After literally freezing during the opening round at Fontana in January, we were greeted with the low end of the weather curve again in Las Vegas… although thankfully not nearly as cold as Fontana… this time it didn’t get below freezing for a low!

I arranged a half day with Racer’s Edge Friday track day, and holy AMA paddock Batman! When I arrived there was a semi in one corner, and the brightly colored kids from the Red Bull team near my pit; amongst a slew of AMA pro riders in attendance!

Practice went pretty well, but my bike was overly squirrely under the brakes going into Turn 1… not having a slipper clutch, I’m used to the considerable tail wag, but after having a moment where it “wagged the dog” I seriously thought I was going to go completely unstable and crash in a straight line.
It was unstable coming off the back straight/kink as well, but not nearly as bad as Turn 1… well… turn one is downhill.
Then I looked at my bike… looked at my notebook… what was different from November?! Lenny Albin of Superbike Chassis, LLC refreshed my suspension, and my forks were bumped up in stiffness…. Oh man they are amazing! But that wouldn’t cause excessive chassis instability… it was as if the rear was so light it was allowed to gain momentum as it wagged while slipping the clutch… while the weight was on the front end from braking… the front end! Aaahhhh!

I had lowered the front triples down the forks while at Chuckwalla in December… that was it! Too much weight on the front! Duh…

2mm…. that was enough to nearly make me lose complete control of the entire motorcycle. That combined for a perfect storm into turn one that created escalating instability… reminded me of all the curves in our Controls Class on stability… and damping… ahhh college.

Put the forks back to flush with the triples, and all was back to normal. Now… the other thing… I think I need to take a look at my shifter mechanism before the next ride, because I was blowing shifts a bit too often. I couldn’t move the shifter up (GP Shift) with enough power a handful of times, and just got it between gears… it was noisy, annoying, and just made me cringe to think of what the gears in my transmission were doing. One of the slightly negative side effects of being an engineer, and being familiar with your internal parts… picturing them getting destroyed when you hear the clack clack clack of the tranny gears when it doesn’t quite get bumped into the proper down shift.
Due to funds, I opted to sit out Saturday’s 20 lapper; and subsequently, Saturday practice, which was just as well, because practice was ridiculously cold.

Sunday morning was overcast and the track took longer to warm up, so I went out only in the second practice round. I followed JD Beach of the Red Bull AMA team, and we both tiptoed a bit as we felt out the track conditions. He decided to take off, and I watched him for a few corners… “well… he didn’t crash… track is good” So I took off too! I felt good during this practice – confident, in control, hitting my marks. I was surprised how the cold really got into a lot of people’s heads, as I passed some people as if they were beginners! My confidence paid off in that I was the top third of the time sheet

Open (A) Superstock
First race of the day… I was ready. Mentally, physically, aggressively. I was on row three, and got a killer start! Slammed the door on a BMW, and lit off out of turn 1 in third place!!!!! Hells yeah! In the opening lap AMA riders Tucker Lancaster and Aussie Dave went though me, but I found myself tail grabbing the ZX10 of a relative new comer to our grid, and pretty damn fast… so be tail grabbing him… I was stoked!
Going into lap two I was trying to hang on to him, and figure out if I was going to have something for him or not when the red flag came out. Ugh…

Back to my pit to see my friends jumping up and down and so stoked on my start!!!! Then my long time pal (and one time coach!) who was on that BMW I slammed the door on into turn one, came over and picked me up off the ground and told me he was coming for me… “I was sooooo close… arrrghhhhh!!!!”

Sadly, by the time they cleaned up and brought us back out, I was still feeling good, but that razor sharp edge of aggression had dissipated. That’s a mental game I’ll have to work on.
My re-start was decent, but my friend on the BMW got me into turn one, and I spent the rest of the race trying to find a way around. Although I ran faster lap times, he beat my 0.08 at the line. So frustrating.
Those shifter problems haunted me when I couldn’t complete the downshifts into turn one, and had to finish them between turn one and turn two.

But what I will say I’m very proud of… I held off AMA Superbike racer Aussie Dave for the full opening lap! Sure he had to start at the back of the grid… but I slammed the door on him coming off the high speed back section, and made him take the pass under the brakes into turn one… where it was borderline getting stuffed… I wasn’t that far off the mark for his turn one… and that… I am quite proud of

In talking to him after the race, he was shocked at the flying braided pigtails… he said “oh my gosh.. those are pigtails! Holy crap that’s a girl!” Ha ha ha! I heard later, he wasn’t the only one to be shocked at the girl factor.
It’s not unusual for these fast guys to be shocked when they come upon a girl who’s going a smidgen slower than they are. I certainly do not take offense… I’m quite proud

No matter… I had some struggles with that tricky long, slow turn three, and could’ve had a better turn one – like the bad ass turn one I had in November.

Thankfully we have a double header in April.

Finish: 5th/12 after Aussie Dave Anthony DQd himself since he was on his superbike.
Best Lap: 1:20.8
Tires: Med front/Med Rear – new

No Women’s race this time!

Open (A) Superbike
This grid was stacked. I got a decent start, but got really beat up going into turn one. I still feel a bit more intimidated about Superbike vs Superstock, and it shows in turn one. I’m slowly gaining more confidence in this class. Just because there are a few riders who are in it with fancy bikes doesn’t mean I can’t still rock it.

I was proud to hold off AMA Pro and top club racer Reno Karimian until turn five!!! The high speed kink! He got me with his bizzilion horsepower But I chased him, and my long time fast pal Corey Sarros. Oh I tried so hard to get with those guys… I reeled them in over a few places, then lost them in others. I worked and worked and worked but I just didn’t have much grip left in my medium tire – which worked fabulous in the first race and the cold track, but the sun had shown on the track all day and now it’s the last race of the day.
However, I was still proud to be running with those guys!!!! They used to suck the paint off me as they went by!!!!
That shifting issue cropped up again, going into turn one clack clack clack… it made such a racket that my pals on the wall near start / finish!! heard my transmission, heard my squealing rear tire, and apparently everyone cringed! Ha ha ha… It was just fine, I had to put it back into 4th gear, and grab the two down shifts between one and two again. My pals commented how proud they were of me for maintaining my composure as my bike looked and sounded out of control.

Finish: 7th/11
Best Lap: 1:21.7
Tires: Med front / flipped Med Rear – one race

Summary
In summary, I learned some lessons this weekend in the mental game, and found I’m still working on some key areas around the Vegas track.
I’m very much looking forward to running the double header in April. I may or may not do one of the Women’s races in April. There just aren’t many women running in the expert class, and to save money, and wear on my bike, I’ve opted to run it at only select events.
Oh… the back story… apparently a notable AMA rider crashed on Friday because he was “so shocked” that I was a girl he got distracted. That is just hilarious! (he was ok, btw)

Huge thank you to my amazing friend Lyle Geoff Brown (LGB!) for huge assistance as pit crew on Sunday. To my amazing friend Steve Weir for being so supportive that the girl he used to coach is now giving him a run for his money
Thank you to Barry Wressel & Sean Gager for being available for good discussion over the weekend. And thank you to my wonderful friends who were out there to cheer me on and support from track side and via phone <3

Very Special Thank You…
Graves Motorsports (gravesport.com)
Lenny Albin (superbikechassis.com)
Pirelli Tires (CT Racing – ctracetires.com)
M Racing (mracingperformance.com)
Scorpion Helmet (scorpionusa.com)
Five & Dime Tattoo (fiveanddimetattoo.com)
Hella High Oakland (hellahighoakland.com)
Moonstone Cellars (moonstonecellars.com)
STAR School (starmotorycle.com)
Five-0 Racing (five-0racing.com)
Aussie Body Fitness (aussiebodyfitness.com)
785Graphics (785graphics.com)
Cortech (cortechperformance.com)
Valley CrossFit (valleycrossfit.com)

The WERA opener is always just after the New Year, and nothing gets me through the holidays like the anticipation of the season opener!!

After the opportunity to race at Miami-Homestead with Sean Dwyer and Luie Zendejas; followed closely by Femmewalla at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway; I was lucky to go approximately a month between riding.

Where I wasn’t so lucky was having a crash during the Femmewalla event… ugh… that was just frustrating. It was such a dumb crash… I hadn’t crashed in over 2 years… cold conditions, and a small error on my part resulted in a small tumble.
Thankfully most of the damage was limited to the body work… and my amazing friends helped me to get the bike up and running again, and I was able to ride a considerable amount later in the weekend; sans bodywork.

Femmewalla is an all-girls track day started up by Micky & Aimee Grana, who own and operate Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, near Desert Center, Calif. Femmewalla was brought around by an idea from Aimee, and she opted to make it a charity event where all the proceeds go to the Unforgettables Foundation. This foundations helps parents pay for funeral expenses when their children are taken from them way to early. In the Grana’s case, their young daughter lost her life in a tragic accident. The foundation helped them when they needed it the most, and their story, as told at the riders meeting, was so heartbreaking yet such a positive outcome to the dire situation.
Over 60 ladies showed up to ride – an unbelievable number!! When I started riding, in 2001, there were usually one or two girls at the track – when I say one… I mean me.
I was so thrilled to be out there to meet more ladies, and help encourage girls to ride more and race!!! I met some really cool girls, and got to know more ladies who race the Femmewalla class at the CVMA races.
The event was amazing… Jason Pridmore and Dale Keiffer were offering coaching where all the proceeds went directly to the Unforgettables.

My suspension had just been refreshed by Lenny Albin of Superbike Chassis, LLC; and I had finally scored a kit ECU for my 2006 Yamaha R1; so I was more than stoked to test out my new goodies at the track before the WERA season opener at AutoClub Jan 13th.
Once mid December passes, there are little to no track days available through the crazy holidays.

WERA Opener
While I was monitoring the weather closely, my stomach just turned when I saw the predicted temps… highs barely cracking 50 deg F with lows below freezing – dipping to 28 on some nights. Not a great way to start the season. The worst was that the weekend before and the weekend after were 70+ deg!!!

Friday practice went really well, as soon as the track warmed up – well after 10am. A hard lesson I learned towards the end of last season was I needed to invest in some track side assistance from a suspension guy. While Lenny is my guy, and I’m very loyal to him, he is but one man who cannot be in a million places at once… and I’m sure I’m not the only one who wishes we could clone Lenny!
With Lenny’s blessing, I enlisted the help of GP Suspensions’ Barry Wressell for assistance in twiddling my knobs and clickers track side, at AutoClub. Someone to be at the wall just for me… to come to my pit for a debrief, and discuss how we can improve lap times.
I learned this lesson when I seemingly pissed away half the day of practice when one simple change would allow me to go forward.
It is time for me to learn that I can ride a motorcycle… and that when I’m getting passed in the braking zone, or can’t pick up the throttle out of the corners it is more likely to be an issue with my set up than with my riding. While I am not perfect, I need to switch my mindset about myself.

Having Barry to talk to helped me to make huge progress throughout the two days of practice. I was able to get more aggressive, faster, and as I improved by fixing little handling issues, it brought up new ones.
By Saturday late afternoon, I had found a really good set up that I was confident I could put to good use on Sunday.

Sunday Race Day
Practice started at 8am, and it was 30 deg F. I made an executive decision not to practice at all Sunday morning. I had already fallen down once from cold, crappy conditions, and I wasn’t about to go out and degrade my confidence by practicing in bad conditions.

Cousin Matt Buanno (Cousin Matty), had a family emergency, and couldn’t come out to help me this weekend. I enlisted the help of several awesome pals; namely Corey Baum. My races were so close together, and I had some serious rear wheel swaps to perform between each race.
Open (A) Superbike was first, one race break (approx 15 minutes), Open (A) Superstock, one race break, then Women’s Superstock.
I had two rear tires to use between the three races, and immediately following Superbike we had to swap wheels, and haul the used one to CT Racing Pirelli to be flipped for use in Women’s Superstock. Following Superstock, the rear wheel had to be swapped for Women’s Superstock. My pals let me borrow another rear tire warmer, so we could keep the spare rear hot – especially given the horribly cold conditions!

Thankfully my races landed in the prime part of the day for the best temperature/track condition combination. It was approximately 52 deg F when I raced, and the track temperatures were rumored to have barely reached into the 70s.

