Practice Day with Hard Lessons
My original plans for two days of seat time at Sonoma Raceway were rained out Easter Weekend so I came up for a special kind of track day on Wednesday, May 1st with 3Js. This was particularly special because the entire proceeds to got charity! The people who host the track day work for the raceway, and everyone got involved! OXYmoron Photography was so gracious to donate the photos from the day asking everyone to donate funds that they would have used to purchase to photos to the charity.
3Js provided delicious food all day long, highlighted by a phenomenal lunch, and post track day beverages and appetizers! And they said they had raised $300k dollars for the charity!!!
Wednesday proved to be fairly productive as I had not ridden the track in nearly three years. The first few sessions were spent poking around checking for reference points, making sure my memory was what it was.
By lunch time I was feeling pretty solid on the track and started pushing harder. Jeremy Toye’s stellar mechanic, Jody, of Lee’s Cycle in San Diego, was so sweet to help me make a few geometry changes as the day went on. My deepest gratitude to Jeremy and Jody for their help and support on Wednesday given I was there all alone, and they were gracious enough to let me come bug them with a few questions.
As I increased speed by being more aggressive on the throttle and the brakes the front end felt a little sketch. I made several changes that helped it to feel considerably more stable, but there was just something still about it that a little off. I made the mistake of brushing that feeling aside.
I took my worn out medium rear tire off for a used, but better condition, soft for the very last session of the day. My front was a worn out medium but it felt pretty decent for the most part, so I kept running it… During the very last session of the day, I took a tumble in turn 11 :-/
Thankfully it was incredibly minor, but it really just irked me. For those that know me, I rarely crash and this was just a dumb *dumb* crash. The difficult part was that it took me a few minutes to figure out what the hell caused it to be so solid one second, and then GONE the next.
The bump. The bump at/near the apex of the super freakin slow, super awkward turn 11 (the last corner on the track) was what got me. I was heavy on the brakes, leaned pretty far over, and the tire being worn out, and it just didn’t have enough traction for the front end to absorb the bump, carry the lean angle, and decelerate.
It was such a stupid crash!!!! UGH!
I had to laugh when Jeremy and Jody came by my pit to check on me, and Jeremy commented that I merely knocked the bugs off it, and he’d buy me some blue nail polish and my bike would be good as new! That really made me smile when I was so frustrated and down on myself for making such a dumb mistake.
Another contributing factor, a new lesson learned, was having swapped to a rear tire with a lot more grip and how that changed the loading on the front end by giving the rear considerably more traction. That was something I had never considered before. That was another beneficial lesson from the men of Lee’s Cycle =)
While it was pretty crappy way to end an otherwise good day, I had a really great time seeing many of my girlfriends again – fast lady Joy Higa; beautiful, preggers, and retired fast lady Christie Cooley; and meet new (to me) AFM’ers Gavin and Rory.
Race Weekend
I returned to the track Friday late afternoon ready to make a few changes to my front end. I split the difference, by bringing the front end at 2mm down the forks, and added some pre-load in the shock to compensate. This configuration took some fixed weight off the front end, and the shock preload helped to change the rate of weight transfer between front and rear.
First practice on Saturday morning was successful and Barry Wressel of GP Suspension was on the wall helping me out during practice. We made a few more minor tweaks to clean up the feel and by the end of the day I had a fabulously handling machine.
The suspension and chassis geometry lessons were invaluable… Sonoma and the unique configuration of gravity loading coupled with hard braking make this track profoundly unique over any other track.
AFemme
Joy Higa is known as one of the fastest women in AFM, and in club racing. She legit qualified for the AMA Supersport class at Sonoma a few years ago, and is now rocking a new GSXR 1000! Her and I used to battle fiercely in the 600 novice class… and we’ve been best pals ever since!
The women’s class in AFM is one of the largest grids in the US, and is often packed with very talented lady racers. Most of the women’s class in AFM is Expert licensed racers who are competitive in the regular classes as well.
As if racing isn’t exciting enough, AFemme shares the track with two other races; Clubman Lightweight and a Vintage class. This makes for the unique sensation of “playing in traffic” with lap time and speed differentials far beyond anything I would consider safe – in a track day, let alone when racing. The speed differentials were so great it often startled me at the closing and passing speeds!!
