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The past few weeks have been very busy preparing for the 3rd round on the CCS/SW racing series. First off, I used some of the money I received from my 2007 Most Improved Amateur award, to attended the 2 Day Advanced Riding School at Arroyo Seco Raceway in Deming, MN. The school is taught by Arroyo Seco track owner Roger Heemsbergen, AMA racer Mike Shreve, and local ASMA racers Tiras Banks, Bob McFarland and Scott Bergen at Arroyo Seco Raceway in Deming, NM.

The school focuses heavily on bike setup, linking turns together, throttle control and riding position. Combine this with extensive personalized one on one instruction and the highly challenging Arroyo Seco Racetrack, and you have a great school package. Throughout the weekend I gained improved body position, more confidence trail braking, better interpreting the feedback the motorcycle is giving me and how to adjust the suspension to improve the overall handling of my motorcycle.

I also returned to Euro Motorsports for another fuel map, focusing on improving the response using VP U4.2 fuel. Mark Ledesma of Euro Motorsports was able to improve the overall map though the midrange and smooth the off to on throttle transition. The new map improved the ability to ride with maintenance throttle though turns and provide a stronger drive out of the corner.

Finally, I was excited to find out that I had been included as the rider of the month by CCS/SW.  It is great to be able to represent both myself and my sponsors to all of the other racers and spectators this weekend.

As the race weekend arrived, two of my close racing friends had their truck and trailer stolen. One of my friends lost his racing motorcycle and the other lost most all of his gear and equipment. I extended all what I could to help out my two competitors and provide transportation, shelter and what ever equipment that was possible. The Local CCS/SW racing community came together and supported these two racers with leathers, equipment, spare motorcycles, transportation and even a new race bike. If for no other reason the CCS/SW racing community is number one in my books for how they helped one of their own.

Onto the race weekend, again we had near perfect temperatures in the mid 70’s. As summer is just around the corner in Phoenix Arizona, this is expected to be the last of the cool race weekends for a while.

Round #3 of the CCS/SW series was a combined event with USGPRU, providing even greater competition in the Lightweight events. With this in mind I put allot of effort into focusing on what areas are lacking in my riding to improve my finishes.

My primary sponsor KurveyGirl.com has just become the Track side dealer of Vesrah brake pads. This gave me an opportunity to try the RJL compound pads on my SV650. Many of my competitors have recommended the RJL pad, so I was excited at the opportunity to try out the Vesrah brake pads. During the race weekend I gained greater confidence on the brakes and the ability to go deeper into many of Firebird raceways corners than I ever have before.

The first race of the day is Lightweight GP. Because of the GPRU Attendance, the grid for LWGP was the largest single race grid of the day. 18 racers and I lined up for the start. My start was better than expected and I found myself going on the inside of turn #1 and coming out in 8th place. I started to put in an effort for some better lap times but alas It was not to be. I was slowly picked off by 3 other racers and settled into 11th place, closely following 10th place. As I was getting ready to try to make a challenge for 10th place, another racer had a bad crash and was laying on the track. With the race red flagged, the race was called final in the pits.

My second was the Lightweight Superbike race, and while I was eager to do better, my start held me back. I finished an acceptable 11th place, but I found that I had done my best lap time up to that point, with a 1:04.014. My race weekend goal was to achieve at least one lap below 1:03.99, and this was close enough to call it good.

The third and forth races of the day were a back to back affair. I am not fond of riding two races back to back, but maybe I should change my opinion. In the Lightweight superstock race I got another one of my patented bad starts and found myself in 6th place. I quickly gained ground on Devin Hymer and became parked behind him. I spent several laps working on a way around Devin, but to my luck Devin had a mechanical problem and I was able to get buy for 5th place.

Pulling into the pits for just a few seconds to catch a drink of water, I was out for the Thunderbike race. Again I had another one of my patented bad starts and found myself dead last going into turn #1. I put my head down and immediately passed racers going into turn #3 and 5 and finally by the end of the first lap I found myself running in second place with the race leader in view. I was passed a lap later by a motard rider, which I was mistaken and was not racing in my class. I did my best to keep the race leader and motard racer in view for the rest of the race. By lap 7, I checked and I had a large gap on the next rider back and I slowed down to cruise to the finish. Once getting into the pit I was told that I was in 2nd place in the Thunderbike race, and I had gotten my best finish ever.

The icing on the cake was, with clear track I was able to put down a number of good laps with a best lap of 1:02.921. This was my best times ever on any motorcycle on Firebird East. I was excited by the new level I achieved.

None of this would be possible without my sponsors. Kurveygirl.com and the new Vesrah pads helped out a great deal. As always the combination of the M4 exhaust and the Mark Ledesma U4.2 map provided me with power that allowed me to keep chase with everyone on the track. Being a big guy, when something gives me an advantage over someone half my size, it must be the best.