2007: AFM Round 1 @ Buttonwillow Raceway

Short Ver:
Sat. Practice was so-so. 650TW placed 10th and did better than expected. FIV, had a really GOOD break but didn't capitalize and went backwards to place 13th.

Long Ver:
Saturday practice:
Drove down the morning of and pitted w/ my old pitmates Mike Wong (#103), Mike Thompson (#77), Chris Weiss (#666), and Greg Becker (#869) since my team were not attending. Missed the first practice session while going through tech but just as well since I've always been a bit of a late starter and mornings don't agree with me or the bike. I change to a brand new set of michelin donuts while i waited for my next session. Finally got out to practice and start to figure out the track again at pace. Nothing to really report other than feeling pretty slow.

Teched for sunday, got some BBQ, showered and slept like a baby

Sunday:
I warm up my bike and the Leo Vince Ti exhaust can snaps in half at the sleeve. I spend most of the morning safety wiring what's left of it to keep it from falling off. Mental note, don't crash on anything Ti as it will not really bend but snap.

Practice:
It was somewhat frustrating, again w/ the same molasses feeling but otherwise fairly uneventful except a faster bike (hp) clipped my front tire while passing me into the final turn on the in-lap.

650TW:
Gridded 3rd row in the middle, get a pretty poor start (at least i didn't wheelie!) as i see bikes passing me left and right but having a few races under my belt, i drift outside while everyone's going for the apex and grab back a few spots. Going into T2, everyone's trying to be polite but that's more spots for me and I take the inside for a couple more spots. At this point I'm right behind Mike Metcalf (#176) on a kawi 650R and on his ass like a bad rash. Everett "Ducky" Dittman (#175) gets by me going into T3 and by Metcalf at some point and the race was pretty uneventful for me after the first lap. I could make up some time on Mike in a few spots but he would gap me in others. Ducky was in front of Mike a couple bike lengths ahead and never pulled away. Had a couple mistakes which costed me a few more lengths but at least I was still in touch. Final lap and a few backmarkers are coming out and slowing both of them down, almost enough for Mike to get by Ducky but I was a touch too far to capitalize. Finished 10th and that should get me decent gridding for Sears which was my main goal to attend the opener anyway. At least I know I can hang w/ some of the faster guys now. Just have to work on consistency and the racecraft

600SB:
I signed up but some of the wiring came off the exhaust so i spent the time fixing it. My heart wasn't into it anyway as the last time I was in 600SB, I kept getting passed on the straights just to have to work my way back through the corners.

FIV:
Again, pretty decent gridding on the 3rd row this time on the outside. Another shitty start but not quite as bad as the first time. Same drill, make up a few spots on the outside of T1 then charge to the inside of T2. This time however, 1 of the Twinworks Factory riders lowsides in T2 and gets everyone to check up and drift wide, leaving a HUGE opening at the apex of T2. I gladly take it and by the time i crest T3 I actually counted how many people were in front of me and hot damn, i'm in 5th! "Better make this count" at least I was hoping I would. Mike Lohmeyer (#177), 1 of the fast guys (KFG; frontrunner) gets by me before the bus stop and I tail for a little bit but he loses me. Soon, the usual suspects are passing me, Metcalf, Ducky, and most of the pack who were faster are passing me like I'm a backmarker. For some reason, I didn't have any fight in me it felt like and as the laps progressed, I kept getting passed and it's ALWAYS the same turn, Lost Hills. It felt like I let them get by me and I have no real answer why. The funny thing, they don't gap me too much afterwards and I'm always in touch but progressively moving back. I end up 13th, pretty frustrating considering I should have at least had another top 10 finish.

Thanks to my pitmates, my sponsors and the cornerworkers. Hopefully will have some speed for Sears. I've traditionally gone pretty slow @ Sears and there are some fast up and comers in our grid this season so it should be a barn-burner this coming round. I'd be happy with another top 10 weekend and hope to make that goal a consistent this season.













Start of the FIV race. I'm on the outside far right of the row right in front of the camera bike

2007: AFM Round 2 @ Sears Point (Infineon) Raceway

Short Ver:
replaced the broken exhaust just to have it work for 1.5 days when the new 1 blows out again. finished 9th in 650TW but DNFed FIV when i did a pedrosa.

