of a time with a shredding Dunlop.

I had been considering a tire brand change since the beginning of the season, but now it was time to make a decision. I talked to a lot of people about both the Pirelli’s and the Bridgestone’s. Both tires got great reviews, but ultimately I talked to Jeff at Viets Performance who was extremely helpful in getting me, and the rest of the team set up on Bridgestone’s. If you haven’t read it already, Dave Moss from Catalyst Reaction has a great in depth review on the new Bridgestone R10’s which helped in making the decision to go with Bridgestone.

After we made the switch to Bridgestone, there wasn’t much practice time left. I had one practice session to get my tires scrubbed in, and suspension dialed in. With no suspension change, the bike didn’t want to hold a line or turn in. After that session Jeff at CRST made a quick adjustment to the preload and it was an all or nothing adjustment with no more practice, but just the clubman race ahead.

On the warm-up lap of my first race, I tried to get a feel for how the bike was handling and it seemed to ride better, but the warm up isn’t a good indicator for how the bike will handle at race pace. I gridded up 7^th (since Sergio had to miss this round) and waited for the green flag! I got a great launch, but as always I let my politeness take over when we got to turn one and let a few gents by. I was now in 5^th. By the second lap the leading three riders were gone and no longer in sight, but 4^th place still was.

I worked as hard as I could and by the 3^rd lap, I was starting to adapt to the suspension settings and the new tires and slowly started putting in faster laps. With a few peeks from riders behind me on trying to take my 5^th position, I put my stuffy head down and tried to concentrate. By the time the white flag came out, 4^th place was within my grasps! I had planned in my head to catch him on the exit of 6, but surprisingly I was on his rear tire by turn 3 and decided to go for a tight inside pass in turn 5.

Again, my politeness and inexperience took over as I made the pass but decided that he might not have seen me and I got on the breaks hard. So hard the rear wheel lifted off the ground and I no longer could make the turn. My only option was to ride into the dirt. If only I could have kept the bike up in the dirt, I may have been able to salvage a top 10 finish, but down I went into dirt and it was a DNF for me. I had done exactly what Sergio did to me in the last race, but wasn’t able to make it back on the track like he did.

I’m sure you could imagine my disappointment. The whole reason I showed up sick was to keep points in the clubman series, and there I went getting absolutely none! And to top it off, when I rode the bike in on the cool down lap, I saw George, the race leader, down in turn 11. That meant that had I made that pass stick, I would have earned my first podium. But wait, there’s more! My exhausted mind forgot to safety wire the brake caliper bolts when I switch my tires; of course you know this means, $25 fine when I pulled in off the track.

The bike and I were uninjured and all I needed to do was make the dreaded walk back down to tech on Sunday morning to get my bike re-inspected. With all the bad news going on with myself, Digby pulled his first top 10, with a 7^th place finish! The good news was starting to roll in. I put the clubman race behind me and focused on having a good time hanging out at the track and getting ready for the 750 superbike race the next day.

Sunday morning, I’m still only at 70% health, but I’m determined to finish the 750 superbike race and redeem myself for Saturdays mess. Sunday morning practice was a blur, I put down some decent times and the tires were still feeling good. I checked the grids and I was positioned 15^th, my highest in the 750 SB class. I tried to focus only on finishing my race and not worrying about positions.

As the green flag flew out, I did too. I got a great launch off the line and was heading to have a great drive into turn 1 when the guy in front of me had a couple wheelie moments causing me to actually use the brakes. I got around Mr. Wheelie and just focused on getting through turn 1 without letting anyone else get passed me.

I had fun the first half of the race, I had no clue what position I was in, but I knew I was putting down some decent lap times since no one behind me was pressuring me. I was keeping up with my friend Alex who I was used to following around the track at track days. We were in a group of 4 riders and we both got through them and started to take off. At this point my adrenaline was pumping and my legs started to get shaky.

