There are times in racers’ careers that they doubt their passion, doubt their talent, and ask why we race. I have found myself asking that question a lot the past month or two. I’ve asked myself, “Can I still run with these guys?”, “Do I still have what it takes to be a top FP rider?”, “Can I even properly setup a bike?” I’m a racer and I like to win, and I know I can’t win every race but I like to at least be able to battle for that win. When we jumped on this BMW I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I also didn’t know it was gonna be this hard. I’m no suspension guru, I struggle to explain some of the simplest of problems at times which in turn delays the progress we need to make in order to challenge for those wins. While many of my fellow competitors riding the BMW have been able to take strides forward, we seem to be crawling in comparison……..or so I thought.
The weather has caused havoc for the AFM this year canceling 2 of our rounds, while this is a huge bummer and has caused a bit of drama within the club, it has been a blessing in disguise for us. We’ve been able to test a bit more and also acquire a few parts that have helped us. Coming into last weekend’s round we had some new parts to test again which I was excited for. We were able to use the Friday trackday with the great people of Zoom Zoom Trackdays. My first outing on the bike on Friday morning I immediately felt a difference in the bike, the bike did things that I could not get it to do in the past. We made small adjustments throughout the day and just got quicker and quicker which I was really happy about. Our Pirelli tires were getting amazing grip and wear; the Fastline tuned motor was fast and angry! By the end of the day Friday I knew we had a bike that could challenge for a win or at the minimum keep up with the fast boys on Sunday.
Saturday had me chopping at the bit to get back on track to keep fine tuning. The cooler temps in the morning had us being a tad bit timid on the gas but times were still good, but so were a few of the other top FP’ers. The 2nd session in the morning we went out and I felt everything was going great, I was really happy with how our bike was getting off the corners, a ton of grip with very little movement. When a rider starts to feel confident like that is when we start to push the limit a tad bit. Well I did just that around my 3rd lap into the 2nd session. Coming out of turn 7 I had felt really strong all day Friday, stronger than most of the other riders but I got greedy and felt I could get an even better drive. I started to roll on the throttle a little faster than usual exiting 7 and the bike started to accelerate hard and then all of a sudden the rear spun up without notice and went sideways, caught and snapped to the other direction spitting me violently over the highside. I landed on my right side hitting my head first, then shoulder then hip. I remember being on all fours thinking I was in the middle of the track crawling towards the outside to get out of the way but I was actually all the way to the outside of the track already. With the wind knocked out of me I stood up and looked at my poor bike beaten and battered and all I thought to myself was that I’ve just blown this weekend.
The AFM corner workers and Infineon Staff did a fantastic job of getting over to me and making sure I was alright. On the ambulance ride back to the paddock I started to feel the pain in my right shoulder, the EMT checked it all out but said it seemed fine and nothing was broke. I told them I didn’t want to go to the hospital. I walked back to the pit where I explained what happened and got undressed, I was totally bummed; the bad luck continues is all I thought. Not knowing the extent of the damage of the bike I felt that any hope of having a good result this year was about done.
When the bike came back to the pits the damage looked pretty bad, but without hesitation, Alex and Ray went at it, started taking things off and taking inventory of what was needed. It ended up not looking to bad and just needed a bit of TLC. Alex and Ray busted their butts for the next couple of hours in order to get me one good ride on the bike in the last practice session of the day to make sure all was good. Sure enough they did, I rode the last session of the day but as I was riding the bike I felt something was off, not sure if it was just a mental thing or what. My times in the last session were not half bad though which I was surprised about and gave me a bit of hope.
I woke up Sunday morning barely being able to move my shoulder, I once again became bummed out cause I knew 10 laps at Infineon is no place for a sore shoulder. I practiced in the morning session and felt the bike was alright but not great, but even worse was my shoulder, after a couple laps the soreness started to prevent me from leaning off the bike. I crossed my fingers and hope for the best in the races at that point.
We had the very 1st race of the day, Open Superbike. I had a great start and was running top 3 but started to fade back after 4 laps, I just couldn’t maintain a pace plus the bike wasn’t cooperating. I ended up finishing 4th. I debriefed with Alex and Ray and thought about what we could change on the bike to make things a bit easier. While we all thought about what to do, I went and visited Grace Dorsey and her amazing hands. She checked out my shoulder and found some major knots in the muscles preventing the movement I needed in my shoulder. She worked on me for a solid hour until she felt the muscles were where she wanted them to be. I was pleasantly surprised by how well my shoulder felt after Grace worked on me, kind of left me optimistic. Myself, Alex and Ray all came up with a gamble on the suspension and decided to roll the dice, we made the change on the chassis and hoped for the best.
