erkman.org

I just realized that things are looking a bit bleak with the last few posts. Things are not as bad as they may seem.

I picked up a 2007 Honda HRC kit racer and am busy prepping it for track duty. Just finished painting it and will post pics soon. Here’s some pics I took last night. Still needs decals and stuff, but you get the idea (was going for a 2009 CBR1000 vibe).

We also bought a new RV! It’s something we’ve wanted and saved towards for a very long time and it was well worth the wait.

It has all the comforts of home and should make camping a bit more comfortable.

Here’s Ingrid with the new rig.

And here she is hooked up to our trusty truck.

So, after many years of service and good times we said goodbye to Oprah a few days ago. It certainly was sad to see her go. I had that bike since 2002 when I purchased her with only 2k miles. We went on thousands of street rides, toured all over California and Nevada, countless trackdays and finally 3 years of racing.

She went to a good home and will be loved and cared for. I hope she provides the new owner with as many smiles as she did me.

We also sold our toy hauler last night to a good friend. We’ll miss our little rolling casa.

Just a quick report this time. Short and sweet.

My lucky tire came through again and we locked up the 500T championship and got another 2nd place in 450SB. I’ll probably skip the 500T race next month at the final round and just race 450SB. Next round will be a very light weekend and the focus will be on having fun and relaxing before putting the bikes away.

Congrats to Elrod for another win in 450SB and props to Vik Anderson for putting in some tough competition once again on the 500.

Other news: Dave locked up the 650P championship and also scored a victory in FIV. CONGRATS DUDE! It looks like 2nd place in 650P is up for grabs with Alex Florea and Dorsey separated by just a few points after the penultimate round.

Good job to Dave Sapsis for some solid racing, getting down to the 1:50 range and beating B. Woods.

See you all next month!

For the first time that I can remember, the weather at Thunderhill was beautiful in July. Sure, it was still hot, but 90 degrees with low humidity and a gentle breeze is about perfect for that venue.

We couldn’t find an RV spot with electrical hookups despite arriving at 5:15 on Friday afternoon, so we just picked a spot as far away from anyone that we could find and settled in.

Practice went well and I put in some laps that were about 1 sec off my race times. My goal for the weekend was to put in a 2:03, which would be a lap record for the 500 class, so things were looking good (or at least possible).

During the rider’s meeting, they announced that the 500 Twins race would be the lunchtime podium ceremony. That means you get to stand up in the Winners Circle and announce your sponsors (I have none), say a few words about the race, and pop some champagne. Fun stuff, except I’m really shy about public speaking and generally try to avoid being in any situation where I’m the center of focus. In the back of mind I was dreading it.

500T

Vik looked over at me on the starting grid and made a motion indicating that he would be bringing it today. Ugh. Why can’t we all just take it easy and have fun?

I got the holeshot and led for most of the first lap until Vik surprised me by passing on the brakes into T14. Dang, I guess he was serious! We diced it up pretty good for three laps, going side-by-side through corners and really putting in some solid racing. I was having a total blast and really enjoying the moment.

When the crossed flags came out I realized I needed to sorta get moving or Vik was going to walk away with the win. I got a *slightly* better drive off of T10 and was able to out brake Vic into T14, then I really started pushing.

My last four laps went; 2:04.8, 2:03.8, 2:03.4, and finally 2:02.3.  Yay! Another win and a new lap record.

They called for the three of us (Jon, Vik, and me) to come up to the Winners Circle for the ceremony, so Ingrid and I started shuffling over and were somewhat surprised to see Vik and Jon there with their bikes on display. “Oh, I think you’re supposed to bring your bike”, Ingrid said. I said it was too late now and didn’t really care anyway. Just then KC from BRG drove up in his ATV and said “Let’s go get your bike. Hop in. Hurry!”

So we got it all worked out and got ready to proceed. We put the bike on the stand and when I turned around and saw Vik and Jon, I realized (much to my dismay) that I looked like an asshole (this is a familiar occurrence for me).

They had brand new team shirts on that matched their bikes, and new Pirelli hats. They really looked quite spiffy! I, on the other hand, provided a contrasting fashion statement with my worn out Nike baseball hat and an old t-shirt that probably had dried food on it and other misfortunes.

Thankfully, Terry from Dunlop came up and stuffed a new hat into my paws and the offending Nike hat was replaced. We had fun!

500 Twins Award

Thanks

Champagne!

450SB

All I needed to do in this class was beat Wally, so my game plan was pretty simple – ride safe and ride smart. Got the holeshot and glanced behind on the back straight to see Elrod behind and Vik a ways back.

Elrod passed me on the second lap into T14 (I need to be more aggressive there), and I followed him around for a few laps, but didn’t make any attempts to pass. Vik was dropping further back and I was content to leave it at that, which is exactly what happened. Elrod won, I got 2nd and Vik got 3rd. Wally finished 4th and that gave me a bigger cushion between us and that’s all that mattered to me.

Congratulations to Elrod for a solid win and Vik for really stepping his game. That was the most fun I’ve had racing this year!

Me and Elrod in T2

This will probably be the shortest race report ever.

-F40 LW: DNF  I decided not to particpate in the restart. My own little mini-protest against the AFM.

-450SB: 2nd

-500T: 1st

We’re passed the halfway point now with 3 more rounds to go. If things continue to go well and I get enough points, I’ll likely skip the last round. This is most certainly my last year racing, so it’s bitter-sweet to be on the home stretch.

Congratulations to my friends and fellow racers for a great weekend. You guys know who you are.

450 Superbike with Wally, Vic and Sewell behind.

500 Twins. W00t!!

Round two at Infineon was my best weekend so far, finishing 2nd in F40 and back-to-back wins in both 450SB and 500T.

We signed up for Friday practice with PTT, which turned out to be a waste of time. The groups were crowded with street riders, and with AFM riders out there trying to get their scorch on, the carnage was massive. Every session was either red-flagged or cut short due to pile-ups. I don’t understand why track day providers don’t warn their customers when dates are preceding and AFM event.

Aaannyway….

I spent the morning mucking around with Oprah trying some new geometry and carb settings, and the bike seemed to be running pretty good. Good enough for me anyway. So, i switched over to Trixie and started playing with different fuels and stuff. Things were looking quite rosy for a change  -like a magical ride through the Enchanted forrest on a flying unicorn.

Except for my lap times… They pretty much sucked.   This is where Ingrid comes in. She told me that i ALWAYS do this – get worked up over lap times and start to beat myself up, and need to just stay calm and and everything will come together. She’s usually right, so i took her advice to heart.

F40 Lightweight.

Front row grid at #3. Sidewaaaaaays GREEN!!!!!

I had the makings of a holeshot, but missed an upshift and immediately moved back into 4th place. Kevin was out front with Babbs in 2nd, and Brad in 3rd. They both passed Kevin on the first lap and I got by Kevin between 3a and 3b and set out after Brad, eventually passing him on the brakes into T9. I spent the remainder of the race trying to reel in Babbs, but got frustrated with lappers and eventually just put it into auto pilot and finished 2nd with a best of 1:49. Not bad. Not great either. That’s racing.

Last round at BW i REALLY sucked in 450SB, but through the miracle of AFM grid technology, ended up with a front row start for 450SB on Sunday. I don’t think i’ve ever explained how a race start works, so here’s how it is for me.

You do a warm-up lap which is supposed to give you some time to get your mind and machine in the racing state. Some people go hauling around, others (like me), sort of amble around and take a zen moment. We all have our own routines that work for us. For instance, by buddy Dave Raff likes to take the warm up lap as an opportunity to buzz me. I swear he does it every time and it always makes me chuckle.

Anyway, then you take your grid assignment, which you should have previously written on your tank or something. Everyone lines up and the starter holds a 2 board, which means things are about to get crackin’. I usually snap my face shield closed and run the clutch out to make sure i’m in gear because if your bike is in neutral when the green flag goes, lots of bad things can happen.

Next comes the 1 board and everyone’s motors start to rev. The sound is deafening and bikes are lurching around in your peripheral vision. Race gas fumes start to fill your helmet and sweat begins dripping down your brow. You can feel the heat of the motor baking through your leathers, and the bike vibrating against the power of the drivetrain and brakes. You must stay focused on the 1 board because it’s moving sideways now. As soon as the green moves you GO! And i mean GOOO because the next thing that happens is you have to find a way through the first turn without hitting every other guy out there that’s trying to do the EXACT SAME THING.

I’ve always known that you don’t have to be the best at something to succeed. You just have to be better than the guys next to you.

450SB

I got lucky with a great start, and combined with my closest competitors not getting their best starts, i managed to get the holeshot in 450SB. Trixie jumped out front and ran like a spanked Chihuahua!  I beat on that little 500 without mercy and apologized to it for the over-revs and mis-shifts, but it hung in there, and i won with a flag-to-flag finish, never seeing another rider.

Afterwards, i was talking to Zoran about being out front and how it messes with your mind not knowing where your competitors are and what’s happening behind you. It’s kind of lonely out there. He gave me a dose of his unique Yugoslavian philosophy, that is purely Zoran.

I had spot #1 in 500T on account of winning last round.

ANOTHER holeshot and by the 2nd lap Zoran’s words of wisdom were echoing in my head (in halting Slavic cadence) “Don’t worry about other riders. That’s their facking problem, not yours. You only race track, you don’t race riders.” And i won again. Flag to flag.

I could learn to like this.

Congrats to my fellow racers who had a great weekend also; Alex Florea for getting back into 2nd place in 650P. David Raff for continuing his domination in 650P, and two 3rd place finishes in 650T and FIV.

Okay, so i finally got around to painting the 500 last weekend. I wish i could say that it was anything other than pure shame for my motivation, but sadly, i just got tired of people telling me how ugly the bike was.

Even Zoran, the BUILDER of the bike said it was ugly. Other adjectives hurled at poor Trixie where; “ghastly”, “crappy” and the most hurtful off all – “hideous”.

After a trip to my local PPG dealer for some rattle-cans loaded with BMW Alpine White and clear coat, a few hours worth of sanding/laying fiberglass/primer, we are done and ready for Round Two.

Welcome back Trixie!!!!

Now that the weekend is behind us, I can say what a great time we had, but it was filled with challenges the entire way. Why must it always be that way?

Friday practice was good with beautiful weather in the high 70s and very nice riding conditions. Everyone had seen the weather maps though, and knew Sunday forecast was predicting rain and high winds. It’s so hard to imagine rain when there’s nothing but blue skies and warm weather. We all pretended it wouldn’t happen.

Both bikes ran good and we felt optimistic.

Saturday was 15 degrees cooler with high winds, and since I felt completely shot from Friday practice (need to do more weight training), we decided to just rest and prepare for Formula 40 – a new class for me. Got my grid position, which I already knew would have me at the back of the grid, and hit the warm up lap.

Second wave, behind F40 Heavyweight. Sidewaaaayyyyyyssss GREEN! Got a great jump up to 3rd position and kept hammering until the crossed flags came out, then started to ease up a bit since there was no one within striking distance behind. Coming over T4, we got the dreaded Red Flag, BUT we figured since the crossed flags were up they would score the race on the last lap and call it a day (after running the ambulance for the injured rider). Nope. They elected to do a 4 lap restart. This decision did not sit well with most of the racers, but you either put-up or shut-up. I begrudgingly took my spot at the back again and wondered if I could pull off another start like the last one.

This time I shot up the right hand side of the grid and slotted into 5th position. Jay crashed out of the lead and I hovered in 4th until the last lap, when I went around Kevin in the AFM sweeper to finish 3rd. It felt so good to get that first race out of the way!

I had races #1 and #6 on Sunday so that meant an early night. We stashed all our gear under the RV and covered the bikes with a tarp before going to bed under a clear, warm sky. Ingrid and I sat bolt-upright at the sound of rain and howling winds at 1am and hunkered down for a long night. Canopies were being blown around and anything that wasn’t secured got swept away by the wind. The paddock looked like a flea market in the morning and everything was wet.

In the morning, the Board decided to forge ahead and run the day. We all just hoped for the best.

Race #1 450SB. I launched into 7th position behind Jon and Vik (both on 500s too) and settled back to watch. The pace felt really slow and I was betting that they would take each other out and I would move up and not have to do anything.  Didn’t happen. They diced back and forth the whole race and I rode off the back, just watching and learning, finally finishing 7th.

Race #6 500T. Sweet jump from the back row to 3rd behind Vik and Jon, right where I wanted to be. Jon passed Vik in the sweeper and they diced back in forth, just like in the last race.  After the halfway point, I passed Vik on the brakes into T11 and made contact with Jon, then we hit the slowest lapper I’ve ever seen in my life. He couldn’t have been going more than 2mph through T4. Jon elected to go around the outside and I followed suit. Wrong decision. The lapper veered toward the edge of the track and we checked up hard, while Vik went zooming by on the inside. Jon threw his fist up in anger and set off in pursuit, with me right on his tail.

I passed Jon on the exit of Lost Hills and made my way to Vik, then passed him on the inside of T4, just as he had done to us last lap, then put the hammer down to take the win.

We did good.

I’m sure we’ll have our work cut out for us at Infineon next month, but for now I’m just going to enjoy the feeling and work on our program.