West Coast Moto Jam – Infineon Raceway – May 4-6, 2012

Are you kidding me?

Santa Rosa Memorial ER – Trauma Room

May 6, Sunday Late Morning:

What the ____ did I do? What was I thinking? The weekend was going great up until this point, now I am lying in the Santa Rosa Memorial Emergency Room with 12 doctors surrounding me; cutting off my new jersey and Underarmour, trying to remove my pants and knee braces without having to cut those off too, needles going into my arms and sensors being stuck to my chest and stomach.  The TTXGP Race 1 is preparing to head onto the track right now, I am supposed to be out there racing with my husband, Martin Szwarc and Kenyon Kluge for Zero Motorcycles and instead I am being rolled away for a CT scan while my husband is desperately loading up the RV so he can come be with me at the hospital.  “Do you want any pain medication?” they ask me again.  I continue to refuse, hopeful that I was just having muscle spasms and that I am not “really” hurt.  If I turn down the pain medications maybe they will release me this afternoon after I have been checked out and cleared, maybe I could make it back to the track in time for the rest of my Supermoto USA races and TTXGP Race 2. Why does my back hurt so much?  What was I thinking?

Before the race weekend:

I was really… I mean really, really, looking forward to this race weekend. Jason and I had decided not to race AMA SuperSport this year; Jason had sold his R6 and is now racing a 1000 so he can no longer race SuperSport, and though I have not entirely given up my goal of racing some AMA rounds, I decided that it fell lower on the priority list this year than some other things I want to accomplish, so I have put that goal aside for the time being.  We weren’t headed to the West Coast Moto Jam to race AMA SuperSport, instead we were going to be there racing Round 2 of the SupermotoUSA series. Thanks to Jason, and his magic fairies, I would be riding my CRF150R this round, he managed to locate a used motor and get it installed in Lily since the motor blew at the 1^st round, and now she was running great. I couldn’t wait to race on the Infineon Kart Track, I had actually ridden there once before and really enjoyed the track and I heard the dirt sections for the Supermoto race were going to be challenging and fun. I was optimistic about the weekend and looking to improve on my race finishes in each of the classes from what I had accomplished at Round 1.

And then…. It got even more exciting… a few weeks before West Coast Moto Jam; Jason got a call from our friend and fellow AFM racer Kenyon Kluge asking if we would be interested in racing on his team from Zero Motorcycles  in the TTXGP (electric bike series) at Infineon during West Coast Moto Jam weekend. Jason and I talked it over and decided to do it, Jason had raced the inaugural TTXGP race with another team a couple years ago and the electric bikes have really come a long way in development in this short time. We thought it would be exciting to be a part of the race and fun to ride some really cool Zero Electric bikes, so we signed up for the team. To make it even more fun and exciting, our good friend Martin Szwarc signed up with the Zero team as well. In the days leading up to the race weekend, I made sure to razz the boys on FaceBook letting them know my plans to beat them to the checkers in the race, maybe I have a little competitive spirit.

Zero Motorcycles  May 1

Zero Motorcycles rider #7, Jason Lauritzen

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• You, Ben Kautt, Martin Szwarc and 16 others like this.
• Jennifer Everson Lauritzen ‎Jason Lauritzen has more trophies than me… but I intend to add a 1st to my collection at TTXGP.   May 1 at 4:43pm · Like ·   1
• Jason Lauritzen I believe we just got called out.   May 1 at 4:57pm · Like
• Martin Szwarc Sounds like it’s game on, lol.   May 1 at 8:20pm · Like

Racing in both TTXGP and SupermotoUSA was going to be challenging, I mapped out our weekend schedule carefully, we were going to have some overlap on track time between the two events, but I was sure we could still race the mains for both. We called in our great friends to help us with the logistics and preparation for the two events; Cat Stadler came out to the track on Friday and took care of all the little things that make the day go smoother (and took some great pictures for us) and Greg McCullough showed up to lend us a hand for the events on Saturday and Sunday. It may not have seemed like much help, but sometimes it is the little things that make a huge difference, thank you so much to Cat and Greg for their help.

May 4, Friday:

Friday was pretty mellow, we had several Supermoto practice sessions in the afternoon. As I was getting familiar with the track, I found the transitions from asphalt to dirt and back from dirt to asphalt was the most challenging part for me… the traction goes from very loose on the dirt to suddenly having grip on the pavement or vice versa, it forced me to be smooth, yet quickly responsive on the throttle. I also found that, despite having some MX experience, I was not a big fan of the dirt jumps, I was being mental about the idea of jumping in the dirt on slick tires (tires with no tread.) Part of the reason that I gave up motocross is, that after a couple of significant accidents while jumping, I concluded that I am not very good at jumping, thus road racing – where we stay firmly planted on the ground – became my preferred sport.  As a Supermoto racer, we don’t have big dirt sections, but I would have an advantage if I could find that courage to jump again. It just didn’t seem to be within me today…  I would roll through the dirt sections, trying to carry as much speed as possible without catching too much air.

4theRiders

At the end of the day on Friday we had our first practice session on the Zero bikes, I swapped from my dirt gear to my leathers and headed down to the main track for practice. The Zero bikes were so fun to ride, but so different; no clutch, no shifter… direct drive. Just twist the throttle and go… no sound.  I spent the practice session getting familiar with the lean angle, traction and corner speeds available on the electric bike, I worked on my tuck and trying to minimize any wind resistance. It was incredibly windy during practice so it really amplified if I wasn’t in a good tuck.  We came in from practice and compared notes, Martin and Kenyon were turning the fastest lap times, but Kenyon has loads of experience riding the Zero bike and Martin had the opportunity to test it out at a track day earlier in the week, so it was expected that they had the advantage on the learning curve. I had started using the speed gauge as an indicator of how I was doing with corner speed and drive out of the corners, when I told the guys how fast I was going on the straights their jaws hit the floor because I was able to get a good 10 mph faster than they were. I joked with them and told them to stop eating so many cookies. :)  All I needed was to carry a little more corner speed, trusting those Pirelli tires like I do on my R6, and I should be able to use my lighter weight to my advantage. Maybe…. I would be able to beat out two of the AFM top 10 plate holders, that would be bragging rights forever! LOL!

May 5, Saturday:

We kicked the day off with Supermoto practice first thing; I had one Supermoto race on the schedule today, the Women’s race, and I wanted to win it. There were a few girls that were getting through the dirt section faster than me and if I wanted to win I needed to fix that or make sure I was that much faster on the pavement. I focused on getting faster in the dirt and by the end of practice I was able to jump the rollers and table tops, but there was this annoying little “double” that I was nervous about jumping, so I continued to roll it, each time wondering why I was letting it get to me so much.

