Velocity Racing's 'Honey Badger' Blog

After the AFM Round 2 crash and subsequent repairs, I managed a few trackdays in there to get some seat time on the new bike. While there was steady improvement, it was slow. With a decent crash on my second day on the bike, I had spooked myself. What I had hoped would be an instant connection with the new bike got off to an extremely rough start, and that got into my head (you know, being a girl and all). Add in general life stress and things certainly weren't where I would have hoped! However, with the help of some amazing friends and sponsors, I was able to get back out on the bike and make it the the AFM round 4 with excitement pending to actually, finally, make it into a race. It was about time I could actually call myself a 'racer' without guilt of never having actually finished a race :-/  There was a Z2 trackday on Friday, so I headed up to participate in the trackday to get some additional seat time on the bike. After my first session out, I could tell my suspe...

Updates have been few and far between here. I showed up to the Sonoma Superbike Shootout/AFM round 2 but had a get off early on in practice where I messed up my braking sequence. While overall damages were fairly minimal, it was enough to keep me from riding the rest of the weekend. I stuck around to watch the races and had a great time with friends, hanging out and watching the really fast folks do their thing! Upon heading home, I set out on a mission to repair the bike and myself. Hunting around for deals on parts, making use of some of my sponsorships and with the help of some friends found everything I needed. I was back on my street bike a little over a week after the crash, albeit a bit painfully. I built back up slowly, and worked on building the bike back up as well. Approximately 6 weeks later, everything was back in running condition and I headed out for a double header weekend at Thunderhill Raceway to check out the full new track and get back out on the bike...

Well, it's almost time for my first race weekend of the year, and what I plan to be my first full race weekend ever! This will only be my second day on the 675, so there's going to be a little bit of figuring out how best to get that particular bike around the track in the most efficient manner, but a nice sit-down with my AFM mentor last night gave me some great tips and it had the odd effect of calming the nerves a little bit. The bike is nearly ready to go, but I still have parts arriving tomorrow that will need to be put on. Other than that, a friend is letting me borrow her stock steering damper so I at least have one on there, safety wire on the oil filter and HOPEFULLY we will be good to go, pass tech and have an amazing weekend! I'll be back on Pirelli tires again, which I'm very excited about as I definitely seem to prefer them over the others I've tried. On another fun note, I've got plenty of friends who are coming up, some specifically to help me...

2014 track season has officially started for me! After making a few small modifications to the Triumph 675 (such as new brake pads and the switch to GP shift) I was ready to go. It worked out that Pacific Track Time had a trackday that worked with my schedule, so I signed up and got prepared. This was a Monday trackday, so I spent Saturday and Sunday prepping, packing and then Sunday afternoon picked up my carpool buddy and we headed up to Thunderhill. Upon arrival, I went to see If I could sneak in for a baseline prior to Monday morning with Jason Hauns at JPH Suspension, my go-to suspension guy. I love his work, and have been VERY happy with the results. He had room, so I ran over and unloaded the bike, hooked up the battery, turned it on - and nothing. Well, almost nothing. I had backlights on my display, but that was it.Try to bump start it, but no go there. One of the very nice gate guys at THill lent me his battery charger to us, so, figuring that was the issue, threw the bat...

While the race season for me is still a little ways off, the preparations have seriously began. I ended 2013 with a very strong desire for a newer bike - still far from needing a fancy bike, but something a little newer that worked a little better with my riding was becoming more of a need if I wanted even a remote chance of being competitive. This had me perusing the classifieds in search of "the" bike that fit what I wanted. Of course, my heart was kind of set on the Triumph 675 after riding my pit neighbor's last November, but I was open to looking at others, but either way I was not in a rush as I saved up my pennies. While looking through BARF's sale section, I happened across an ad for basically the exact bike I was dreaming of, in the price range I was hoping for. A 2007 Triumph Daytona 675. Oooooh. On a "hey, what's the worst that could happen" whim, I PMed the seller and explained my situation. As it turned out, he was more than happy to work ...

I have finished my 2014 starter race resume, please take a few moments to view it from my Dropbox. Due to my high involvement in the motorcycling community both on and off the track, I'm currently seeking sponsorships in a variety of forms. More information is available on my resume!   AFM 702 Race Resume For anyone who is interested in supporting me personally, I have also set up a "GoFundMe" account to help me purchase a new race bike - which will be a great asset in not only opening up more classes that I can be competitive in, but can also help me achieve a title in the AFemme Novice class! GoFundMe AFM 702 Every little bit helps! I'm saving every spare penny this winter in order to ensure that not only can I make the races, I can also find a bike that will ensure a solid end to the race season!