Open (A) Superbike
I rolled out for the warm up lap, and my first time on the track all day Sunday, feeling very confident on my brand new set of Pirelli tires.
The green flag dropped, I got a pretty good start from row 3, but got a bit mobbed in turn 3 and turn 4. I tried to hang on to the mid pack guys, but as the laps counted down – 6 laps total – I was sliding a bit much for having brand new tires. When the front slid, I was beginning to wonder what was going on. As I motored down the front straight I realized I had completely forgot to set my tire pressures… I couldn’t believe it. What a bonehead mistake!!! Cousin Matty has definitely spoiled me!! More importantly, he has allowed me to focus on my riding, rather than my bike. While my pals are awesome, it ultimately lands on me to have my shit together. While I did think of my tire pressures several hours before the race, I just completely forgot… I forgot to set them myself, or to ask one of my pals if they had checked. Ugh… well, at least I hadn’t crashed… yet….

I was so distracted by this stupid mistake, I blew my turn 3 entrance, and another rider got underneath me… ugh…
As I chased him into the horseshoe (turn 5/6), I thought to myself… hold this position, and don’t crash….

We took the white flag the next lap, and another rider showed me a wheel going into turn 5, but I slammed the door on him… I held onto 9th place … out of 16 riders. Given the level of competitors – like 5 current or former AMA riders on my grid – I was pretty stoked to have held my position, be in the top ten, and run 1:36s.
They widened the chicane after turn 9 (the decreasing radius) over the course of the weekend, but it was a little bit more open than back in September. The guys who ran 1:29s in Sept were in the 1:28s this time.
While I got to 36s towards the end of practice on Saturday afternoon, I was pretty excited to finish so well given my tires were 5-8 psi overpressure – we checked when I came in.
I admit, I got incredibly lucky that the fantastic Pirelli guys (Chris Maguire, Corey Neuer, and Dale Kieffer) set them considerably lower than most tires get mounted at. For example, my other new tire (after being on the warmer for a good hour) pegged the needle on the pressure gauge… a pressure gauge that goes to 60 psi!

Tires: Med/Soft – new
Open (A) Superbike: 9th of 16
Best lap: 1:36.6

Open (A) Superstock
With a new rear tire, proper tire pressures, and a boosted confidence from finishing so well in Superbike, I was pumped to bring it.
Another good start from row 2 netted me in the top five into turn 3 (turning into the infield). I got a little mobbed as we flipped over for turn 4 and I made the mistake of not taking a defensive line into turn 5, which allowed one more rider past me.

I chased him the entire race!!! I was considerably stronger than him in some areas of the track, but it just wasn’t enough to make a pass happen. Several times I could have tried for a pass, but it would have been a lot more risk than I was willing to take.

I wasn’t sure where I was in the pack, but I knew I wasn’t close to the leaders. The two of us ran down another rider, and I can’t help but think of what I could have done had I not let him pass me….

Coming away from these two races, I have recognized some technical areas that I will be working on. I’ve noticed one particular technique that my competitors are doing profoundly better than I. It gives me the greatest margin for improvement. Getting more aggressive on the throttle.

In the end, I held my 8th place of 16 riders, and when I turned around at the end of the race, I was rather shocked to see who I had finished in front of!

Steve Kidd, a racer from the Pacific Northwest, came down for this event, had a GoPro mounted on his ZX10, and he spent the entire Superstock race chasing me. That made for a pretty cool video… I hadn’t seen myself on video for a long time… all I have to say is… wow!!! My bike is fast!!!! I keep thinking how slow it is – when I’m not able to rocket past other liter bikes, but to see it from that perspective… wow….

Tires: Med/Soft – 1 race/new
Open (A) Superstock: 8th / 16
Best Lap: 1:34.4

Women’s Superstock
For 2013, I have opted to reduce the number of times I enter Women’s Superstock; especially given its proximity to my Superstock and Superbike. Now that I am running considerably stronger, and the fact that so few women enter the class in the Expert classification, I have decided to run it just enough to win the Championship.

Last year, my Pirelli sponsorship was increased because I was winning the class. It was with Pirelli’s blessing I changed my strategy for 2013. However, Corey asked me to run the Women’s Class in the WERA opener and “smash it”… so that’s what I did =D

Although I was the only entry for Women’s Superstock Expert, I smashed it just as I promised Corey I would. I ran down every single Heavyweight Twins Superbike contender, except the winner, despite their 10 second head start. They had their own green flag, and there were several big Ducatis in the class this time! I used the race to work on some immediate issues I felt needed improvement from the previous races.
While I did slow up to make safe, clean passes on the twins class competitors, I still caught the second place guy on the last lap. While I caught him in turn 6, I followed him until the front straight because a safe, clean pass did not present itself.
Passing him was purely for my ego. So I made a run on him and caught him at the line. While the transponders showed I was technically 0.02s behind him… I still credit myself with beating him

Tires: Med/Soft – 2 races/1 race – flipped
Women’s Superstock: 1st of 1
Best Lap: 1:35.5

Such a Bright 2013… I’ll Need Sunscreen!
While I feel I did not ride my best, I am happy with how I rode given the conditions. I am terrible about the cold… I really struggle. Plus not having Cousin Matty there as my racersitter… I came away from the opener having put myself against a slew of ridiculously fast competitors, and came out strong!!! Mid pack!! I am so thrilled with that!

I am also thrilled to announce that I will be competing with AFM in 2013, namely in the AFemme class, but I will do a few other classes on occasion.

Hold on tight… 2013 is going to be a hell of a wild ride!!!!

Very Special Thank You…
Huge thank you to my amazing pals who helped so much over the course of the weekend…. While they affectionately referred to me as the moto princess… they let me share garage pace with them, they jumped into help me when I needed it, and I know I would not have had such a a successful weekend without them…
Corey Baum & his dad, Tim Weig, Mike Castro, Steve Kidd, Josh Kent, and a few guys I didn’t get introduced to.
A very deep gratitude is extended to Thomas of Pirelli/Racer’s Edge for bringing his toy hauler out for myself and a few pals to sleep in for the weekend. Thanks to Thomas, we did not freeze!

Huge thank you to Corey Neuer, Chris Maguire, and Dale Kieffer, of CT Racing Pirelli (and Racer’s Edge – Dale’s extra trailer full of goodies)… They always take really good care of me.

Special thank you to M Racing for supplying my fuel for the weekend!!! Five & Dime Tattoo of Oakland for helping to make this weekend happen!!!

I am also very excited to announce new sponsors for 2013!! Cortech, Valley CrossFit, and Chicken Hawk Racing!!

The following sponsors are who make this weekend – and all my race weekends – possible…
Graves Motorsports (gravesport.com)
Lenny Albin (superbikechassis.com)
Pirelli Tires (CT Racing – ctracetires.com)
M Racing (mracingperformance.com)
Scorpion Helmets (scorpionusa.com)
Five & Dime Tattoo (fiveanddimetattoo.com)
Moonstone Cellars (moonstonecellars.com)
STAR School (starmotorycle.com)
Five-0 Racing (five-0racing.com)
785Graphics (785graphics.com)
Cortech (cortechperformance.com)
Valley CrossFit (valleycrossfit.com)
Chicken Hawk Racing
Vortex Racing

And my previous best lap time was still a 1:23.8 around the tight, technical 1.8 mile course.

But this weekend… this weekend … was going to be different!  For starters a good friend of mine let me borrow his toy hauler so Cousin Matty and I wouldn’t freeze to death!  Well, me anyway… Matty is from Connecticut, so he doesn’t ever get cold. Ha ha ha

To prepare for the races, I went over my notebook and set up a preliminary suspension setting based on my recent improvements, and the way the Classic Course at LVMS flows – get in, get out kind of corners.  Thankfully, my suspension education has been paying off, because I wasn’t too far off my mark! 

Dale Kieffer of Racer’s Edge hosted a Friday practice day.  He was generous enough to let me join in for the last 3 sessions, with the first session being the B Group.

I wanted to ensure my new Cortech suit and new boots were going to work comfortably, and no hang ups.  B Group was perfect for a first ride back.

Oh yes… Cortech is a new sponsor, and I’m proud to say the new suit they made me is absolutely fantastic!  It’s gorgeous, and the graphics on the patches are amazing!  Unfortunately, the suit was a little big in the torso area, but they’re fixing that =)

When I was missing downshifts due to the new boots breaking in, I was very happy I was in the B Group!

The last two sessions in the A Group were fantastic!  I found my flow, and made a few tweaks on some clickers.  Running in the warm afternoon sun was critical for determining what I may need come race day.  The early morning 8am practice sessions on Saturday and Sunday were going to be very cold by comparison!

WERA West Double Header Final

California State Championship “Best of the West” Shootout

I had two days to put together some good performances.  My goal was to finish the season top five in the WERA West Open (A) Superstock Championship, and top ten in Open (A) Superbike Championship.

Saturday morning practice was just dreadful.  I felt tired, and it was so cold, I was nervous.  Second practice wasn’t much better than the first… but I was first race of the day, so … oh well… here we go!

Open (A) Superstock / CSC Open Production

I had a killer row 2 starting position, and when that flag man twitched I launched like a rocket!!  AMA Pro Roadracer Jake Zemke was brought out by Honda to win a bunch of races and provide Honda with some press… so he launched off the front row into the holeshot.

Behind him, myself and my pal on his ZX10 battled for who would be first clubracer into T1.  I had a killer run down the straight, and from the corner of my eye I could see flashes of forks as his bike wheelied several times!

Sadly, while I had the inside position, I chickened out, and gave up the spot…. Oh man I was mad… I regret that even now =/

I funneled into 3^rd place, and lost a position as we went into T3, and another position as we came onto the back straight; and finally settled into 6^th position by lap 2.  I worked hard to hold that position, but overall I was really disappointed with how I rode.

I felt completely out of control – which is not like me at all – like my mind couldn’t keep up with my riding.  I was honestly grateful to finish the race without crashing, or losing another position due to mistakes.

I wrote it off to nerves and not having my mind right.

Tires: Medium/Medium – New

Imagine my shock when my best lap time was a 1:21.7!!!

Saturday Superstock: 5^th of 13 racers*

*A racer who finished in 5^th to my 6^th did not run a transponder, and was thus DQd.

Women’s Superstock / CSC Formula Femme

The women’s class was immediately following Superstock, so I didn’t get much of a rest.  Thankfully Cousin Matty was waiting for me with some energy gels and water.  My leg was hurting so bad from the Superstock race, I just wanted to survive the women’s race.

I was so mad at my pathetic performance in Superstock, I used the women’s race to work on changing some shift points, and brake markers that would allow the chassis of my bike to be more settled; while I worked on getting my mind right.

Now that I had new footpeg positions, I was able to use my knee in the side of the tank for support – a technique I could never use before due to poor position with respect to the tank.  My knee was always too far back on the tank, and it would simply slide over the back side of the tank, rather than lock underneath the “ridge” along the side of the tank – that is designed to allow your knee to lock into place.

Since this technique is new to me, it takes a pretty concentrated effort still.  So during the women’s race I worked on that technique extensively!  It helped take the load off my injured right leg throughout Vegas’ extensive number of right hand turns!

Huge thank you to Sean Dwyer, and Cousin Matty, for helping to coach me on this technique!!

After the women’s race I felt a whole lot more prepared for Superbike.  I won the women’s race by 59 seconds, and finished second overall as the Heavyweight Twins class was gridded in front of us.

Tires: Medium/Medium – one 6 lap race

Women’s Superstock: 1^st of 3 girls; best lap of 1:22.3

Open (A) Superbike / CSC Open Superbike

The slipping of my clutch on the start of the women’s race was a warning… when it happened again in Sbk, I realized it was on its last leg.

My start in Superbike was pretty decent, but it didn’t take long to get pummeled by the likes of guys like Jordan Burgess, Reno Karimian, and Jeff Stern.

Mentally, I just wasn’t aggressive; I felt like I wasn’t engaged.  However, when I heard that familiar sound of that big Ducati behind me, I dug deep down and managed to hold him off to secure a 9^th place finish.  Not my best performance, but I did the best I could at the time.

Tires: Medium/Medium – two 6 lap races / flipped rear

Saturday Superbike: 9^th / 15 with a best lap of 1:22.1

Sunday Finale

Sunday morning I woke up feeling considerably more upbeat and alert.

Practice was significantly more energized and engaged.  We added some padding to my seat to help with my seating position, and it helped significantly!  I felt better in control of my bike, able to get a better cornering position without compromising control.

Open (A) Superstock / CSC Open Production

This race found me feeling my A Game.  I felt like I did during the AutoClub races – confident, aggressive, alert and ready to give it everything I had.

My clutch slipped a bit again on the start, but it was another killer start.  This time I stuck out my proverbial elbows – I say proverbial because they don’t stick out far enough to actually be useful! – and held my position!  I stuck it to a certain Ducati, and told those guys to F off!  This spot was MINE!

I latched on to my pal on his ZX10 and ran like hell!!

