Long Overdue Racing Recap for #352 (N) January 2010 to date...
Long over due race report... and brief re-cap of what's been going on since the January round of WERA West at California Speedway.
Brief Summary
Since January, I have collected nine more trophies, including seven more wins; I crashed; completed my first WSMC race; raced at Buttonwillow, Miller, Vegas, Willow Springs; completed another track day at Sears Point, STAR School at Willow Springs; YamahaDaz at Willow Springs; was a guest coach for the first All Girls Trackdaz Academy and made some significant upgrades to my sweet machine.
WERA West Las Vegas (April)
This weekend was a success and a wash at the same time. I won Women's Superstock but spent the weekend learning how to ride a new front end... and installing a new front end. I opted to purchase RaceTech fork cartridges rather than exhaust for my bike, as the suspension improvements were desperately needed and a better investment for sustained lap time improvement. The initial set up was so stiff, it freaked me out. My lap times were terrible, and I just flat out did not ride well... until the very end in Women's Superstock. I was able to end the weekend on a positive note and moving the fork set up in a positive direction. I "sacrificed" the Vegas round for better gains. =) A HUGE thank you to Lenny Albin of RaceTech for his amazing support during this weekend!
WERA West Buttonwillow (May)
And better gains I got!!! Although I was absolutely distraught over not reaching my goal of sub-two minute lap times at Buttonwillow, I did run a personal best of 2:00.5 and a whole string of consistent 2 minute flat lap times.
Although I only managed 2 minutes and 2:01s for Open (A) Superstock, I was supremely happy to have not only won that class, but beat 2nd place by 15 seconds! FIFTEEN seconds!!! In addition to hearing him recount the tales of how many times he ran off the track trying to chase me down, I wasn't feeling quite so burned by my own personal failures.
Women's Superstock was immediately following Open Superstock, and this was also Round #1 of the Calif State Championship Women's class! Being a novice, I was gridded about four rows behind the Expert girls, and our race was started behind a V-twins race! We were all sent under ONE green flag... UGH! The gaggle of thumpers, coupled with my inability to pass aggressively resulted in my bff, and arch-rival for CSC, Christie Cooley getting away and checking out. I was hoping to at least hook up with her, and have her tow me around as she was running about a second or so faster than me! I was hoping to give her a challenge after she improved my lap times! I had to settle for a lonely second place - first in my class - second in the Calif State Championship.
By the way, the new RaceTech front end is absolutely ah-mazing! Very good investment. =D
WERA Nationals – Miller Motorsports Park (May)
Many of my recent wins have happened because I was the only entrant in the class. C’est la vie... but that almost didn't happen at Miller Motorsports Park during the WERA National Endurance race when I crashed on the warm up lap of the 6 hour endurance race due to cold tires. :-\ Ok, technically it was the second warm up lap. A red flag was thrown during the opening lap of the race, due to a photog getting their rig stuck in the mud while traversing the track . I completely misjudged how much heat my tires lost and lost both front and rear in T2. Thankfully my bike had minimal damage and my pals got us back up and running so Katie Carney and I could finish the race as Stripper Glitter. Major thank you to Jacob Brown, Charles Strong, Katie Perry, Katie's cousin, Aaron Jameson and Hooter's Suzuki boys for getting my bike back together for re-tech!
Katie and I won our class - Trophy Class - the class WERA started this year for those of us who want to just run the endurance race for fun. We finished 18th overall out of about 25 teams, all of those who finished behind us failed to finish the race... We feel fortunate to have picked ourselves back up and kept rolling.