When we gridded up I was in awe of the fast women I was about to race, and wondered how I would do… I know my greatest asset was my horsepower… but that was well matched by Joy’s Suzuki. Joy easily made 15-20hp more than my bike… the R1s are notoriously low on hp compared to other liter bikes… but I was well matched against Joy – and other liter bikes – in torque!! And torque is what gets you off corners… torque is all that matters unless you’re at Miller with a forever long straight-away.
Other spectacular women on the grid with me were AMA Supersport competitors Jennifer Lauritzen and Dani Diaz; and super fast Oregon teen Mackenzie Ancien.
The starter held the one board sideways a lot longer than I anticipated and my clutch got a little overheated so when I launched it felt like I was in second gear… my engine bogged horribly and barely moved. I was behind five women as we blasted up the hill, but, again… I had horsepower and I knew how to use it 😉
I passed at least one girl as we approached the bottleneck of turn two – an off-camber right hander that enters uphill, and then quickly drops steeply downhill into turn three. At the top of turn two, there is a momentary flat spot where you can really get on the throttle and charge down the hill, sling-shot yourself into turn 4… it is a hell of a wild ride!
I ducted under another girl as I stuffed it into turn two, and was now hot on the heels of Jenn and Joy! I knew I couldn’t let Joy get away!
I patiently waited behind Jenn as we exited turn two; looked for an opportunity to pass with my horsepower as we approached the carousel, but patiently waited for the carousel exit to make my move, but I knew she was going to be a threat on the brakes into turn 7. I dove in as hot as I could, without getting tangled with Joy, and if I recall correctly, Jenn went up the inside on the brakes – as I expected. I went around the outside and out powered her on the exit of seven and lit after Joy.
As we approached the turn 9 chicane – a very, very hard braking, slow corner, I contemplated a move on Joy, but opted to wait for a better opportunity. I wanted to exercise some patience rather than stuffing my bike anywhere at higher risk.
I chased her around as we took lap two, studying her riding, and where I may be stronger, and where I would have to really be on my game should I get in front. In talking to Jenn after the race, she commented how she nearly hit us going into turn one as her little 600 doesn’t require the deceleration that our big bikes do! Well done Jenn!! She rode the wheels off that 600 – she always does =D
I chased Joy through the turns, and she was considerably faster/stronger in the turn three section, so I knew that was an area I better charge more aggressively should I get in front.
As we ducked into the carousel – a long sweeping downhill left hander that seriously g’s out the chassis towards the end – Jenn stuffed a wheel up alongside me that was so close I half thought my braids might get caught in it!!
I worked hard to keep her wheel at my head, and patiently waited for the end of the carousel to put some distance on us.
As Joy and I thundered into turn 7 – a hard braking, double apex right hander horseshoe – I out broke her on the inside, and in my attempts to set up the corner for an strong exit, Joy took advantage and ducked inside and retook the lead!
As I chased her through the fast turn eight esses I was cursing myself for the mistake. I knew I was considerably stronger on the brakes, and opted to stuff her into turn 11, the last turn on the course, and the slowest. It comes off a strong run, so it is also a very hard braking section.
I lit off up that hill, and I knew Joy was a bit stronger through turn one, and turn three so I rode like a mad woman to ensure I stayed in front!
As I took the start of lap three in front, I focused on riding clean, fast and strong.
Towards the end of lap three I began to encounter the first of the lappers.
The remaining laps of the race were spent dodging lappers and hoping I didn’t inadvertently plow into one. I mean we’re talking 30-50 mph speed differential in some locations, and a good 20-30s lap time differential!!!!
Lap 4 and 5 were spent dodging through a LOT of lappers, clusters of 5 or 6 of them. Joy warned me ahead of time that if I slowed up for a lapper, I best remember she’ll be hot on my heels.
Thankfully, I was able to get around them clean, and caught them in pretty good locations. I giggled a bit as I would catch several of them on the approach to turn 7, and I would wait just a moment for them to tip in, and then I would just go ‘round the outside.
As I took turn 11, I glanced over my shoulder on the exit, and did not see Joy… so I thought I had a fairly decent margin – not a lot, but it wasn’t like she was on my rear wheel.
As I crossed the line, it was the white flag lap – the last lap – the race was mine. All I had to do was continue to ride strong and finish.
As I approached turn 7 I saw a lapper ahead that had started into the turn. I plotted to make my move on this rider – whom I was passing for the second time – on the exit of turn 7, but they made an unexpected move, causing me to check up.
