Team Barker O’Donoghue Chuck Sorensen AFM round 2 Buttonwillow
This race report will be solely written by myself as my team is in England visiting family.
I finished final prep and loaded up on Thurs. night. I had just secured a helper for the weekend, my friend Julis Lau who worked at Café Meuse with me in the past. Julis is a 20yr old, born and raised in San Francisco and has never been to the cultural mecca Buttonwillow much less a motorcycle road race.
My objective for the weekend was to fix the minor damage from the last race and learn the AIM data system, how to work it myself and get the suspension to a place where I could start charging harder comfortably.
In between the last race and now my wife and I did a cleanse/diet called C9, nine days, less food, aloe juice, no booze, no coffee. My job is in the food and beverage industry and its hard not to get fat. I did this program last summer and this time it was much easier. In the end I lost 13lbs and now fit in my old leathers. If you are interested please ask me.
We arrived at the track just after noon time on Friday and got ready for practice, we were expecting perfect weather all weekend. I quickly felt more comfortable on the bike and my lap times came down, ending the day with a time of 1:52.1 about 2.5 seconds quicker than the previous weekend.
On Saturday we would have practice, qualifying for Formula One and F40 Middleweight race. Practice and qualifying went smoothly, I qualified 4th at 1:51.4.
For the F40 race I was gridded 4th outside front row, got a good start and was 4th into turn 1 behind my friend and garage mate Tom Montano. I got around Tom and the end of lap one and set my sights on our Pres. Berto and Steven Rue. After sizing up Berto for two laps I got by on the brakes and then pushed harder to make sure I stayed in front of him. I was catching Rue and passed him on the 4th lap only to have him pass me back. Going into the last lap I was in striking distance of Rue but he held a gap of a couple of bike lengths. It looked like I would take 2nd place and on the last corner Rue missed a down shift and ran wide. The door was wide open, I went to the inside, gassed it up and took my first win of the season!!!
On Sunday we would have morning warm up, Open GP and Formula 1 races. The previous round I had entered Formula Pacific and quickly found out my fitness is not up for 12 laps. I would like to try it again when I am ready for that pace. This would be my first time in Open GP. I know that putting a 600 against 1000’s isn’t easy but look at what the kids are doing in FP? I was gridded 21st and got an ok start and continued to work through the pack finishing in 12th position. In the Formula One race I would be gridded 4th outside front row. Got a good start and was 4th into turn one. Going into turn 5 on the first lap Brandon Crawford ran into the dirt at 100 mph, I saw a big dust cloud and expected carnage to be coming across the line in turn six, he saved it and quickly hunted down Steven Rue. I was watching my dash for my lap times and I was consistently in the 1:52’s for this race I needed to be in the 50’s for a podium. On the 4th lap I got passed by Fabian Fernandez, tried to stay with him but couldn’t keep the pace. I would finish in 5th position
I was happy overall for the weekend, I wanted to improve the bike, get faster lap times without falling off again. On the down side towards the end of the day my friend Brenden Walsh highsided on the last lap of Open Twins and broke his hip. We went to check on him at the hospital and then drove his rig and crashed bike home. Get better B.Walsh!!!!
I would like to thank all my sponsors Barker O’Donoghue Construction, SPS Suspension, BARF, Shoei, Hotel Biron, Authentic Wine Selections, Z2 Track days and Max of Oxymoron for the great pics…
This race report will be solely written by myself as my team is in England visiting family.
I finished final prep and loaded up on Thurs. night. I had just secured a helper for the weekend, my friend Julis Lau who worked at Café Meuse with me in the past. Julis is a 20yr old, born and raised in San Francisco and has never been to the cultural mecca Buttonwillow much less a motorcycle road race.
My objective for the weekend was to fix the minor damage from the last race and learn the AIM data system, how to work it myself and get the suspension to a place where I could start charging harder comfortably.
In between the last race and now my wife and I did a cleanse/diet called C9, nine days, less food, aloe juice, no booze, no coffee. My job is in the food and beverage industry and its hard not to get fat. I did this program last summer and this time it was much easier. In the end I lost 13lbs and now fit in my old leathers. If you are interested please ask me.
We arrived at the track just after noon time on Friday and got ready for practice, we were expecting perfect weather all weekend. I quickly felt more comfortable on the bike and my lap times came down, ending the day with a time of 1:52.1 about 2.5 seconds quicker than the previous weekend.
On Saturday we would have practice, qualifying for Formula One and F40 Middleweight race. Practice and qualifying went smoothly, I qualified 4th at 1:51.4.
For the F40 race I was gridded 4th outside front row, got a good start and was 4th into turn 1 behind my friend and garage mate Tom Montano. I got around Tom and the end of lap one and set my sights on our Pres. Berto and Steven Rue. After sizing up Berto for two laps I got by on the brakes and then pushed harder to make sure I stayed in front of him. I was catching Rue and passed him on the 4th lap only to have him pass me back. Going into the last lap I was in striking distance of Rue but he held a gap of a couple of bike lengths. It looked like I would take 2nd place and on the last corner Rue missed a down shift and ran wide. The door was wide open, I went to the inside, gassed it up and took my first win of the season!!!
On Sunday we would have morning warm up, Open GP and Formula 1 races. The previous round I had entered Formula Pacific and quickly found out my fitness is not up for 12 laps. I would like to try it again when I am ready for that pace. This would be my first time in Open GP. I know that putting a 600 against 1000’s isn’t easy but look at what the kids are doing in FP? I was gridded 21st and got an ok start and continued to work through the pack finishing in 12th position. In the Formula One race I would be gridded 4th outside front row. Got a good start and was 4th into turn one. Going into turn 5 on the first lap Brandon Crawford ran into the dirt at 100 mph, I saw a big dust cloud and expected carnage to be coming across the line in turn six, he saved it and quickly hunted down Steven Rue. I was watching my dash for my lap times and I was consistently in the 1:52’s for this race I needed to be in the 50’s for a podium. On the 4th lap I got passed by Fabian Fernandez, tried to stay with him but couldn’t keep the pace. I would finish in 5th position
I was happy overall for the weekend, I wanted to improve the bike, get faster lap times without falling off again. On the down side towards the end of the day my friend Brenden Walsh highsided on the last lap of Open Twins and broke his hip. We went to check on him at the hospital and then drove his rig and crashed bike home. Get better B.Walsh!!!!
I would like to thank all my sponsors Barker O’Donoghue Construction, SPS Suspension, BARF, Shoei, Hotel Biron, Authentic Wine Selections, Z2 Track days and Max of Oxymoron for the great pics…
Attachments
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Chuck BW.jpg
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