“Popped Our Cherry”
Buttonwillow March 17th-18th 2018
BarkerO’Donoghue And Chuck Sorensen Racing , Moto2 bike , F40, F1 , FP
Written by Crispin Barker, comments by Chuck Sorensen
The whole team were all really excited to get out there with our new machine .
Our Moto2 bike is at its heart a Honda motor with a teutonic chasis. Hmmm, Reliability, handling. thank you lord Jesus !.
We’ve only scratched the surface with set up. Swapped springs up and down care of SPS expertise, (thank you James, love your work)
Bike is approx 2” shorter than most 600cc sport rides so it definitely has particular characteristics.
Saturday , smooth and building practice laps in the morning.
Afternoon F40, gridded fourth row, didn’t gain much advantage n the rollaway , but made steady progress up through the pack till about the half way point
where space opened up before us and after , and rode home to a solid fourth place, behind our good buddy Montano .
Well happy with a maiden flight . /consider cherry popped.
Chuck said:
I got an ok start from the 4th row, looking for passing opportunities on the outside going into turn one. With each session on the bike I am starting to feel more comfortable. This bike is very different from what we raced last year( Aprilia SXV550RR ) The Kalex Moto2 chassis is very rigid, responsive and user friendly. About the half way point in the race I was battling with a rider on a newish Yamaha R6, this was one of the first times I have seen how the power compares to my Kalex. It was pretty even down the straight. We will be looking at going to the Dyno before the next round to see how the engine is mapped. After getting around the R6, I kept my focus to concentrate on consistent lap times. I thought the R6 was still there to the end but it was the sound of my own bike in my ear.
Sunday , slightly warmer conditions , but track surface still relatively cool, deceptively so as it turned out.
Chuck said:
Our first race for Sunday would be Formula 1, again a 4th row start. This time a slow start and I was finding myself making dangerous passes into the first two corners. This race was red flagged before the end of the first lap. They quickly brought us back to hot pit and would release us within a minutes time. I got a better launch on the restart. I hadn’t raced Buttonwillow in almost 10 years and was not aware of being more cautious at the bus stop on the first lap. I flicked it into the first left and the front washed, 4th gear 100mph, no warning… Bummer… I thought to myself, when am I going to stop sliding? after seeing pavement flashing by, it became dirt and dust. I picked myself up relatively unhurt.
Miraculously or by design the bike was relatively unscathed. With the help of Brendan Walsh and Montano, our erstwhile garage mates, we had the machine race worthy in 30 minutes.
Chuck said:
If the bike and myself were still in one piece I wanted to get back out there. When you fall off, its much better to get back on immediately as opposed to waiting for the next round of racing. I started the Formula Pacific race from the 5th row, I put down a couple of 55’s and found myself mentally exhausted and making mistakes. I decided to call it a day after the halfway point in the race.
This machine is an extraordinary piece of equipment and we ae just getting to grips with its potential.
We got out motored here and there just a bit but as we dial in the handling we fully expect to be on the pointy end in the next few meets
I would like to thank all of our sponsors: Barker O’Donoghue Construction, Superplush Suspension, BARF Racing, Authentic Wine Selections, Hotel Biron, Racer Gloves, Shoei Helmets, Z2 track Days.
Buttonwillow March 17th-18th 2018
BarkerO’Donoghue And Chuck Sorensen Racing , Moto2 bike , F40, F1 , FP
Written by Crispin Barker, comments by Chuck Sorensen
The whole team were all really excited to get out there with our new machine .
Our Moto2 bike is at its heart a Honda motor with a teutonic chasis. Hmmm, Reliability, handling. thank you lord Jesus !.
We’ve only scratched the surface with set up. Swapped springs up and down care of SPS expertise, (thank you James, love your work)
Bike is approx 2” shorter than most 600cc sport rides so it definitely has particular characteristics.
Saturday , smooth and building practice laps in the morning.
Afternoon F40, gridded fourth row, didn’t gain much advantage n the rollaway , but made steady progress up through the pack till about the half way point
where space opened up before us and after , and rode home to a solid fourth place, behind our good buddy Montano .
Well happy with a maiden flight . /consider cherry popped.
Chuck said:
I got an ok start from the 4th row, looking for passing opportunities on the outside going into turn one. With each session on the bike I am starting to feel more comfortable. This bike is very different from what we raced last year( Aprilia SXV550RR ) The Kalex Moto2 chassis is very rigid, responsive and user friendly. About the half way point in the race I was battling with a rider on a newish Yamaha R6, this was one of the first times I have seen how the power compares to my Kalex. It was pretty even down the straight. We will be looking at going to the Dyno before the next round to see how the engine is mapped. After getting around the R6, I kept my focus to concentrate on consistent lap times. I thought the R6 was still there to the end but it was the sound of my own bike in my ear.
Sunday , slightly warmer conditions , but track surface still relatively cool, deceptively so as it turned out.
Chuck said:
Our first race for Sunday would be Formula 1, again a 4th row start. This time a slow start and I was finding myself making dangerous passes into the first two corners. This race was red flagged before the end of the first lap. They quickly brought us back to hot pit and would release us within a minutes time. I got a better launch on the restart. I hadn’t raced Buttonwillow in almost 10 years and was not aware of being more cautious at the bus stop on the first lap. I flicked it into the first left and the front washed, 4th gear 100mph, no warning… Bummer… I thought to myself, when am I going to stop sliding? after seeing pavement flashing by, it became dirt and dust. I picked myself up relatively unhurt.
Miraculously or by design the bike was relatively unscathed. With the help of Brendan Walsh and Montano, our erstwhile garage mates, we had the machine race worthy in 30 minutes.
Chuck said:
If the bike and myself were still in one piece I wanted to get back out there. When you fall off, its much better to get back on immediately as opposed to waiting for the next round of racing. I started the Formula Pacific race from the 5th row, I put down a couple of 55’s and found myself mentally exhausted and making mistakes. I decided to call it a day after the halfway point in the race.
This machine is an extraordinary piece of equipment and we ae just getting to grips with its potential.
We got out motored here and there just a bit but as we dial in the handling we fully expect to be on the pointy end in the next few meets
I would like to thank all of our sponsors: Barker O’Donoghue Construction, Superplush Suspension, BARF Racing, Authentic Wine Selections, Hotel Biron, Racer Gloves, Shoei Helmets, Z2 track Days.
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