Last weekend an opportunity popped up in my schedule to get out of the house for a bit and I got a timely email from Race Pace Trackdays early in the week advertising open spots for their no-sessions track time at Chuckwalla for Saturday and Sunday. Normally Race Pace caters specifically to veterans of the Chuckwalla track, but I reached out and they were very accommodating to pre-verify me as an AFM racer and welcome me to learn this fun little California desert track. I really enjoyed getting to know the track – it has quite a number of interesting elements. I’ve never spent so much time on the right edge of my tire, and with my peg mounted a little low I ended up burning clean through the toe slider on my new boots. Thanks to Tony at Ryder Gear for promptly mailing me a couple sets of replacement sliders. I might have to just get another pair of boots, and to be honest I’m already thinking about just getting a second suit because I like it so much…

While I was coming up to speed Saturday I noticed Jason Pridmore at the riders meeting which prompted me to look around until I saw the unmistable JP43 Training garage. Knowing how many fast people Jason has trained, I couldn’t waste the opportunity, so I walked over and asked if I could hire him for Sunday. Turned out somebody’s van had broken down and their loss was my gain, with two-time MotoAmerica champion Andrew Lee available to spend the day on track with me. Spending all day Sunday working with Andrew and Jason dragged me down to a 1:56 on four day old tires, which is just about a second off a race-winning pace in Formula 40 LW. Those guys are awesome!

With AFM’s schedule noticeably shrinking I’ve been thinking harder and harder about the logistics of racing in CVMA . Quickly coming up to speed for very encouraging and the track is a blast. I’m thinking hard about trying to come down for round 7 and celebrate my 40th birthday with an inaugural Formula 40 victory. And, of course, there’s next winter’s seasons to consider…

Here’s a video of Andrew chasing me around Sunday afternoon – it’s fun to actually have a third person view of myself for once! And below some pics for ya’ll.