I lost my momentum, and made the grave mistake of sitting there for a second too long, debating about where to pass this rider, when Joy came screaming in so fast I thought she was going to hit this rider! I thought maybe she didn’t see this rider!!!
As she split between us, I didn’t even care about that other rider any more, I grabbed the throttle and lit after Joy! We were in turn 8, the lap was half over!!! I couldn’t let her take my win!
As I exited turn eight, the rear end was hung out a bit as the used rear tire just spun as I asked my Big Boy for everything he had to get after Joy.
I considered ducking underneath her into the turn 9 chicane but decided it was a bit too risky. I chased her through the chicane, hung the rear out as I lit off into turn 10 and while she took a very defensive line into turn 11, I stuffed her pretty hard as we went in. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her stand her bike up as I stuffed underneath her.
As I brought my bike back around and on the throttle as early as possible I was horrified to see she did the over under move and was on the throttle and ahead of me. I gave it everything I had but she beat me to the finish line by 0.4 seconds.
I was completely beyond pissed off… fuming and screaming in frustration on the cool down lap … trying to let it all out before I came off the track so as not to make a spectacle of myself. Thankfully no one can hear me when I’m on track, with my helmet on.
I was beyond angry… at myself … I have no one to blame but me. I made the poor choice to wait too long behind that lapper. It was my race, and the win was given up by me, and me alone. There were many hard lessons learned this weekend, and this was one of the hardest.
Joy, Jenn, and all the girls rode a stellar race, and Joy really had some stellar race craft.
However, I am very, very proud of my lap times – the fastest I’ve ever gone, and it was in traffic!!!!
Finish: 2nd / 8
Best Lap: 1:47.7 (in traffic)
Tires: Med front (new) / Soft rear (2 races in Vegas)
Sunday – Formula Pacific
There was only one round of practice on Sunday, and after being so lucky as to bunk on the couch of a warm cozy motorhome, and not have my canopy blow away Saturday night, I awoke to overcast conditions, and a chill in the air.
I took practice fairly conservatively, and just did a few laps to warm up. Formula Pacific was the third race after lunch, so I had tons of time to be ready, and mount a fresh soft rear – and hope the track warmed up enough not to cold tear the crap out of it.
I was fortunate to receive some carnal track knowledge from the fastest man in the paddock, just after the riders meeting, and I was so stoked to put it to good use during the race. My method of getting through a few key areas of the track was completely turned on its head! I knew with this information a 1:45 was a goal that would be met, and likely then some given the talent I would be on track with during Formula Pacific!!
FP is the premier class in AFM. It is so renowned that there is a minimum lap time requirement just to make the grid. I was so proud to have proven that lap time during the women’s race, and that was in traffic!!! FP has the fastest riders on the fastest bikes in that class. I was optimistic I could get a good tow from some local fast guy, and really put together some good laps – especially with a new rear tire on! During the women’s race I rode on my old Vegas tire, and it didn’t have much grip left in it! I could only get one set of tires for the weekend, so I opted to save the new rear for the big dog class.
And to have my friend Joy on the grid with me in FP was priceless!!!!!
Given I had zero points, AFM placed me on the second to last row; P34 of 38 racers.
2011 Daytona 200 winner Joey Pascarella was gridded one row ahead, and to my left. My plan of attack was to launch hard and keep it pinned on the far left, which also meant around the outside of turn two. I normally tend to wimp out on my starts, but not this time… this time I was with the big dogs, gridded in the very back, and I had nowhere to go but UP!
This time I was ready for the long pause after the one board went sidewise, and I got one of my better starts!!! Launched out of there like a bandit!!! Blasted my way up the hill, and actually had to roll of a touch to not hit Joey from behind!
I had passed a good number of riders as we ran up the hill to turn two… and was well positioned on the outside to swing around the outside and capitalize on the bottleneck at the apex of two.
Well positioned to get hit unbelievably hard when the guy on the inside of turn two went down, and I was three wide…
Out of my peripheral vision I saw the front wheel of a bike loose traction, and turn sideways… soon followed by watching the bike start to slide across the race track towards myself, and the rider directly to my right (inside).
I was hit so hard it knocked my bike a different direction, and while I did not fall down, I traveled a good 20 feet before I “came to” and realized I had not crashed, and could survey what was happening.
By this time I had used up nearly half of my dirt travel as I was heading nearly perpendicular to an unprotected tire wall. I recall looking around at my options… if I was able to successfully turn the bike (to the right), to avoid the tire wall, I would have then been pointed downhill, straight into the unprotected tire wall further down the track. As the track bends away, the tire wall bends towards it to maintain the same run off distance (next to nothing).
