A few weeks ago I got a call from Chris Wall, Director of Marketing for Pirelli and he invited a barf representative to join him/ Pirelli at the World Superbike race in Utah. He told me Pirelli was reaching out to the E-World and barf was a very large, well run and clean forum and they wanted to see if I had a journalist that may want to attend the event on our behalf as a guest. Of course I thought of me.. :teeth Not a true journalist by any means, but with some feature stories and covering the AFM Races via the barf racing website I felt I could do it. The only real guy we got around is Mike Solis so I thought he might be on it if I could not work it out… Shit this could be cool!
Being a good and happily married guy I told Chris that I had to check with the boss and would get back to him, but in any case I will send someone. The Boss said OK sure!! (Sorry Mike)
So I got my travel orders and I was the first of three folks that got off the plane Saturday afternoon and sure enough Chris spotted me in my… Pirelli hat. I was already in the mode (butt kissing??.. nah.. sharing the love) and soon John and Jim joined us, each picking me out as the Pirelli guy. :laughing
Jim is with US DESMO and loves his Ducati’s.
John a retired Honda Exec that is doing a journalism thing.
Both are retired and have so much energy and great stories about the industry and life experiences to share. Throw in Chris who has the same and myself and you have the makings of some good conversation.
We loaded in the Pirelli Suburban and after a quick trip to the track and I had my first views of Miller. (See Pic 1 below) Beautiful for sure, very clean and well maintained. It reminded me of Indy in that way and I felt immediately I could not drop a cigarette butt… I should honor the effort.
I headed up to the stands with Jim as John went to find the BMW Team. He is doing a feature on them for Bikeland.org. I noted immediately that this is a big sprawling layout. The Racers on the far side were like ants crawling along at high speed that was jaded by the distance. I watched as riders flew by us along the front straight at 170 MPH or so on their way to over 180. Man this is cool. The Mountains surrounding the track were covered with snow and the sky was filtered cloud cover with mostly sunshine.. Utah is sure pretty.
I was introduced to Scott, the man at Pirelli and Richard Moore the US Racing Director. Richard looked familiar and after a few minutes or two of chat we realized we raced against each other at Suzuki Cup Events in the AFM North and South and in the WERA Endurance races ( 24 awesome hours). He always whooped me, but what the hell, recalling the players in the AFM races.. Devaux, Jepson, Wensloff and many more was cool. He would continue to provide great insight/tips over the weekend and also I got to see where his path in motorcycle racing took him oversees to race and 15 years ago to Atlanta, Georgia to join the Pirelli Team. (See Pic 2).
After a bit I went to find the Barf Racing/Pawnmoto/Boulder Motorsports / CT Racing / Pirelli Team Garage.
(Spoken like a true supporter :teeth)
Chris (Siglin) had made his practice run and JP from Boulder and Alex from Fastline were going thru the bike in detail. (See pic 3, 4 and 5)
I chatted with Chris and TJ (Pawn Moto – the guy that is really giving the race effort a 100% effort) and found out that Chris was in a decent spot in the stacked field and was planning his next qualifying session thinking that more was to be found, as he had picked up 2 secs in the previous QP and thought he could climb to the same second as the leaders with some more time on the track.
I spent a little time in the Pirelli hospitality area above the main straight located next to the Victory Podium, which had a nice view of the entire track.
Always nice to be able to grab a beer and a little grub without a hassle
ort
We ended the day and headed to Salt Lake City. We checked in and walked a few blocks to dinner at a killer Italian Restaurant. We met Kevin, who is Chris’s opposite in Europe and lives in Milan. He also would become a great source of information. Next to us was the Speed broadcast crew and Chet Burks came over to say to Chris, Scott and Kevin. I learned that Chris does a killer Scott Russell impersonation and Kevin can do a mean Nicky Hayden as well. These guys are fun!!
A great meal with mucho vino and conversation took us back to the Hotel and some rest.
Breakfast at 8AM followed and Chris, John, Jim and I continued to get to know each other. At the track I checked in the Team again and settled in for a great day. Sunshine and a cool breeze would be the story on the weather. I missed Chris’s QP and found that it was cut short by a red flag in GTU and he only got eight minutes. So the plan to put on the qualifying tire at the end and see what he could do was out the window. He would start
7th in tomorrow's Main Support Event.