Pirelli hooked me up with the most amazing tire I’ve ever ridden on… and SC0!!!  They gave me the run down on the tire performance, and I had utmost confidence in hammering the hell out of that throttle, and using that tire for everything it would give me.

I tail grabbed that ZX10 for the first lap and a half!  He usually checks out on me, but he had food poisoning the night before… so either I was going considerably faster, or he was really, really sick still… but the fact we were well into lap 2 and no one had passed me yet gave me the clue I was running damn good.

The ZX10 got a second wind, and was able to shake me from pressuring him, but was just far enough in front to motivate me to work a little harder.

As I took the half way flag, I was elated no one had passed me!!!!  Holy shit I must be running good…. Then… in a tight left hander I heard the all too familiar sound of a certain Ducati…..

Oh helllll nooo … you are not taking away my first “podium”….

I was in a solid 4^th place, with a certain Pro racer leading up front… so I was the 3^rd place club racer… in my mind, this was my first podium spot!

I asked that tire for more, and it delivered.  Cousin Matty told me later I was exiting corners like I was launched out of a cannon.  That Ducati has a hell of a corner exit, and there was no way in hell I was letting him by.  Game fucking on…

Hard on the brakes into T1, the rear end wagging as I slipped the clutch to accommodate the downshift – that’s right… I do not have a slipper clutch.

Hammered the throttle so it slightly lofted the front end between turn 1 and 2, between 2 and 3, coming onto the front straight….

Into the high speed turn 5 – like 130+ high speed! – I asked my Big Boy to go in hotter and hotter each lap to ensure that Ducati didn’t catch us, and he delivered.  On the gas into the hard braking double apex turns 6 and 7 off the high speed stuff… deep we went, keeping my head picked up, looking through the corner as I slipped the clutch and trail braked deep into the slightly banked corner.

Then I would hear him behind me in turn 8 – the decreasing radius left hander.  Thankfully it’s extraordinarily difficult to pass in that corner unless you have a considerable speed differential.

Launching onto the front straight, my Big Boy would loft his front tire and rocket down the brief front straight as I clicked off two gears; grab the first downshift just before the 3 cone, begin braking as I click off the next downshift.  My Big Boy is on his nose now, rear end wagging as I slip the clutch.  I get him to settle down just enough to initiate the turn in, still on the brakes… I feel him protest a bit, but as soon as I pick up the throttle at the apex he is settled, and we launch the few hundred feet into turn 2; hard on the brakes again, initiate the quick right hander, and off we go down the brief straight to the tight turn 3.

I hear the Ducati again… and hammer the throttle exiting 3 and go as deep as I dare into turn 4 – a tricky tight, slow entry corner that opens to the super fast back section.  Jake Zemke inadvertently showed me the killer line exiting this corner!  I went in deep, and launched out of there like we were …. well, being chased by a big Ducati!

I took a defensive line into the double apex off the back straight… this was the last lap!!  In the decreasing radius I could hear him again… oh hell no… not today!!

I picked up the throttle so early to launch down the straight away to the checkered flag, I nearly thought I was going to highside myself to the moon… nope… not today… not on that Pirelli SC0!!  My Big Boy gave me everything he had and we took the checkered flag to our best finish in Superstock ever…. And our best lap times EVER!

I couldn’t believe it!!  NO ONE PASSED ME!!!!!  I was the third place finishing clubracer!!!!!  I was ecstatic the entire cool down lap!!!  It was then I realized my throat and lungs were burning from breathing so hard!  I had no idea I was working so hard!  My body felt completely relaxed, and the entire race felt like it was all in slow motion.  It was so slow motion, in fact, I had absolutely no clue how I was running.  I only knew I was running strong because no one had passed me.

I DID IT!!! I was a front running expert in the liter bike class!!!!!!  Ohhhhh…. My… God……

Tires: Medium/Supersoft – 3 race+ front/new rear

Sunday Superstock: 4^th of 14 racers; best lap of 1:20.4

Actually, 4 of the 6 laps were 20s =D

Women’s Superstock / CSC Formula Femme

Imagine my shock with Dale and Chris Maguire from Pirelli met me at the hot pit wall to congratulate me on my ride!!  Cousin Matty was there with energy gels and water … and a big ol smile on his face!!!

I was so exhausted from the Superstock race, the officials allowed Matty to push my bike back up hot pit so I could just roll out onto the grid.

This time, they started us with one green flag, so the launch into the Heavyweight twins class was a bit of a cluster.  I navigated around some kids on 125s, and a few novice guys; then fell in behind three other twins riders as we went through turn 1.  I wasn’t racing them, so I opted to be cautious, and track them through the first turn, then initiate a safe pass when possible.  All I can recall thinking was how incredibly slow we were going though turn one compared to the Superstock start!

While I am incredibly proud of my Superstock race, I felt there were a few areas that could use some improvement.  Turn 3, turn 8 (the decreasing radius) and a little bit into turn one.  I made the conscious decision to ride about 80% in the women’s class and work on those few areas for Superbike.

I had a bit of a mishap going into turn one on the second to last lap of the race, where I didn’t quite click a downshift and it lodged between gears.  I knew I was safely clear of other riders, so I opted to run straight; which meant I had to follow the secondary part of the race track back around and re-enter at turn 2.  As I was re-entered turn 2 I looked to see if the second place girl was anywhere around, and thankfully all I saw was the two twins guys I had passed earlier to take second place overall.  I fell in behind them, and made safe passes to take the checkered flag in second place overall, and this win meant a complete sweep of the women’s class for WERA and for the Calif State Championship!!

Tires: Medium/Supersoft – 4 races front / one 6 lap race rear

Women’s Superstock: 1^st of 3 girls; best lap of 1:21.9

Open (A) Superbike / Open Superbike

Unfortunately, my fabulous SC0 Pirelli rear tire was effectively pissed away in the women’s class because there was not enough time to swap to my old medium compound tire that was about to start its fourth race – here in Open Superbike.  My take away from that … arrange a 5 min gap with the organizers to swap tires when you have such a phenomenal tire!

Another unfortunate combination was my clutch giving up completely, resulting in me getting absolutely pummeled on the start.  I was bumped and shuffled pretty far back.

Within the first lap, it was painfully evident the SC2  wasn’t going to hold the corner exits like that fabulous SC0 did… oh momma that was a hell of a tire!!!

I rode hard on what I had and while I was frustrated and upset, I still managed to pull off a top ten, and run the entire race in the 1:22s – which was still considerably better than my previous fastest laps.

Wasn’t exactly how I wanted to end the day… but I did the best I could with what I had….. and I’ll always have that Superstock performance!!!!

Tires: Medium/Medium – 6 races front / 4 races rear

Saturday Superbike: 8^th / 15 with a best lap of 1:22.2

In Summary

While I may come across a bit whiny about Jake Zemke running in our races – and running to win – I am glad he was there.  He was incredible to watch perform, and showed me some killer lines that helped me perform at my best.

My pals agree that I did earn my first “podium” in Superstock…. So we took my fabulous SC0 tire, and marked it up with the details of the race, and had Zemke sign it =)  Making it my unofficial trophy

It doesn’t even matter who was in my Superstock race… I cannot believe the lap times I ran!!!!  My good friend, and newly crowned #1 plate for WERA West Formula 1, and Open Sbk; Corey Sarros, has been someone I admired as a rider for a long time.  I met him when I was still a brand new rider.

I ran a lap time this weekend that he ran on Friday.  This is the first time ever I have run a lap time that he has done.  Of course, he went considerably faster during the races… but I was within 3 seconds of him!!!

I accomplished something I have dared to dream about…. Something I hoped would happen, but I really didn’t think it would happen…. Running up front in the liter bike expert class… Holy. Shit.

Chris from Pirelli came by my pit later in the day, after Superstock, and commented that Dale was so impressed with my riding that he literally grabbed him by the shirt, and said “you gotta see this girl ride!  She’s holding off all these guys!!!”  That absolutely made my day!!!!!

I had several long time pals that had came out with Sarros this weekend, and they’ve known me from the beginning… in fact, one of them used to coach me!!!

To perform so well in front of them just made my day… and to see them so proud of me just swelled my heart with pride.

Funny quote of the weekend…. Cousin Matty was at the time sheets, and overheard some racers … “I couldn’t believe she was going so g*damn fast… those flying pig-tails were really pissing me off…”

In the end, I finished 4^th in the Open (A) Superstock WERA West Championship; 4^th in the Open Production Calif State Championship; and a clean sweep of both women’s classes.

I missed the top ten in the Open Superbike Championship by one point. =/

Even now, a week later, as I write this, I am in complete shock that I ran top level lap times. I have been slow for so long… in my mind… I’m still that slow girl who finishes at the back of the novice class.  To say this is unreal would be an understatement.

I cannot even begin to express how proud I am to deliver these results and improvements to my sponsors and supporters.  To Graves Motorsports who built my beautiful 2006 Yamaha R1… to CT Racing and Pirelli for believing in me to give me the “good stuff”… to Cousin Matty for helping me and standing by me, even when I was in tears… to Lenny Albin of Superbike Chassis, LLC for doing so much more than “just my suspension”… to my best pal Jacob Brown of Five-0 Racing who spent the better part of last year cleaning up my mess of emotions… to my best girl friend Kellie Auld for always believing in me.  To my parents who are always proud of me no matter what!

A huge thank you to Barry Wressell of GP Susension / KFG Racing to helping me in a pinch with dire need of a rear shock re-evaluation!  Picking up the throttle to get out of corners, the front would just push wide.  Despite adding more pre-load to the rear shock spring, it kept doing it!  I usually work with Lenny Albin, but he was busy at a previous work engagement, and Barry was track side helping my pal Sarros… his generosity helped me figure out that last little bit to get my bike to drive straight out of corners.  If it wasn’t for his help, I wouldn’t have been running 20s.  Thank you Barry… your generosity to help me in a moment of panic is greatly appreciated.

Suspension guys are the best investment you can make in your motorcycle.  There are several really top notch guys here on the West Coast, and I am grateful that at any given race at least one of them is track side.

My new Cortech suit looked fabulous, and we got some killer photos from Brandon Bones of Studio819.

2013 Goals & 2012 Lessons Learned

I learned a whole lot this year in that mental performance is as important – if not more important – than physical performance.  Getting my head on right this year has launched me into a stratosphere I never dreamed I would attain, and I feel like I’m just getting started.

For 2013, I hope to get the opportunity to do more WERA Nationals.  If that doesn’t work out, then running in WERA West against the likes of Corey Sarros and Jeremy Toye will certainly provide considerable competition.  If I was ever able to battle with Toye, I really don’t know what I’d do with myself….

For 2013 I will continue to work on my fitness, now that my leg is healing, and continue to evolve as a rider.  I have a clear path of specific weaknesses to refine.  These weaknesses are now unique to specific turns at specific tracks.  My Big Boy will be getting suspension upgrades thanks to Lenny Albin, and my next investment is a kit ECU.

Thank you … so incredibly much … for your immense support, and believing in me through this journey.  I cannot express how proud I am to deliver profound improvement and results to you this year.  Like a proud kitty delivering the mouse to the door step!

Next stop – Femmewalla at Chuckwalla!!!  An all girls track day that will be a perfect place to test my new suspension and sweet new ECU!

However… At the time of writing this … It looks like I’ll be going to Miami Homestead to race!!!  My friends Sean Dwyer and Luie Zendejas have invited me to come out and race the CCS Florida final!!!  Luie has generously said he would share is 2011 Suzuki GSXR 1k Superbike with me!!!  Oh my God… his bike is unreal, and makes tons more power than my Big Boy… This will be quite exciting!

Stay tuned for a report on this adventure!!!

The second annual Femmewalla event will be held Dec 14, 2012 at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. This all women’s track day is open to all experience levels.

The Femmewalla the track day is open to all lady riders regardless if it’s your first-time on track or you’re a seasoned pro like AMA racer Melissa Paris.

Instructors from Jason Pridmore’s STAR School will be on-hand showing newbies some of the nuances of riding a motorcycle around the racetrack. Yamaha Champion School instructor, Dale Kieffer, will also lend his expertise in addition to providing high-grip Pirelli street and race tires. Randy from In-House Suspension will provide some insight into optimum bike set-up. And if you’re hungry, Chuckwalla’s in-house chef, Big-T, will serve up the best dang barbeque on the west coast.

Femmewalla is a all-female track day and charity event with all funds going directly to The Unforgettables Foundation, a non-profit agency that provides financial burial assistance to families that have lost a child.

Check out what was said about last year’s event: http://www.girlclutch.com/femmewalla-2011/

How do you sign up for this amazing event?