The Supermoto heat races (a pre-race to determine your grid start spot for the main) were mid-morning, and unfortunately we had a conflict with the TTXGP practice scheduled at the same time. Jason managed to race one of his heat races, finishing 4^th, and then we scooted off down the hill to get more time in on the electric bikes. By missing my heat, I would be starting dead last (on the 4^th row) for the women’s main.

My second practice on the electric bike went much better. I was learning that I really didn’t need to brake AT ALL for most of the corners, carrying corner speed and momentum would be the key for this race. It is a very strange feeling to not brake for turn 1, or turn 2, or turn 3 and 3a… and it is kind of difficult to override the survival instincts that wanted me to brake. After some hard negotiations between my self preservation – left brain and my thrill seeking – right brain, I managed to convince myself that it was safe enough and even quite fun to charge full speed, pinned to the stops over the hill, wide into the carousel and then ride it like a roller coaster down and around, toes and footpegs dragging as I spit out at a full 73 miles per hour onto the back straight, where I would immediately tuck as tight as possible to the bike, knees and elbows in, chin dropped to the tank.   At one point in my new found full tuck position, I was charging down the hill towards turn 9 trying to latch onto Kenyon, who had just come by me, and as I moved from the tuck to hang off the right side of my bike for the corner, I bumped the kill switch with my chin. I didn’t hear it die, but as soon as I rolled on the throttle exiting 9, I realized what I had done. Oops… I won’t be catching Kenyon now.

Several laps into the session, Steve Atlas came by me on the Brammo development bike, then as I came around turn 7, I was shocked to see Steve’s bike lying on the outside of the track and Steve was crawling his way off the edge of the curbing. It looked like he had a nasty high side at the exit of turn 7, our session was red flagged.

We later learned Steve had broken several ribs, I wish him a speedy recovery.

With our last electric bike practice now complete, it was time to head back up the hill for our Supermoto Mains, I had the Women’s race and Jason had 2 races, 250 lites and Vet +30.

Jason’s 250 lites race was up first, followed immediately by my Women’s main. I lined up on the inside of the last row. I gave it a couple attempts to set my hole shot device, but it looked like they were about to wave the green flag so I forgot about that and  got ready for the start. Just like the days of MX racing, body forward up over the bars to keep from wheeling, elbows out, rev the motor and green flag!!! Pinned and feather off the clutch and we are off. As we head off the line my plan was to swing around the outside, but a row in front of me Kristy Miller wheelied off the start and her bike swerved slightly to the right pushing the group out just enough. I saw a line… an opening up the inside and I forced my way into it.

By turn 1 I was up to the 8^th spot, and as we filed thru turn 1, I forced the inside line and held it tight to turn 2 making a close pass on Sarah Pittiglio, I left her just enough room as we transitioned from the left to the right so she wouldn’t have to run off track. I stayed pinned on the gas to turn 4, taking a tight, inside line again into the left handed hairpin of turn 4. Here I managed to put a couple more bikes behind me, but I could see Carrie Looney and Sarah Preston getting away at the front. I made a couple more passes in the high speed section after turn 5 leading up to the front straight. By the time I hit the front straight I was in 3^rd. Now time to see if I could reel in Carrie and Sarah. Three more laps I chased and inched forward into the gap they had pulled at the start. I was making progress, but it was not as quickly as I needed. A lap after we passed the ½ way flag (telling us we were half way thru the race) we came into the dirt section and one of the speedy younger girls was lying in the dirt section. Yellow flags waving, she wasn’t getting up quickly. I finished the lap and wasn’t surprised to see the red flag as I came onto the straight. The race was called over since we were more than ½ way, and I had a solid 3^rd place podium spot. I was pretty excited about that, with the talent and number of women racers in the field and my back row grid spot… it was a good race! (And I was glad to see the young lady up and ok, ready to race again later that day.)

Jason headed out for his 30+ Vet race and like me he had a back row start (17^th position.) Jason made a great start and put on a good charge getting up to 4^th by the time the checkers flew.

After he came off the track, we had a short break before it was time to head down to the main track for our TTXGP qualifying. We walked over to the edge of the hilltop to watch, from afar, the end of the SuperSport race on the track below. Jason had the binoculars and told me that Cameron Gish (a young gun, fast kid and our former team-mate when we raced with Z2) had crashed in turn one and the race was red flagged. We loaded up our leathers and headed down to the Zero pit to get ready for qualifying and get an update on how Cam was doing. Greg was already at the Zero pit as he had helped get our electric bikes set up and put the tire warmers on them.

Photo by Max Klein

We found out Cam was pretty hurt and was being transported to Santa Rosa Memorial, though we were relieved to hear that he had given the thumbs up as they loaded him into the bus. Our qualify session was delayed for ½ hour due to the red flag.  Finally at 5:30 it was time to get on the track for qualifying. We went out and put in several laps with the goal of being the fastest in the session so we could get the best grid position for the race. Zero had turned up the settings on the bikes to allow us to get to max speeds, but it meant that the bikes would get hot faster. We had to do a few flying laps, then run a slower lap to allow the bike to cool, then back to a few flyers and repeat. The session was pretty fun as I was really starting to get a feel for the bike, the traction and staying on the throttle thru many of the corners.

Unfortunately during the Qualifying session Brammo had another crash, they had brought in Steve Rapp to ride in place of Steve Atlas, and Rapp ended the day with a broken wrist. :(  I hope Rapp heals up quickly and can get back to racing soon. 

It was a very busy day for us, but Jason and I had a blast with the racing and action. We hung out in the paddock for awhile and spent some time visiting with great friends then headed back up to our Toy Hauler on the hilltop to get some rest for Sunday.

