First race of the year....Waaahoooooo

BDAZXX · 03-20-2007, 1:02 AM

Any west coasters have some time, run over to Button Willow (West of Bakersfield, right off I-5) for the first AFM race of the year. I'll be there friday through sunday. We practise friday and saturday and races are sunday.

Look for the Bulldog Racing rig and yours truely.

Check out the Bulldog racings new setup.

Click image for larger version

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haWHYnXX · 03-20-2007, 3:53 AM

Good luck at the races Randy.

Isn't the bike in front the one you painted yourself?? Looks good - also like the helmet!!

BDAZXX · 03-20-2007, 11:13 AM

Thanks! I am soooooo stoked............................

Actually I painted both in my shop. I had some help from a buddy that used to be a body shop guy.

PJNXX · 03-20-2007, 1:18 PM

Yeah, nice paint job on the bike. I hope you do well. Go get 'em!

Jack · 03-27-2007, 9:43 AM

How did it go???

Is that hoov's bike in your avatar or did you have the rat bike that year? Going to make it to Barber in May?

BDAZXX · 03-27-2007, 10:25 AM

Hi Jack! LOL....long time no see! Are you still shooting those kickass pictures at the track?

I was the original Rat Bike and passed on the rat to Hoov and he lost it to a real rat or mouse. I had planned on going to Barber but had to cancel last month. I have 2 litters of puppies coming and have to tend to them.

I know, long read but its a race report so what do you expect!

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Button Willow AFM Race weekend.
03/23-25

This was the weekend I have been wanting to get here for quite a while. Unfortunately it started out bad and got progressively better!

I loaded everything up and headed out Thursday night. After filling up at the local Chevron on the way, I made it about 15 miles from home and my truck died!!! It felt like the clogged fuel filter I had last summer so I turned around and went to the local Autozone and picked up a fuel filter and changed it. Headed out AGAIN!! I made it about 25 miles down I-5 and it did it again and again and again. After about the 7th time and 100 miles from home I realized I had a gas tank full of water!!!! The fuel filter was catching the water and clogging it up, shutting down the fuel flow to the motor. This process of pulling the filter off was done 8-10 times in 180 miles to Button Willow. I was one mad racer!!!

Anyway I made it there after 7 hours of travel (for a 3 hour drive) at 2:30am. I slept 3 hours and was awake and excited about getting to ride BW for the first time ever. It was cool to finally see my pit setup all SETUP…AND….I ended up in one of the best spots on the track. Right next to the main building and in front of the pit out/hot pit entrance! We had every single racer in the paddock going by us and were able to watch the races from some of the best vantage points in the pits. Several people complimented my pit setup and I was pretty happy with the look as well, for being only the first time out with it. Jessie Long at Economy Signs really went over board and set up the trailer beautifully! I also had a Hotsy on display which was preatty cool of Jim O’Connell at Hotsy to let me take. Kent at Discount Leather let me take a nice display race for all the leathers which looked nice and professional as well.

Fridays practice was good, I requested the B group. I wanted to spend the day learning the track and finding passing zones. I never check my times but after the morning sessions were over, I wicked it up in the later afternoon sessions and made good progress.

BW is a very fun, technical 3.1 mile track with slow, tight stuff as well as some triple digit, kneedown, fast stuff. The turn call Riverside (T11) is one turn that I don’t think I will ever be comfortable with. Its sooooooooo fast!!! I don’t think I have ever gone that fast, leaned over that far dragging my knee, for that long. Its prolly a 120-130mph banked corner that flattens out on the exit and in all honesty I think I could drag my elbow if I tried buts its just waaaaay to fast to be messing around like that. I was starting to feel the lack of sleep in the later afternoon and as soon as I could, I was back at the hotel to shower and go to sleep. What a great day!