AFM has airfence set up further down the hill, in a more normal impact zone, but I wasn’t anywhere close to being able to use it.
My other option was to turn sharp enough to fully avoid the walls, but that was such a turn that the likelihood of staying upright while doing so was incredibly slim, and I still risked hitting the tire wall anyway…
And at nearly 80mph, I was running out of options very very fast… While I’d like to think I was so brilliant as to initiate a crash by grabbing the front brake, it was more the thinking of I know I’m not supposed to touch the front brake… but maybe if I give it just a little bit of front brake I’ll be able to slow down and not crash…
Oh good Lord did I slam into the dirt harder than I’ve ever hit before… I distinctly recall slamming my face into the dirt, and tumbling so violently like a rag doll… I tumbled side over side at least 4 or 5 times.
When I stopped tumbling I was face down and couldn’t move. My knees immediately flared up in a white hot pain. My mind was telling my body to roll over, but it just wouldn’t move. Thankfully, I could feel my whole body, and there was no pain in my torso, back, belly or any critical parts. At that point I began screaming … screaming in anger, in pain…
And my parents saw the whole thing….
Another racer that went down ran over to me and was talking to me… trying to calm me down, and telling me not to move.
Soon the ambulance arrived, and they helped to roll me over. At this point my dad was next to me, along with a long time friend (whom I haven’t seen in nearly 20 years… so ironic)… my dad told me later that he busted the lock on a gate to get down on the race track. I guess there’s no stopping a parent from the instinct of protecting their child… no matter how old they get.
My parents saw me get cleaned out in 2010 during the start of a race in Las Vegas, and they saw the whole thing happen again. They handled it like champs! Thankfully they have a calm demeanor and have dealt with other accidents I’ve been through. Like, when I went backwards over a nearly 200 foot embankment in my 1967 F250 in 1998. They never saw that one, but they did see the helicopter I was in fly over their house.
The EMTs checked me over, and helped me sit up and take my suit off. I honestly thought my right collarbone and right lower leg was broken. I was in an immense amount of pain, and so incredibly angry. I honestly thought my bike was completely destroyed. That upset me more than anything.
Apparently, my bike stopped sliding about a foot from the tire wall.
My amazing friends and family came rushing over to my pit, and helped me out… they loaded my trailer, and my parents took me to the hospital to get checked out. My mom is retired from the medical industry, and she was pushing me to get to the hospital as soon as possible.
My bike looked to be in shockingly good condition! Given I had already crashed in turn 11 on Wed, the same components were damaged.
In the ER, they checked me over, and we got some stellar news that I had no broken bones!!! The doc commented that I have some soft tissue damage to my right knee, and my right shoulder where the collarbone attaches.
We think my right knee got smashed against the frame of the bike when the rider hit me. He hit me so hard it sheared the head of one of the subframe bolts off!
My knees hit the ground hard when I launched off the bike, and I landed on my head and shoulder. My knees both got twisted as I tumbled at such a violent rate that my feet couldn’t rotate as fast as my torso.
My bike appears to have a destroyed right rear set, very slightly damaged subframe, and ground down handle bar and frame slider from both crashes. Shockingly, the handle bar did not bend or break, just ground the tip down. We’re going to be checking the straightness of the subframe and give him a bit more inspection when I’m a bit more healed.
In the end, I was incredibly lucky. One racer came to my pit as he was behind me during the crash, and he was taking his bike home in a box.
The racer who was the first crash came to my ambulance door to apologize. That was a truly wonderful, sportsman, and courageous act on his part.
In Summary
The weekend did not go at all according to plan… but often the ones that end up propelling us further are like that.
Very special thank you to Jeremy Toye and Jody of Lee’s Cycle for their support; Zoomer for allowing Duke and I to bum a couch in his RV so we didn’t freeze to death; Mark for his support; Rory Kamper for his help in the pits; my roomie Dave for his help on Saturday afternoon.
Barry Wressel of GP Suspension was helpful in the suspension department as well as just being an amazing friend to me the whole weekend. Thanks Barry =)
My amazing friends and family for loading my trailer, and tending to my busted body in the end.
My wonderful, wonderful parents for taking care of me the next several days… thanks Mom & Dad <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)
Chicken Hawk Racing
Vortex Racing