May 6, Sunday

Our schedule for Sunday was even busier than our schedule from Saturday. We would start the morning at 8:30, with one Supermoto practice session.  Both Jason and I had 2 heats and 2 mains for Supermoto races, and we had 2 TTXGP races. TTXGP race 1 was scheduled for 10:00 am, in the same time block as our Supermoto heat races, so we were going to have to skip the heat races again and just grid at the back for our mains, but at least we would be able to race all our mains before heading back down to the main track for TTXGP race 2.  Since there wasn’t very much time between Supermoto practice and our TTXGP race, I contemplated skipping the morning practice. Then I decided it would be a good warm up and after talking to Carrie and Sarah, I decided that I also wanted to try to jump that stupid little double and get it out of my head. Practice lap 1, I sized up the jump and the best line. Lap 2, I followed another rider and measured the speed they were carrying to clear the double. Lap 3, I rolled it again I was trying to build up my nerve… Lap 4, this is it, I am committing to jumping it, (the double is after turn 3) I make my way thru T1 transitioning from the pavement to the dirt, turn 2 I line up the exiting the dirt berm to make sure I am on the right line in turn 3. Turn 3, I am on the line I want and I clear the roller as I exit the turn and then the double is in front of me, I get on the gas to clear it and just as I am heading up the face I realize I don’t have the speed to clear it!!!! The right thing to do would have been to stay on the gas and try to keep it upright as I short the jump and bounce… but I didn’t do the right thing. I panicked and I rolled off the throttle just after my front tire came off the top of the ramp, it happened so fast from there, the front tire dropped like something had knocked it down out of the air and it went straight into the upslope of the double, the rear tire came up into the air throwing me into a front handspring over the bars and slammed me onto my back on the top of the double landing and then my bike followed my path of travel and landed on my belly, then bounced into the track. I rolled to the edge of the track and sat up. I wanted to get off the track, but as I sat up I felt the sharp pain in my back, I planted my hands on the dirt and pushed up with my arms I felt pain relieve a little. “Crap,” I thought, realizing what this probably meant, “I’ve just fractured my back.” The medics came and put me in the C-spine, and strapped me to the board… off to the hospital I went.

They took me to Santa Rosa Memorial, Jason had called the only person he knew that was at the hospital, Cam, and talked to his dad and asked if they had someone who could go down to the ER to check on me. Thank you to Kim for coming down, she was allowed in to see me just as Jason arrived at the hospital, so she only stayed a moment, as her son really needed her up in the ICU, but I am thankful for her support.

Eventually I got the CT scan and the news, I have a “minor” compression fracture to my T12, at the bottom of the rib cage. They insisted that I need to stay in the hospital for 2-3 days, but I disagreed. They already told me it was minor… I wanted to go home. We agreed on an overnight stay. The next day, I found out I needed to be fitted for a brace and seen by the Physical Therapist before they would release me. My day nurse on Monday was amazing, she followed up with my doctor, the guy who had to measure me and fit me for a brace and the PT. It was because of the persistence of that nurse that I was in my brace and released on Monday evening.

May 8, Tuesday

Today was the day I had been awaiting for half the year, my one on one coaching day with Scott Russell and Ken Hill.  Obviously I didn’t get to ride. My husband spent the day with them instead. I tried to listen in on the video review and feedback sessions as much as I could, but unfortunately I was still in pretty decent pain. I spent the majority of the day sleeping in the Toy Hauler, while Jason rode.

But at least I got to meet Scott and get a photo with him and Ken. (I’m blaming my goofy smile on the pain meds.)

May 18, Friday

It’s been nearly 2 weeks (already) and I am starting to feel much better. I saw my local specialist on Wednesday and he advised that I should stay in the brace for 4 weeks. June 1^st, I am free of it. I had to sit out the first AFM race last weekend at Thunderhill and I really don’t want to miss another one. The next AFM race is June 2-3 at Infineon, just after I am free of the brace, so I will just have to wait and see how my recovery goes in the next week before I can determine if I will be able to race.  *Fingers Crossed*

I want to thank all my sponsors; your ongoing support is greatly appreciated. Also, thank you to Joe Salas, 4theriders for hooking me up with my Supermoto pictures from Saturday and to Max Klein for the “Eye of the Tiger” shot on the Zero bike. Cat and Greg for the help over the weekend, and more pictures from Cat. Also a big thank you to Ernie Montegue and my BFF, Kyle Schirrmacher, for filling in for Jason and I, racing in the TTXGP Races.  KH Coaching for being the best Coach EVER! Brok McAllister for the AMAZING dirt track schools and for running the fun and competitive SupermotoUSA series. (Sorry I crashed and delayed the Sunday program. :(  I’ll be back for more SM racing soon.

2012 SupermotoUSA Round 1 – Prairie City Kart Track – April 21/22

Our 2012 race season was scheduled to start as usual with our first racing being with the AFM at Buttonwillow Raceway March 17^th/18^th. Unfortunately, Mother Nature was not in on our plan and she scheduled a very rainy weekend… the forecasts were so bad the AFM was forced to cancel. To further rain on our parade, the AFM had scheduled a long break between rounds 1 and 2, so the 2^nd round isn’t until May 12^th/13^th … waiting until May to race, no way, that just won’t do.

We started looking for other options; racing with WERA, CVMA, OMMRA, but the drive to the races that they had scheduled in this time frame would be over 10 hours for the closest one and we couldn’t get the extra time off work for traveling.   So when we found out that SupermotoUSA had their first round scheduled in early April, and even better at Prairie City, only a 20 minute drive from our house, we decided it was time for us to give Supermoto racing a try this year.

We had been training with Brok McAllister and his crew at California Supermoto Schools on the dirt track all winter, and I was starting to feel very comfortable with the way the bike handles and slides on the dirt and was eager to take those new skills to the pavement (at a lower risk than on my R6.) In March, Jason and I rented a couple of bikes from Brok and headed up to the Infineon kart track to ride Supermoto for the first time. I had a really fun day and learned so much. Yep! I decided I wanted to race SM. *giggle*

Photo by Mike Doran

Craig’s List! Jason found me a CRF150R already set up for Supermoto racing, and turns out it was from a fellow AFM racer, sold. She’s a sweet little bike, I named her Lily.

My first Supermoto race weekend was an eventful one, though it did not go the way I planned…. Open practice didn’t start until after noon on Saturday, so living only 15 miles away we took some time in the morning to put fresh TEXAS TEA motor oil in the bikes, check that all the nuts and bolts were tight and I even mounted up Jason’s new plastics for him.  (We’re still waiting to get new graphics, so the bikes went naked.)

Saturday practice went ok, but my gearing was wrong. I really didn’t want to mess with it during practice, because I didn’t want to miss any track time.  The PC kart track is tricky, with a lot of tight turns and narrow lines. I decided to focus on learning the lines and just getting familiar with my new bike… since this was only the 2^nd time I had ridden her (and the first time was on the dirt track.) A 150R is small and body position is a big deal, my long legs kept hitting the bars, or the curbing, or both.  At the end of the day I was EXHAUSTED. It seems somehow I forgot to mention that it was 92 degrees and I was in full leathers. I was EXHAUSTED and DEHYDRATED.  The DTX (dirt track) races were just about to start and I really wanted to race them, but I was so tired and I really did not want to hassle with swapping my tires from slicks to rains (which is what I use in the dirt.)  I was about to scratch my entry, but then my sweet husband told me I could race his 250 in the women’s race. It was so much fun racing in the dirt, at night, under the lights. I’m glad I did it… and I took home a 3^rd place trophy too.

I don't actually have any pictures for the DTX race, but this is pretty much what it looked like, except Jason's bike is black. - Photo by Steve Walker.

