Already!?

The word "already" can mean a lot of things. It could mean as it originally derived, "all ready", meaning one is completely prepared.

Already can also convey shock: "It is race season already?"

It can be used to describe the relation between action and time: "We have already searched this area for the key to the race bike"

Another common usage is to imply disgust: "Enough already!"


This race weekend, "already" seemed to be the theme for me. I knew it to be the case pretty early in the morning on Saturday after I had an engine problem on the very first lap of practice. I came into the pits, took off the gas tank and tore into the engine. After about five minutes, my long-time rival Kyle Schirrmacher rolled up on a scooter and shockingly questioned, "Already!?"; with that one word, Kyle said a lot. All I could do was look up from the bowels of the bike, smile, and say "yup". I threw some band-aids on the engine to get through the weekend, but it wasn't running perfect to say the least.

By the time the second practice came around, I was able to throw on my leathers and finally get some track time. Everyone else came to Buttonwillow prior to the race weekend and got some practice time. I, however, haven't put a leg over the race bike since the last race of 2012. I hadn't even been riding my street bike for the last 8 months, and my lap times proved it.

I have only been to Buttonwillow twice, the last of which was two years ago during a slightly damp race weekend with a new (to me) race bike. Since then, I have gotten faster on the bike on other tracks and expected to be a little faster at Buttonwillow. But as mentioned earlier, I haven't ridden in a while and I was stuck running times 10 seconds slower than my previous lap times. I've only been at Buttonwillow for a few hours and I am already pissed at myself.


SUNDAY

The alarm clock blares as is ask myself, "6am already?". The guy next door in the hotel had been snoring so loudly all night that he kept my girlfriend awake, which in turn kept me awake. I was already riding like crap this weekend and didn't need to try and race with only 3 hours of sleep in total.

Formula 1

I had to start the F1 race from the second to last position on the grid. I saw the practice times of everyone else and decided my objective for the race was to: 1) get a good start, there is no one behind me to worry about; 2) stay upright and don't crash, what I need is point sin this class not a huge repair bill; 3) pick up the pace and get down to at least my old lap times.

When the green flag waved, I got a fairly good start, making some passes in the process. The only fellow back-row starter to get by me was #54 Robin Geenen. He muscled by me on the outside about half-way to turn one, blinding me with his bright neon orange bike. I knew I had to get my as many people as possible in the beginning and get in their way if I had any chance of holding them back on this fast and high-horsepower track.

I got on the brakes a little bit later and a little bit softer than those around me and was able to get by Robin, #696 Peter Kemling, and #116 Keith Stie putting me in 7th place. I tucked in behind my old friend, #131 Bruce 'slippy' Bleeker exiting turn one and planned on letting him pull me through turn 2. But Bruce went into turn much slower than I had expected and I had to sit up a touch and move outside to avoid hitting his rear tire at the apex. This opened up the door for Peter Kemling to squeeze in underneath me with #175 Neil Atterbury in tow.

I found myself in  9th place going into the power section of the track. This is where #172 David Glenn and #54 Robin Geenen flew by me. #111 Oscar Fernandez passed me on the outside during the hairpin (which isn't that surprising considering I suffered with that turn all weekend). As we head down the long front straight, I watch the power of the other bikes walk away from me. In one lap I went from a good start, to being relegated to 12th position.

The field quickly thinned out and I began focused on myself. I really needed to work on my markers and timing. At this point, I just wanted to improve, stay upright,  and let attrition take care of the final placement of riders. Every time I came by another crashed bike, I reminded myself "he got no points, you need points".

Lap after lap, I received signals from my girlfriend at the pit-wall that someone was on my ass. I was battling #50 Tom Wilbert each lap, surprised he hadn't yet powered by me in the numerous open sections. Then on the forth lap, I come out of the final turn, throttle down the straight, click up once and look over at the wall. My girlfriend, Georgia, is viciously signalling that Tom is right with me. I go to upshift again only to miss the lever and have to re-reach with my foot. This error was small, but the fraction of a second gave Wilbert just enough of a difference in our drives to get by me on the inside just before turn 1.

I begin to chase down Wilbert, evaluating where I can get by. I am quicker mid-corner and on the brakes, I just have to get by and stay in his way. Then it happens. My arm begins to cramp up and I have no real feel from my brake lever or throttle. I am controlling the bike like a light switch at this point, all on or all off. I then think to myself, "It's only the 5th lap of the first race; arm pump already?"

When it was all said and done, I was able to work down to my old time from a few years ago, 2:01.1, and finish in 11th place. Not great, but not too bad for this bump-laden track.




600 Superbike

By the time the 600 race came around, the sky has darkened and there was an occasional raindrop here and there. The wind kicked in and was throwing people around on the track. Many people had been crashing as a result, including many red flags. Before heading out to the race, Georgia reminded me to focus on finishing and getting points; don't push it and crash out.

I started in 24th place (dead last) for the 600 race and was again able to make quite a few moves when the green flag dropped. I passed some people on the gas and a few more on the brakes. Going into turn 2, I was again greeted by the front wheel on Peter Kemling's Kawasaki on my inside at the apex. I pulled in behind him and tried to keep pace, but he was simply quicker than I.

As we came out of the high-speed banking of Riverside, I see a huge plume of dust coming over the track. Two riders had come together in a violent collision, scattering debris all over the track. I pulled in behind the group ahead and for the remainder of the race ran pace with a small cluster of racers. I worked my way down to a 2:00 before yet again having arm pump problems. On the last lap, I was far enough ahead of the rider behind me, that I backed off the pack ahead and simply maintained my position. I had no reason to try and make a pass on the pack in front of me when I could barely squeeze the brake lever any longer; it would be irresponsible to try and make a pass like that. I stayed upright and went home in 16th position.





750 Superbike

I was praying for rain at this point in the day. My arm hurt really bad, the wind was blowing over canopies in the paddock, and I just wanted to go home. I raced simply to get points.

I again was starting in last place for this race and again found myself behind Mr. Kemling exiting turn 2. Except this time he was decisively ahead of me. This race was fairly boring; I ran my slowest race laps of the weekend overall and my slowest best time of the three races. My off-season training was garbage this year, and it showed.

I finished in 11th place with a best of 2:01.9.





Next, we go to Sonoma; a track where I love to race. I have two months to get my act together and I am already training.

Until then...


I give my thanks:

I didn't think I would be able to race this year. Between money needed for schooling, time needed for studies, planning time and money needed for the upcoming wedding, and one hundred other things, I thought there was no way I could race this year. I was very fortunate this year to have a few people step up and help me out, these people are the ones who made this happen this year.

Xs Jet and Ed Guimaraes came aboard as the title sponsor this year and really made this season possible as a whole. Expect to see and hear a lot from this company in the coming months. Hopefully we can get Ed and his team to stop by and hang out in the pits one day to get a feel for what racing is truly all about. Thanks again.

All the micro-sponsors who helped get me a canopy this year after the frame on my last one snapped in two. Your donations went along way, thank you.

Viets performance and Bridgestone tires have worked with me to get me out on the track with great tires that not only last, but give superior traction along with great feel and feedback.

Dave Moss Tuning has been the genius behind getting black-magic art of suspension dialed on my bike. This weekend showed Dave's amazing ability. Even though I was running 10 seconds slower than normal in practice, he was able to get the bike perfectly set up for race pace - my tires still have another weekend in them.

Catalyst Reaction saved me this year. In my off-season slovenly behavior, I failed to do any servicing to my forks or shock. Catalyst Reaction stepped up, revalved and serviced my suspension components in time for me to be able to make this race. The turn around time is amazing.