Velocity Racing's 'Honey Badger' Blog

Sometimes in life you just need to proverbially throw yourself to the wolves. Let’s face it, change isn’t easy, and life seems easier when we stay in our comfort zones, but seldom do great things ever happen when that’s the course you choose to take. Pushing oneself isn’t easy. Doing things outside your comfort zone isn’t easy. A lot can be learned, however, when you try new things and put yourself in situations where you will either shine or fall flat on your face. Or maybe do a bit of both..... My move to Texas gave me the opportunity to do just that. Since my very first track day, only once had I raced on a track I hadn’t ridden, but I had 2 full days of practice before, and I was still a shiny new yellow plate racer (aka, slow to begin with). That was in March of 2015. Now, in 2019, I had the opportunity to once again throw myself into a situation where I would, no matter what, learn a lot about where I was as a rider, and worst case, make a complete fool of myself. D...

After some things coming together for me in other areas of my life, I finally made the decision to accept my job’s offer to move me with them to Texas when my current lease is up. That meant I would be changing race series, but without many championships on the line, it didn’t seem wise to ride out the season with the other risks that would be involved. I would be jumping straight into the CMRA June round, and missing no races, but that still made Round 2 my final AFM round and I was looking forward to going out with a bang. Riding had been going well, I was getting comfy on the bike, and my pace kept improving. I had high hopes. Photos by Oxymoron Photography Unfortunately, I took “high” and “bang” a little too literally. On our Friday practice day, I was cruising around, and in the afternoon started to see some decent laps, putting down 1:58s despite a fair bit of traffic. I was looking forward to Saturday and my regular practice group, and seeing if I could mak...

Racing is either something you really feel the need to do, or it’s not. There may be a few out there who will consistently show up here and there, but they are few and far between. This particular weekend ended with me sobbing big, giant, dragon tears in my truck on the way home. And there was no physical damage involved…. As the 2019 season approached, I was finally feeling like I was ready . I knew the bike was functioning mechanically. I had a great suspension tuner (Mike Canfield with MCTech) who had agreed to work with me. My busted up leg was at least consistent and muscle memory had finally developed to mask the worst of the ongoing issues it gives me. The bike was set up and ready to run, and mentally, I was coming around as well. I was still hesitant to set my sights too high, as the last two years have been one struggle after another as I simply wanted to get within striking distance of what I had been doing on my old 2007 Triumph 675. As I drove down ...