Thanks to a couple individuals, Stephen Ludwig and Andy Palmer of AP MotoArts, I was given the opportunity to fly out to LA and race at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. The trip as a whole was just awesome to say the least. I flew out of Philadelphia on Thursday and landed in LA early afternoon. It wasn’t long before Stephen and I were in his motorhome on our way to the desert. This track is in the middle of no where. And not like East coast no where with trees and small towns, I mean nothing for 30 min. Not even trees. We got arrived at the track around 10pm and to my surprise there were people hanging out at the sign in building. This is new to me. This does not happen here on he east coast. Riders sign in and get to the paddock. This is pretty awesome, at least to me. The track owners are right there at the gate and are friends with these racers.
Friday was a trackday with Trackdaz which was great so I could learn the track before racing it. Other than some slow groups the day was great. Bike was awesome even tho it was set up for a #240 rider. Track is a ton of fun. Not much shifting or heavy braking like the tracks here. Couple cool switch backs, double apexes, and a huge bowl turn. I was feeling semi confident for the racing on Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday morning practice went very well and qualifying even better. Landed down in the 2:01 range which was close to my goal for the whole weekend of a 2 minute flat. The two races I had were Formula Twins and Formula 2. The goal was just to be in the mid pack battle and that is exactly what happened. Both races were awesome and couldn’t be happier with where and who I was fighting with. I didn’t expect to be anywhere close to these guys. Fatigue did start to set in mid way through the Formula 2 race but still a great day. Saturday night was fantastic. Almost the entier paddock got together to eat, drink and watch UFC fights which were projected on the side of a trailer. I haven’t experienced this sort of thing at the race track. Back east we have smaller cliques. They get the entire paddock together.
Sunday. Formula Twins. Got a good start and battled almost the entire race with people. Just one of those races that you are 100% happy with the out come. I finished mid pack right behind Andy Palmer. Lap times were constantly in the 2:00 range and never left my comfort zone. I decided to skip the Lightweight shootout as my rear tire was shot and so was my body. Formula 2 was the last race and this well, this did not go all that great. Nothing bad happened, I was just so worn out. First 2 laps were good and then a brick wall showed up. Dropped way way way off the pace and limped it in. All in all an awesome weekend with some fantastic people. Will definitely do it again.