After this point it was just me chasing Alex, I knew he was faster than me, but I just told myself to follow him like we were at a trackday. My mind was now clear and my legs stopped shaking. After about a lap, I realized I was close enough to try to go for a pass. As we came out of turn 8, I had the drive and made a move on the brakes in turn 9. I felt as though I closed the door on him a little, and my drive out was bad, but I kept pushing forward knowing he would probably try to make a move.

As I came down the front straight, I’m not sure who it was, but I got the signal that I had plenty of space before the guy behind me. I was confused, since I didn’t know I would be getting pit signals and I thought Alex would be right on my tail. I decided to keep pushing forward just to make sure, when I came around of the last lap, I got the same signal. I looked behind me, and sure enough, there was no one in sight. GREAT! All I had to do was make a smooth lap to finish the race and I would accomplish my goal. I had one rider in front of me, and decided I was way too far back to catch them, but I decided to try anyways. I put down my fastest lap on the last lap and crossed the line in 13^th.

What a better way to show support and thanks to my friends at Racer13 than to make my best finish in the expert class at 13^th.

Because I was sick, that was my only race for Sunday and I started to pack things up. Digby still had a couple races left, and I stayed to watch Formula 1. We’ll have to try and get a video up, but Digby once again had a great battle the entire race with his number 1 rival, number 935 Keith Stie. Every lap they would come around wheel to wheel, at the end of the race, Digby made the pass and held the lead over Keith until the end. Congrats!

I’d like to give a huge THANK YOU to Laura for getting me to the races this time, my parents for their support and coming out to watch, my team for helping me out and making the weekend fun, all my sponsors who helped make this weekend count, my friends for your help and support, and especially Jeff at Viets Performance for getting me on some tires that work! I can’t forget to thank everyone who reads this lengthy report, thank you for your time

This was Sergio’s first race back since the last round (round 5) when he unfortunately lost the bike in turn 7 at Infineon Raceway, and his first time back to Thunder Hill in years. Good news was, this was also the first time his bike was dressed in the Hagata Racing paint scheme, with brand new Racer Image decals.

Digby was missing Saturday for a wedding; while he was gone Sergio and I had a good time practicing in the morning for our race that afternoon. We had a fun clubman race, I started in 8^th behind Sergio in 7^th; we both got good starts, but as we approached turn 1 Sergio was more aggressive and made it through the traffic much cleaner than I did.

I had a good race chasing the guys in front of me and eventually had a lonely race. Sergio was battling it out for 3^rd with Eric Hobbs for most of the race. Sergio was leading quite a few laps, and eventually finished with an outstanding 4th place finish.

After the race we relaxed and had some food in town with Sergio and his wife Rita (thank you). when we got back we decided to walk the track, it was my first time walking the track backwards. It was definitely really fun and educational; I recommend it to everyone. We had some good laughs at the goat that was hanging out with the feel like a pro group at the top of turn 5.

Sunday was time for business, Digby was back and we were all doing multiple races. Luckily most of our races were spread out. We all had great races that day and had smiles on our faces throughout.

Last race of the day was 750 Superbike which is the season long class I’ve been competing in so there was no going home early this Sunday. It was incredibly hot during this race and all I can remember was that my feet were on fire for the last half of the race and was no longer racing anyone but the sun, so I thought.

Along comes Sergio showing me his wheel and I knew from there that I had to work to keep him behind me. I knew he was better than me in turns 1-5 so I tried to use a defensive line, but Sergio came to shut the door on me in Turn 5 on the penultimate lap. Unfortunately for him he got in to turn 5 a little too hot and instead of stuffing me and making the pass stick he went flying by me without making the turn, right down the hill.

I didn’t see him go down, and on the next lap his bike wasn’t on the ground so it was good news for me, I could stop worrying. Now all I had to do was finish the race. With no more pressure behind me and no one to catch in front, I finished the race lonely.

Seemed like it took forever to pack up in the blistering sun, but we got it done and were on our way home. We had a great weekend thanks to everyone on the team and all of our families. Thank you to our Sponsors and Thank you Chris from Race Image for helping us get some more decals for Sergio’s bike!