Sunday morning I made the gearing change I needed on my 250R, we had a few quick practice sessions before racing would start. I went out for my first practice eager to see if the gearing change was good… but something wasn’t right, I heard a clanking and the bike didn’t seem to be pulling out of

the corners, since the only thing I changed was my gearing I wondered if I hadn’t adjusted the chain right and that it might be slapping, I glanced down as I rode but couldn’t see anything wrong… Lily clanked louder and the bike just felt—broken— I pulled off the track and pushed my bike back to my pit. I was looking her over with Jason and I grabbed a towel and started wiping the dust off the motor and I found a cracked head. *Sad face*

Lily went BOOM!

My day was over…. Unless… by some miracle Brok might still have a rental bike available. I headed over to ask Mac if she thought Brok’s bikes were all rented, she assured me that they probably were, but told me I should check with Gage anyway. Gage was so cool, he found a Honda 230 for me to race, and even offered up to let me ride his bike if we couldn’t find another one.  I was going to be super disappointed if I hadn’t been able to race, thank you soooo much to Brok and Gage for getting me a bike at the last minute. It was a huge favor to ask considering they were kind of busy… you know… managing the race and all.

I had signed up for 4 classes; Beginner, Fast Females, Adult Mini and Novice. We had a qualifying heat for each race that determined our grid spot for the main.  My Beginner class heat race was my first race, I was glad for that because I hadn’t had a chance to practice on the 230. My start was horrible, but I was quick and aggressive through the first few corners and found myself picking up a few positions getting up to 5^th, then out I came onto the straight… I had no top end speed, the bike would rev up I would shift and it would bog. I was up to 5^th gear by ½ ways down the straight, but with no more pull, the other racers just walked on by me.  I picked back a couple positions in the corners, then onto the straight-Repeat.  I finished 7^th in my heat, I was ok, it was my first race and I realized I had a bike disadvantage, but I was still having a great time.

My 2^nd race was the Women’s heat. I really wanted to do well in this class, but again got a terrible launch… I started wondering if I should be launching the 230 in 2^nd gear… wait… this is not the time to worry, I need to make up ground. I went around the outside on turn 1 and held my ground as Stephanie and I went side by side for the 3^rd place spot into the very tight turn 2. Being on the inside I had the preferred line, but Stephanie wasn’t going to give it up that easy, we came together at the apex and she stood it up and ran off course… although this turned out to be to her advantage, because when she came back on course heading into turn 4 she had a gained a sizable gap over me by not having to go thru the tight, slow turn 3. Noted.  I kept up a good pace on the back half of the track, but again suffered on the front straight.  At half way thru the race I realized I was not going to be able to catch the front runners and I focused on not losing anymore positions. I held onto 4^th which gave me a front row outside spot for the main, perfect spot.  After the heat race I was bummed to hear that Becky Uribe had a pretty nasty crash on the back part of the course and was injured. I wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing her back out there on the grid. Get Well Becky!

The 3^rd heat was Adult Mini, I decided to stick with 1^st gear for the launch… and again I got a horrible start. But I was on the inside and just opened the throttle heading up to turn 1. I made it through turns one and 2 and was up into 4^th. Again, gaining ground on the back half of the track I was able to get enough of a reprieve to hold on to my spot, but the pressure was building… I kept pushing harder in the back section knowing I was going to give it up on the straight away. On the 4^th or maybe it was the 5^th lap..

I clipped my footpeg on the inside curbing, it stood me up just enough that I missed my exit line and ran wide off track into the grass, my rear tire slid as my front tire came back on the asphalt grabbing traction. I high sided right into the middle of the track and slid for a bit. I could hear the other bikes heading at me, I jumped up with my hands a waving, like… “don’t hit me”  Ha-ha! I picked up my bike pushed it out of harms way, fired it up, and rejoined the race. I was hurting and my footpeg was sticking to my boot, I wasn’t sure I could finish the race, so I was quite relieved when I came onto the front straight and the checkers were waving. Apparently, my reaction time was pretty good, because even with the crash I finished 8^th out of 14.

The Novice heat was up next but my ankle was throbbing and my thigh was really starting to hurt. I decided to drop the Novice class and focus my energy on the 3 mains I had coming up after lunch.

THE MAINS

During the lunch break Brok stopped by our pit to check on how our races were going and see if there might be something wrong with the 230 I was racing… silly thing, the choke was half on (when they warm them up in the morning they leave the choke half on until the bike gets running, since I grabbed a bike that hadn’t been out on the track yet, the choke was still half on.) Doh! That explains the lack of power down the front straight.

The first Main for me was Beginner, and again I was thankful as now that the 230 was running full speed I would need to adjust my shifting points and my braking to account for actually needing to brake. ha!  I can’t say I did anything exceptionally well in the Beginner race, it was like being out in the first practice of the day except now I was tired and sore from my crash. Even though I was having a ton of fun racing the course, I was kind of a mess; missing my apexes, missing my shifting points, braking way too early… I was pretty disappointed in my performance, finishing 17^th, but at least I had gotten used to the bike.

Next up was the Women’s race. I had the best grid spot and as I launched off the line I missed that first important up shift and landed in the 5^th spot headed into turn 1 with Shalina in front of me. I stuck to her like glue, I was faster on the back of the course, but could not get a clean pass. I would show her a wheel and she never relented, shutting the door on me again and again. As we came off the dirt section into the sweeper before the straight she had the line figured out much better than I and she would get the drive onto the straight opening up a small gap, but by turn 1 I was back on her wheel again. Literally, bumping her tire several times in the tight corners as she would brake more, and for longer, than I expected. On lap 4, as I became increasingly more frustrated, my racing instincts really started to take over, unfortunately, I still have road racing instincts when it comes to my body position and I began making silly mistakes like moving my body to the inside and putting out my knee instead of moving to the outside and using my inside leg up and out to balance the bike. On lap 5, we passed Sarah Preston who had crashed and was in the process of picking up her bike. Knowing she was coming up behind me gave me a new sense of urgency to get it back together, but by then the little mistakes I made had given Shalina an easy run down the straight to beat me to the checkers.  I finished 4^th. Still this gives me a good grid spot on the front row heading to Infineon for the West Coast Moto Jam May 4-6.

My last class of the day was Adult Mini. I had a second row outside grid spot, starting in 8th. This time on the start I picked up a few spots heading into turn 1, finally a decent start. I got pushed out off line through turn 2 but stayed on course into turn 3, coming out of the chicane I found myself in 5th, but with a whole gaggle of racers behind me wanting to get by. We went on  like this for a couple laps, then I got passed when I ran wide in the hairpin, this allowed another bike by on the kink as I had no drive coming out of the hairpin. I was holding down 7th, but I fadded at the end of the race and a couple more guys got by me. I finished 9th. 