Katie and I then had a blast tag teaming the other racers during our Women's Superstock race on Sunday, as we were the only entrants in our respective classes - Expert and Novice. We beat all the other racers on the track with us save for three! We crossed the line together... so cute. :-)
Open (A) Superstock Novice is a class that really means a lot to me this year as it's the only class I have a legit battle on my hands with two other dudes. I beat them handedly at Fontana in January and Buttonwillow earlier in May. They beat me at Vegas in April and of course Vegas in January as I didn't make that race. After Miller, I'm now seven points behind the leader in the Championship, and if I keep beating them I have a legit shot to win the Superstock Championship. =D
My start wasn't so great in Superstock, and one of the dudes really made me work for it! Between having lost a ram air tube in the crash, and the altitude at Miller, his 750 was easily keeping up with my poor R1. In the end, I beat him to the line with room to spare. =D
The only thing to write home about in Formula I and Superbike is the fact that I took the holeshot. With authority, I might add, in Superbike! I was leading by a country mile until their horsepower flew past me as if I was on an SV. Already at the throttle stop, there was absolutely nothing else I could do. Being as there were only three of us in each of those classes, the only "win" I got was the satisfaction of taking the holeshot on the start.
In the end, I came home with a pile of trophies and a crashed bike. A stupid crash, but a crash non the less. I've owned that bike for four years, and it was my first crash on it. I also managed to go just over two years without crashing, which is pretty damn good when you're racing. =)
Willow Springs... where have you been all my life?
The final round of the California State Championship will be held at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, Ca - the high desert north of Palmdale/Lancaster. Known as the fastest road in the west, I opted to get some seat time on this track since the last time I rode it was 2005 during the WERA Nationals! Jason Pridmore's STAR School was a great place to start as they hosted a two day school the Monday and Tuesday following WERA West at Buttonwillow - day one at Streets of Willow - day 2 at the Big Track. My re-discovered friend Matt Quigly and I had a fun five straight days of riding between Friday practice at Buttonwillow, WERA at Buttonwillow, then STAR School! Matt and I first met way back in 2002 when I was a brand new rider, and he was a massive street squid! I thought he was just the shiz-nit doing wheelies out Hwy 58 on his GSXR 1k, and I was a brand new girl on her brand new R6 who had barely learned to crack a hundred mph...
STAR School re-introduced me to the big track in a warm and fuzzy way that allowed me to gain a lot of confidence. That track is not called the "fastest road in the west" for nothing. It is so fast, everywhere, that you need to know what you're doing if you want to really go fast there.
Matt re-introduced me to Willow Springs Motorcycle Club (WSMC), as did my friend Shandra Crawford, who is running the Calif State Championship, and got her start at WSMC.
In an effort to invest more seat time around WSIR, I joined Trackdaz.com for their YamahaDaz in June. Yamaha sponsored a Yamaha riders track day and for $75, I wasn't about to pass it up! What a fantastic track!!! I now understand the addiction that is Willow Springs. It's not because it's so close, it doesn't matter that it's hot, dirty, and windy... the track itself is that small additive to the crack that is already racing.
Shandra asked me to come out to the June WSMC round and help her out with some CSC activities, and in general, hang out and have fun. Big thanks to Matt and his gracious hospitality! During this time, I also was re-introduced to Chris Duran, who has proven to be quite an asset to my racing program. He sold me his little trailer after that weekend, and my life was made soooo much easier! Thank you again Chris and Ronny!!!
After seeing how a WSMC race weekend was run, I couldn’t take it any more and just had to jump in!
I filled out my licensing and got all signed up to race the big track in July!! Chris promised to help me out, and ride a session with me during Saturday practice, so between him and Matt, and especially Papa Duran, I was set up to have a very successful first WSMC race weekend!
July rolls around, and Chris got me set up with some great tips during my sessions of Saturday afternoon practice, and Papa Duran helped me sort out my severe overheating problem with my bike - and help with a few other minor issues. =)
I only entered Open Superstock Novice for my first WSMC race, and what a race it was!!! There were five experts, and us two novices on the grid. We were on Row five, with a gap between us and the experts. We were all sent under one green flag, and I got the start of the weekend!!! Found myself in 3rd overall as we exited T1!!! I almost was able to take the holeshot! Still being weak on the brakes into T3, all three experts went right back passed me - one of which was my friend Thomas Lusich on his 2006 R1, and in front of him was Jason, on his same generation R1. I knew what kind of lap times Thomas can run, which was faster than what I had been doing in practice, and they were my goals for the weekend, so I decided to try to hang with Thomas, and see what I could do.