Soon the National Anthem was going and peeps around the track stopped to pay respect to the Flag and I am sure many had Memorial Day thoughts in there head as did I... Saying a quick thanks to all those that gave of themselves so I could be here having a kick ass day!! :flag
:smoking
Being a good and happily married guy I told Chris that I had to check with the boss and would get back to him, but in any case I will send someone. The Boss said OK sure!! (Sorry Mike)
So I got my travel orders and I was the first of three folks that got off the plane Saturday afternoon and sure enough Chris spotted me in my… Pirelli hat. I was already in the mode (butt kissing??.. nah.. sharing the love) and soon John and Jim joined us, each picking me out as the Pirelli guy. :laughing
Jim is with US DESMO and loves his Ducati’s.
John a retired Honda Exec that is doing a journalism thing.
Both are retired and have so much energy and great stories about the industry and life experiences to share. Throw in Chris who has the same and myself and you have the makings of some good conversation.
We loaded in the Pirelli Suburban and after a quick trip to the track and I had my first views of Miller. (See Pic 1 below) Beautiful for sure, very clean and well maintained. It reminded me of Indy in that way and I felt immediately I could not drop a cigarette butt… I should honor the effort.
I headed up to the stands with Jim as John went to find the BMW Team. He is doing a feature on them for Bikeland.org. I noted immediately that this is a big sprawling layout. The Racers on the far side were like ants crawling along at high speed that was jaded by the distance. I watched as riders flew by us along the front straight at 170 MPH or so on their way to over 180. Man this is cool. The Mountains surrounding the track were covered with snow and the sky was filtered cloud cover with mostly sunshine.. Utah is sure pretty.
I was introduced to Scott, the man at Pirelli and Richard Moore the US Racing Director. Richard looked familiar and after a few minutes or two of chat we realized we raced against each other at Suzuki Cup Events in the AFM North and South and in the WERA Endurance races ( 24 awesome hours). He always whooped me, but what the hell, recalling the players in the AFM races.. Devaux, Jepson, Wensloff and many more was cool. He would continue to provide great insight/tips over the weekend and also I got to see where his path in motorcycle racing took him oversees to race and 15 years ago to Atlanta, Georgia to join the Pirelli Team. (See Pic 2).
After a bit I went to find the Barf Racing/Pawnmoto/Boulder Motorsports / CT Racing / Pirelli Team Garage.
(Spoken like a true supporter :teeth)
Chris (Siglin) had made his practice run and JP from Boulder and Alex from Fastline were going thru the bike in detail. (See pic 3, 4 and 5)
I chatted with Chris and TJ (Pawn Moto – the guy that is really giving the race effort a 100% effort) and found out that Chris was in a decent spot in the stacked field and was planning his next qualifying session thinking that more was to be found, as he had picked up 2 secs in the previous QP and thought he could climb to the same second as the leaders with some more time on the track.
I spent a little time in the Pirelli hospitality area above the main straight located next to the Victory Podium, which had a nice view of the entire track.
Always nice to be able to grab a beer and a little grub without a hassle
ortWe ended the day and headed to Salt Lake City. We checked in and walked a few blocks to dinner at a killer Italian Restaurant. We met Kevin, who is Chris’s opposite in Europe and lives in Milan. He also would become a great source of information. Next to us was the Speed broadcast crew and Chet Burks came over to say to Chris, Scott and Kevin. I learned that Chris does a killer Scott Russell impersonation and Kevin can do a mean Nicky Hayden as well. These guys are fun!!
A great meal with mucho vino and conversation took us back to the Hotel and some rest.
Breakfast at 8AM followed and Chris, John, Jim and I continued to get to know each other. At the track I checked in the Team again and settled in for a great day. Sunshine and a cool breeze would be the story on the weather. I missed Chris’s QP and found that it was cut short by a red flag in GTU and he only got eight minutes. So the plan to put on the qualifying tire at the end and see what he could do was out the window. He would start
7th in tomorrow's Main Support Event.
Soon the National Anthem was going and peeps around the track stopped to pay respect to the Flag and I am sure many had Memorial Day thoughts in there head as did I... Saying a quick thanks to all those that gave of themselves so I could be here having a kick ass day!! :flag
:smoking
Attachments
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barf thread barf miller beauty.jpg -
barf thread budman and Richard.jpg -
barf thread Alex working.jpg -
barf thread Jp.jpg -
barf thread does the JP clutch.jpg
got painted in the gravel early Monday AM.. wish I got to see it.. :laughing 