Fill out the form here and email it to femmewalla@gmail.com, fax it to 760-227-3111 or call the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway office at 760-227-3100.

Race Prep
August 19th was a track day at AutoClub that I attended to get a feel for the “new” configuration as I had only ridden it once with the additional chicane located after turn 10 (the decreasing radius). The last time I rode AutoClub was back in January – for half a track day – a month out of surgery from having a hysterectomy. A best lap of 1:41 was recorded that day. The chicane was primarily hay bales and cones. I recall a conversation with a Fastrack Riders employee that they were experimenting with the shape of the chicane.

Fast forward to August, and the chicane now has the plastic bolted down curbing, and is a seemingly different configuration than back in January… at least based on my analysis of lap times.

It was hard to compare my own lap times to January due to the different track configuration. There were only a few racers attending this track day, so all I had to go by was what they were running, and what lap times I could snoop around online through Fastrack Riders’ online lap times from their events.

My best lap time was a 1:38.0 with a handful of laps in the 1:38 range. The fastest guy in August was a former top level club racer, and he ran 1:33-1:34s most of the day. When I heard he was going to come race WERA in September I realized super fast that I better get faster, because while 1:38s definitely made me a track day hero, they weren’t going to cut it in the expert liter bike class =/

I had put on a brand new set of CT Racing Pirelli tires for this August track day, and when the day was over, there were no more wear indicators on the left side of the tire. Crap. I was hoping to use those tires to practice on the Friday before the race weekend.

Some funny stories from the track day… I won’t lie… it was a good confidence building experience to be a track day hero. Some dudes got real upset with me because I “beat them”… at least according to one of the Fastrack Riders instructors (whom I race against).
It was a very pleasant experience to have compliments given rather than dudes coming to tell me how much better they are than me.

Race Weekend
Friday, September 21st was a regular track day before the races on Sunday. I had already planned to ride and rest on Saturday. AutoClub, with its multiple chicanes, really kicks my butt… literally. It is exhausting to ride that track! It is incredibly physically demanding – especially on the upper body trying to get the bike flicked as quickly as possible. Us girls are at a considerable disadvantage to men here, with our significantly reduced upper body strength and subsequent upper body muscle endurance.

This rest day proved to be invaluable as almost two weeks before the event I was involved in a serious bicycle crash, and have a rather large, grotesque, contusion / hematoma on my upper right thigh. It was still holding large amounts of fluid, and the bruise was enormous. The muscle was painful to engage – I practiced on my street bike during my commute to work to see how it would feel to ride.

My Orthopedic doc gave me the “kind of ok” to race. He explained to me what to watch out for, and what the worst case scenario would be if I re-injured it – a kidney infection that could result in my death. Awesome.

Saturday was spent on pain killers, ice packs, elevation, recovery, and delivering cupcakes when I could walk hobble around. It was hot day, and my shorts put my injury on display… and I had to laugh as some of my friends almost got sick when I poked at the fluid filled bulge.

Ok… back to the riding part…

Friday started out slow. I arrived a bit late to feel really ready for the first session, plus I didn’t know how my leg would feel. Cousin Matt Buanno, my crew chief, was working on Friday, so I was on my own… and oh man did that suck! His help is so invaluable!!!!
I didn’t even ride until the 10a session. I had to haul my rears over to get them flipped. I found a “gently” used medium compound rear in the trailer that I had no idea what it was from! I usually mark all my tires, but this one … I had no clue! I hadn’t ridden a medium in so long! I had to laugh a bit at that… I also had the August track day rear flipped just in case I needed it to finish off the day.

First session went well. My leg was wrapped up, and it felt good. A few laps later, I pulled in calling it good… checked my tire pressures and relaxed until the next session. I reviewed my notebook on the technical parts I had written down for improvement. From my second session on, I worked hard on improving my brake markers, and corner entries. Adding some preload to my forks helped to move my brake markers about 20 feet deeper! It also made the bike physically easier to get around the track… that was an unexpected side affect. I tried adding compression for improved corner entry and mid corner, and all it did was make my bike incredibly hard to turn! Crazy! The preload was added to reduce the front end dive on initial braking. In the end I added 3 full turns of preload, and reduced compression a bit.

That preload change made a huge difference! I was able to run more consistent 38s, where before I struggled to hit 38. I also ran two 37s, with the best being a 37.0 .

I worked hard to move my brake markers deeper, but all I did was make mistakes, and blow those turns. Missing shifts, target fixating… ugh… I was a mess.

Professor Toye
Jeremy Toye would periodically pass me under the brakes somewhere… he was a hell of show to watch… going sideways into the turns, getting the bike steered with the rear, then sliding sideways laying blackies as he exited corners… so smooth, so controlled, and so effing RAD.

One of the last sessions of the day, my brake markers had improved enough that Toye was now passing me while we were both braking – earlier, I was rolling off and he was still on the throttle! That’s how much a difference 2 turns of preload makes!!! — anyway… We both entered the horseshoe pretty much the same time, so I followed him, looked at what line he took, where did he pick up the throttle, how was his bike pointed as he hit the second apex… how hard did he get out of the corner. I tried to match him… line for line, throttle pick up for throttle pick up. I watched his rear tire dance as he exited the flat turn six; then felt my tire dance as I accelerated as hard as I dared. I pulled a little wheelie as I squirted it down the short straight before the super tight, super quick – super effing physical – chicane that dumps you into the decreasing radius turn nine. I studied where he rolled off, where did he turn in… how fast did he take it. I tried to emulate his marks, and by the time I had my bike flipped right to squirt it into the decreasing radius, Toye was about to apex the turn… and then he was gone. I tried like hell to keep him in sight long enough to study him through that tricky new chicane…
Thanks for the lesson Mr. Toye… I hope you don’t mind that I took advantage of you

Sunday Race Day
Practice didn’t go so well… the first one I felt so blah… I came in after only a few laps. The second I tried to really go aggressive and just made a billion and one mistakes =/ And my best lap was still a 38… ugh…

WERA had the chicane opened up, which I thought would increase lap times, but it only improved them by a half second or less – at least by watching consistent guys like Corey Sarros and Toye.

I was just going to have to find my Umph on the grid…

When I looked at the grids… my umph started to fizzle before it even got started… oh my God… look at these dudes I have to race against…. I literally felt like a wounded seal in a shark tank… the loan salmon in a pond surrounded by big hungry Grizzlies….

Fighting feelings of intimidation, I got myself ready … well, Matty got my bike ready, and he tried to get me ready too… It was such a treat when my friends Josh and Hannah came out to watch, they really helped distract me from imploding into a pile of dead seal.

Just before my races, I put on my headphones, and got myself into aggressive mode… between the lyrics of the songs, and summoning up as much “girl power” as I could… I was ready to go out and fuck shit up.

I had great starting positions in all of my classes, and Open (A) Superbike was up first, a one race break (read 15 minutes) then Open (A) Superstock, another one race break, then Women’s Superstock. Thankfully, and not thankfully, only one girl was in my class…

Open (A) Superbike
The big boys are in this class. The dudes with the, biggest cojones on the biggest bikes… Fourteen men were on the grid with little ol me… one-four… 14…. I made the grid 15 riders deep. Nothing intimidated me more than seeing my name smack in the middle of this grid sheet… me… surrounded by fire breathing liter bikes oozing testosterone…

I spoke some choice words to my Big Boy … that’s all I had to protect me was him… he was the only one on my team.
I’m not gonna lie… I have never been this intimidated on the 600 grid…. Not even for my first race.

I got a killer start, and stuck out my proverbial elbows, and held my own as we turned into the infield. I had initially gotten past a certain Ducati, only to be re-passed as we turned into the infield. I found myself behind two Willow fast guys, and the three of us battled for who was going to get a shot at passing the Ducati first. Myself and the GSX-R Sbk went back and forth a few times, but his monster engine just destroyed me down the back straight…. Grrrrr….

One at a time they got around the big Duc until I was left to figure it out on my own. The big Duc would just dust me on the front straight, but the next lap, I set up a killer drive, and capitalized on his comparative weakness through the ridiculously fast chicane off the oval banking. I went through there faster than ever, feeling my Big Boy dance underneath me as I picked up the throttle after the second curbing and ran down the big Ducati. As we approached the turn into the infield, I went along the outside hoping to overtake, but was shocked when he checked up, then swung out to the right to turn left! He ended up swinging right in behind me! That worked out amazing!!

I completed my turn into the infield, flicking right, then left and on the throttle so hard the front end lofted slightly, while the rear end danced under acceleration. Grabbing one gear after another I could feel the rear slide with each upshift as I drove the arcing left hander into the braking zone for the turn five/six horseshoe.
I bombed my Big Boy in there so deep he wagged his rear end as I trail braked passed the first curbing. Certain he was hot on my heels, I took my lessons from Toye, and danced our way out of the flat corner, lofting the front end as my Big Boy drove to the chicane, and into the decreasing radius. Around the slowest turn we went, and felt him dance as we drove for the new chicane. Nearly dragging my knee we flicked right, then I stood him up, and was at the throttle stop… screaming in my helmet… Goooooo Baby goooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

Taking defensive lines, I went deep into the right hand turn 12, oh man it was a hot entry, flicked him left for the drive through the final corners until the front straight. I set up the last two left handers for the best drive I could muster onto the front straight…. My position depended on it!
If I could make it to turn one before him, I would be good… not fully clear, but not as much pressure.

At the throttle stop I clicked that shifter listening to the familiar bah, bah, bah, bah of the quick shifter bombing through gears as we rocketed along the big wide oval track. I went deep into turn one, through it down the banking, using my whole body to get it turned right for the second curbing, picking up the throttle, as we flipped left, just missing the third curbing… knee on the ground, blazing the apron into the braking zone. Three more clicks down, into the infield, grab two gears as we blast back into the horseshoe again.

And around again… ultimately putting 2 seconds between us by the time the race was over… finishing 8th of 15 riders…. Fifteen….

I was so elated as I crossed the finish line!!!! Completely spent, and so overwhelmed with relief, shock, happiness, exhaustion…. Shock…. Ha ha ha….

On account of the women’s class, I started blowing kisses to the corner workers, to say thank you rather than just waving… being the only girl in my classes, it has kind of become my thing… I was so elated with my performance … the corner workers could even see it!!
Imagine my shock when several of them blew me kisses! Ha ha ha!!! Awesome =)

I love it when the corner workers get excited about my performance…. Many of the lady corner workers jump up and down and clap, pump their fist, whatever, to show how stoked they are to see a girl to awesome in the big boy class…. That always makes my day.

Open (A) Superbike – another top ten with an 8th place finish… a best lap time of 1:35.0…

I am so proud of how I rode… no hesitation, no fear, no mistakes.

Open (A) Superstock
I didn’t have much aggression left for Superstock… I was so emotionally drained after Superbike… overcoming my fears, performing well, in absolute shock at how I finished….

I spent the warm up lap trying to get my engine to cool off more… and trying to get my game face back on.
On the grid, I was on Row 2… a damn good starting position.

Green flag…. And I launched like Top Fuel Dragster… Damn near went sailing into first place. Sadly, I couldn’t quite make it stick, and was poorly positioned as we turned into the infield, and I got shuffled back into fourth place… then into fifth as we went through the horseshoe.
I rode smooth, and made a pass into fourth, but wasn’t able to run down third… way to far away. I tried… but as the race continued, I just made sure to hit my marks and hang onto my fourth place.

Exhaustion started to set in…. I was barely hanging on. It was so hard to turn my bike, my leg hurt, my aggression was slipping. I was all alone, and it was hard to keep up that pace with no one to push you… just an imaginary racer behind you.
As I came into the last set of left handers, I thought… this should be it… this should be the checkered flag….

As I approached, I was deflated to see the white flag… oh crap….
Then another rider sailed passed me on the big front straight…. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…..

I got on it, and tried to get him back in the next few turns, but he was already too far ahead…. Ugh…
I rode as hard as I could to make sure I didn’t lose another position, and sailed home in fifth place… I was disappointed… deflated that I allowed myself to slow down. That’s not like me at all. The hematoma on my leg had been sucking a lot of energy from me lately…. So, sadly, I was not surprised. It was also over a hundred degrees outside.

A top five is still a top five! There were four other dudes I finished in front of!!

Open (A) Superstock finish of 5th of 9 racers, and a best lap of 1:34.7 … 4 seconds better than I did in practice…. My “slow” pace was 35s!

That’s three top five finishes in Superstock … in the last three races…. =D

Women’s Superstock
By the time this class was up I was as spent as my rear tire. Again, a one race break between Open Superstock and Women’s Superstock… huge thank you to WERA for placing a class in between the two races!! Also a huge thank you to WERA for placing us girls up front! We were gridded – for the first time ever! – in front of Heavyweight Twins Sbk!

