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Rexbo · March 14th, 2012, 11:40 AM

March 13, 2012

The 2012 racing season kicked off with beautiful weather, technical difficulties, elevated stress levels and some amazing races. Round 1 CVMA started out promising, with clear skies, light winds and temperatures in the low 80s, and a paddock that was filled to capacity. The previous night had been spent scrounging spare parts and gear for one of the long time 250 racers, Johnathan Hong who had suffered a concussion on friday practice, but was determined to race the weekend, and we were exhausted from the effort but glad to allow someone else to race. We arrived to luckily have a spot saved for us, and went through registration early, before the electronic troubles had started. After the necessities of racing life were taken care of at registration I made the rounds in the paddock to see who had showed up and was surprised to find the entire Feel Like a Pro rig and their fearless leader, Brian Bartlow, the long time AFM 250 racer and a few of his friends. I knew he was fast, and he has been racing longer than I’ve been walking, so it was exciting to have such talent on the track. Practice proceeded as usual, and the cobwebs were dusted off the bike and muscles stretched out, so everything was shaping up to be a great day. I had tried to keep an open track so that I could focus on corner entry speeds and control input without the distraction of following someone else or tripping up on their pace. After second practice, I was feeling good and ready for qualifying, confident that I could place on the front row. But after checking lap times from first practice, I began to realize just what a challenge this would be, since Brian had posted practice laps two seconds faster than my best-ever lap times. With this in mind, I took to the qualifying session with one goal in mind: match his pace. Even the best laid plans fall apart when the time comes, and my goal of tailing Brian faded like the back of his leathers into the distance. Time to rethink qualifying, so I spent the rest of the session pushing hard, trying to feel the tires and keep consistent cornering speeds. When the session was finally over and the bike was back on the warmers, qualifying times had not yet been posted. This was the beginning of the troubles for the race organizers.

Fast forward from 11am to 2:30pm, and the racing begins. The line up for Saturday has me racing Formula GP and 250 Supersport, both of which have me starting in 2nd, behind Brian Bartlow, and in front of Ted Rich (of AMA roadracing and superbike school fame), followed by Josh Fogle (WSMC 2011 250 champion), Darren Simms and Johnathan Hong. There are still no times posted, only grid positions, so when the call came for my first race, Formula GP, I had no clue what sort of pace needed to be run to keep up with Brian or Ted Rich. As we line up on the starting grid, I take a deep breath and decide that I’m going to go full pace, and never look back. The green flag drops and Brian gets the holeshot into turn one, with me right behind and Ted hot on my heels, driving out of turn 2 into turn 3, I realize that Brian is already carrying MUCH faster cornering speeds than I am, and that this is going to be difficult. He’s distancing his lead by another bike length every corner, and there’s no way I can keep up without out-riding my confidence. But watching him disappear I know that he is on the same tires, same bike, same power, and I too can do that. Another deep breath and I step my pace up and enter the top of the corkscrew carrying more speed than I thought possible, but the Pirellis held up their end of the bargain and kept the bike upright and on track. As the corners pass by, Brian has disappeared, Ted is a comfortable distance behind, and before long the checkered flag flies and I speed through, taking second place far behind Brian and posting a best time of a 2:09:5, already faster than my previous best.

The 250 supersport race is the last sprint race of the day, and a few hours away, so I have time to digest what has just happened. Where is the extra cornering speed coming from, how can I get it, where is time being lost? Luckily, Brian comes over to my pit and offers all kinds of help, from tire pressures to body positioning, to gearing choice, but mostly it is what sits between my ears that needs re-adjustment. Listen to the bike, feel what the tires are saying, and be smooth. The hours wear on, more delays are made and finally race 8 is called just as the sun falls below the horizon. We line up in the growing darkness, most of us wearing tinted visors, and off we go. Brian jumps far out ahead, farther than anyone can see in fact, since he had the clarity of mind to bring a clear visor spare. All we see of him is the occasional blue pop out the exhaust, and as the laps go on, that is pretty much all that is visible. Cornering becomes racing by braille method as we fumble our way around the track, until the red flag is thrown and all the riders come back in, and to our surprise most racers are only about 2 seconds off their pace. The race ends up being rescinded from scoring, and no points were given, since the race officials could no longer read the numbers on the bikes as they passed, testament to how dark it was.

Sunday brings the main events, and a much smoother performance on the part of the race officials. The goal for today is to match corner entry speeds and cornering speeds, since those are my weak points and can use them to my advantage, having more experience than Brian on this track. Formula GP in the morning is a dead repeat of saturday, but with much less of a gap between Brian and I. It was an opportunity to study his lines, where he’s slow, where he’s fast, and how to minimize my weaknesses. Finally, 250 production is up, and the main event begins, with 15 bikes lining up on the grid, for the first scored championship points this season. The green flag waves and Josh Fogle takes the holeshot into turns 1 and 2, while I shut the door on Brian braking down into turn 2 to retain second. Powering out of turn 3, both Brian and I have the drive on Josh and are hard on his wheel downshifting into turn 4, with Brian swinging wide and driving by Josh on the outside between turns 4 and 5 into first place and dropping me to third. Powering out of 5 and scrubbing speed into turn 6, Ted comes in hot and pushes me into a wider line, but running himself even wider in the process, giving me the chance to stand the bike up and get on the gas extremely early, powering past both Ted and Josh on the exit of turn 7 to bump up into 2nd place. This has allowed Brian precious turns to get distance on us and he’s quickly getting smaller in the distance. Soon he’s barely visible, but I just keep my head down, my breathing regular, and let the bike slip and grip below me, and focus on whats next. On lap 5, Brian is back in sight and I am on his tail as the white flag waves. I focus on keeping on his wheel like he’s a magnet, since passing him early would give him a chance to respond and up his pace. The corners fly by and I’m sticking with him the whole last lap, but I know that the final corner is his weakest area and as he turns in, I downshift and swing wide, scrubbing speed with the front tire, and get on the gas as early as I can. The rear wheel spins up and the bike rotates but I stand it up and the rear wheel finds traction and points me to the apex and out of the corner, and holy cow I have the drive on Brian! As I close within inches of his bike powering onto the front straight to the checkered flag, the transmission slips out of 4th gear and into a false neutral, completely killing my drive, and I limp behind him to the finish line to take second. I was disappointed in the result especially having worked so hard the whole race, but the pain is eased by learning that on the final lap, I beat Brian’s best time and set a new 250 Supersport lap record at a 2:07:243, a full two and a half seconds faster than my 2011 lap record. Taking home three second place trophies and a new lap record felt good, but what felt better is learning to feel how the bike responds at that kind of pace, and see the look of pride on Brian’s face seeing that he helped me get up to his pace.

Coming up next weekend is AFM round 1, where I will again battle with the Feel Like a Pro team, and all the northern California talent. After that round, I will be testing new Pirelli 125gp slicks that may allow me to further drop time, and possibly a few rounds with M1GP in their Open GP class. Thanks again to this years sponsors, Slim at Nexx Helmets, Brittani at Cycle Gear Lomita, Poly Moto Engineering, Dale Kieffer at Racers Edge Performance, Andy at West Coast GP cycles, and the Dainese Store Costa Mesa and most of all for the other racers who are always there for each other for advice, help and pointers as well as excellent competition. All in all, this is going to be a good season.

here's video:

Link to original page on YouTube.