As we progressed around and got into T5 and T6, I realized I could overtake him. I chased him down and he gapped me a bit in T8 and T9, but I was able to make a move on him on the exit of T1. I was just a smidge stronger into T1 than he was, and made a mental note to be stronger into T1 if I was going to hold him off. The pass didn't quite stick, as Thomas went right back underneath me in T2. I followed him around and set him up for a stellar drive pass exiting T9. All my new found horsepower with exhaust, velocity stacks, and power commander - all thanks to Graves Motorsports allowed me to have a rocket ship underneath me. I went harder into T1 and was able to successfully keep Thomas at bay. As I exited T2, a few experts from the class behind us came through me. To my advantage, they went through Jason as he approached T3, causing him to check up a bit. I was able to chase him down, and get passed him somewhere during lap five - I really do not recall where I passed him at, but I do recall taking the white flag all by myself!
I rode hard, smooth, and tried not to make any errors as I knew he'd be hot on my tail! I had a pretty good rear end slide in T5, which allowed him to gain on me a bit, so I just kept it pinned and made sure to set up T9 to get a killer drive down the front straight. With his R1 being stock, I knew I had the horsepower to keep him at bay if I used it correctly. Sure enough, I crossed the line in front!!! Barely, but still in front! I finished 4th overall in Superstock, and first in Novice Superstock. I beat the only other Novice by a full minute... Six-zero seconds... holy cow! Destroyed my weekend goal by running a personal best of 1:29.1!! I am very, very proud of my start, and my lap time spread - 1.5 seconds from fastest to slowest lap. My slowest lap came at a 1:30.6 while chasing Thomas in Lap 2.
What an incredible weekend!!! Just a year or so ago, I was still struggling with my starts and really struggling to get up to pace on the opening lap. I owe a tremendous gratitude of thanks to Matt Quigly and Chris & Ronny Duran for helping me out, and taking such fantastic care of The Dukerston - poor Duke was really struggling with the heat! You guys really made my weekend fantastic, and so much easier. I can't express my gratitude enough. I hope the case of beer was sufficient payment. ;-) Other big thanks go to Thomas, and Dave-K! You guys provided killer entertainment all weekend - just different types. ;-) It was a great battle with you Thomas! Dave... words fail me... lol
Upcoming Events
July 31st I'll be doing the second round of the CSC, at Sears Point (aka Infineon) with American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM); then I fly out Monday, Aug 2, at the crack of dawn, to meet up with my girl Frenchie!!!! A fellow WERA girl who's taking me in for a few days, then we'll be road tripping to Virginia International Raceway (VIR) for the WERA Cycle Jam!!!! It's going to be so exciting! Endurance race on her R6, and I'm hoping my awesome pal Tim Hunt of Hooter's Suzuki will lone me a bike to ride for Women's Superstock Novice class. =)
Upon my return, the following weekend I'm looking forward to the August round of WSMC! Three straight weekends of racing - yet only two on my own bike!
WERA West picks back up again Labor Day weekend at California Speedway in Fontana! Can't wait to rip around that track with my new horsepower!!!!!
Two weeks later, my whirl wind track adventures will culminate with the final round of the California State Championship at Willow Springs September 18-19th.
WERA West finale takes place November 6-7th in Las Vegas!
Huge Thank You to my Sponsors & friends and family
I cannot express my gratitude enough to my friends and family who've supported me and cheered me on and believed in me!!!! An especially HUGE, HUGE THANK YOU to Graves Motorsports!!!!! Words fail me to express my gratitude for your generosity. And my sponsors that have helped me every step of the way... a discount here or simply answering my frantic phone calls when I didn't know how to fix something, or desperately needed a part!
M Racing, Central Coast Mechanics, Ponyrific.com, CT Racing - Pirelli, Race Tech, Catalyst Reaction - Dave Moss, MDG Racing (gotmotoparts.com), Cambria Bicycle Outfitters, STAR School, Moonstone Cellars – Todd Clift, Five & Dime Tattoo of Oakland - Pato Vigil, Cross Fit - Inferno - for making me strong enough to kick ass! Newest sponsor - Factory Body Works - Matt Brooks. And Graves Motorsports!!!!!
And thank you WERA & WSMC!!!!
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