Now… Please note… I have utmost respect for the girls I was racing against… I love that more girls are getting back on the grid, and getting their number plates. I feel somewhat bad writing this part of the write up because my experience in the class was considerably different than the other girls lined up on the grid.

I only had one girl in my class (Expert) and there were only three of us total with one Novice girl.
I was so exhausted, that I had no desire to do the warm up lap… I had no need to so I rolled out and placed myself in P1. The starter came up to me and asked what was going on… I commented… I’m too tired to do the warm up lap! Ha ha ha…

Please forgive me for being honest…. This kind of sounds bad….
I knew I would win the race provided I didn’t fall down. My plan was to get a solid start, go somewhat hard in the first few corners, then back off and cruise home.

I got a good start, was first going into the infield, and as I lined up to enter the horseshoe turn (turns five and six) the big Ducati flew by me under the brakes…. I knew he would pass me, and I had already decided to let him go. Often times it is fun to engage him solely for the ego boost of not just winning the women’s class, but for beating every bike on the grid.

I won’t lie… it was hard not to engage! I half heartedly tried in the next lap or so, but I was tired and made mistakes. That; combined with my spent rear tire that could no longer handle the corner exits required to stay with the big Duc; I yielded, backed off, and called it a day.
I cruised around the last few laps at about 70% effort… shockingly… my lap times at the end were what I struggled to obtain during the track day!!! 37s and 38s… can you believe it?!?! I still can’t…

In the end, I won the Women’s Superstock by one minute and twenty-one seconds…

I’m really debating about sitting out the women’s class next year. I really enjoy being on the grid to support the class, but …

In The End
This weekend was unbelievable. I often day dreamed of rocking a liter bike, and giving dudes a run for their money… but I never, ever expected it to come true!
It does not escape me that I am not just out there as myself… I’m also out there representing what girls can do… I hope to be a role model for girls … to show that you can swim in the testosterone pool and not drown. I do this because I love it… not to prove something…but I understand the impact it has on my gender.

Thank You…
Huge thank you to Corey Neuer of CT Racing – Pirelli for the immense support over the weekend … this was the first time I completely burned up a rear tire in one race…

A very gracious and appreciated thank you to my cousin Matt Buanno because he takes care of me so incredibly well at the races!! He cooks me breakfast in the morning; changes my tires, checks over my bike… puts up with my girly emotions…. lol

Thank you to my amazing sponsors who help to make this all happen!!!

Graves Motorsports (gravesport.com)
EBC Brakes (ebcbrakes.com)
Scorpion Helmet (scorpionusa.com)
Lenny Albin (superbikechassis.com)
Pirelli Tires (CT Racing – ctracetires.com)
RaceTech (racetech.com)
M Racing (mracingperformance.com)
Five & Dime Tattoo (fiveanddimetattoo.com)
Moonstone Cellars (moonstonecellars.com)
STAR School (starmotorycle.com)
Five-0 Racing (five-0racing.com)
Aussie Body Fitness (aussiebodyfitness.com)
Attack Performance (attackperformance.com)
785Graphics (785graphics.com)

Xoxo,
Psycho Kitty

Summer has officially come to an end, and I know many of you might be storing your bikes for the winter. Some hardcore moto lovers would rather stock up on long underwear and cold-weather riding gear. If you are fortunate enough to live somewhere with a year-round riding season, or brave enough to face the cold winter, I wish you all safe and fun-filled travels. I’ll be riding in Southern California nearly every day, so I’m right there with you ladies. Ride on!

On a final note, as I browse through the archives of GirlClutch I realize that I am joining the ranks of some amazing women riders. I am proud and honored to be part of the community. Thanks for having me.

-Brittany Morrow

A Little History
Buttonwillow and I go way back… it was my very first track day…. Arriving at the Trackdaz.com event in April 2002, with my still brand new R6 in the back of my 1964 Ford, a brand new chapter opened in my life. A journey that happened by circumstance and opportunity meeting one random day.
About to graduate from college, I was ready to embrace this new obsession of sportbikes.
At the time there were only two groups – Street and Race. I was so slow, I remember being lapped by the entire group ….twice in the 30 minute session. The photographs show a determined look on my face, and a nearly vertical bike!

In 2005 I had improved and grown as a rider, and I’ve realized that breaking the two minute barrier was my goal. More than winning a race, I wanted to crack two minutes at Buttonwillow.

Year, after year, after year, came and went without breaking that barrier. In 2010 I was optimistic as I had considerable improvement and many other tracks…. 2:00.5 was the best I could do. 2011, still in the two minute range. >(

Getting on Track
Arriving on Friday evening, I was careful not to get too excited. I was significantly more optimistic that I would succeed in running faster than 2 minutes, but I was also a bit unsure… after all, I had been so confident all those other times…

This race weekend was done on an incredibly tight budget. I did not have enough tires left to run a full track day, so I asked for 3 sessions. I really needed to at least get on track as it had been a year since I attempted to run hard around configuration #13 at Buttonwillow.

Rolling out for my first session on the same tires I raced Willow Springs on, I knew what to expect from the track surface after running it backwards a few weeks ago (a nasty little surprise when I showed up for the track day – I had hoped for our race config, and did not look at their website before hand – totally my fault for not being prepared).

Side note…
A funny story from the track day…. I went up to sign the papers at lunch time, and the track day provider guy asked me which group do I want to be in… the fast racer group or the slow racer group? The fast racer group had less riders, so I asked for that one.
“Are you sure you’re fast enough?”
I laughed… I thought he was joking… as he continued… “Corey Sarros is in that group”
“I know” I replied “I race with him, I might as well practice with him”
“Ok, well, what times do you run? Are you sure you’re fast enough?”
“My best has been a 2 minute flat, I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine because there’s novice guys out there in that group that I know I’m faster than, and some guys out there that I’m the same speed as.”
“Ok, no problem… we’ll put you in that group”

No biggie… I’m thinking… I really don’t give a shit how many questions I’m asked… and he had legit reason to ask…. I didn’t used to be fast enough for the fast racer group.

But then…. Not a minute later these guys come in to sign up for a half day….
“Which group do you want? We have a fast group and a slower group for racers”
Track Day Dude “Well, I have a GSXR 1000, so I guess the fast group?”
“Ok, we’ll put you in the fast group then”

*smh*

Back to our regularly scheduled long, rambling race report….
My first session felt embarrassing. Not a good way to start the weekend…. Not that I expected to set the track record, but I wasn’t prepared for how uncomfortable I felt. Thankfully my new and improved mind set helped me to shake it off before the next session… but imagine my surprise when my transponder recorded lap times at 2:03 and 2:04. It felt like my times were in the two-teens!!!
The next session I was more relaxed, and ready to make some progress in setting my suspension of the bumpy track. Lenny Albin of Superbike Chassis, LLC was there to help and he had removed some oil from my forks in the morning. We set the clickers at a somewhat neutral setting, and opted to make adjustments from there.
I pulled in once or twice, and between Lenny and Cousin Matt Buanno, we made progress. My lap timer showed a best of 2:00.08!!! This gave me mixed emotions as I felt I wasn’t riding as aggressively as I could, but I also felt like I thought I was going pretty good.
The next session was definitely my last. I had only signed up for 3 sessions, but my rear tire was completely finished by the time the third session was nearly over. A good slide exiting turn two, and just a loose rear end all around the track gave away that I wasn’t going to gain any more confidence, or better lap times.
I was quite impressed, and surprised to see more 2:00 lap times showing on my lap timer – and via the posted transponder times!

I was optimistic that I would go faster in the races, but seeing my primary competition – yup, the same guy from Miller – running 57s during the track day, I couldn’t help but think… “oooohhh shit. How the hell am I going to pull 3-4 seconds out of my ass to even be competitive!??!”

Sunday – Race Day

PRACTICE
I put on the only other tire I had left in my trailer – a medium compound slick that had 5 races on it from Las Vegas between Feb and April; and all of practice from Miller. The first few laps I was a bit timid from the unknown condition of the tire, and being the first practice group on a green track.
Lap times were not so great =/

Second practice found me with more confidence, and I was able to hook up with one of my competitors for a tow. The rear started really getting loose, and I realized I was about to get my last lap of practice. Imagine my surprise when the time sheets showed several 2:01s surrounding a 1:59.2. Bittersweet as I was happy to have broke the barrier – finally – but I barely scratched it.
Looking at my competitors lap times I was losing more confidence =/

I had a sort of Come to Jesus talk with Corey Neuer of CT Racing – Pirelli and Corey Sarros. Sarros was running 1:50s and is a former track record holder. After a track walk with him Saturday evening, and trying to follow him a bit in practice through the fast parts; I realized I flat out just needed to get more aggressive on the throttle.
I was attempting that in the second practice round, but the bike was just like being back in the rodeos I used to compete in… bucking and whipping all over the place! In talking with the Corey’s, they commented, yes… you just need to go for it, and let the bike move around underneath you. It’s going to be bumpy, but if you hit the lines like Corey showed you, those are the way around the bumps.
Corey also showed me a sick line through the decreasing radius sweeper that really made a difference!

Hang on Baby Jesus… It’s Gonna Get Bump-y
Sitting there, headphones in, looking at my Big Boy, I was seriously about to lose it. It was so fukg hard to not fall into defeat before the race even started. “You’re gonna choke like you always do here at Buttonwillow… you’re still running 2 minute lap times in practice. That one was a fluke. Your competition is 4-5 seconds faster than you.”

So. Fukg. Hard.

So I had my headphones on, and meditated a bit. Thinking positive. Picturing myself being aggressive on the throttle, feeling the bike dance around underneath me, and being relaxed, letting it move.

OPEN (A) SUPERSTOCK – CATCH A TIGER BY THE TAIL
I opted to be one of the last people out for the warm up lap. I was already hanging on to my confidence by a thread; so having my competition fly past me would likely knock it considerably. I used the warm up lap to scrub in my new rear tire – I was still on that front tire from Willow (the 20 lapper; pract; 3 races and now 3 track day sessions and two practices!)

Sitting in my grid position, I literally talked out loud to my Big Boy. I’ll share with you my raw emotions, but what I said stays between him and I

I got a killer start this time! NO one mobbed me into turn one! I was sitting in 4th place, and rocketed past one of the top runners in my class as he wheelied straight up in the air.
I fell into 4th place, behind two huge twins and one R6. I was pretty damn stoked to be holding that position for the entire opening lap! The guy who wheelied is several seconds faster than me, so it didn’t surprise me that he out broke me into the last corner. I just kept running hard and trying to hold on to the lead group! I was staying with them! I was falling behind a little bit, but I only lost a handful of bike lengths through the opening lap!

Imagine my shock and dismay when a novice went through me =/ Man that was embarrassing. When I saw his lap times (and my own) later, I wasn’t quite so upset.
My nemesis from Miller was in my class again, and I was determined to try to keep up with him. Especially after cousin Matty commented that “he’s running damn fast!” during practice that morning… thanks Matty… that helps :-/
He made a mistake going through turn two, and the novice was close enough to capitalize and go underneath him, but I was able to get up on his tail!
I was determined to hang onto him and see what, if anything, I could do.
If I could hang on through the super fast stuff I would be in good shape. To my surprise, I was tail grabbin’ his ass the whole lap! There was no motoring away from me like the past. As we came down from Lost Hills towards the decreasing radius sweeper I saw an opportunity and seized it.
I sacked up like never before and went underneath him on the brakes. Hoping like hell I would get a wheel in front before he turned in. omg… it took every fukg thing I had to be courageous enough to attempt this.
It wasn’t a hairy, stuffing type pass – it was quite clean – it was just something so out of my ordinary – and so far out of my comfort zone – that it took all the guts I had to do it.
His line was quite different than mine, which allowed me to stay my same line – which helped me to have the courage to make the pass.

I did it! I had a wheel in front! I was in front of him!!!!! Holy fuk I DID IT!… OMG… now what?!?!

So then I botched it. I was so out of my comfort zone that I upshifted when I meant to down shift, stared at my turn in point, and just all around screwed it up… ha ha ha … and I watched him go right back by underneath me. Ugh….

It’s ok… hang on to him. Don’t let him get away. I stayed on his tail… If I can hang on to him, I’m going to get it again.
It was the perfect place to pass. Getting him before the esses leaves only one more opportunity for him to pass me – the last turn. As we went across the line, it was the white flag. Perfect! This worked out well. Now I don’t have to hold him off the whole lap. I can stalk and try that pass again.

As we approached again, he took a more defensive line, but it still didn’t block me. I enter that turn with a very tight line, scrubbing speed as I let the bike run wide.
This time… I made it stick.
Screaming in my helmet as I romped on the throttle through the esses, I knew I had to go deeper than ever into the last turn to ensure I didn’t get repassed.

I went flying into the last turn, past the 3 cone. Kept my head picked up, looking through the turn… grabbing the down shifts, squeezing the brakes I see the front of his bike out of the corner of my eye. Oh hell no….

He was so deep inside there was no way he was going to make the turn without slowing down considerably. When I passed him there was about a foot to spare, he was giving me like 10 feet!
So I turned in on top of him anyway… After all, I was still in front.

At the apex I picked up that throttle and had it at the throttle stop as I let my Big Boy carry me to edge of the track. Grabbing gears and heading to the checkered flag with my head down, my throttle pinned, and the biggest smile on my face ever.

WOMEN’S SUPERSTOCK
Since I was the only girl in the class =( I opted to just get a good start, and try to run hard, work on the lines Corey taught me.
Another great start and I was in third place overall. I fell in behind the same two twins from Open Superstock. They battled for the win, and I hung behind them about 10 bike lengths. I wanted to see how long I could stay with them, but I also didn’t want to be in their way while they battled in their class.
The third big twinsie boy I passed off the start, passed me on lap 4! That was ok, it was over 100 degrees, I had nothing to gain by running super hard, and I was getting tired, which initially surfaced as small mistakes. At the time that he passed me, I had come to the final decision that I would back off and just finish the race.
As we crossed the line, I was hoping like hell to see the white flag…. Give me the white flag… I surrender… I surrender… omg…

It’s amazing how fast you get tired when you have no one to battle! My front tire was starting to give it up too. Pushing wide while trying to old corners; it just wouldn’t track well any more.

By now, this third twinsie was about 20 ft in front of me. As I came through turn 1, already starting to back it off, this poor guy highsided on the exit of turn one!
I watched his bike slide down the track, and as I went by it, I saw it burst into flames!!! Oh snap! Not like an R6 fireball, but it was definitely on fire!
Sorry dude… but my first thought was, oh thank god, maybe they’ll red flag the race… then seeing the bike on fire… oh thank god, race is over.

Poor Matty though…. The announcer initially said he thought it was ME that went down! Matty was in a panic until he saw me circumventing the track.

DEBRIEF
After it was all over, and I finally felt like I could walk, Matty and I went over to see what my lap times were. He was super proud of me for getting around my nemesis =) I was too, honestly. Imagine my shock to see a 1:56.9 on the time sheet – one in each race!!! It was no fluke!!! In fact, the Women’s race had the greater number of fast laps! Every single lap was under 2 minutes… a feat I was unable to do for seven fukg years until Sunday morning. My opening lap of Open SS was 2:00; my opening lap in W SS was 1:59.

I was thrilled to see the 56 in BOTH races – it shows I did it while in the heat of battle, and running all alone.

The brutal heat had definitely taken a toll on me. During the track day on Saturday, I used my heart rate monitor. My sweet Polar HRM will record heart rate at specified intervals, temperature, ascent, etc. I use it on my bicycle religiously!
However, the Polar watch will not pick up my heart rate when the engine gets over a certain RPM, so I found that putting the watch in my sports bra will allow it to get accurate readings.
The temperature inside my suit read 103 deg F, with an average temperature of 98 deg F!! My heart rate maximum was 185 bpm, with an average considerably lower since I place it in my suit just before I get on my bike; but typical heart rate while riding is high 160s to mid 170s. Adrenaline will ramp up your heart rate without exhausting you as if you were gaining that heart rate through exertion alone. Interesting how that works…
I was wishing I had my HRM on when I raced… as soon as that checkered flag flew I nearly collapsed over the tank!

Thank You…
Huge thank you to Corey Neuer of CT Racing – Pirelli for the immense support over the weekend – I think he’s about as shocked as I am that I’m knocking on the door of the lap times of some of his other top level supported riders
A very gracious and appreciated thank you to my cousin Matt Buanno because he takes care of me so incredibly well at the races!! He cooks me breakfast in the morning; changes my tires, checks over my bike… puts up with my girly emotions…. lol
Thank you Corey Sarros for the invaluable tips!!!

BIG OL HUG of gratitude to Lenny Albin for helping me set up my suspension, do some work to my forks, and help me understand a bit better what it takes to go better at Bumpy-willow.

And a final shout out to Pato Vigil of Five & Dime Tattoo of Oakland, CA for which the race wouldn’t have been possible. Thank you for your immense support Pato!!!

Thank you to my amazing sponsors who help to make this all happen!!!

Graves Motorsports (gravesport.com)
EBC Brakes (ebcbrakes.com)
Scorpion Helmet (scorpionusa.com)
Lenny Albin (superbikechassis.com)
Pirelli Tires (CT Racing – ctracetires.com)
RaceTech (racetech.com)
M Racing (mracingperformance.com)
Five & Dime Tattoo (fiveanddimetattoo.com)
Moonstone Cellars (moonstonecellars.com)
STAR School (starmotorycle.com)
Five-0 Racing (five-0racing.com)
Aussie Body Fitness (aussiebodyfitness.com)
Attack Performance (attackperformance.com)
785Graphics (785graphics.com)

After my performance at Miller, and a successful test day at Big Willow, I was thrilled to go super fast again, and really see what I can do around the fast 2.5 mile road course.

Willow Springs International Raceway is known as the “Fastest Road in the West” and is actually a Calif State Point of Historical Interest.

Average speeds during one lap exceed 100 mph.  The infamous turn eight is known to “separate the men from the boys” in that you’re corning at nearly the top of sixth gear – on a liter bike, that can be 140-160 mph.

It can be a bit of a trip to walk the track and realize just how wide and long turn eight is, because when you’re in it, it is narrow and short!

 My previous best around Willow Springs has been consistent 1:29s, with a single lap at a 1:28.7 last year.

Before the track owners resurfaced it, the fastest laps were 1:19-1:20 by the ridiculously fast guys, like Steve Rapp (lap record holder) and Jeremy Toye.

After the resurface, the track has not regained its grip, and these fast guys can only manage 1:22s (maybe a high 1:21 if the conditions are just perfect).

So, while enjoying the June 3^rd track day with MotoYard, I was thrilled to have turned several 1:29s while cruising around at about 80% and waving to my pals as I went past.

Saturday June 16th – a Hard Lesson

I opted to enter the Solo 20 – a 20 lap mini endurance race – to get more seat time, with a goal to go out hard and try to hook up with some fast riders, and learn a thing or two.

Practice in the morning went well, running several 29s and 30s.  And my suspension was reset to where it had found a sweet spot during the MotoYard track day.

I was gridded on the front row of a pretty large field, that included a lot of really, really fast riders… behind me o_O

I was optimistic I would hold them off for a turn, but sadly, I was swarmed by the apex of turn 1.  I get killer launches, I just need to get into the throttle harder I guess =/

Suspension Drama
So I grabbed on to a few guys in front of me – immediately in front of me was my “old friend” from Miller.  I rode like hell trying to find a way around him, but it didn’t take until lap 2 for me to realize something was horribly, horribly wrong with my front end!

About 5 different places on the track – all corner entrances – I thought for sure I was going to lose the front.  I firmly believe that if it wasn’t for having a brand new front tire, I would have surely crashed.

The handle bars would literally shake violently in my hands; I was watching in horror as the front tire jack hammered at an angle to the pavement… seemingly bouncing/skipping across the surface rather than rolling.

Several times I swear I could feel the front tuck slightly… the bars turning in my hands with no change in line….

Thankfully, Jason Pridmore’s STAR School has taught me to ride with light hands… and I firmly believe that this riding technique allowed the front end to bounce around, and let physics (and the throttle) take care of the rest.

I went through the check list in my head of what *I* – as a rider – was doing wrong to create this front end problem.  I was quite nervous, and riding a bit sloppy – jerky on the brakes.  Lap after lap passed, as I put effort into focusing on my own riding styles, none of the usual culprits were causing the front end issue.  Due to the predictable nature of the front end chatter and drama, I was quite certain it was nothing I was doing wrong.

My awesome cousin Matt Buanno was out helping me again, and being a stellar crew chief / pit boss / mechanic this weekend.  In discussing our Solo strategy, I told him I was only going to pull in if something was horribly wrong…. So when I pulled in, naturally he was a bit concerned.

Wind & Heat Drama
On lap 8 I pulled in to take 2 clicks of rebound out.  When I went back out, there was virtually no one left on the track!  Most of the fast guys had used it for testing (pretty normal since there’s no points or anything) and a few of the guys still out there in the 100+ deg heat, and 20+mph winds were barely getting around the track at a B Group pace!

I felt considerably slower, but cruised around to feel the front end.  The wind provided a few BIG scares going into turn eight!!!  The wind was blowing perpendicular to the back straight, so turning into eight would be turning into the wind.  A few times my bike literally would NOT turn.  Flat out, nearly 160 mph, and it would simply not respond to steering input!!!  The first time it happened I literally squealed in my helmet.  My initial thought was that something broke and now my bike won’t turn…. For a split second I thought for sure that I was going to go flying off into the dirt.  At one instance of this affect, I literally threw myself off the side of the bike, as if hanging waaaaayyy off in a corner, to get the bike to turn.  It was pretty funny to think about that, I had my thigh across the seat, and my chest about a foot away from the tank while the bike was going in a straight line… and that alone didn’t even make it turn!  It was the combination of me throwing my weight that way, and pushing as hard as I could on the right bar, while pulling on the left bar, and slamming my weight down on the right footpeg… a whole body effort to turn it… and I was off the throttle!

That brief pit stop allowed my engine to crest over 200 deg – which was relatively fine for the engine – just not fine for me as it turns out.

About 5 laps into my second attempt at the Solo I could not keep my feet on the pegs any more.  Especially my right foot (due to being near the pavement for long durations, like turn two, and eight/nine).  Although I fought through it, and told myself to suck it up and deal with it and finish the race, it finally reached a point of complete distraction that resulted in several errors – so I weighed the options… this was a non race, really, and it was incredibly hot, very hard on my machine (and me!) … so I opted to call it quits rather than slow down and circumvent the track at a slow pace.  I do not quit races unless I feel my safety is compromised.

I could barely keep my feet on the pegs as I came in off the track.  I nearly threw my bike at Cousin Matty as I hobbled over to strip off my gear and boots… fully expecting to see a blister on my foot!  Turns out track temperatures were 140-150 deg F this weekend.

Matty initially thought hot fluid had leaked into or on my boot… he didn’t believe the pegs would be that hot until he touched it with his bare hands!  He couldn’t touch it!  They were literally as hot as the engine.

I was certainly not the only one whose feet burned up during that race – several other racers commented the same.  It was just that damn hot out there!

After calming down a bit, and getting some fluids, I discussed with Matty the horror of my front end.  The only thing that had changed since practice was a new tire (on a spare rim)… and that I went 1.5s faster!  (more on that in a minute)…

After talking to the fine men of CT Racing, they had me bring my front wheel over for a balance check and inspection.  My wheel and tire checked out just fine…. Item #1  – check

Item #2 – call Lenny Albin
After looking at my time sheets I was thrilled to find that 4 of my 7 hot laps were in the 1:28 range!!  A good 1.5s faster than I went in practice!

I talked to Lenny about what happened… how I had my compression settings at full hard (fully closed off), and how everything was fine during practice… the bottom line… the fluid flow in the forks was too choked off.  The front tire could not respond to the bumps and the loading as it needed too.  He provided a suggestion on opening up the compression settings and provided direction on where I could make small changes from there depending on how it felt.

On a side note… the biggest “suspension issue” I have right now is that my riding is improving at an exponential rate right now and taking me into lap time ranges I never dreamed of, therefore, I have no idea how my current suspension settings will handle it, and where to make changes from there.  Hence, what just happened during the Solo…

Sunday – An Unforgettable Day

Practice
I knew I had to go hard in practice, and try to match my lap times from the Solo if I was going to determine if my suspension was going to work as it needed to.

Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get it done =/  I had a best of a high 29… my bike felt good, and I pushed it hard into some corner entries that gave me a lot of grief, and it handled it well, so… hoping for the best during the races.  I had no idea what kind of lap times I was going to turn… I knew I’d likely hit 1:28s again.

 Open (A) Superbike (Race #9)
This class is always stacked with the fastest dudes… Jeremy Toye, Corey Sarros, Chris Duran, and former AMA Pro Sbk racer Dean Mizdal to name a few.

