Race Report

I've never felt so good about a weekend where I basically just crashed my brains loose before. It must seem strange to most for me to explain that I crashed out of both the superbike races at Sears Point, and had a lack-luster performance in Superstock, but I'm stoked right up about going to the next round.

You see, I made a top secret change to my machine and it's made all the difference in world. Two weeks ago if you asked me what my biggest weakness was on the track it would have been the same answer that you'd get now if you asked me where my strong point was last weekend! It's in the brakes, baby! I'm schooling them down into the low speed corners, and I can't wait to go to a bunch of tracks this year that I used to dread.

Qualifying went really well for Superstock. I put on a really good charge to just miss the second row by 0.1 of a second. In fact, the whole row in front of me was within 0.3 seconds of my time. I was pumped.

I went out in the first Superbike race only planning on riding around for a few laps to practice a start and keep from tiring myself out for the Superstock race later that afternoon. Boy did that ever go wrong. After about a lap or so I started having fun as I was passing some of the faster riders, basically practising for the Superstock race. I didn't even start the race with enough gas in my tank to go the distance, and on old tires. I just passed a group or riders and thought I'd see what I could do with some clean track, and try to chase down the group ahead of me a bit. I came out of the last tight hairpin a little wide and tried to start my drive while leaned over a little too much. I thought I was going to save it, even though my legs were over my head, until it snapped the second time and I couldn't hold on to the bars any more. I got launched just short of the moon and landed square on my thinker. My Shoei helmet saved the day. It was actually on display for the rest of the weekend at the Shoei tent because it was a perfect example of how a helmet is supposed to work. The entire back of it was all crushed in on the inside with a perfect mold of my skull. It did ring my bell pretty good, but I got up right away and was still able to race that afternoon, which is a lot better than having someone listen to the beep of my heart at the hospital. Shoei's rule!

My crew performed magically to get my bike back into 100% condition in a matter of about an hour (Tuff Dog's rule too). I got a mediocre start and ran a mediocre race in Superstock that afternoon. I was definitely off my game a whole bunch from bonking my head. My times weren't near what I qualified with, and I just didn't have the charge or energy that I normally would have. I finished 12th in the end, to keep soldiering on in the points. It sure felt good to eat a nice meal and get to bed that night. I needed a rest more than anything.

I was really looking forward to the Superbike race on Sunday, to try to put my head down (now that the stars had partially cleared) and put in a good show for anyone that cared. Warm-up went well in the morning and I was feeling on my game. I got a decent start off the line, but nothing to brag about. Going into the last turn on the first lap I went inside of a couple riders on the brakes. Just as I was about to clip the apex I was absolutely rammed off the track into the big parking lot type area on the outside of that turn. A parade of bikes stormed past as I weaved through some cones and got my bike pointed back in the proper direction. Right after that when I crossed the line for the first time I was running in 33rd position. I went on an absolute TEAR after that, passing 15 riders in the next 5 laps. When I finally got clear of a large group of riders I could see a smaller group in the distance. After about a lap I ID'd them as Dean Mizdal, John Dugan, and Owen Richey. I was pretty excited about this as a believe that one of them was the rider than punted me off on the first lap. I closed the gap to them like they were painted to the fence and passed the lot of them in about a lap and a half. It felt so good, too. There was a large gap to the next group and I started my clean-track charge to close the gap. Unfortunately that didn't last very long as I touched the gas just a smidge too early before the suspension settled from a little mid-corner dip in the right hand turn 4 and the back end came around at full lean. Even as I slid I didn't feel bad at all about the mistake.

Between the charge that I put on at the start of that last Superbike race and the titanic advancement I've made to my braking abilities into the slow turns I'm just totally jazzed for Atlanta. I feel dangerous. It's just a short week of catching back up on stuff here at home before the next trip. Just long enough to catch my breath. Watch for me down there cause where I'm going, the parties don't stop till 8 in the mo-nin!

The hugest help that I'm so thankful for is of course Shoei Safety Helmets for saving the day. The EBC brakes are keeping me smiling lately, that's for sure. MotorcycleUSA.com is a relationship of mine that is going to be putting out some real interesting stuff in the near future (more on that soon). Also a big thanks to Factory Pro Tuning for cleaning up the partial throttle glitch and lending me parts.