and some photos:
http://www.caliphotography.com/photo...#image=1815877

http://www.caliphotography.com/photo...#image=1815728

http://www.caliphotography.com/photo...#image=1813184

http://www.caliphotography.com/photo...#image=1811313

March 14th, 2012, 11:40 AM	#1
Rexbo CVMA / AFM / M1GP #250 Name: Steve Location: Los Angeles Join Date: Sep 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2009 Ninja 250r, 2011 Zero S, 2009 KLR 650 Posts: A lot.	CVMA 2012 Round 1 Race Report March 13, 2012 The 2012 racing season kicked off with beautiful weather, technical difficulties, elevated stress levels and some amazing races. Round 1 CVMA started out promising, with clear skies, light winds and temperatures in the low 80s, and a paddock that was filled to capacity. The previous night had been spent scrounging spare parts and gear for one of the long time 250 racers, Johnathan Hong who had suffered a concussion on friday practice, but was determined to race the weekend, and we were exhausted from the effort but glad to allow someone else to race. We arrived to luckily have a spot saved for us, and went through registration early, before the electronic troubles had started. After the necessities of racing life were taken care of at registration I made the rounds in the paddock to see who had showed up and was surprised to find the entire Feel Like a Pro rig and their fearless leader, Brian Bartlow, the long time AFM 250 racer and a few of his friends. I knew he was fast, and he has been racing longer than I’ve been walking, so it was exciting to have such talent on the track. Practice proceeded as usual, and the cobwebs were dusted off the bike and muscles stretched out, so everything was shaping up to be a great day. I had tried to keep an open track so that I could focus on corner entry speeds and control input without the distraction of following someone else or tripping up on their pace. After second practice, I was feeling good and ready for qualifying, confident that I could place on the front row. But after checking lap times from first practice, I began to realize just what a challenge this would be, since Brian had posted practice laps two seconds faster than my best-ever lap times. With this in mind, I took to the qualifying session with one goal in mind: match his pace. Even the best laid plans fall apart when the time comes, and my goal of tailing Brian faded like the back of his leathers into the distance. Time to rethink qualifying, so I spent the rest of the session pushing hard, trying to feel the tires and keep consistent cornering speeds. When the session was finally over and the bike was back on the warmers, qualifying times had not yet been posted. This was the beginning of the troubles for the race organizers. Fast forward from 11am to 2:30pm, and the racing begins. The line up for Saturday has me racing Formula GP and 250 Supersport, both of which have me starting in 2nd, behind Brian Bartlow, and in front of Ted Rich (of AMA roadracing and superbike school fame), followed by Josh Fogle (WSMC 2011 250 champion), Darren Simms and Johnathan Hong. There are still no times posted, only grid positions, so when the call came for my first race, Formula GP, I had no clue what sort of pace needed to be run to keep up with Brian or Ted Rich. As we line up on the starting grid, I take a deep breath and decide that I’m going to go full pace, and never look back. The green flag drops and Brian gets the holeshot into turn one, with me right behind and Ted hot on my heels, driving out of turn 2 into turn 3, I realize that Brian is already carrying MUCH faster cornering speeds than I am, and that this is going to be difficult. He’s distancing his lead by another bike length every corner, and there’s no way I can keep up without out-riding my confidence. But watching him disappear I know that he is on the same tires, same bike, same power, and I too can do that. Another deep breath and I step my pace up and enter the top of the corkscrew carrying more speed than I thought possible, but the Pirellis held up their end of the bargain and kept the bike upright and on track. As the corners pass by, Brian has disappeared, Ted is a comfortable distance behind, and before long the checkered flag flies and I speed through, taking second place far behind Brian and posting a best time of a 2:09:5, already faster than my previous best. The 250 supersport race is the last sprint race of the day, and a few hours away, so I have time to digest what has just happened. Where is the extra cornering speed coming from, how can I get it, where is time being lost? Luckily, Brian comes over to my pit and offers all kinds of help, from tire pressures to body positioning, to gearing choice, but mostly it is what sits between my ears that needs re-adjustment. Listen to the bike, feel what the tires are saying, and be smooth. The hours wear on, more delays are made and finally race 8 is called just as the sun falls below the horizon. We line up in the growing darkness, most of us wearing tinted visors, and off we go. Brian jumps far out ahead, farther than anyone can see in fact, since he had the clarity of mind to bring a clear visor spare. All we see of him is the occasional blue pop out the exhaust, and as the laps go on, that is pretty much all that is visible. Cornering becomes racing by braille method as we fumble our way around the track, until the red flag is thrown and all the riders come back in, and to our surprise most racers are only about 2 seconds off their pace. The race ends up being rescinded from scoring, and no points were given, since the race officials could no longer read the numbers on the bikes as they passed, testament to how dark it was. Sunday brings the main events, and a much smoother performance on the part of the race officials. The goal for today is to match corner entry speeds and cornering speeds, since those are my weak points and can use them to my advantage, having more experience than Brian on this track. Formula GP in the morning is a dead repeat of saturday, but with much less of a gap between Brian and I. It was an opportunity to study his lines, where he’s slow, where he’s fast, and how to minimize my weaknesses. Finally, 250 production is up, and the main event begins, with 15 bikes lining up on the grid, for the first scored championship points this season. The green flag waves and Josh Fogle takes the holeshot into turns 1 and 2, while I shut the door on Brian braking down into turn 2 to retain second. Powering out of turn 3, both Brian and I have the drive on Josh and are hard on his wheel downshifting into turn 4, with Brian swinging wide and driving by Josh on the outside between turns 4 and 5 into first place and dropping me to third. Powering out of 5 and scrubbing speed into turn 6, Ted comes in hot and pushes me into a wider line, but running himself even wider in the process, giving me the chance to stand the bike up and get on the gas extremely early, powering past both Ted and Josh on the exit of turn 7 to bump up into 2nd place. This has allowed Brian precious turns to get distance on us and he’s quickly getting smaller in the distance. Soon he’s barely visible, but I just keep my head down, my breathing regular, and let the bike slip and grip below me, and focus on whats next. On lap 5, Brian is back in sight and I am on his tail as the white flag waves. I focus on keeping on his wheel like he’s a magnet, since passing him early would give him a chance to respond and up his pace. The corners fly by and I’m sticking with him the whole last lap, but I know that the final corner is his weakest area and as he turns in, I downshift and swing wide, scrubbing speed with the front tire, and get on the gas as early as I can. The rear wheel spins up and the bike rotates but I stand it up and the rear wheel finds traction and points me to the apex and out of the corner, and holy cow I have the drive on Brian! As I close within inches of his bike powering onto the front straight to the checkered flag, the transmission slips out of 4th gear and into a false neutral, completely killing my drive, and I limp behind him to the finish line to take second. I was disappointed in the result especially having worked so hard the whole race, but the pain is eased by learning that on the final lap, I beat Brian’s best time and set a new 250 Supersport lap record at a 2:07:243, a full two and a half seconds faster than my 2011 lap record. Taking home three second place trophies and a new lap record felt good, but what felt better is learning to feel how the bike responds at that kind of pace, and see the look of pride on Brian’s face seeing that he helped me get up to his pace. Coming up next weekend is AFM round 1, where I will again battle with the Feel Like a Pro team, and all the northern California talent. After that round, I will be testing new Pirelli 125gp slicks that may allow me to further drop time, and possibly a few rounds with M1GP in their Open GP class. Thanks again to this years sponsors, Slim at Nexx Helmets, Brittani at Cycle Gear Lomita, Poly Moto Engineering, Dale Kieffer at Racers Edge Performance, Andy at West Coast GP cycles, and the Dainese Store Costa Mesa and most of all for the other racers who are always there for each other for advice, help and pointers as well as excellent competition. All in all, this is going to be a good season. here's video: Link to original page on YouTube. and some photos: http://www.caliphotography.com/photo...#image=1815877 http://www.caliphotography.com/photo...#image=1815728 http://www.caliphotography.com/photo...#image=1813184 http://www.caliphotography.com/photo...#image=1811313