My goal was to get a good start, and see how long I could hang onto the fast guys.

Would you believe I hung with those guys through the exit of turn four!  My weakest area is exiting turn five and six, with my next weak area being the exit of turn four.  The exit of five feeds into the hill top crest of six, which feeds into the super fast back straight – the fastest part of the track starts at the exit of turn five.  That’s where the fast guys (who ran 22s/23s) were gone.

I just kept riding hard… I knew those guys would destroy me – I’m not in that league (…yet…)

Opening lap of Open Sbk! Leading the back half of the pack in Open (A) Superbike!!! Only one guy got around me =)

I was passed by one other rider, a Willow regular on a super built Honda CBR1000.  I was determined not to allow anyone else pass me so I just kept the hammer down, and really worked on getting better drives off five, and picking up the throttle more aggressively out of six.

No one else passed me….  When I took the checkered flag I was overcome with emotion… by the time I exited turn two I was bawling and screaming “I was NOT last!!!  I was NOT LASSSSTTTTT!”  After all the heartbreak last year of finishing so far behind in last place as to not even see my class… to finishing 7^th of 11 racers in Open Superbike today at the fastest track… for the first time I was crying tears of joy.  Yes… I cried the whole cool down lap… I waved at the corner workers, and enjoyed accepting kudos from the crowd watching up on the hill side overlooking the Omega (turns 3/4/5 make an W).

Open (A) Superstock (Race #11)

Upon looking at the grid for SS, I realized I actually might have a legit shot at the podium!! I couldn’t believe it!

My start was good, again, but… again… I just wasn’t fast enough into the throttle – and I was starting from one of the last rows in the class (Row 3 of 4).  I got hung up behind a gentlemen I know quite well on his super fast, super fancy BMW S1000.  Now these bikes can make nearly 200 hp with only an exhaust and an ECU!  Needless to say, I was thrilled and delighted when my Big Boy was not losing any ground to this BMW!!!  Graves Motorsports built me a Superstock engine that has unbelievable performance!!  I was getting killer drives out of the corners, and carrying phenomenal corner speed.  I was all over the ass of this BMW, and we were a few bike lengths off the 2^nd and 3^rd place guys!  Lap after lap I tried to find a way around this BMW.  At one point I showed him a wheel going into turn six, but just didn’t have the guts to pull it off.  After that he got more aggressive, and rode more defensive lines.  Unfortunately, more often than not I was getting weaker drives off turn nine, and was not usually in a position to make a move in turn one.  Although I was carrying more corner speed in one usually, and a few times attempted an outside pass on the exit of one, and going up the inside as we came into turn two…. But again, I wasn’t gutsy enough to make it happen.

Quintessential Turn Four shot with Willow Springs sign in the background... "...it's a hole in the wall.... it's a dirty free-for-all"

On the last lap, the BMW got around the Suzuki GSXR in front of him to take over third, and I nearly had the GSXR in several locations, but couldn’t quite make it happen.  I went for the killer drive off turn nine, and nearly had the GSXR at the line… I lost 4^th place by 0.0971s!!!!

No matter!  2^nd place was about 1 second in front of me!!! I was in the hunt, I was in the battle!!!!  I lost a podium because my race craft needs to be developed – not because I was too slow!!!  A top five in Open Superstock has been a goal for this year… I count this one as being met.  Regardless that there were 7 riders in the class; being part of the podium fight makes it count for sure!

And, would you believe I turned a 1:27.4!!!!!  Just one!  The remainders were 28s… battling to get around another rider every inch of the race.  The best part… I had the fastest lap of the four of us

 Women’s Superstock (Race #12)
Immediately after Open SS was Women’s SS, so cousin Matty met me at hot pit in/out with some water and words of encouragement =)

Heavyweight Twins Superbike Expert and Novice was once again gridded up in front of us girls… ugh… 10 … ten twinsie boys….

It was again a single wave start… ugh…  and there were considerable entries in the expert class.  I was gridded on Row 13, on the outside… a perfect place to get through as many twinsie boys as possible.  Navigating through the novice grid and the back of the expert grid upon the drop of the green flag felt like slow motion… it was like lane splitting.

Exiting Turn 2 during the Women's Superstock race

No offense to the girls in my class, but there was honestly no competition – the other fast girl opted not to enter it due to back to back races.  The next quickest girl was on an SV650, which she rides really well, but let’s face it – an SV650 vs a liter bike at Big Willow???  The other expert girl was on a 600, but still… vs a liter bike at Big Willow?  Plus she had been having heat stroke symptoms anyway, and had commented about how she was unsure about racing (sure enough felt sick and withdrew half way through the race).

As I picked my way gingerly through the twinsie class, I kind of chuckled in my helmet at some of the guys who were unfamiliar with me when they gave me double takes, like “who are you, and why are you up here?!?!”

I was like, “I’m not in your class, now get outta my way!”  Ha ha ha!!  After the speeds carried in Open Superstock, the opening half of the race felt like it was in slow motion!  I was careful to get around the guys clean – they were racing their race, and I was merely passing through.  I was not racing them… although one guy thought I was and put up defensive lines and tried to keep me from passing him!

I was able to get clear of most the twinsie pack by the end of lap 2 (6 lap race), and set off after the next twinsie.  As I approached, I realized this was the same gentleman who was on the BMW of the previous race…. Hmmmmm….. now on his Ducati for this one.

I nearly had him at several points in the track, but none more securely than going into turn one side by side… only to wimp out and yield… I’m still kicking myself in the butt for doing that!!!! Aarrrggghhhhhhhh….

I nearly had him at the line too, but none of that mattered as I was not racing against him… apparently he did not care, because he picked up the battle as if we were back in Open SS again!  He was third place in the twins class, which made me the fourth place finisher over all.

Cousin Matty commented that the announcer kept saying my name as I navigated through the twins field… commenting how I was up into 4^th place… “oh wait, she’s leading the Women’s Superstock class!!!” Ha ha ha ha!

In the end, I ran a new personal best of 1:27.0!!!!!  An average speed of 103.3 mph… so friggin awesome!!!!!!  The two clean laps I had I ran a mid 27, then a low 27… then 28s while stuck behind said Ducati.

The nearest girl was 66s behind me.  Niccole “Wha-Bam” Cox rode a phenomenal race and dropped her personal best by 6 seconds!!!!!  I am so incredibly proud of her!!!!

During the cool down lap, I blew kisses to the crowd, to the corner workers… It just seems appropriate to blow kisses after winning the Women’s race than any other race! Ha ha ha!  A crowd up in Budweiser Balcony who had watched all my races (they were nearly all back to back!) jumped up and down and cheered for me – that was an amazing feeling to see that!  And a gentleman parked along the road way, watching from near turn six, pointed at me, and removed his vintage looking cap, the kind of cap you picture a distinguished gentleman wearing, and did that hat tip congratulatory salute – the one where the gentlemen bows his head a bit and does the circular hat tip motion with it in his hand….  That was pretty special.  I blew him a kiss =)

The Aftermath
Yet again, my feet were so hot I could barely keep them on the pegs during the cooldown lap… my poor bike had gotten pretty hammered!  Pulling in after Open SS, and waiting a few minutes for W SS only served to have the coolant sit stagnate and get hot.  I spent the warm up lap of the Women’s race trying to get it back under 200 deg.  On the grid it hit just under 210 deg, but ran between 214-221 deg F during the Women’s race.

My bike was literally cooking me when I pulled into post tech.  I could not keep my feet on the pegs, and I had to get post tech’d as I had won the race.  The waiting was agonizing on my feet, and the bike was so hot, I took off my helmet and gloves, and soon I just got off the bike.  After she checked my stickers, I started walking back to my pit, pushing my bike, and I could see cousin Matty walking towards me.

But all of a sudden I started feeling dizzy… Greg Nuleman  of MotoYard was gracious enough to grab my bike and start pushing it back towards cousin Matty.  I was slowly walking, but I realized I was about to just fall to my knees.  All the adrenaline, all the heat, all the emotion, and the physical effort expended in 18 race laps, and 24 total laps finally came crashing down, and would have been literally had it not been for Stephen Lim, Corey Lindabury, and  couple of girls walking by.  SLim (as we call him) and Corey were gracious enough to help me walk back to my pit.  Corey happened to be there sending Jeremy Simmons off in the 600 race and put his umbrella over me, as did the girls walking by.  Needless to say, I had given it my all out there!

Results – http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=48689

GO ROCCO!!!
Rocco Horvath was horribly injured in a crash in turn two during the Middleweight Solo 20 on Saturday.  Sending positive thoughts your way Rocco!!! Get well soon!!!!

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=48686

Huge Thank You

To my awesome cousin Matt Buanno for taking incredibly good care of me!!!

To Matt Greenstone for graciously allowing me to use his toy hauler for the weekend so Duke (my Great Dane) and I may have air conditioning and a shower =)

To Corey Neuer and Chris Maguire of CT Racing – Pirelli – for taking incredibly good care of me this weekend!!  All three of those sprint races on one rear (soft!) tire, and my fastest lap in the very last race!  Did not have a single slide all day Sunday!

To Josh Kent for coming up to watch, cheer me on, and help me pack at the end of the hot day!

To my amazing friends and family who support me, Kellie Auld, my awesome parents, and the Duran’s… thank you…  And what a Father’s Day gift for my Pops!!! =)

And finally, my amazing sponsors, without which this would not be possible!!!  Thank You!!!

Graves Motorsports (gravesport.com)
EBC Brakes (ebcbrakes.com)
Scorpion Helmet (scorpionusa.com)
Lenny Albin (superbikechassis.com)
Pirelli Tires (CT Racing & Fast Line – Utah based Pirelli)
RaceTech (racetech.com)
M Racing (mracingperformance.com)
Five & Dime Tattoo (fiveanddimetattoo.com)
Moonstone Cellars (moonstonecellars.com)
STAR School (starmotorycle.com)
Five-0 Racing (five-0racing.com)
Aussie Body Fitness (aussiebodyfitness.com)
Attack Performance (attackperformance.com)
Duran Racing
785Graphics (785graphics.com)

My Big Boy ready to roll out at Miller

Miller Motorsports Park

WERA National May 2012

Endurance Racing a Graves Built R6 for KATRA…
Coming into this weekend, I had the most phenomenal opportunity presented to me when I was invited to join Team KATRA’s all women’s endurance team that included AMA Pro racer Melissa Paris, European R6 Cup competitor Nadieh Schoots, and CCS standout, and team owner, Kat Zimpel.

Lady racers (l-r) myself, Nadieh Schoots, Kat Zimpel, Melissa Paris

We raced the Graves Motorsports built Yamaha R6 in the middle weight class for the 6 hour WERA National Endurance Series opener.  Despite a mechanical in the opening laps, that forced us onto the back up bike, we put together a strong ride, and completed 151 laps.  Although we finished last, we speculate that we would have been in podium contention had we not had an issue.  Per WERA rules, you forfeit all laps completed when you switch to a back up bike, starting over at zero.  We had completed less than 10 laps, and lost a lot of time awaiting the crash truck to return our bike.  We couldn’t head out on the back up bike until the transponder from the primary bike was switched over.

Melissa was fantastic in taking me for a pedal around the track on Friday evening to help me out with my questions about the track, and provide pointers on how to rock the 600!  Her advice helped me to hit new personal best lap times!

It’s been a few years since I’ve ridden a 600, a few times in 2010, and not since 2008 on my 2005 GSXR 600!

During my single one hour stint on the endurance bike, I used the Graves built R6 to increase my confidence getting around the fast Miller track.  I knew the R6 could handle anything I threw at it; the increased corner entry and mid-corner speeds.  Having the confidence in the equipment helped me to push out of my comfort zone.  Although I know my bike handles incredibly well, I felt more confident knowing the 600 could handle corner speeds faster than a liter bike is capable of.

Coming into this weekend, my previous best lap time at Miller was a 2:09 with my “standard” lap times being 2:10.  During the endurance race last year, I ran 2:10 lap times through an entire tank of fuel… twice.  So, when I saw the pit board reading 2:10, I wasn’t surprised.  A bit disappointed, but not surprised.

I got to work.

Soon the pit board read 2:09… several times in a row!  It’s working! When it read 2:08 I squealed as I went by!!  I wanted to shake my fist in celebration, but I was worried the crew would think I was motioning to pull in! Ha ha ha …

When it read 2:08 several more times, I was thrilled!  The rear tire was starting to go off, so I figured I must be close to my one hour limit.  I kept working on brake markers, corner speeds, and keeping corner exits strong.

The pit board read 2:07 at the very end of my stint!!!! New personal best!!!!!