As a first race weekend, and having only ridded one day at a Supermoto track before this weekend, I feel pretty good about how my weekend went. I know I have a lot to learn about Supermoto strategy and I really wanted to finish better in my races, but overall I rode well. I had fast moments throughout the weekend, I just need to string it together in the race.  Since the one track I have ridden before is Infineon, I feel confident heading there for SupermotoUSA round 2.

Come on out to the West Coast Moto Jam on May 5^th and 6^th and celebrate Cinco De Mayo with us while watching some fabulous racing, you will find Jason and I racing the main track in the TTXGP on Zero Motorcycles and you should definitely cruise up to the top of the hill and watch the Supermoto races, when you see how much fun we are having you are going to want to give it a try. Now I gotta go… my new 150R motor should be here soon and I only have a week to “watch my husband” get it in my bike. I’ve got work to do. Haha!

PILOT and Insurrection Racing committed to supporting women riders

Great job to Insurrection Racing for working with us ladies and with PILOT to get the custom fit women’s suits.

When I first started track days and racing (Fall of 2006) I bought an off the rack man’s suit, because the women’s suits were sub-par as far as protection, speed humps, options, venting, quality, etc. The problem was the man’s suit was too big in the upper body (across the chest and back) or to get it with a smaller torso meant going to a smaller size then the waist and hips were also smaller and tight. I went with the smaller option and found after my first track day that I couldn’t move my knee out because the suit was so tight across my hips.

After that the searching began to find a quality suit that fit me… Spidi had just come out with the Lizard Pro (the first off the rack women’s suit that had all the options of a high level man’s race suit) and that is the suit I have raced in for the last 5 years. But… since it was the first women’s quality suit, many of the girls have it… and girl’s like fashion, we want to have our own unique designs and colors, plus it was an expensive suit. So a custom suit has always been my dream.

I talked with several custom suit providers and I looked at the suits they were making for women, they just looked a little “manly.” I don’t consider myself a girly-girl, but I don’t want to look like the Hulk in my suit.  Especially not at the price that custom suits go for. I even talked with some respectable custom suit makers and I found out that they find it very difficult to make custom women’s suits because we all have different curves and shapes, more so than men do, and that it was extremely difficult to get women’s suits to fit just right. So I stayed away from them and continued to wear the suit that all the other girls wear.

Then I met Wade and Carrie and we had a conversation about this… Insurrection Racing and PILOT agreed to work with me to get the suit fit just right and I jumped at the opportunity to represent them and get my first custom suit. With a million measurements (ok, not really a million, but a lot) they got my dimensions, then they had me send in photographs of my body shape from front, back and each side and then they double checked all the dimensions. I got e-mails from Carrie asking me to confirm dimensions, because not everything added up right. I appreciate the fact that they took the time to confirm the dimensions when things didn’t look right rather than just guess. When I got my suit in November, I can’t even tell you how excited I was; it was fun getting my own design that fits my personality, is the highest quality, and it looks “so Pro.” And it fit perfectly everywhere except…. I did have a fit issue with my womanly curves.  Rather than going in for a breast reduction, hahaha, Wade and Carrie helped me get the suit adjustments made through PILOT so that it fits just right. It was cool to be a part of the development process for the PILOT women’s custom suit design and now all the other ladies can order a custom suit from PILOT knowing that they have a Women’s specific design to account for our lovely lady lumps.

To top it off, PILOT suits come with full chest and back protectors, which I am wearing in the pictures below. I also just got some amazing X-Small A-Race gloves from Insurrection Racing. Finally a full protection race glove that fits my very small hands. I will be trying these out this weekend and will report back on how I like them.

I am so happy to be working with Wade and Carrie, the time and effort they put in to getting my suit to fit just right is above and beyond my expectations. Thanks to them I am going to be rocking my first custom suit in 2012 and many more to come in the future (’cause with all the contingency, I can just keep getting shiny new suits.)

Why Ride Dirt?

Mid-December, my friend Kyle “Lollipop” Schirrmacher started a thread in the ‘Racers Section’ of www.bayarearidersforum.com asking the opinion of others on the benefits of riding dirt as it relates to road racing, it started;

 Why Ride Dirt?

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After racing the last AFM round I was feeling great about riding and wanted a way to continue through the winter. Fast forward 2 months and I haven’t missed a weekend of riding at Hollister. It’s addicting.

The faster I get, though, the more confused I actually become about why this is supposed to benefit me when it comes to road racing. Can anyone really quantify this? What should I work on more? Certainly the really nasty rutted single track stuff with roots that will castrate you won’t do much but of the ‘typical’ terrain, which would translate better into road racing? Are TT and flat track more useful than trail riding and MX?

In general, the responses pointed out that dirt riding offers benefits in the way of being more comfortable on a bike in general; fine tuning your throttle modulation, brake control and use of the clutch, engine braking, etc.  It was also pointed out that dirt riding can help your confidence and reaction to the bike when it gets a little loose or out of control, that you can gain a better “feel” of the bike when you are at the limits of traction, and generally on the dirt it is done at slower speeds than you would be able to do on your road bike. The other common reason for riding dirt was that it is simply…  fun.

The thread went on to point out the number of professional road racers that train or ride dirt in the off season. A few of them even got their start riding dirt and then transitioned to road racing… like me.

I got my start riding bikes on the trails and about a year later found myself entering my first motocross race. I raced MX for a few years and I did ok, but was never really good at it. What I did learn in those early years of dirt biking was a lot about bike control, and that foundation helped me develop the reactions needed to save what otherwise would have been a few nasty road race crashes over the last few years of road racing. One particular incident that stands out was a tank slapper I had coming down the straight between the carousel and Turn 7 at Infineon.  I was in my first ever AMA qualifying session, on new tires that I had never tried before, and I didn’t have the suspension dialed in yet. The front end was too light, as I crossed the asphalt seam in the middle of the track, the normal small wiggle I feel on any normal day was exemplified into a wicked bar swap. They banged back and forth several times and my reaction to stay loose and keep the throttle steady allowed me to ride out the bucking bike… then going into Turn 7 I pulled in the brake lever to realize I had no brakes, the pads had “slapped out”. I was able to keep the bike up-right and bring it to a stop as I used the rear brake while I pumped the front brake lever several times to get the brake pads to bite. I am sure that my years of trail riding and racing MX were helpful in my ability to deal with this unexpected situation.