Now I have never turned at wheel at BW until the day before but the AFM goddess’s felt like I should jump in with the sharks (or so I thought). They put me in practice group 4, out of 5 (5 being the fastest guys on the west coast and current AMA racers) and I thought I was going to be a sitting duck in this group since I was the only yellow plate (Novice) in the practice sessions. I requested to be switch down a group or 2 but my pit buddy Kristy “The fastest girl in the AFM” Miller talked me out of it and I stayed in group 4. So I followed the experts, studied there lines and actually picked up my pace fairly quick. I started out at a 2:05-06 lap time and felt pretty comfortable at that pace. Started passing riders and finding the passing zones. The day was a success in my mind. I learned a lot and kept it on 2 wheels!

The Kneerider.com party after the AFM dinner was a blast. This is one of the funnest crowds I have met. Everyone just seems like family! We had a Corona chugging contest, lots of stories and laughs, drank a few beers and I headed to bed with much anticipation for Sundays main events.

Sunday rolls around and we get 1 practice session first thing in the morning. I had 1 race in Formula 1 before lunch and 2 races in the afternoon. 6 laps to make the best of it!

Formula 1

This is the big race on my schedule. We have 59 racers in it and I was gridded 37th. I got a good start, dove to the inside as was able to pass several racers before T1. I improved my lap time to a 2:02 and finished 22nd out of 59. Not bad for not being on track in over 7 months and at a track I have never ridden until that weekend so I was fairly happy with my pace.

Open Twins
This is one fun race! All V-Twins and it sounds awesome hearing 22 twins revving up on the starting line. I was gridded in P16 for the start. I had the legendary Ken Hill to my left on the starting line and it just felt really weird to be sitting next to him there. I was hoping I could jump in behind him on the start, since I knew without a shadow of a doubt he would get a great start. He did and I didn’t! The guy directly in front of me jumped in behind him and blocked me from following him down low into T1. I ran my best time of the day in this race, a 2:00.247 and finished 13th out of 22! It was my personal goal to get to a :00 this weekend but I was kind of doubting it at the same time. Doing a 2 minute flat the first time out was asking a lot of myself but I went for it and surprised myself and hit it!!

Formula 40
This is one of the most competitive classes in the AFM for us ol guys. A lot of the top guys in the club are over 40 yrs old and it is a super fast class to race in. I felt tired but knew it was the last race of the day and wanted to do well. I mean these mature guys are out here and so should I! I got a decent start and jumped onto a group but was held up alittle by a guy that the group had passed and lost touch with them. I felt like I was finally getting some good fast lines down that flowed well and my times told me my thinking was correct. I finished 15th/37 and ran a 1:58.2.

I improved my laptimes each race and learned the track better each time out. So all in all the weekend finished 100X better than it had started on thursday.

I would like to thank Jim and Karen O’Connell at Hotsy for there support this season. Jessie Long at Economy Signs for setting me up with the coolest looking trailer in the paddock and getting my bikes looking equally as good. Dans Distributing, Tommy’s Glass and Discount Leather for all there support and help with my racing, as well as all the Kneeriders that helped me out this weekend.

Pics to follow once I get them!

Warchild · 03-27-2007, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BDAZXX

I felt like I was finally getting some good fast lines down that flowed well and my times told me my thinking was correct. I finished 15th/37 and ran a 1:58.2.

1:58.2?!!!!!!!!!! DAYUM!!!!!!!!!!

flblackbird · 03-27-2007, 10:58 AM

Congrats man!!

haWHYnXX · 03-27-2007, 1:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warchild

1:58.2?!!!!!!!!!! DAYUM!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, great job Randy.

Jack · 03-29-2007, 1:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BDAZXX

Hi Jack! LOL....long time no see! Are you still shooting those kickass pictures at the track?

I was the original Rat Bike and passed on the rat to Hoov and he lost it to a real rat or mouse. I had planned on going to Barber but had to cancel last month. I have 2 litters of puppies coming and have to tend to them.

Hey Randy! Yeah, here and there. I'm covering the Barber event. Cant' wait, that's an awesome track! Sorry you can't make it!

Great write up! Glad you made it to the track and had a good weekend! Seems like forever since I've been to a race. I'm sure getting the itch to get back out there! At this point I'll just be happy when summer finally arrives up here.

rodantking · 03-29-2007, 8:37 PM

Sweat bike. I have what to try a RC on for size for some time.