Long Ver.
Saturday practice:
Head up to Sears and pit w/ Pete, Ramon (#610), Ernie (#199) and and Matt (#126). Ozzy didn't ride but shot photos instead w/ Dito @ gotbluemilk.com. Go to reg and I'm signed in for group 4 as is Pete, Ramon and Matt. First practice wasn't too bad. Felt like I got to pace somewhat quickly though not full tilt. 2nd practice we all head out to grid up first for our practice group and I follow Matt around. Matt was a former top 5 guy a couple yrs back and w/ his new dunlop inspired confidence, he was cookin'. Our practice session went well and I think i was able to find some new speed in a couple key points. After lunch, Ernie's first practice resulted in a blown motor so he called it quits which sucked since he was about our pace and would have made a good showing this round. I go w/ Matt 1 more time and my rear tire that I just replaced @ BW was already onto the wear markers and moving around on me. Afterwards I throw on a brand new med/soft per Alex @ Michelin's suggestion and talk to Zoran @ Twinworks to figure out why my rear end's coming around. couple clicks of rebound and a trip to Gerry Piazza @ GP Frame & Wheels resulted in finding that all that was in my head and that I'd have to ride a little better to keep all 7Xrwhp to the ground which is easy if you have even a drop of talent. Tech, chilled, had some good eats @ Father J and Ricky's pit and went home.



you can see the progression in the pipe (more about it later)


Sunday morning:
Clowdy and overcast i get a speeding ticket getting over to the track. great. and i miss practice cause of it. whoopee. Our races aren't until after lunch so that was a big waste of time and money. I'll have to spring for a radar detector to minimize these things from happening in the future.

650TW:
I'm gridded on the outside of the 2nd row cause of the 10th place I picked up @ the season opener. Awesome. After my wheelie incident last yr., it was my goal to not repeat that and possibly roach my motor again. SIIIIDDDEEEWAAAAAAYYYYSSS, and it's a pretty long pause as the 1 board is in the horizontal position, GREEN FLAG! and creep forward and start moving like i'm coming from a stop light. Run out of revs and shift to 2nd. By this time, the back to rows have passed me and I'm cursing myself. Get going and start to make a few spots going up the hill and go through some traffic. I'm probably midpack after lap 1 w/ more people in front when an incident draws the black flag to stop the race. We all get back into the pits and I wait w/ some of the fast guys in the hot pits. After what seemed like 10min., just said "fuck it" and went back into the pits. Pull my helmet off getting ready to grab a drink when Suzanne (Pete's S.O.) tells me it's 2nd call to restart the race. Throw my gear back on and head back to the hot pits. I do a couple practice starts and 1 of them was decent so i head back to the front of the grid. Barb let's us go and we're off to do our in-lap and scrub tires. As about 7-9 of us grid up, we see the entire rest of the grid file into the hot pits so we take a 2nd warm up lap. SIDEWAYS.....GREEN FLAG! and my start is once again a pile of steaming dog turd. people pass me left and right and i'm not quite as aggressive as the first start so more people are getting by. Finally make some time up and start moving back to wear I started. Ducky (#175) is in front of me and I follow for a couple laps.



White flag flies so I finally passing him in T7 on the brakes and chassing after kevin (#835). I don't gain much on him but i know Ducky is breathing down my neck so I take defensive lines in the back section and end up finishing 9th during the race.

Oliver (#960) was behind me most of the way. here are the last 2 laps (FYI, i'm the first guy into T11):

He also has the entire race on youtube if you care to watch. You can watch just how shitting my start was.

Coming back into the pits, I noticed my bike was a bit louder than normal so I check my pipe and sure enough, there's a big gaping hole in the CF can that I just picked up. Hopefully this gets resolved somehow cause this is the 2nd can that's blown out in the span of 2mo.

first start of the 650TW race (i'm gridded outside of the 2nd row)


check the stuffing (0_0''')






FIV:
Grid up on the 3rd row on the outside. This shoulda been on 2nd row but I lost aggression @ BW and moved backwards. SIDEWAAAYSS, GREEN FLAG! and the start is not bad but i pause for a split second as the bike revs out in 1st so people pass me as i move my boot onto the peg to shift to 2nd. I'm gaining ground but feel the bike doesn't have a lot of juice to go so I shift up and end up in 5th gear going into T2. start to gas it coming out and it's bogging as people who I just passed going into T2 get right back in front.


Eventually I'm in a pack w/ Jimbo (#300), Will (#522), Mike (#176). Will overcooks T9 and runs off in the dirt while the 3 of us go through. Will starts to head back onto the track as we're coming out of T9A so Mike checks up for a split sec. while i'm still on the gas. on his inside (left). I have a decent pull on Mike coming out of T10 and tried an inside (right) move into T11. Hard on the brakes, my front wheel is right next to his leg as he turns into T11. HOLY SHIT! I grab a handful more brake and the rear end lifts up what feels like 3ft as I hit his rear wheel and get tossed onto his left side, landing on the back of my head and back as my bike is pushing me straight. Finally stop and get up w/ a twinge of pain in my ankle as I go to pickup the bike. I see Mike and apologize profusely. I'm sure he was completely bummed being taken out like that as I would be if I were in his shoes. Props to the cornerworkers. As soon as I get up, they're practically on top of us making sure we're okay as they pull the bikes off the track. The worst thing is T11 is in direct view of the Twinworks garage so the entire crew was there to see my bonehead move. All I could do was shrug my shoulders, explained what happened on my end and apologize to Mike again. The race ends as we sit on the hot pit armco. I get back to the pits and throw my helmet down in disgust as I head to the ambulance to get checked out. Other than a wounded pride and some soreness, I'll live.