Kyle posted this thread during the off-season when we were all craving a little time on the bikes and around this same time I found out that McAllister Motorsports (Brok McAllister) had done quite a bit of work on the dirt track he was running at Prairie City and that it was quite awesome. Our friend and fellow AFM racer, Martin Szwarc, offered to let Jason and I share his mini-bikes so we could go out and give it a try.  The first thing I learned about flat tracking was that it was F-U-N. Who knew going in a circle could be so challenging and so much fun? We made a couple more trips out there and I started to feel like I could use some coaching on how to ride around in circles properly.  Like he was reading my mind, Brok announced he was going to be offering Saturday classes at the track to learn more about dirt tracking and bike skills in general… I signed up immediately.

I have now been to 6 Saturday classes and I continue to learn, building on my skills consistently each week. Last Saturday, after my turn at the oval drills, one of the great instructors for the classes, Pucho Bagnis (legend of USA Supermoto and World Superbike) came over to me to compliment me on how much I have improved since that first day.  In reality though, this is a compliment to the classes and instruction that they have been providing me. Despite the fact that I have been riding and racing bikes for nearly 8 years now and despite the fact that I know I can “ride out” of a lot of situations on my bike, I found that I still had fears about the bike sliding and moving under me and I ride conservatively from that perspective. The instruction I have been getting from Brok and Pucho, along with Garrett Willis (AMA Road Racer and Flat Traker) and Brok’s son Gage McAllister (USA Supermoto Champion and rising moto-star) has helped me to incrementally build on my skills, and more importantly on my confidence, over the last 6 weeks.  When I started, I would ride the bike around the oval as fast as I could within my comfort range; which equaled rolling off the throttle too soon, coasting mid-corner, not getting back onto the throttle soon enough and going slower when the bike would start to slide…. so that I wouldn’t slide. (ha!) All of these instincts had me going slower than I was truly capable of. This team of instructors has been helping me each week make improvements with all of these issues and more.  It is such a cool feeling to be able to use the throttle and the rear tire slide to turn the bike, which I just started to learn this last Saturday.

I feel more prepared than ever and when the 2012 road race season to starts in a few weeks, I am confident that these skills I have been learning while riding dirt will translate to the pavement (and have even started to try them out on a supermoto bike) which will help me become an even faster racer. The only thing I wish was that I had learned this stuff when I was just getting started in road racing 5 years ago. But it’s never too late. I will keep going back to the flat track out at Prairie City to continue building these skills with this team of great people.

Thank you Brok McAllister, Pucho Bagnis, Garrett Willis and Gage McAllister for all the coaching and support.  Let’s Ride!

Is racing making me a bad person?

It is that time of year, the off-season. The organizations I am now racing with, AMA and AFM, along with many others, take a few months off racing from the end of October though early March.  I am not unlike the other “addicts” that enjoy the time off for about 3 weeks and then really start to miss the racing action, I spend hours each day thinking about racing, planning for the next year, pursuing sponsorship help, training and looking for any opportunities to get on the track again during the off season.

Today, I am at work on a Saturday, overseeing field installations but with no real obligations of my own other than as a contact if they have any issues.  This has left me with hours of uninterrupted time to think about racing. I spent the morning updating our team website Ritz-Racing.com and scanning Facebook, reading the posts of fellow racers talking about how much they miss racing or promoting their own efforts for next year.  I really think it is great news when my competitors and friends announce their sponsorship deals or get some public recognition for their racing accomplishments, but now I’m going to tell you the whole truth… sometimes I become so envious of my competitors; looking at their photos, seeing the sponsorship help they are getting, the activities they are partaking in every weekend and especially if they are somehow racing in the off-season (like WSMC or WERA,) and I could go crazy thinking about what they are getting or doing or becoming.  I could become bitter and angry, thinking “Why not me?” And then I begin to wonder, is racing making me a bad person?  

I don’t want to have these feelings and I have even contemplated quitting racing because of them, no other sport has ever aroused such emotions in me.  I honestly just want to be a good, supportive person and I think these feelings stir because I am truly passionate about racing.  I know there are a lot of good human characteristics to be gained and developed through racing; confidence, compassion, determination, sportsmanship, I could go on and on.  So how do I stop those envious feelings? Through refocusing that energy, every ounce of energy wasted worrying about them is less energy that I have for improving myself.  My resolution for 2012 is to always be supportive and encouraging to my friends and competitors that are busy living out their dreams and a commitment to myself that I will focus my energy on living out my own dreams.   

Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbour to have them through envy. – Aristotle

This is not to say that I will never feel jealousy again, that would be unrealistic as it is a natural human emotion.  Just know that when you read my FB comment “Jealous” on someone else’s post, picture or thread… all that really means is I just got another little shot of motivation to keep pushing myself this off-season.  I’ll be finding a way to get in a few track days, a lot of dirt biking, rock climbing, cycling, swimming, and mental training to make sure I am ready to do MY very best in the 2012 season.  I won’t wait for the ball to drop on January 1^st, my resolution starts today.

What to do with myself now….

My 2011 race season is over, aside from the occasional track day if I can manage to get a couple in this winter, I will be off the race bike for the next 4 months or so.

The weather will be turning cold and rainy and the limited hours of day light in the winter months make it even more difficult to get outside and “play.”  Many of my racing friends will turn to off season training to keep busy and fit; spending time in the gym, pushing weights and working out on stationary equipment.  While this type of workout has its place, and I will get in my share of gym workouts this winter I prefer to keep fit another way.

Flashback to childhood — I spent my free time riding bicycles, climbing trees, playing tag, riding horses and generally being outside. I was always a fit kid and I never had to lift weights or ride a stationary bike to stay that way.  And here I am, a “few” years later and I still prefer to stay fit the same way.  I suppose this is why my husband Jason and I got together in the first place, because he is much the same, and now he has started a personal training business based on that philosophy.

The custom tailored workout program Jason created for me this off season involves riding my bicycle, rock climbing, riding my dirt bike and a core body workout that I do at home in my backyard (or my living room if it is too cold.) I have a few pounds to lose and I have some goals to build my endurance and core strength. I’ll keep you posted on all the fun I’m having and how I am doing on reaching my fitness goals.

Here’s a video of our indoor climbing workout yesterday, check it out…  and if you have fitness goals of your own and don’t know where to get started, maybe you should give Active Body Training a call and see what he can do for you.

AFM Rounds 6, 7 and 8. The end is here.

“Everyone has a breaking point, turning point, stress point, the game is permeated with it. The fans don’t see it because we make it look so efficient. But internally, for a guy to be successful, you have to be like a clock spring, wound but loose at the same time.”
Dave Winfield

 
AFM Round 6
 
Aug 27/28 — Thunderhill Raceway–Willows, CA

Little did I know going into this weekend that it would have such an effect on me.  This was what I consider the worst weekend of my racing years. Maybe that is an exaggeration as I did not crash, I didn’t have any major scary moments. I walked away from the weekend with my body and my bike in the same condition as when I arrived, but my spirit was broken. I almost, for a tiny second, considered quitting.

