Velocity Racing's 'Honey Badger' Blog

So 2012 had it's share of fun, good times and bad - but none of it would have been possible without the generosity of a large number of people! Whether it was something as simple as a willing carpool partner; lending a vehicle; hauling my crap home after a crash or just helping out, many people have reached out to help me achieve this goal. Below is a list of folks and a brief description of what they've done - I just want to give a huge shout out to all of my "unofficial" sponsors this past year, couldn't have done it without you! List of People/Businesses that have helped me get into racing (no particular order) Zoom Zoom Trackdays - David, Shawn, Kathy and many others: (instructors, packages, teaching, general assistance and tolerance)   CT Racing (tire discounts; thorough question answering) JPH Suspension (Bike set up; offering   a ride from Laguna Seca to Sonoma, and providing a place to crash that night). Rory K (Rides to and from trackday(s...

November 25th, 2012. On the evening of the 24th, my Curve Unit sister Patty A and I pack up our stuff and head on up to the infamous (in my mind now lol) Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA. It's a chilly evening, but we have enough time to get most of the unpacking done, have a beer, and settle in for a night's sleep. Sunday dawns chilly but clear and sunny, so per the required timing, and with the help of some awesome pit-mates, I get set up, registered, teched, and head to the classroom for my first classroom session. It's a full class with a wait list, but I'm not the only girl as one of my friends, Josie Gomez, is also going through the class with me.  Our first session out we get introduced to our instructors for the day, and it's a pretty chill session since everything is pretty cold. Back to the pits, talk to my instructor who had a couple suggestions, and run back to the classroom leaving the bike in the hands of my pit buddies. Classroom sessions were use...

Another day at Sonoma Raceway. The morning started out rather chilly, with a balmy below 50 when I got up. BRRR! My friend who I was catching a ride with arrived, we loaded up my stuff and headed to the track. The morning chill made that first session out slow. I head out, taking my time, basically puttering around the track – it’s cold, my tires are cold-ish, and the suspension was probably molasses. Things seemed okay at first, I wasn’t sliding too much at my very conservative pace. Third lap in, I’m in the middle of turn 7 and hear a “ticking” noise, and it doesn’t sound good, but I’m just about ready to get out of the corner so figure I’ll investigate once I’m not leaned over…put some pressure on the bars to stand the bike up and WHAM, down we go. Since speeds were hecka slow we didn’t slide far, and in fact were still in the middle of the track. I was fine so popped up and ran out of the way before someone decided I was a good reference point and ran me over. Couple instruct...

There are some advantages to owning a Yamaha ...and the Yamaha Owner Appreciation Days at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was a HUGE one!!! Not only did Yamaha team up with my favorite trackday provider, Zoom Zoom , but they also gave us Yamaha owners a screaming deal on the day ($100/day for Laguna Seca!); they managed a 105 decibel sound limit (almost unheard of at Laguna) and they paid for camping abilities overnight on Saturday night. Add in a great raffle and all the other perks of an absolutely amazing weekend, and it was epic. Saturday was my first trackday back out since my THill round, and it was my first time at this legendary track. I also had not done my homework, so basically went in rather blind. After my second session out I had come to the momentary decision that I hated the track. It was fast and technical, yet I may as well have been dragging a freaking anchor for how slow I was going. I was struggling with lines big time, and was making sure everything was working okay...

At the end of August I headed up to Thunderhill for a double header of trackdays. I had a few things I wanted to focus on, primarily getting my lines nailed and then ensuring that my reference points were solid. Add in applying some of the skills I had been working on (braking/trail braking, reading corners, body positioning) and a need to learn how to pass more aggressively and less like a girl. Saturday started off slow but well. With THill being the track I've spent the most time on, I was up to speed and working on things fairly quickly. It was a sold out day though, and the track was busy...my frustration with passing became very obviously especially with bigger bikes with slower riders. Towards the end of the day I had a few good pieces of advice that rewrote my riding. One of the pieces of advice was a body positioning tip from Kathy Reilly which worked great. She suggested that I hook my heel of my outside leg onto the footpeg rather than the ball of my foot. This pr...

It's officially unofficial - I'll be completing the NRS (New Racer School) in November of this year. Granted, it's the busiest retail shopping weekend of the entire year, but my boss is willing to try to work with me to get me there at least the day of - as long as I'm willing to take all the other "unwanted" shifts the rest of the holiday season. Happy to do so as long as I get my crack, I mean track, time during the summer (or mostly summer). In between now and then I've got to work out some of my kinks, and keep applying the more regular feedback I've been getting. I'll be heading to Thunderhill in August again, most likely for a double header. Sear's in October, and hopefully one other day in there sometime if I can manage it financially and work-wise. Additional things I'm going to be working on is my physical condition - finding a couple of workout partners is proving to be very useful, hopefully that keeps up. Even once a week is...

Reno-Fernley Raceway. Let’s see: porta-potties, wild horses (dodge the horse apples on the track), bunnies and tumbleweeds. Oh, ya, and a racetrack with a ton of corners, elevation changes, rough pavement that feels like your bike made love to a jackhammer and the first track where a fair number of my reference points ended up being tar snakes. I trailer pooled up with another one of my Curve Unit sisters, and we met up with our Prez in Sacramento and drove the rest of the way in a mini caravan. Around 7pm Friday night we rolled into RFR and I got my first glimpse of this rustic track. Dropped the trailers, and then got a pre-trackday Suburban tour of the track courtesy of Shawn and Kathy Reilly. My biggest impression? There’s a lot of freaking track to try to remember. After our little ride we headed into town for some (surprisingly rather good) all-you-can-eat sushi at Sushi Moto before heading to our hotel to crash for the night. Saturday dawned bright and early, if not ...