My first AFM race weekend, and the debut weekend for Texas Devil Racing. I’ve been wanting to do this since I got my first motorcycle, a first gen Kawasaki EX500, back in 1997. It’s kind of amazing that my first exposure to AFM was in college on the east coast (Duke University, hence the Blue Devil). I was always trolling an EX500 email list to learn about my bike. There were a lot of AFM guys on that list talking about stuff like what front end they had grafted onto their EX. I thought they were a little nuts back then, but now I understand.
My first thought when I rolled in Saturday morning was that this feels much more serious than a track day. More vendors, more elaborate pit setups, just something in the air. My second thought was “why is everyone pushing their bikes to tech?” Made it through tech without a hitch and went out for practice. Got a 2:11 my first time out, beating my best lap time by almost 2 seconds! My goal for the weekend was to get under 2:10 (and stay upright.) It was looking like I might actually be able to pull it off.
My wife and kids got to the track just in time to see my Clubman Lightweight race. I was kind of a ball of nerves, sitting in my chair mentally preparing myself. That’s when my 4-year-old son, Evan, came over, started rubbing my shoulders and told me, “Dad, you got this.” All right, I got this! I lined up on the grid, and with great anticipation waited for the green flag. GO! Now, I haven’t done a lot of race starts, and I’m not terribly proficient at them yet, so I guess it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that a few 250s were pulling away from me. Since this was my first race weekend, I was gridded dead last in all my races. I was still trying to find my place amongst the flurry of bikes, and as I crested and made my way down the cyclone, there was a bike and rider tumbling down the hill alongside me in the dirt. I’m only 5 turns into my first race—what have I gotten myself into! Okay, don’t look, don’t worry about it, just continue on.
Thanks to my horsepower advantage, I was able to make it through most of the 250s during the first lap and a half and ended up pretty much by myself except for one other 650 rider who was a little ways in front of me. I reeled him in over the course of the next two laps and got him on the brakes into 10. I put my head down and started pushing, feeling like I was being chased and trying to keep up the pace so as not to be passed back. The checkered flag came out, and the pass never happened. Checking my times on my.afmracing.org (with my phone app—so cool!), I found that running from the phantom behind me had motivated me to run a 2:09.5 good for an 8th place finish. Sweet!!!
Sunday I had one race: 650 Production. I was feeling good and the guys at CT Racing had spooned on a nice new set of Pirelli DOT tires for me. The green flag dropped, and while my start was a little better than the previous day, it was still not so hot. I was able to get by two riders on the first lap, putting me in 11th place. And that’s where I stayed—didn’t get close to anyone else the entire rest of the race. Just did my best to hit my marks and motored on. On my final trip down the front straight, I was surprised to see someone to the far left of the track, pushing their bike towards the finish line. Apparently they had run out of gas and pushed their bike to the finish. How cool is the dedication and drive exhibited by actions like that? I love it! I checked my times after the race, and was shocked to see a 2:05.8. I could barely believe it—I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face the rest of the day. And luckily, I only have to wait 3 weeks before I get to come back and do it again.
Special thanks go out to Dan Sewell, my mentor for the weekend, and Yusaku Sako, who was pitted next to me, for helping me navigate my first weekend. And thanks most of all to my family for cheering me on and supporting me in this crazy endeavor.