After claiming AFM novice championship wins in the Lightweight Superbike and Formula IV classes in 2022, I was more than a little anxious to run white expert plates for 2023. The year started off a little more slowly than I expected, though, with Round 1 races all being unexpectedly rained out and most of my Round 2 races lost to a worn out rear sprocket that turned into a broken chain in the middle of Buttonwillow’s Riverside.

Friday

The weekend began with a Friday track day by Pacific Track Time. I hadn’t actually seen my bike since Round 2 and I arrived at 7 AM to claim it from Jim at Catalyst Reaction Suspension Tuning who had it for me ready to race with a brand new chain and swingarm, as well as freshly serviced forks. My first session was inauspicious as usual as I reacquainted myself with the bike and the track, but by the second session I felt comfortable and quick again. Jim’s work on the forks had the bike feeling fantastic in braking and I didn’t end up touching the suspension at all through the weekend.

700 Superbike

Opening Sunday morning with the 700 Superbike race brought with it a new experience: gridding on the front row. This is a major change to the experience of racing as a novice. I also got a good start off the line and took second position into turn 1. What a difference it makes to be in the leading group right away and say “I know where the leader of this race is – he’s right there.” I did my best to hold position and only dropped one place before a red flag dropped in lap 4 or 5 and the race was called. The third place finished matched my result in 700 Superbike from Round 2, so here comes the consistency train!

Lightweight Superbike

I got another taste of a front row start for the Lightweight Superbike race. Although it looked like I was left in a lonely third place early on, Kenyon Kluge’s #96 Zero seemed to not be able to deliver full power for the entirety of the race and I caught him at turn 1 of the last lap (pictured at top) for second place!

Open Twins

Just before lunch I raced the Open Twins class. I race against 1200+ cc bikes in this class, so my humble FZ-07 has a tendency to look like it’s not moving down the straights as the big boys blow by. Nevertheless, trying my damndest to keep up dragged me to my first 2:04 laps at Thunderhill. I was thrilled with that result, especially since I decided to race old tires this weekend to help cushion the bill to replace my chain and swingarm.

Formula IV

The final race of the weekend was Formula IV around 2 PM. Racing after lunch is always a huge challenge for me. I typically lose 2 seconds/lap after lunch and that monkey stayed on my back for this race. After qualifying 6th I got off the line with the top 4 and then benefited from Kenyon’s bike again not being fast for the whole race distance and super fast guy Ryan Peterson wrecking out at turn 3 on the last lap to ease up to a 2nd place finish!

Pics

This time I went home with my bike fully in tact ready to race Round 4 on Father’s Day in June! Here’s some pics from Oxymoron Photography