Well it's been a while since I raced at Sonoma raceway and this was my first race weekend for the 2019 season. I had thought about racing the R6 and R3, but situations would have me just racing the R3 which turned out to be just fine for me.
The weekend started off with dropping items off on Friday evening and then arriving early Saturday morning so that we could set up the garage, get the team ready to begin practice and then do some maintenance on the R3 to prep it for racing. Thankfully, while loading on Friday I remembered to plug in my transponder to the truck outlet and begin charging it for Saturday afternoons American Federation of Motorcyclists 350 Super Stock race.
It would be interesting to see what my performance would be as I chose to spend my money on tires instead of practice so my only chance to see the track would be the warm up lap. So being 57 has it's advantages....?
I wanted to make sure and make it as interesting as possible so I didn't change the gearing and doubled down and brought my new to me puppy to his first race weekend. (Thank you to the entire team for putting up with Kimo as well as taking care of him)
So we had CT Racing mount some fresh Pirelli tires, covered them with borrowed tire warmers and waited for the start of the race. Before I knew it, second call could be heard over the PA system and we inserted ear plugs, donned our helmet and put on our gloves and waited for 3rd call. 3rd call came rather quickly and we rolled out of the garage and down onto pit lane and parked in pit box 17 and waited for the familiar sight of Barb Smith waving her wand in a circle indicating the track was open and my one lap practice session could start.
I rolled up into my starting spot and put my arms up right indicating to others that another wave would be starting before us and please don't run us over. As the wave before us race up the hill, the 3 board was changed to a 2 board and we awaited our start. As the 1 board was put up, we closed our shield, made sure the helmet vents were open. When the 1 began to fall, I placed the bike in first gear and prepared for the wave of the flag. To my astonishment, there was a big move from the starter and I began releasing the clutch lever as the bike shot forward. We timed everything so well, the front tire lofted and we were able to carry that through second gear as we slotted into the 3rd spot going up the hill.
Now 4th doesn't seem that good unless you know that since I had no races this year, I also had no points, which means that I was 4 rows behind the pole position and the sole person on the 5th row lol
Try as I might, I just couldn't get find the confidence I needed to push the tires over the first 2 laps and thus lost touch with Jay Kinberger and Lucky Odesetti. So I thought I would just cruise to the line and get a third place which seemed pretty legit for the amount of racing seat time I have had all year.. But I couldn't have been more incorrect and with the assistance of Steven Driscoll, I realized he also had the same plan and over the next 2 laps we passed and re-passed each other quite often. However, there was a she devil also on the grid and her plans were also a 3rd place and as we started coming into lapped traffic, she made a pass going into turn 7 and left Steven and I to fight it out for 4th. Luckily for me, I won that battle, but was off the podium with Ashlee taking the remaining spot on the box.
After a wonderful dinner with the team featuring bbq ribs and Miguel's crispy skin chicken, Kimo and I headed home for a nights rest. Lucky little dog was out by the time we got to 37 leaving me to drive by myself all the way home.
Sunday morning we were the first race of the day and we chose to skip the practice session so again it would be a 1 lap track sighting/practice for me going into the race. We made a slight pressure adjustment to our tire settings and again took our spot at the back of the 350 Superbike grid. Once again, we had a beautiful launch and the front tire lofted and stayed through 2 gears as we slotted into the 4th slot as we rounded turn 2 at the top of the hill.
Jim and Lucky again would start breaking away while I slotted into 4th behind Ashlee as we went down into T4. Also, new player inserting himself as a potential to the last podium spot would be Ram Subram. So as I chased down Ashlee, I would have Ram and Steven trying to overtake me at their first opportunity. My opportunity to pass Ashlee came at turn 9 where I outbraked her on the outside giving me position for the immediate left turn.
