Velocity Racing's 'Honey Badger' Blog

 ....and sometimes you do both within half a lap. But that's not how the weekend started. Making races this year was looking very hit and miss, but with RIDERZLAW continuing their title sponsorship, a few rounds were not outside the realm of possibility; as finances were working out, I set up to head to Roebling Road, one of only 2 tracks I made it to last year for a race. I was excited to see if a) mentally I was back to a better place and b) to finally race a familiar track. Friday practice went smoothly, and by the end of the day I was feeling very comfortable at my previous pace, and could tell I had a lot left in me. Issue was, I still wasn't nailing the entire track - parts of it, but there were a couple places that still needed to come together for me, turns 1 and 5 in particular. Saturday I had a fairly early race with Formula 1 - with not even so much as a trackday since last September, it took me the better part of 2+ laps to "remember" I was racing, not jus...

  Let's be honest, 2020 took my plans, threw them on the ground, stomped them through dog doo-doo, and then swirled that mixture in my hair. Okay, not in reality (no poo in my hair), but it sure felt that way. I know I was not alone in my misery, but my struggle is my own and this year was just one major struggle after another. Not that it was all bad - despite a rather pathetic showing from me, my sponsors stuck by me through the year (and many into this coming year along with some new ones!). I moved to an area where I'm pretty darn happy. I've made some new and awesome friends and acquaintances. I got much better set up for the track in general (primary purchase being a trailer that I can haul and camp in rather than dealing with hotels or tents).  So as a final THANK-YOU to my sponsors who stuck by me last year - love you all!   RiderzLaw Roseville Yamaha-Kawasaki Dunlop Race Tires BARF Racing MC Tech Hustle Hard Racing Motul USA Motion Pro Fast Frank Racing CHR I ...

After my less than enjoyable weekend at Barber, and spending some time going through some self reflection, I decided I needed to change my approach a bit for the time being - many of the reasons behind this had nothing to do with riding or racing, but other "life shitake" was affecting me to the point of it heavily impacting my riding. So I approached the next race weekend (at a new to me track) with a very different attitude. I went in with zero expectations - other than "try not to crash" and "improve" there were NO expectations. I had a Friday trackday to try to learn the track at least a little bit and make sure my pace was "don't get lapped" fast enough (not saying much with a 6 lap race), and then racing on Sunday with a day off in between. Friday went okay. Roebling is very different than any track I've ridden - outside of the front straight, you are in a corner the rest of the track with no straights between the corners - at a...

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...