Race Report

Well, we did it once again. For the third year in a row I have secured the OMRRA #1 plate, and overall championship. Along with the overall win, I also secured the two class championships in the process. The year proved to be yet another strong performance, with a healthy lead going into the last round, enabling me to take it easy without any pressure. What a crappy day at the racetrack too. It just was dark, wet, cold, raining and gross pretty much all day long. I really didn’t expect anything different though. Holding a race on the rainy West Coast in the middle of October is really asking for nothing other than a gross day. To top it off, the club decided it should be “double points day” to hopefully generate attendance. Well, for anybody that cares about the points, they’re going to be there anyway. And it really didn’t work, because the turn-out was pathetic. None-the-less, although I had a huge lead, I was going to flog myself around the track to seal the deal.

Qualifiers were really just plain no fun at all. I can’t remember how I finished in them, but I was on the first row for all my starts, so no worse than 4th. In fact most of the racing was no fun, as we tippy-toed around the insanely slippery old surface of PIR in a downpour. I almost shivered myself into the next week before Josh Bryan gave me the Pirelli coat off of his own back to keep the wind from blasting the rain straight through my perforated suit. Once I got the coat, things were at least tolerable.

I did what I had to do and finished 3rd in my first three races. At that point, I had the championship sewed up, and it really didn’t matter what happened beyond then.

The last race of the day for me it actually stopped raining for a little bit before the event. I knew there might be a dry line in portions of the track, but left the rain tires on because I felt there would still be enough wet pavement that it would be even less fun on DOT’s. I was hoping that the track might be dry coming out of the last turn onto the straightaway, and some people and photographers headed down there as my plan was to spin and smoke the rear tire coming off of there, or just do wheelies down the straightaway every lap. I even had a conversation with fellow competitor Jason Bluth in pre-grid proclaiming my lack of desire to race for the win. He had just won his first race earlier in the day, and I knew he would be going for it again. I just said for him to go, as I’ll be wheelie-ing along a half lap behind him. We shared a laugh and left for the warm-up lap. As I leave the pre-grid I tried a power-wheelie to mimic coming off the last turn. That didn’t work, as the rear tire just spun instead. Well, then we get to the back section of the track and it’s dry! So, I can’t do my wheelies, the last turn was wet so I couldn’t do my smoke shows, but the infield of the track was dry – so I might as well just win the race I figure.

So I’m running in 2nd place. Jason’s fast in the wet sections at the end of the lap, but I’m faster in the dry for the first 4 turns. I passed him once or twice, but he’d lead every time crossing the line (because he’d pass me right back at the end of the lap in the wet section). I figured I needed to pass him as early as I could in the dry section, and put a bit of a lead on him before the wet section so I could secure the lead over the line and stretch out the gap. Everything went according to plan. I followed him much closer through the wet section and made the pass clean in the dry. Immediately upon setting into the turn though I went into “gotta build a gap now” mode, and got on the gas. Whether it was cause of the newly fallen rain (it started raining again part way through the race), the fact that I was pushing that side of the tire harder than previous, or I had a much tighter line than normal because of the pass – in the end I gave it more throttle than it wanted. The back end spun around on me and I ended my season ploughing a trough through the Oregon mud. Oh well.

So I didn’t win my last race, but I didn’t need to. I’m happy with the results of the day, and for the season. My version of “taking a year off” means not as many big road trips. I didn’t make it out to any AMA Nationals this year for the first time in a long time, but I look forward to hitting a few next year, as the schedule looks like I’ll have some free time for it.

I want to take a minute to give some shouts out to the people that have been swinging for me this year. Suzuki’s been great to me, and made my job that much easier with the new GSXR’s. Those bikes balance as well as any bike I’ve had in the past. Their race program is second to none, and the companies commitment to racing success really must be admired. Pirelli once again has shown that they have the best tires out there. Sponsorship agreements aside, one only has to look at the privateers running AMA Superbike to see what really works best – and the package for 95% of those guys is a GSXR1000 riding on Pirelli tires. Trying to make something else work is just making the job tougher for yourself. Think about it.

I’ve been at this game for a little while now. I’ve got some great relationships with all of my sponsors. I used to run around like a mad rookie every year sending off piles of resumes and chasing down company reps and always looking for the best deals, but that’s really not my program any more. I’ve established myself only with companies that have the best products, and that share the same respect for what I can do for them as I have for them. The people I associate with in my racing life are second to none, and the products they put out are even better. I’ve turned down many offers due to poor products or flaky reps, and I’m happy to say that my life is a lot more stress free because of it. Each and every one of my sponsors I will whole-heartedly stand behind, both the people that make it happen, and the products they promote – because if either of those is lacking, they’re just not part of my program. So to each of you, I say thank you – and I look forward to being your team-mates in winning our 4th, 5th, and 6th consecutive championships together.

Suzuki Motorcycles ............ 2006 GSXR 600 and 2006 GSXR 750
Pirelli Compitizioni ............... Pirelli Supercorsa and Superbike DOT & slicks
Maxima ............................ Engine oil, cleaning products, brake fluid, etc.
Columbia River ................... Track support, product support
Gateway Powersports ......... Product support
Motorcycle World ............... Product support
eClips Web Design .............. schmidtastic.com
Flexi-Glass ........................ Race Bodywork
Ron’s Performance Motors .... Race engine building, tuning, dyno work
GP Suspension ................... Suspension work and race tuning
GPR Stabilizers ................... Steering dampeners
PSI leathers ...................... Custom race suits
SBS Brakes ....................... Super Bitchin’ Stoppers
Spike’s Sprockets ............... Aluminum race sprockets
MotorcycleUSA.com ............ Product support
Studio819 ......................... Photography/Promotions
Vodkastick.com .................. Product support