Thanks to Pete, Ozzy and all the BARFers who came to watch and support us. Big thanks to the cornerworkers. They're the best in the business of all the ones I've seen from the pro-circuit. Thanks the the sponsors for their support. See you next round. Hopefully w/ a new attitude, clean bike and more speed.

2007: AFM Round 1 @ Buttonwillow Raceway

Short Ver:
Sat. Practice was so-so. 650TW placed 10th and did better than expected. FIV, had a really GOOD break but didn't capitalize and went backwards to place 13th.

Long Ver:
Saturday practice:
Drove down the morning of and pitted w/ my old pitmates Mike Wong (#103), Mike Thompson (#77), Chris Weiss (#666), and Greg Becker (#869) since my team were not attending. Missed the first practice session while going through tech but just as well since I've always been a bit of a late starter and mornings don't agree with me or the bike. I change to a brand new set of michelin donuts while i waited for my next session. Finally got out to practice and start to figure out the track again at pace. Nothing to really report other than feeling pretty slow.

Teched for sunday, got some BBQ, showered and slept like a baby

Sunday:
I warm up my bike and the Leo Vince Ti exhaust can snaps in half at the sleeve. I spend most of the morning safety wiring what's left of it to keep it from falling off. Mental note, don't crash on anything Ti as it will not really bend but snap.

Practice:
It was somewhat frustrating, again w/ the same molasses feeling but otherwise fairly uneventful except a faster bike (hp) clipped my front tire while passing me into the final turn on the in-lap.

650TW:
Gridded 3rd row in the middle, get a pretty poor start (at least i didn't wheelie!) as i see bikes passing me left and right but having a few races under my belt, i drift outside while everyone's going for the apex and grab back a few spots. Going into T2, everyone's trying to be polite but that's more spots for me and I take the inside for a couple more spots. At this point I'm right behind Mike Metcalf (#176) on a kawi 650R and on his ass like a bad rash. Everett "Ducky" Dittman (#175) gets by me going into T3 and by Metcalf at some point and the race was pretty uneventful for me after the first lap. I could make up some time on Mike in a few spots but he would gap me in others. Ducky was in front of Mike a couple bike lengths ahead and never pulled away. Had a couple mistakes which costed me a few more lengths but at least I was still in touch. Final lap and a few backmarkers are coming out and slowing both of them down, almost enough for Mike to get by Ducky but I was a touch too far to capitalize. Finished 10th and that should get me decent gridding for Sears which was my main goal to attend the opener anyway. At least I know I can hang w/ some of the faster guys now. Just have to work on consistency and the racecraft

600SB:
I signed up but some of the wiring came off the exhaust so i spent the time fixing it. My heart wasn't into it anyway as the last time I was in 600SB, I kept getting passed on the straights just to have to work my way back through the corners.

FIV:
Again, pretty decent gridding on the 3rd row this time on the outside. Another shitty start but not quite as bad as the first time. Same drill, make up a few spots on the outside of T1 then charge to the inside of T2. This time however, 1 of the Twinworks Factory riders lowsides in T2 and gets everyone to check up and drift wide, leaving a HUGE opening at the apex of T2. I gladly take it and by the time i crest T3 I actually counted how many people were in front of me and hot damn, i'm in 5th! "Better make this count" at least I was hoping I would. Mike Lohmeyer (#177), 1 of the fast guys (KFG; frontrunner) gets by me before the bus stop and I tail for a little bit but he loses me. Soon, the usual suspects are passing me, Metcalf, Ducky, and most of the pack who were faster are passing me like I'm a backmarker. For some reason, I didn't have any fight in me it felt like and as the laps progressed, I kept getting passed and it's ALWAYS the same turn, Lost Hills. It felt like I let them get by me and I have no real answer why. The funny thing, they don't gap me too much afterwards and I'm always in touch but progressively moving back. I end up 13th, pretty frustrating considering I should have at least had another top 10 finish.

Thanks to my pitmates, my sponsors and the cornerworkers. Hopefully will have some speed for Sears. I've traditionally gone pretty slow @ Sears and there are some fast up and comers in our grid this season so it should be a barn-burner this coming round. I'd be happy with another top 10 weekend and hope to make that goal a consistent this season.













Start of the FIV race. I'm on the outside far right of the row right in front of the camera bike