Race Report

After all the travel in the last little bit it was really nice to be able to have a race close to home. Between Fontana AMA and Portland OMRRA races, I hung out in Portland to do some motocrossing and put together my 1000 for some club racing. It was nice to have some time to visit with friends without it being such a rush.

On Friday it was quite a surprise the first time I was out on the 1000 as I hadn't ridden one since the middle of last season. And I had never ridden my 1000 and my 600 on the same day before. The lines that you take coming out of corners are so wildly different on both machines, even up to the end of the weekend it still took me a couple laps before I wouldn't make the mistake of squaring off a corner on the 600 or carrying too much corner speed on the 1000. We won't even talk about the braking markers.

Even though I pre-entered early for my 600 races I was gridded on the 5th row for both of the qualifying heats. I qualified 2nd and 3rd in those, and 1st and 2nd in the open races. It really surprised me that I did as well as I did on the 1000 as my mindset is to only ride the bike to collect some Suzuki contingency money. Even though I haven't advertised it yet, the bike is for sale, and I don’t want to crash it. I have a scabby tank and bodywork on it now, but have brand new stuff to slap on for when it sells.

The 600 Superbike main was first up. I grabbed the holeshot, and battled with a couple guys for the first few laps, but never giving up the lead for more than a couple corners. I pushed a little harder towards the end of the race and nobody came by till the chequered flag. My bike is down on power again this year compared to my competitors. It's really too bad, as any lead I build up on the brakes or through the turns is sucked right back up on the straight. I guess none of the wins will be easy this year ...

Open Superbike went exactly as I wanted it to. Mike Mitchell got a great start on his new R1 while I slotted into turn one in about 5th place. By the time I got into second, Mike had built a bit of a lead and I just held that gap to cross the line in a safe second place.

For 600 Supersport I knew I was going to have to put my head down to win it. I got the holeshot again and raced hard for the entire distance to keep the lead. On about lap 7 when I was heavily into the lappers I had to follow a lapped rider into turn 4. Nathan Hester was good enough to capitalize on this and came around the outside of us both to take the lead. I had to follow him for about a lap before I could close the gap and pass him back. There was a red flag for some reason right at the end of the race, shortening the race distance by a lap. I was credited with the win.

My goal of winning both the 600 races was achieved, and my head really wasn't into the open supersport race in any way. None-the-less, I still had to whore myself out for some contingency money so on came the sweaty helmet once again. During the course of three laps I had three huge moments. I had a big 6th gear slide at the far outside of the back straight at about half race distance. Then about 2 laps later in 6th gear while bringing my bike from the left to the right side of the track on the back straight I got into a headshake. It didn't settle down in time for me to get it pointed parallel with the wall and I found myself hard on the brakes, leaned over, with my front tire only a foot or so from the wall trying to get it slowed for the fast 4th gear left hander. I almost pooped myself. If that wasn't enough, while passing a lapper on the outside of turn 8 the next lap, he threw his hand up and took the old pit exit (all in one motion). If I didn't need to take emergency action to stay on the track I would have flipped him off. If you happen to be that guy, with some orange on the back of your bike or leathers – consider this your flip-off. I finished off in 4th place, which was good enough for me considering what I went through that race.

Aside from the last race, the rest of my day went excellent so I'm really happy with the results. I managed to tweak my ankle up pretty good playing around at the Sandy, OR motocross track on Sunday. I'm all bandaged up, but should heal up in time for my next races on May 1st and 2nd. It'll be nice to kick back for a couple weekends really. I'm going to do some fishing and beer drinking to try to live up to my redneck Canadian status.

Mass props go out to MotorcycleUSA.com for having the best, fastest shipping, and most complete online motorcycle superstore anywhere. And for just generally being really cool guys.