Huge thank you to Charlie Grannon and his SGA Racing crew for being so supportive and helpful; and to Gigi  for taking care of us so well with so much delicious food, and keeping our helmets cleaned, and just attending to so many small details!

Thank you to Tim Hunt’s team Apex, and Jonathon, Tony, and the guys for being so supportive, doing our pit stops, and helping to make sure I didn’t tip over on that R6 as I couldn’t touch the ground!

Team KATRA

 Liter bike fun….
Saturday morning was a single round of practice on my R1.  This would mark my first time riding my Graves Motorsports refreshed – oh, hell, they basically rebuilt the whole damn thing! – 2006 R1.  Thanks to M Racing I was well stocked with VP U4.4 to ensure the altitude didn’t rob all the Graves power!

Like many racers, my budget is very tight.  I was unable to practice on Friday due to budget constraints as I desperately needed a new set of tires before turning a wheel on the track.  I rode what was left of the life of my old tires – a front from Willow Springs in the summer of 2011, and a rear with three races on it – in Vegas in April.

My Duke boy shows how loaded the truck was!! No trailer to save on fuel to Miller since we were traveling solo - by "we", I mean myself, my bike & my Duke boy!

Although the rear was decent enough for practice – given the phenomenal grip at Miller – the front was absolutely necessary to change before turning a wheel.

With a front fresh tire, and a rear with 5 races on it, I went out for my first practice.  It became immediately clear there was a handling issue when I picked up the throttle mid corner and the bike just drifted wide.  Going through the attitudes was like maneuvering a tank through a chicane.

The first time I rode the R6 through the quick left-right-left super fun chicane at Miller, known as the Attitudes (First Attitude, Second Attitude, and Bad Attitude are the names of the turns), I nearly ran off the inside of the second attitude on account of flicking this super light, well handling bike, so hard.

After my stint in the endurance race, I had the great opportunity to sit with Eric Knight, of Ohlins, and review my issues with my ill-handling R1.

Eric was there working alongside my usual suspension gyu, Lenny Albin, of Superbike Chassis, LLC.  Lenny had recently revalved my forks, and serviced my shock, so the notes I had from last year were nearly irrelevant.

Prior to coming to Miller, I mapped out my suspension settings. In reviewing these with Eric, he noted my high speed shock compression was a bit biased to one side.  Being as that was an as-left setting, and not set purposely, we adjusted it by several clicks.  Eric then had me enter 1 millimeter of preload to the shock, as there was no preload on it, to clean up the wide issue.

Sunday
Sunday morning practice resulted in shock and awe….

As a result of those shock changes, my R1 now handled like that R6… it just felt heavier, and went a whole lot faster!!!!

My best Utah pal Jasn Parkinson, is a local super fast guy, and he was gracious enough to sit down with me and review a track map.  Just as MeliP went over how to ride a 600 around Miller, Jasn went over how to rock a liter bike around Miller.

There were a couple of key differences that allowed me to rock my R1 faster than I had ever dreamed I would…. But more on that later….

Jasn monitored my practice, and clocked me at 2:07 and 2:08s in the second round of practice… the same lap times I did on the R6 during the endurance race!!!

My Big Boy felt surreal… so easy to ride, so much more flickable, absolutely railed through the corners…. I was very excited for the races.

Open Superstock
I was a bundle of nerves for the first race – not just my first race, but the first race of the day!  My start was ok, but I quickly got out run down the looooooong run into T1.  It’s got to be well over a quarter mile to turn one…. I quickly found myself in nearly last place – or so it seemed.  And I quickly found myself stuck behind a guy who had hit me in Vegas at the previous round.  His Ducati 1198 was impossible to pass on corner exits, and was so powerful, it made it nearly impossible to get close enough to attempt a corner entry pass.  The most frustrating four laps of the day.  I was so mad when I came off the track. I felt completely boxed in and held up from performing my best out there.  I was held up on corner entry and mid corner.  I found myself having to take difference lines to avoid hitting him mid corner, yet never close enough to attempt a pass.  I suppose I could have attempted a pass, but being as he has no issues with hitting me, I was not willing to take that level of risk.  One position at the back of the pack was not worth destroying my fabulous bike over.

Jasn could see how upset I was… but he was able to instantly cheer me up when he showed me what he clocked me at…. 2:04…. a three second drop from practice!!!  Finished second to last.

Women’s Superstock
This race was simply destined to be epic….

The four of us Team KATRA girls all signed up for this race…  Being as I was the only girl on a liter bike, I planned to use my horsepower to get as far in front as possible on the start, and see how long I could maintain it.  I certainly did not expect to win… but I hoped to battle for a podium spot.

We were gridded behind the Heavyweight Twins Superbike class –which was stacked with riders this time around!  Usually there’s only four or five riders at most, but today there was nearly 15!!  Thankfully, they sent the twinsie boys off on their own green flag. 

They held us on the grid so long, my bike’s temperatures went into the 230 degree range, and I was beginning to smell coolant. This made me nervous.  Off we went, and as we approached T1, I backed off a bit early, and carefully tipped in… just in case any coolant had actually vented from the system.

I still had grip, my temps were lower, and as one of the fast girls went underneath me I decided it was Game On… My plan was to latch on to her, and try to hang with her as long as I possibly could.  She’s a damn fast girl, and I was going to learn everything I could from her while I had the opportunity.

As I launched out of T1, and into T2, I actually had to momentarily check up as I ran right up on her tail.  It was so unexpected, I didn’t even think to go around… I wrote it off as a fluke, as a simple beginning of the race mojo finding or something… but I matched her corner speed for corner speed through the next few turns.  As we exited turn 3 and proceeded to fly through the turn four, fast left hander, my horsepower allowed me to slide past her on the exit, nearly on the rumble strips, and I went as late as I dared into the first hard-braking hairpin called Blackrock.

At least ¾ of a bike length ahead of her – I turned in anyway… figuratively chopping off her front tire (no actual contact was made).  I was back on the throttle like a mad woman because I knew she was going to be pissed, and I knew she was going to run my ass down! As she should!  As I would if the roles were reversed!

I had a ton of horsepower compared to her little 600 and I was going to use it to my utmost advantage!  Being as this was only a 4 lap race, I rode like hell!

By the end of lap two I was already catching riders from the twinsie class.  I sucked the paint off a few little kids on their 125s down the front straight, and was able to quickly get around a few scattered SV650s.

I took the white flag with still no sign of any of the other girls.  As I blasted down the front straight at the throttle stop I was trying to determine if I was going to make it past a lone SV650 before turn one.  About 3-4 bike lengths in front of him was another twinsie boy, and 1-2 bike lengths in front of him was two twinsie boys battling it out, seemingly in slow motion.

I knew I was going to catch this SV right about the point of no return of turn one entry.  A steam train traveling west at 120 mph, 500 yards away from a diesel freight train also traveling west at 180mph … at what point do they meet, and how large of an explosion happens when they hit….

Surveying the cluster I was about to encounter made me realize I had to make short work of these twinsie boys or that fast girl behind me was going to catch my ass!  After being forced to slow my roll to avoid plowing into a poor little twinsie boy as we turned into one, I managed around him quickly, but those other three up front were making the ridiculously wide track feel like a goat trail!  I followed behind them through the fastest part of the whole damn track!!!  As we ran out of turn four, I was contemplating making a pass when that fast girl came flying up the inside and passed me under the brakes.

Oh snap!  My inability to smoothly navigate traffic has gotten me yet again!

I was determined not let her get away… all of a sudden playing nice with these twinsie boys was not an option… I was prepared to punt anyone out of my way if I felt they were holding my back from hanging on to this girl.

Together, us girls tag-teamed through these twinsie boys so much so that they stopped battling and started looking around at us!  It was rather hilarious!

I used my power to regain the ground I had lost to the traffic as we ran through witchcraft and into the attitudes.

As I ran up into the first attitude, here comes the other fast girl on the track in a Hail Mary pass that took her in so hot as to run her to the far edge of the track.

I held my line and shut the door on her as I flipped it over for the second attitude, and kept on my rundown of the other fast ass girl on her 600.

As we approached Tooele Turn (T11) I ran up on her, matched her corner speed, and used my super cheater horsepower to overtake her on the exit.  The run to the next turn was so short, that if I didn’t do my own Hail Mary entry, she could stuff me into the turn, and get away to the checkered!

I went as deep as a dared, and did not see her in my peripheral vision when I initiated my turn in.  I blasted out with the ass end of my Big Boy wagging under waning traction, held a tight line entering Wind Up; carried mad corner entry speed into Release (the last turn) and picked up the throttle, picked up the bike, and got to the throttle stop as quickly as I could…. To the take the checkered flag in front of some of the fastest girls in the country.

I couldn’t believe it….. I did not think for a second I would win that race….

The three of us girls finished 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th respectively overall – meaning nearly all of the twinsie boys, who got about a 10 second head start, got run down by a bunch of girls

I finished 0.6s behind the final Heavyweight Twins Superbike podium finisher.

The nearest girl to the three of us was 1:01 behind.  We put on a hell of a show…. a hell of a show!

Random people in the paddock came up to me to offer congratulations, and comment on how thrilling the race was.

That has never happened to me before… it was utterly surreal…. Unbelievable…

Open Superbike
Open Superbike is one of the premier classes in the WERA National Challenge Series, so this race has double the laps – of eight.

On the start, I was able to get underneath my nemesis in T1, and I got hooked up behind a group of guys who run a few seconds faster than me.  I was thrilled with my position, and excited to try to learn from them and hang on to them as long as possible.

Until my dumb ass friend crashed in turn one as we started lap two =/

On the restart I realized the momentary cut out on the initial part of my starts was not an error I was making, it was a legitimate issue!  Because on this restart of Open Superbike, it cut out hard enough to jerk the bike forward, then loft the front end when the power came back on =/

As a result, my nemesis was able to get so far in front of me that I was stuck behind him again… and two other guys… oh I was so damn mad… you don’t even know….

On lap three I was able to get around the one guy on a Suzuki GSXR 1000 that was just stupid fast.  That pass was made possible due to him missing a shift.

I ran down my nemesis and proceeded to spend the rest of the race trying desperately to find a way around his ridiculously fast bike.  Another rider in front of him was holding him up as badly as he was holding me up!

As a result, I moved my brake markers into turn one from the 4 board to the 3 board and ran five of the eight laps at 2:03!!!!  With a best lap of the weekend at 2:03.3!!!!  7 f*g seconds faster than the previous year… hell from Saturday morning practice!!!!

Huge Thank You….
Graves Motorsports (gravesport.com)
EBC Brakes
Scorpion Helmet (scorpionusa.com)
Lenny Albin (superbikechassis.com)
Pirelli Tires (CT Racing & Fast Line – Utah based Pirelli)
RaceTech (racetech.com)
M Racing (mracingperformance.com)
Five & Dime Tattoo (fiveanddimetattoo.com)
Moonstone Cellars (moonstonecellars.com)
STAR School (starmotorycle.com)
Five-0 Racing (five-0racing.com)
Aussie Body Fitness (aussiebodyfitness.com)
Attack Performance (attackperformance.com)
Duran Racing
785Graphics 

Especially to Melissa Paris and Jasn Parkinson for the tips; Kellie Auld for being my bestie, and helping me in the pit; Greg Rand for sharing his garage with me; James Dellinger for graciously allowing me to put up my hammock in his trailer so Duke and I could stay warm on the chilly Utah nights; the amazing new people I met along the way; and finally… to Kat for taking a chance on me and bringing me on to her stellar team; and Tim & the Apex crew for the support and laughter =)

Duke posing with my boys

Meeting Location
Shell Gas Station
29115 Front St.
Temecula, CA

International Female Ride Day happens on the first Friday of every May to celebrate women in motorcycling. Visit www.motoress.com for more information on what International Female Ride Day is all about!

In 2010, we met in San Diego and rode up to Julian for pies and lunch. In 2011, we met in Orange County and took some back roads out to K1 Speed for some karting action. Now in 2012, we’re meeting in Temecula, and riding out east to Palm Springs for lunch! Because many of us work during the week, GirlClutch will once again be celebrating on the following day; Saturday May 5, 2012 with an ALL GIRLS/GIRLS ONLY ride to Palm Springs.

We will meet at the Shell Gas Station in Temecula off the 15 freeway and Temecula Pkwy at 9am (exit Temecula Pkwy, head west, and you will see the Shell gas station). KSU up 10am and we will take the back roads into Palm Springs for lunch!

The Route (Roughly 75 miles):
Hwy 79/Temecula Pkwy East into Aguana.
Left on 74 North into Palm Desert

Lunch destination TBD, ideas welcome! More details to follow!