Formula AFemme was taking on a consistent theme; Christie Cooley running away at the front with a large margin, leaving me in the distance, sometimes in a battle, sometimes alone, but always behind. This time, Nikki Nienow was on my wheel where she sat for the first half of the race. I got faster each lap and I increased the gap over Nikki, finishing with a solid second place. I rode consistently, with perfect lines and good technique, smooth and quick, but not Fassst. I was really happy with my 2^nd place, it was another step in the right direction for me since this was my first 2^nd place finish in the AFM AFemme class.  After the races that afternoon, I was hanging out with Christie and Nikki celebrating our fun day on track. Several people stopped by to congratulate Christie on the race, many of them with a comment like, “You just walked away from the competition” and while I was really happy for Christie, I was really disappointed that I could not figure out how to get off this plateau and find the speed that she has found this year.

The next morning I was determined that I was going to go faster. That was probably my biggest mistake, because I was determined to do it, but deep down I don’t think I believed in myself. 600 Superbike would be my first race on Sunday, running mid- morning and 600 Production would be the very last race of the day. I had a next to last row grid position for 600SB, I got an average start and proceed to try to get in front of the bikes in front of me, I made some passes and was passed back and I managed to do 2:03-2:04 lap times which seems to be about the pace I was stuck at, but I didn’t go any slower. I sat around all day wondering how I was going to find some speed for the last race. Over-thinking, over-analyzing, over-whelming myself… again.

My results were decided before I took my spot on the line, before I put my visor down I had already doubted myself.  I fell back on the start as we entered turn 1, I was at the back of a 5 bike pack that I could not push through… I knew we were going slower, much slower than I was capable of, but I lacked confidence in myself to make passes through the traffic. It is hard for me, when I see 4 bikes staggered in front of me, to figure out how to get inside and outside and between them to make the passes. It is hard for me to pick them off one-by-one like I see my competitors do. I can’t help thinking they are going to turn in on me or swing out on me when I move to execute my pass. So there I sat… behind them, going dreadfully slow and getting more and more frustrated at the position I allowed myself to be in. At the end, after I saw my times, I was wounded, maybe fatally so as a racer. I thought that I must lack what it takes to be a champion at this sport. How could I succeed if I could not make passes? Was this to be my breaking point? Or would I make it a turning point?

Formula AFemme – 2^nd of 8 (Best Lap 2:04.985)
600 SuperBike – 36th of 39 (Best Lap 2:03.929)
600 Production – 32^nd of 38 (Best Lap 2:11.681)

“There’s nothing as exciting as a comeback – seeing someone with dreams, watching them fail, and then getting a second chance.”
Rachel Griffiths

AFM Round 7

 
Sept 10/11 — Thunderhill Raceway–Willows, CA

This may be surprising to some of you, but it was Christie who came to my rescue from the emotional side. In text messages on my way home from Round 6, she sent me words of encouragement and in e-mails after she sent me some of the most resonating words of advice. Those are mine to keep, I shall not share them until I can pay them forward to the next racer I know on the brink of giving up.

I arrived at Thunderhill this weekend with a new kind of determination and a rekindled spirit. Jason talked me through the technical, riding issue I was struggling with… my need for perfection, and helped me come up with the mental vocabulary I needed to overcome it. Sometimes you can tell someone something over and over again, but without the right word or the right thought implanted into that person they just can’t make it happen. Ken Hill has been working with me on overcoming this challenge of mine since Round 1 and though I knew what needed to be done, I just could not force it to happen. Then in one of my evening, sitting in the hot tub, chats with my husband he said the right thing, that brought all that Ken has been telling me into focus. I found the mental image that worked for me.

Foreshadowing...

As I launched a near perfect start from the front row, I jumped in front of Christie off the line. In the front heading toward turn 1, an unfamiliar position caught me off guard, and Christie passed by me to take the holeshot, but this time I stuck to her rear tire like my life depended on it. I followed her the first lap no more than a bike length or two away, based on the yo-yo effect, and Nikki followed closely behind. Going into T2 I nearly crashed into the back of Cooley when she used a different technique on the entry, but I kept it together and I kept on her tail. After the second lap, she picked up the pace, and I stayed with her. Still no more than a few bike lengths behind at any given moment.  The faster she went, the faster I went. She had her strong areas where she would gain ground on me and I had my strong areas where I would reel her back in.  On the last lap, we encountered lappers… after the last round, there was no way I was going to let passes be my downfall. Without hesitation, I made passes. As we approached turns 11,12,13 a tight left, quick right, fast left section, I saw the group of lappers doing battle for their class win in front of us and I planned my attack. We came out of 13, down the back straight, Cooley making her moves through the traffic and over to the outside line for the entry into right handed turn 14. I stayed all the way right, knowing all the lappers would move left and I pinned it hoping to beat her to the braking zone. Under the bridge I came up beside Cooley, but my corner was tighter and sharper since I was so tight to the inside… I had to brake harder and Cooley went through 14 and 15 in front of me, I set up for the drive out of 15 onto the front straight, I tucked, I pinned it, I saw my husband cheering me on the pit wall and I crossed the checkers a tenth of a second behind Christie Cooley. And I broke my 2:03 plateau, with a new personal best lap time of 2:01.321. This was my victory today! This was the best 2nd place I’ve ever won!

Sunday, ah, who really cares about Sunday? :) I worked on being diligent about making passes and that new technique I had for letting go of perfection. I didn’t run 2:01’s again, but I did some good work on improving my racing skills and most importantly… I had fun!

Unfortunately, Jason took a tumble in turn 9. I will refer you to his race report for that story, since it is his to tell, but it often seems when one of us is up the other is down. Yet, we always manage to pick each other up and live to race another day.

Formula AFemme – 2^nd of 5 (2:01.321)
600 Production – 26^th of 32 (2:06.987)
750 Superbike – 21^st of 27 (2:04.393)

 

“The perfect run is never the fastest run.”
Lindsey Vonn – In the Moment

AFM Round 8
 
Oct 1/2 — Thunderhill Raceway–Willows, CA

On our way to Thunderhill for the Season finale we were in high spirits. Jason was leading the championship in 750 Production and he was second in both 600 SuperBike and 600 Production. He has been running a solid and fast season. I had locked up 2^nd in the Formula AFemme championship and headed to Thunderhill in hopes of securing a win in the class.