We quickly started encountering traffic and as we were going up into T2, I was pacing myself behind a rider so that I could make a pass using a stronger exit than the rider in front of me, however, Ram saw the opening on the inside and must have passed us doing at least 10 mph faster than we were going, so now the chase was on as he put a gap on us about the length of the straight between T3a and T4. But as we encountered more traffic a lap later, I was able to re-pass Ram and try to make a break away, but Steven and Ashlee had other plans again. Unfortunately we started losing Ram as he encountered some break fade.
Steven had a great drive out of the Carousel and passed me going into T7 and with only a lap and a half left in the race, I needed to find ground on Steven or again lose a spot on the box.
As I worked to get myself on Steven's rear tire for the last lap, my opportunity presented itself in T7 but we didn't get close enough so concentrated getting a good drive through the esses for an attack at t9 the bus stop. However, we again came up short with just 2 turns left before the checkered line. And with some gumption and luck, first Steven went a bit wide allowing me to close more ground on him and be almost side by side despite being about 15 to the inside. My next opportunity was Steven missed a shift and this allowed me to pull in front at the line and save my opportunity at bringing home a well deserved trophy.
All in all, it was a lot of fun during those 2 races and it really showed me how much everyone has improved in skill and race craft. Below is a link to Ram's onboard video of the Superbike race.
youtu.be/OUfbJqAOYC4
I couldn't have done this if it wasn't for great team mates so thank you Ashlee, Gordon, Ezra, Carla, and Danny.
And thank you to the following for all the support over the years as a racer, and as a crew chief for our team.
Z2 Track Days
Bay Area Riders Forum
CT Racing / Pirelli Tires
GP Suspension
Fuzimoto USA - Mike Castro
Van Leeuwen Enterprises / Suomy Helmets
Mach 1 Motorcycles
Motion Pro
Cycle Gear
Racer Gloves USA
OxyMoron Photography
Sidi Boots / MotoNation
Tech Spec
Drippinwet.com
CRG Levers
Spears Enterprises
MC Tech
PCP Motorsports
The weekend started off with dropping items off on Friday evening and then arriving early Saturday morning so that we could set up the garage, get the team ready to begin practice and then do some maintenance on the R3 to prep it for racing. Thankfully, while loading on Friday I remembered to plug in my transponder to the truck outlet and begin charging it for Saturday afternoons American Federation of Motorcyclists 350 Super Stock race.
It would be interesting to see what my performance would be as I chose to spend my money on tires instead of practice so my only chance to see the track would be the warm up lap. So being 57 has it's advantages....?
I wanted to make sure and make it as interesting as possible so I didn't change the gearing and doubled down and brought my new to me puppy to his first race weekend. (Thank you to the entire team for putting up with Kimo as well as taking care of him)
So we had CT Racing mount some fresh Pirelli tires, covered them with borrowed tire warmers and waited for the start of the race. Before I knew it, second call could be heard over the PA system and we inserted ear plugs, donned our helmet and put on our gloves and waited for 3rd call. 3rd call came rather quickly and we rolled out of the garage and down onto pit lane and parked in pit box 17 and waited for the familiar sight of Barb Smith waving her wand in a circle indicating the track was open and my one lap practice session could start.
I rolled up into my starting spot and put my arms up right indicating to others that another wave would be starting before us and please don't run us over. As the wave before us race up the hill, the 3 board was changed to a 2 board and we awaited our start. As the 1 board was put up, we closed our shield, made sure the helmet vents were open. When the 1 began to fall, I placed the bike in first gear and prepared for the wave of the flag. To my astonishment, there was a big move from the starter and I began releasing the clutch lever as the bike shot forward. We timed everything so well, the front tire lofted and we were able to carry that through second gear as we slotted into the 3rd spot going up the hill.
Now 4th doesn't seem that good unless you know that since I had no races this year, I also had no points, which means that I was 4 rows behind the pole position and the sole person on the 5th row lol
Try as I might, I just couldn't get find the confidence I needed to push the tires over the first 2 laps and thus lost touch with Jay Kinberger and Lucky Odesetti. So I thought I would just cruise to the line and get a third place which seemed pretty legit for the amount of racing seat time I have had all year.. But I couldn't have been more incorrect and with the assistance of Steven Driscoll, I realized he also had the same plan and over the next 2 laps we passed and re-passed each other quite often. However, there was a she devil also on the grid and her plans were also a 3rd place and as we started coming into lapped traffic, she made a pass going into turn 7 and left Steven and I to fight it out for 4th. Luckily for me, I won that battle, but was off the podium with Ashlee taking the remaining spot on the box.
After a wonderful dinner with the team featuring bbq ribs and Miguel's crispy skin chicken, Kimo and I headed home for a nights rest. Lucky little dog was out by the time we got to 37 leaving me to drive by myself all the way home.
Sunday morning we were the first race of the day and we chose to skip the practice session so again it would be a 1 lap track sighting/practice for me going into the race. We made a slight pressure adjustment to our tire settings and again took our spot at the back of the 350 Superbike grid. Once again, we had a beautiful launch and the front tire lofted and stayed through 2 gears as we slotted into the 4th slot as we rounded turn 2 at the top of the hill.
Jim and Lucky again would start breaking away while I slotted into 4th behind Ashlee as we went down into T4. Also, new player inserting himself as a potential to the last podium spot would be Ram Subram. So as I chased down Ashlee, I would have Ram and Steven trying to overtake me at their first opportunity. My opportunity to pass Ashlee came at turn 9 where I outbraked her on the outside giving me position for the immediate left turn.
We quickly started encountering traffic and as we were going up into T2, I was pacing myself behind a rider so that I could make a pass using a stronger exit than the rider in front of me, however, Ram saw the opening on the inside and must have passed us doing at least 10 mph faster than we were going, so now the chase was on as he put a gap on us about the length of the straight between T3a and T4. But as we encountered more traffic a lap later, I was able to re-pass Ram and try to make a break away, but Steven and Ashlee had other plans again. Unfortunately we started losing Ram as he encountered some break fade.
Steven had a great drive out of the Carousel and passed me going into T7 and with only a lap and a half left in the race, I needed to find ground on Steven or again lose a spot on the box.
As I worked to get myself on Steven's rear tire for the last lap, my opportunity presented itself in T7 but we didn't get close enough so concentrated getting a good drive through the esses for an attack at t9 the bus stop. However, we again came up short with just 2 turns left before the checkered line. And with some gumption and luck, first Steven went a bit wide allowing me to close more ground on him and be almost side by side despite being about 15 to the inside. My next opportunity was Steven missed a shift and this allowed me to pull in front at the line and save my opportunity at bringing home a well deserved trophy.
All in all, it was a lot of fun during those 2 races and it really showed me how much everyone has improved in skill and race craft. Below is a link to Ram's onboard video of the Superbike race.
youtu.be/OUfbJqAOYC4
I couldn't have done this if it wasn't for great team mates so thank you Ashlee, Gordon, Ezra, Carla, and Danny.
And thank you to the following for all the support over the years as a racer, and as a crew chief for our team.
Z2 Track Days
Bay Area Riders Forum
CT Racing / Pirelli Tires
GP Suspension
Fuzimoto USA - Mike Castro
Van Leeuwen Enterprises / Suomy Helmets
Mach 1 Motorcycles
Motion Pro
Cycle Gear
Racer Gloves USA
OxyMoron Photography
Sidi Boots / MotoNation
Tech Spec
Drippinwet.com
CRG Levers
Spears Enterprises
MC Tech
PCP Motorsports
Attachments
-
aa_OI_8306-sm.jpg -
aa_OI_8306a-sm.jpg -
aa_OI_8709-sm.jpg -
aaDSC02846-sm.jpg -
aaDSC03105-sm.jpg -
ashlee n me.jpg -
kimo passed out.jpg
Last edited:
