Velocity Racing's 'Honey Badger' Blog

I questioned even writing this post as I have a very mixed bag of feelings on how my weekend went. So, let's just start with the facts. I had attended two track weekends at the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park prior to showing up for a race there. The first weekend I was experiencing bike problems most of the weekend, and my times were downright pathetic (~12-14 seconds off my goals). Because of the bike issues and just never really getting comfortable with a few things, I decided to stretch the finances and make the weekend the end of June, just before the WERA races over the July 4th weekend. That second weekend I dropped some time, but nothing like I was hoping for - only a few seconds off what I had been doing the prior weekend. I was getting more comfortable on the bike, and getting it dialed in, but I was still - off. I hoped that a race, getting a green flag and launching would help me get over the mental rut I seemed to be stuck in after not being on a track for nearly...

In classic racer form, this winter and spring was a rapid set of life altering decisions in my world, initially fueled by my employment situation, but followed closely by my discontent with life in Texas overall. All of that ended up leading to me packing up my house and life, and once again making a big move - this time, basically finishing my "move" across this nation, landing here in northern Georgia in the greater Atlanta metro.  Access to mountains, twisty roads, great tracks, track days, good racing, and a cost of living I could deal with marked my ideal location.  Of course, 2020 hasn't gone as anyone predicted, and covid-19 greatly affected (still is) much of my life. Despite that, however, the move was completed, and I've been loving life here in Georgia. Not only have I been making good use of our beautiful mountains (hiking, riding), I've also started making some track days now that those are opening up, and am signed up for my first WERA race rou...

As we near the end of 2019, I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on some of the things I experienced, learned, and dealt with over the past year. 2019 was a year of major changes for me. At the end of the previous season I had finally started to sort out the issues with my bike, and I was finally getting used to riding with/around my leg, and I was excited for the coming 2019 season. After a great first round in March at Buttonwillow Raceway, I was stoked to head to round two, which was also going to be my last planned races in California with the AFM for the time being due to work relocating to Texas. Round two, rather than going well, actually ended up with a rather epic highside during practice that pretty much ended the weekend for me – while I was able to get back on the bike, my pain levels kept me from really seeing any pace so I called it a weekend. Went out with a bang, but not the way I intended (be sure to word your wishes carefully). I...

With the second to last round of the CMRA fast approaching, I was excited to see what I could do at another new-to-me track. This time we were heading to Hallett Raceway in Oklahoma, and I had some time to review videos and get an idea of the track beforehand, so felt about as prepared as I could be without actually riding the track. I took Thursday off of work to get loaded and have plenty of time to make the drive without feeling rushed. As we approached the track, however, dark clouds (literally) were looming. They opened the gates and we rushed in to find the group I’d be pitting with to try to unload before we got too wet. Things weren’t fully unloaded before the rain started, but most things were out and under the canopy before the real storm hit. Thankfully Friday was looking to dry out, which was a very good thing since I needed Friday to start getting the track down. The first couple morning sessions things were still pretty damp so I sat them out, but on the third s...

It’s interesting where life takes us sometimes, and how those places and things make other things start to come together. After wrapping up the previous CMRA race round, I knew my fitness, which I had already started (but barely) to work on improving was a major hang up. With a few weeks between rounds, it was going to give me a chance to kick my own butt and see if I could make a noticeable difference in that department. With close-together rounds, however, I knew the differences would be minimal, but doesn’t mean they can’t be noticeable. It’s a bit interesting being one of only a few women out there who is racing a “big” bike. I only know of less than a half dozen who have tried it in the time I’ve been racing. Some were relatively successful, some are still fighting through it and working to improve, some moved back to a bike they got along better with. In the CMRA grid, I am the only female on a big bike – mind you, not the fastest girl out here (yet, lol), but the only one ...

Rolling into the 5 th round for the CMRA I had a bit more time to prepare than I had for Round 4. I had a trackday going the same direction a week before, which gave me time to work on getting lines established on this rather technical track.  MSR Cresson presents some new challenges to this California rider. It is bumpy, and there are bad seams in various places on the track. This means that the “lines” are not necessarily the “best” line, but the ones that are the fastest race line around all of the extra challenges in the surface of the track. Granted, everyone is on the same track, and apparently these bumps and seams have been there, well, forever, but when I was used to maybe one or two corners where you had to take those kinds of things into account, it was now pretty much every single corner that had some extraneous considerations. I decided to save a few bucks and only do ½ day on Friday to refresh my memory. Some dumb-dumb, who shall remain nameless, dec...