On Saturday afternoon, I had back to back races with AFemme (race 3) and the 600 Production make-up race (race 4). Jason would be gridding up with me in race 4, so Sam Richards graciously agreed to give me pit signals during AFemme.  I was on pole position for AFemme, with Cooley deciding to head to WERA instead of AFM this weekend.  Interestingly, I was more nervous about this race than I ever have been, I know that you can’t count your chickens before they hatch. Never discount your competition, you don’t know who will find that little something that they’ve been looking for all season and come passing you by.  I wanted to get my first win and I tried to suppress the thoughts that I might do something careless and fall down. Texting Ken for my usual pre-race words of encouragement, his response “relax” helped me relax. Hahaha! I rocketed the start… but so did Stacy Menas beside me, “oh no” I thought. I pulled that throttle back to the stops, I tucked and I shifted, I don’t even know if  I really braked for turn 1, but I got the holeshot and I stayed on it into turn 2. I rolled the first lap with the amazing vision of a clear track in front of me and I recalled the pre-race words of advice from Mike Canfield, “When you get to the lead, and there is no one in front of you… that is a good thing, don’t panic, try to stay there.” ;) I rode that first lap worried that every other bike on the grid must be right on my rear wheel. When I came down the front straight and saw Sam, with his arms spread wide telling me I had a big’ol gap, I felt relief, and fear, and I felt the racer inside me struggling to get out… LOL! “Go fast! Don’t fall down. Just ride like you know how to ride. Go fast! You have a big gap, don’t risk it. Don’t get lazy that is when mistakes happen, go fast. Don’t fall down.” On and on, I spoke to myself like this until I caught the 250 race traffic. Then I focused my attention on catching and passing them one by one, to stop the insanity inside my head, until I crossed the checkers and won AFemme! I waved to every turnworker out there on my cooldown lap, so appreciative of them being out there so that I could race and so excited to have my first win.

(I also want to take a moment to congratulate Tracy Bowen for her new personal best lap times and her 2^nd place in AFemme!!! She rocked it out there and came out the winner in a heated battle with Stacy Menas.)

AFemme Trophy!

I rolled into the hot pits where my husband had waited, all geared up to head out for the 600P race hot lap, to give me a hug and a helmet kiss. He went out for the hot lap while Sam gave me water and a hug. Then David and Kyle came over and congratulated me and gave me hugs. I downed the water and rolled back onto the grid for the 600 Production make-up race.

Now a race winner, my confidence was booming. I was still on cloud nine when the green flag flew and I pinned the throttle off the start. I dropped the clutch too quickly in my eagerness and wheelied the start losing a few positions to the bikes inside of me. I found an opening and cut to the inside of turn 1 to 2 and picked up some positions, then a few bikes came around the outside of me around turn 2 as the pack started to single out through turns 3 and 4. We all bunched back up into 5 and I found my way past a couple more racers and into order we went through 6,7,8. I passed a few racers in front of me then found myself the leader of a pack, I focused my attention on the group ahead of me and a few laps later managed to catch up to them.  Now at the back of their pack and exhausted I worked on my plan of attack, thinking back to those important words of advice after round 6 from Christie Cooley, I pushed on, determined to not give up. I finished the race in 20^th but with more 2:01’s clicked off on my lap timer. I was getting the hang of this pace.

Lubs my bike!

Sunday morning I was signed up for Race 1, 750 SuperBike. I had a goal to break into the 2:00’s and set a new personal best lap time. Morning practice, I followed the practice technique Ken prescribed for me at the beginning of the season, it always calms my nerves and helps me focus. I gridded up in position 24 of 25, with few points from previous rounds. Nick Haymen, two rows up, was directly in front of me and a good starter, “that’s my carrot!” I rocketed, but again wheelied out of my start, losing ground and dropping to last place. One by one, I moved forward up to 20^th, making clean but aggressive and timely passes. This was huge. Then a gap to the group in front of me appeared.  I could see it was Sam in front of me and he became my target. I picked up my pace as he, and the group he was battling with, dropped of their pace. The gap closed each lap, and my speeds picked up, then the checkers flew far too soon for my liking. Back at the trailer, Jason had pulled up my lap times on the MyAFM live timing & scoring app, before I had even pulled off my helmet. I did it! I broke into the 2:00’s, barely, but barely is all I wanted. A new personal best!

My friend and co-worker Greg Ignoffo ventured out to the fields of Willows to watch my husband and I race. He got there in time to see my husband take the victory, with a large margin over Lenny Hale, and the class championship in 750 Production. After that we watched the exciting battle for the Number 1 plate in the Formula Pacific race. Though hard fought Ricky Corey would take the race win, and Chris Siglin would have to settle for second that day, but I think he was consoled by the fact that he won the Championship.

My last race of the day, my last race of the year… was 600 Production and I really wanted to get a sub 2:00 lap time to end the season, I was on a roll so why not go for it! I gridded up in 22^nd and Jason pulled up to the number 2 spot.  I launched the start, no wheelies this time and made a strong move through turns 1 and 2 maintaining my position, entering turn 3 the yellow flag was waving and the dust cloud was lifting revealing my husband picking himself up off the ground, I watched him for a moment to satisfy my need to know that he was ok, then I returned my focus to my race, where I had lost a couple positions for my moment of worry. I tried to put Jason’s crash out of my head as I raced on, another rider rode straight off the track in turn 8, in front of me. I worried for his safety for a moment, he was really moving when he rode off track, thankfully no red flags came out, indicating that he was well enough to not need immediate medical attention, so on we raced. I ran behind Dan Azar for the majority of the race, I felt strong and like I could go faster.  I just could not get the pass completed with my repeated attempts to out brake him into the corners failing, and my inability to set up the drive on the exits. Then in Lap 7, Paul Johnson came past me and put himself between Dan and I for a lap. I clung to PJ’s rear wheel thinking I could retake my position and make the move on Dan at the checkers. As we entered turn 14 on the last lap PJ took the inside pass on Dan and I was right behind them both as they went side by side through 14/15. PJ pulled in front on the exit of 15 and I tucked into the double draft (what an awesome feeling that is) I pulled out of the draft as we passed the start finish tower and crossed the line in front of Dan by a wheel.

With the thought of Jason out there in the in-field each time I came round turn 3, I knew I hadn’t broke a sub 2:00 lap time, in fact I felt like I had maybe done 2:03’s or 2:04’s. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I again had run 2:01’s in that last race. Jason is a little bruised and sore, mostly fine. His new PILOT suit barely shows signs of having been crashed in (I wish I could say the same for the bike.)

Congratulations to all the AFM racers on a fantastic 2011 season, I look forward to seeing you all at the banquet, where I get to go on stage (with the very best two competitors and friends I could ask for) to accept the 2^nd place Championship trophy for Formula AFemme.

Formula AFemme – 1^st of 4 (2:07.631)
600 Production BW Make-up Race – 20^th of 25 (2:01.541)
750 Superbike – 22^nd of 27 (2:00.962)
600 Production – 19^th of 26 (2:01.510)

Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened.