And so it begins........World Superbike testing at Portimao

Shakey takes his Althea Ducati for a test run.

Hodgson returns to the British Superbike Championship with Rob Mac Racing

Crash.net is reporting that Neil Hodgson, the 2000 British superbike racing champion will be returning to the series with Rob Mac Racing. Neil will be riding the Yamaha YZF-R1 which is the current production racing weapon of choice having won the 2009 British superbike championship with Leon Camier and the 2009 World superbike championship with Ben Spies.

In an ironic twist of fate Neil will be taking the seat vacated by 2000 British superbike runner-up "The Stalker" Chris Walker.

I really enjoyed watching Neil race in the AMA superbike championship for the past several years but a combination of injuries and the under-funded Honda racing effort this past year meant he was never really competative but managed to run near the front a few times.

Best of luck Neil. I'll be watching.

Toseland and Crutchlow take over at Yamaha

James Toseland and Cal Crutchlow take over for Yamaha World Superbike. They have tough shoes to fill with the dominating performances from Ben Spies this past season.

Definately should be an interesting 2010 season for sure.

Experimenting with Windows Live Writer

I’m trying out the windows live writer software to do my blog editing/posting. So far I really like the interface as compared to the standard Blogger interface.

To see how it works with photos I’m including a picture from a recent camping trip that my friend Michelle and her sister Beverly made to the Joe Wheeler state park in northwest alabama.

I really like how you can move the picture around and resize right in the preview window. Very slick.

 

There is a feature to add thumbnails from a photo album. The actual pictures are stores on a microsoft live photo site.

View Full Album

College football season.....finally !!!!!!!!!!!!

It's September and that can only mean one thing, the start of college football season. People take their football seriously around here as witnessed by this tag I saw driving to work this morning.

Back to school fail!

I work at a University. The fall semester recently started and unfortunately this sign was spotted in several locations around our university center. An epic fail for sure.

Author/racer Mark Gardiner on Jay Leno's Garage

I recently became acquainted with the work of author Mark Gardiner. Mark is a motorcycle journalist and sometime motorcycle racer who has written a book about his experience racing at the Isle of Mann.

Mark was interviewed recently by Jay Leno for a segment of Jay Leno's book club. Click on the title of this post to view that interview.

Mark's book can be found at www.ridingman.com

You can also follow Mark on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Backmarker

Sad news from England

Very sad news out of England today as we learn of the untimely death of young F2 racer Henry Surtees at Brands Hatch.

Henry was the son of racing legend John Surtees.

We mourn for Henry's family and friends. Godspeed young racer.

Great car tag spotted on campus.

I spotted this car tag yesterday on an Infinity parked on campus where I work.

I am so happy for Larry Pegram

Larry Pegram won superbike race two at Road America this past weekend. Think about that for a minute......Larry Pegram beat Mat Mladin straight up in a fair fight. I can't wait to see this race on the delayed coverage.

I do not know Larry personally but I have followed his racing for some time now. I first met Pegram, sort of, at Barber a few years ago. He was sitting in a golf cart talking to Kevin Schwantz.

I approached and Kevin immediately knew I was going to ask for an autograph, he even had a sharpie out and ready. I handed my cap to the world champion and asked politely would he please sign it. After he handed it back to me I looked at Larry and also said politely, "Larry could you please sign it too?". He smiled and signed but the look on his face said it all. He could barely believe that I even recognized him. He seems that genuinely humble and even grateful.

The next time I saw Larry in person was also at Barber this year but under remarkably different circumstances. There was a tornado warning at the track and everyone was searching for cover. Michelle and I decided to hide out in the second level restrooms which seemed at the time to be the most sturdy building available.

As the rain and lightning got heavier and the tornado got closer more and more people crowded into that building. About this time I noticed Larry, his father, wife and daughter were all there as well. In spite of the threat of weather it seemed a happy family moment for him. I couldn't help thinking how satisfying this season must be for him. He has his own team, he's competative again and he has his family with him.

Little did he or any of us know that in just a few short weeks from then he would be standing atop the superbike podium at Elkhart Lake.

Good on you Larry. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Jim

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Nashville Superspeedway WERA Round 2

Nashville Superspeedway played host for round two of the WERA Sportsman Mid-Central race series. This was my first time at Nashville so I didn't really know what to expect. On hindsight I should have gone over and done a practice day but money is tight now so I decided to just do practice and race on Sunday....big mistake.

This was my first visit to a track with garages and they do make setting up your pits much easier than an open paddock for sure. Also there is power which is a nice luxury for club racers. I shared a space with Scott Padgitt, expert 365. Scott runs heavyweight twins on a Suzuki SV1000. Next to us was Gill Cutchen, expert 105 with his SV650 and Triumph 675.







This is the strangest track that I've ever been to. It is a roadcourse built inside an oval so part of the lap is tight, twisty infield combined with the high speed tri-oval section of the oval. Not an easy place to learn, especially for a relatively inexperienced novice like me. First practice was an absolute cluster but by second practice I was getting the hang of it. Unfortunately second practice got cut short when I mis-judged the entrance to the back stretch chicane and had a little excursion into the grass. Well I managed somehow to not fall down but I did hit the ground with my right foot pretty hard so I decided to pit in and check it out. No real damage done except to my pride.

The senior superbike race wasn't until very late in the day so Michelle and I decided to go over to the big grandstands to watch some of the early races that Gill and Scott were in. Unfortunately, Gill had a bad highside wreck on the last lap of his lightweight race. The bike isn't damaged too bad but he landed right on his face. His helmet was really messed up and he has some marks and bruising on his forehead. Anytime you hit your head it is scary but fortunately his wife was there to drive home and he seemed to be relatively ok.

Finally it came time for Senior Superbike. I was gridded inside second row just behind Art Spence and next to Joe Barton. I've raced with both of them before many times and they are close to me in speed so I knew if I could hang on to them I would have some fun out there. Usually I'm a really good starter but this time I was a little slow and also got a big wheelie that hurt my start and both of them were ahead of me going into the very tight turn one. Coming out of one Art had a big slide and Joe and I checked up but it put me about a second behind both of them heading onto the back stretch. I was able to keep them both in sight but couldn't make up any time so the race finished in that same order.

All in all it was a good time but I can't say Nashville is ever going to be a favorite track. The facilities are fantastic but there just isn't any flow to the track at all.

Should Mat Mladin go to world superbikes?

Recently I started following Mat Mladin on Twitter (twitter.com/MatMladin).

I have always been a fan of Mat Mladin's racing abilities but only recently have I been able to relate to him on a more personal level. You see, Mat has always been a bit of a rebel. He isn't afraid to speak his mind and at times he can come across as somewhat of a jerk.

His "less than friendly" image hasn't been helped by his open hostility towards the current AMA/DMG rules package for superbike racing in the US which he clearly regards as "a joke". So, if Mat is so unhappy racing here would he pack up and leave when his Suzuki contract expires? I say, extremely unlikely and here's why.

I'm convinced that Mat is #1 a family man and #2 a motorcycle racer. His priorities are to provide a good life for his family and he's doing that quite well by racing in the US. Even though he doesn't like the current rules package it has made the racing closer so far. Tommy Hayden, Neil Hodgson and even Larry Pegram have been able to run with Mat at times and they are sure to get closer as we now get to racing on real tracks like Road Atlanta and Barber. Mat loves competition, we know that.

So even though Mat might yearn for the real competition of full blown world superbike racing and running against Ben Spies again I think that at this point in his life his priorities are family first and ego second and I respect that. So I don't look for Mat Mladin to go world superbike racing.

Picnic at Mt. Cheaha

Video from Barber

Well I recently learned that a nice guy named Kevin was taking video this past Saturday at Barber and it turns out he was riding behind me in one of the early sessions.

Kevin was nice enough to allow me to link the video on my blog. I was riding behind my friend UAJEFF from Birmingham. Jeff has really improved since I first rode with him a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed riding behind him for this session.

Thanks again to Kevin, B group number 51 from Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Finally back on track - NESBA at Barber - October 2008

After a long summer layoff I made it back to the track finally for a NESBA event at Barber Motorsports Park. After several years of doing 10 or more track days this was only my second one for 2008 and it felt great to be back out there.



We setup our pits in our usual favorite location, the bottom of the hill just to the right. Michelle loves this spot because it is quiet and close to the tower so easy access to everything.




Barber was lovely as ever with lots of flowers still blooming and just a hint of fall color. I'm sure it will be even better for the November event in a few weeks.

I had not ridden my bike since I did cornerworking for the California Superbike School back in July and to my surprise there seemed to be something in the fuel or carburetors that kept the bike from running smoothly. I finally got it to start but there was no low speed idle, I had to keep the revs up or it would stall. I filled it with fresh gas and let it run a long time and as the day went by it got more and more normal so my riding wasn't entirely ruined but it sure made me a bit nervous.

I managed to make a new friend this weekend and that pleased me. Pitted next to us was a really nice guy named Brian from southern Michigan. Brian was riding in intermediate on a big Kawasaki. He stayed with us for lunch and we had a good chat about riding and Michigan football.

It was also good to see some old friends like Joel from Nashville and Jeff (UAJEFF on the boards)from here in Birmingham. Also, my friend Gill Cutchen was there to do some control riding and get some laps on his new Triumph racebike.



There was a large group of riders there from Mississippi that were pitted across the paddock from us. I didn't get to meet any of them but they sure seemed to have a good time.




I also met a nice retired couple from Florida who were there with some really "old school" race bikes. As usual, half the fun of a track day is people watching.




Here are a few more miscellaneous pictures taken during the event.





Can't wait till November.

Jim

Finally back on track - WERA at Tally in June

After long layoff I finally got to race again at the little Talladega Grand Prix Raceway during the WERA regionals on June 15th.

My last track outing was a NESBA day at Barber in early March so I was really looking forward to getting back out there. My old black YZF600R was not running well so far this year. I cleaned the carburetors really well but couldn't get it to run. I'm not really sure what is going on with that old bike but I finally just gave up and moved all the race bits and bodywork over to my 02YZF which I knew would run just fine.

Originally, I had planned to not race the 02 since it is street legal with a title and I thought I might just put it back into street trim and sell it this summer. But for now at least I'm going to have to use it on the track until I have a chance to rebuild the old bike from the ground up.

Anyway, race weekend finally arrived and Michelle and I went over to Tally on Saturday night to setup pits then we went to Lincoln to visit with her aunt Boots and uncle Andy. We had a wonderful time visiting with them. They are such fun people who love to travel and had many stories to tell us about their latest adventures. Andy's health has not been the best lately so their travel has been curbed somewhat but it was fun to just sit outside by their pool and have a visit. I sure hope Andy's health will improve soon so they can get back on the road.

Raceday was hot and humid. I went out for both my morning practice sessions and everything seemed fine so I parked the bike and settled in to watch the afternoon's races. Senior Superbike wasn't until race 14 so I knew I had time to just relax and enjoy the other races. My friend Gill was there with his SV and his 1000 so he was in 4 races that I got to watch and that was fun. In one of the SV races he ran up front with Ricky Ford which was exciting but afterward he said that Ricky was just taking it easy on him.

Finally time for Senior Superbike came so I suited up and made the long trip from out pits to the new pit out at Tally which is on the new front stretch (we were pitted way up past the trees at the end of the old front stretch).

Senior Superbike is a combined expert/novice race with two waves. The middleweight novices are at the very back of the second wave so I don't have to worry about traffic behind me at the start. My started inside the second row in 4th position with Adam Schmidt and Dawn Holgate right in front of me in second and third.

I had been watching Chuck, the starter, and he was waving the green really quickly so when the first wave got the two board I really watched closely and sure enough when the one board went sideways he immediately went to green. So I knew I could get a good start if I just nailed it when the one board went sideways. I didn't have long to wait as Chuck stared at us the two board went to one then sideways and when it did I nailed the gas and got the best launch I ever have gotten in any race.

Even on my underpowered 600 I felt shot out of a cannon. I found myself splitting the front row and even catching the back of the heavyweight novices that were ahead of us. By the time I got to the first turn I wasn't even sure what position I was in because I was mixed in with the tail end of the heavyweights. I do remember that Dr. Schmidt passed me on the outside going through one and then Dawn Holgate got by on the inside coming out of one and they pulled away from me by a good second or two by the time we got to the bowl.

Headed into the bowl a couple of more riders outbraked me. I didn't know if these were some of the heavyweight guys getting by or maybe middleweight guys in my race who got by so I just settled in and ran my pace and hoped I wasn't dead last.

By lap three going into the 90's I could see the leaders of the Heavyweight expert class coming up the run to the bowl so I knew I was going to start getting lapped soon. Sure enough about two corners later Tim Hunt came by like I was out of gas. That guy is just fearless. By lap 5 I figured most of the experts had lapped me so I took a look behing coming out of the 90's and I saw a couple of bikes but couldn't tell if they were experts or novices. Then on lap 7 a novice bike went by me and I just figured I was getting lapped by the heavyweight novice leaders now but he didn't pull away from me. I realized that it must be someone in my race who had been following me so I picked up the pace a little and tried to catch him.

When we got the white flag I was only about a second behind him and by the 90's I had gotten close enough that I thought I could pass him at the end of the new backstretch. So I carried as much speed as I could through the final carousel turn, got on the gas as early as I dared and tried to get a run on him down the back stretch. If I could catch him by the end of the back stretch I was going to try to outbrake and if I couldn't I was going to take a wide entrance to the final corner and try to sneak under him on exit.

All those plans went out the window about halfway down the back stretch when one of the experts drafted past me and got between us going into the final turn. I took the widest entrance I could and got on the gas as quickly as I could but couldn't make up the ground and finished 0.6 behind at the line.

All in all a really fun race.

Montgomery Biscuit Baseball

I learned many things from my father. One of my favorite lessons was to love the game of baseball.

Daddy didn't just love baseball, he worshiped it and the elders of the church of baseball were Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reece. They held service every Saturday afternoon. It was called the NBC game of the week. Our pew was on the living room couch in front of our first Zenith color television.

Even today when I attend a baseball game I'm instantly transported back in time to that couch and those childhood memories of when life was as simple as a Saturday afternoon baseball game.

My most recent time travel was last Saturday night when Michelle and I drove down to Montgomery to watch the minor league Montgomery Biscuits play. Minor league baseball is just awesome. It doesn't have the flash of the big name big league players but instead it's a hometown atmosphere where you can relax and have some ballpark food and just soak in the atmosphere.



And believe you me, atmosphere is in abundance at any Biscuits game. Their stadium is in an old warehouse section of Montgomery near the waterfront and right by the train tracks. About 3 times a game you're interrupted by a train whistle and the gentle rumbling of the train and tracks just outside of left field. This time of year the sun sets over that left field wall and the views are spectacular.





The food at a biscuits game is unique as well. I can't think of anywhere else you can enjoy a game with a fresh biscuit covered with your choice of dark or light syrup. Michelle likes the light syrup but I'm a dark syrup man. Here in the south we tend to call it sorgum or cane syrup. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

I can't think of a much better way to spend a summer Saturday than this.
Thanks dad.

Barber 2008 - deja vu all over again for Roger Lee

I'm really starting to feel sorry for Roger Lee Hayden. Last year he and James Kerker had a coming together atop the hill at turn 4 which resulted in Roger Lee sliding under the airfence and breaking his leg pretty badly.

Fast forward to 2008 and we see Roger Lee involved in another incident. During practice Roger and Robertino Pietri of the Roadracingworld.com Suzuki team came together at the end of the backstretch and Roger Lee severely injured his left hand. Reports are that he may lose his little finger in a similar fashion as Troy Bayliss did last year at Donington.

All this bad luck at Barber is made worse by the fact that Roger was still smarting from his ZX10R throwing him off like a bronco in this year's Daytona superbike race. I wish Roger a speedy recovery. Country Boy is tough as nails, he'll be back.



Superbike race action

Michelle and I decided to camp at the track this year so we purchased a tent camping pass and setup shop on Thursday afternoon for the weekend. I'm really glad that we decided to camp as it made the whole weekend much more relaxing. The mornings were cool and the afternoons pleasant all weekend. In fact, except for some rain during the night on Friday, i'd say it was perfect weather for the races.

Some of our camping neighbors

One thing that was different about this year's AMA races was the presence of the Red Bull Rookies Cup. Their pit setup was quite impressive and they put on an excellent race on Sunday morning. I hope they keep doing this, it's good for the series.






As usual with the AMA lately, the support races provided the bulk of the excitement this weekend. John Haner and Aaron Yates had a great race in superstock with Yates eventually coming out on top. Supersport was an epic battle between Yamaha teammates Ben Bostrom and Josh Herrin with Josh taking a dramatic win with a last corner pass on Ben. (personal note.....Josh Herrin passed me close once in practice three years ago, he was 14 years old at the time and I had just turned 50)

This year even formula extreme proved to be exciting with Jake Zemke and teammate Josh Hayes banging bodywork until Josh tossed his bike going up the hill after the backstretch. It was good to see Zemke back on the box after he was discarded by Honda like an old t-shirt you don't want to wear anymore. Ironic, isn't it, Jake took a victory this weekend and Mighel wasn't even close all weekend. Maybe Honda is wondering if a Hodgeson, Zemke duo would have been the way to go.

In conclusion, here are my highlights of the weekend:

1. Red Bull Rookies Cup debut race....a complete success
2. Supersport...Josh Herrin proves he's the real deal
3. Supersport...Ben Bostrom continues a well deserved resergence to his career
4. Superstock...Haner proves it isn't going to be just a "Jordan" cup all year.
5. Superbike...Hodgeson, I just love this guy, a real "racer", handed Miguel his ass all weekend.

I didn't take many pictures this year but here are a few more: