AFM Round 1: Tornado at Buttonwillow

The first race of the year managed to creep up on me, but I went down to the distant, smelly land of Buttonwillow feeling fairly prepared with all of my equipment; my mind had yet to follow. After the tedious drive down and the 45 minutes it took to blow an air mattress up with a bicycle pump, I wound up comfortably asleep beneath an EZ-Up.

Friday morning found me realizing all that I still had to do before my bike was ready to race, but when I finally got on the bike all of my nervousness drifted away and I set in to exploring my freshly built motor and remembering how to ride a road bike. As the afternoon ended, I set up pit with the ever so generous and helpful Chris Van Andel from Motion Pro.

During Saturday practice, the bike felt great again and I was starting to feel more comfortable on it, yet still trying to master the uneven surface and combination of technical turns and speed sections that BW offers. Catalyst Reaction had done wonders to my suspension and Buttonwillow felt like a road course instead of a motocross track! Chris V gave me a tremendous amount of help dialing the bike in, as well as the Peter Lenz crew. Pitting next to 11 yr old 125GP racer Peter Lenz just made me feel like a better rider. Check him out at www. peterlenz.com.

As I came around the sweeper and into the esses after the checker was thrown on my session, I was excited and pumped to get my race face on. But as I was leaned over in the last turn of the last lap of the last session, turning the throttle on, my bike started to bog. I stood up and looked down to see the RPMs dropping. Confused, I thought perhaps I had mis-shifted, and I dropped a gear, but they were still going down and I was still on the gas. I tried revving again and my little SV wouldn't go above six grand. As I pulled into the exit lane, I got off the gas and pulled the clutch in and the engine just shut off! I coasted to the pit, confused and a little worried. After getting my leathers off and trying not to stress, I came outside and told Chris what had happened. He tried to start the bike and it made a hugh "kachunk" noise. Now I was starting to worry a lot! Chris tried turning then engine over manually and it wouldn't go passed half way. Something was seriously wrong. After talking to Gregg Spears, it dawned on me that tomorrow was no longer race day for me. My motor was blown.

I was a little more than upset as I watched Peter smoke everyone in his clubman race. As I calmed down and thought about my options, Chris V mentioned that a racer was renting out Ninja 250s. I laughed at first, but then started to actually consider it. I'd get to ride a bike, which would be fun, regardless of the bike, and wait: I qualify for Formula IV, one of the classes I'd race on the SV! That means I could get some points for Round 2 at Infineon. It was a done deal. I rented the Ninja from Rich with racebikerentals.com and I was back in the game (sort of).

Saturday night brought 65 mph winds and torrential downpour which destroyed the EZ-Up nest under which I was attempting to sleep. After finally falling asleep just before dawn, I was awoken by my 6am alarm. I heard the rain and rolled over to go back to sleep. Seven o'clock brought a bit of blue sky to dry up the rain and figured it was time to get up though I was hesitant to leave my haven. The realization that I needed to register the Ninja 250 was enough to get me up and ready for the one practice session I'd get on the Ninja.

The first practice session was hardly a practice: it was more of an observation of where the puddles were on the track. Fortunately, the shotty Buttonwillow surface was particularly good at staying dry and the track seemed to be okay. So I gridded up for 250 Production, the first race of the day, ready to get all I could out of that lawn mower.

The flag was down and we were off, and I got a pretty good start! I came into turn 1 in fifth place. I confidently creeped up on a Ninja, and then it was fourth. Before I knew it, third place was mine. But by this point, first and second place were already a few turns ahead of me. I tried to catch up, but they just seemed to be pulling away from me. Before long, I couldn't see them anymore and I couldn't hear any one else behind me either. I rode alone into a third place finish and just enjoyed being on a bike and on a track when hours before I hadn't thought that possible.

Formula IV was a Ninja's nightmare. I did not get a good start, which is the only thing I had going for me. So after one pass and one lap, I was again alone. But I didn't come in last and I got points for Round 2, and that was my goal.

Out of a horrendous situation, I came away with an awesome trophy and a better starting position for one of my three classes in Round 2. And I wont be the only one at the back of the grid. Buttonwillow turned out to be an anti-SV weekend with two blown engines, two blown transmissions and a couple big crashes as well. And that's racing.

Pre-season '09

Trying to scramble things together a bit last minute. How does this always seem to happen? I'm well on my way though, don't worry. Just waiting to get body work painted and initial suspension set up from Catalyst Reaction. In the mean time, I've been dirtbiking as much as possible to try and prepare for the season. In addition, I've got myself on a rigorous work out schedule, so my guns are getting pretty loaded. Unfortunately, I love eating too much to reign myself in all the time, so I'm not as fit as I'd wish to be, but I'm getting there.

First race is March 21st and 22nd at Buttonwillow, so less than two weeks to finish up my preparations. I'll also be entering as many WERA races as possible, so you can find me in Vegas on April 11th and 12th too!

Thanks for reading, and feel free to contact me if you realize that your business could benefit from having a female motorbike racer as a company representive.