As I lined up on the inside of the 2nd row, probably the worst place to be on the grid, I just kept telling myself that I needed to nail the start in order to have a chance and not get pinched off heading up to turn 2. The green flag dropped and I nailed the start, it was a drag race between me and Ricky Corey heading up into turn 2 for the lead. He had the advantage by being on the inside so I dropped in behind him. Randolph came around me a few turns later; I told myself at that point that I needed to stay with Randolph. As I came out of turn 7 I found myself making up a bunch of time on them, I seemed to be stronger than them heading down the hill and into turn 11. I was amazed by the bike and how it felt, better than any other time in the weekend, the small change we made was right and helped and at that point I knew I could be a factor as long as the shoulder was good. The first time through turn 11 I found I had a bit better of a line and better drive off the corner than those guys in front, at which point I was able to make a pass on Randolph into turn 1 on the brakes. It was a ballsy move on my part but the thing is that we’re racing Formula Pacific, if you want to win you gotta be aggressive and make those close passes, plus I wanted to let James know that I was there and I’m not going away.
James came up with a repass out of turn 6 and set sail to catch Ricky who was starting to gap us. I latched onto James and we both ran Ricky down, but James made a mistake a few laps later into turn 7 which saw him blow the corner and go wide leaving Ricky wide open in front of me. I chased him down and then on the following lap I made a pass on the brakes into 11 and took the lead. I wasn’t quite comfortable leading the race, I felt way more comfortable following Ricky. He made the pass into 7 which was fine by me and once again I dropped in behind him and pressured him all the way down the hill to 11. At this point I could tell I was much stronger in that entire section of the track, I could have made a pass into 9 or 11 whenever I wanted. The problem was Brian Parriott was starting to put the pressure on me but I remained focused on keeping up with Ricky and not letting him build a gap. I was able to preserve my tires a bit by allowing Ricky to set the pace rather than me trying to break free and also I was keeping in mind that my shoulder was comfortable at the pace we were at, any faster and it may have been a different story. On the last lap I knew Ricky would run a defensive lap, which was fine, I kept up with him and then coming out of turn 9 chicane I slowed up a bit more than usual to get an even better drive to make a run at Ricky going into 11. Ricky tried to defend the inside to prevent me from running up underneath him but he left a small spot open which I took advantage of, with the drives and grip that our Pirelli tires still had front and rear I knew I could beat him in and drag race out of 11 to the line which it ended up being, the power of the Fastline Cycles BMW got us across the line in 1st.
I can’t begin to explain how I felt of the cool down lap, the emotions, the relief, the excitement, the disbelief of what we had just accomplished. I was so happy, not only for myself, but all my sponsors that believe in me and that have not given up on me. I was so proud of everyone who is part of our program and thankful that they helped me out to get this win.
I’ve won a couple of these races but this one takes the cake, because of the adversities we faced, because of the competition faced, because of the maturity I had throughout the race where in years past I wouldn’t have been as patient, something Ken Hill has worked on with me for a long time now.
I have so many people to thank, because without them this win and this season would not be possible.
Fastline Cycles – Alex Torres, master tuner, my crew chief, my good friend. Rebuilding a destroyed bike and turning it into a FP winner, thanks so much, this is your win as much as mine.
BARF Racing - Big thanks Budman, was so happy you could be there on the podium with me, a priceless moment I will not soon forget.
CT Racing/Pirelli Tires – Corey/Chris/Joel/Wes, not only are the tires badass and responsible for the result, but so are all of you guys. You guys deserved this win so much and I owe it to your service, smiles, laughter, and friendships.
Thermosman Suspension – Big thanks to Mike Fitzgerald for the awesome suspension help, the bike is rocking right now!
TriValley Moto/CalMoto – Thanks so much to Mike and everyone else over at TriValley Moto, I’m stoked to get you guys your first FP win!
Helimot – Once again your product has saved my life, thank you Helmut!
MotoWheels – Nick, thanks for making sure we have what we need!
Kyle Racing – Big thanks to Dan for his support and making sure we’re taken care of as well.
RockOil/CZ Chains – Thanks Gary and Ray for your support! Ray thank you so much for your time you devote to us and the hard work you put in. It’s your win too!
MotionPro – Thank you Chris for being a part of our program!
Zoom Zoom Trackdays – Thanks so much you guys for the track time, you’re a big reason why we’ve been able to progress.
KH Coaching – Big thanks to Ken Hill and everything he has taught me, he’s a big reason for our speed.
Choulos, Choulos, and Wyle – Really happy to have you aboard again this year, your support means a ton to our team and really helps us out! Thanks you guys!
Suomy – Suomy helmets have once again prevented me from major head injury! Thanks Jim for the support!
GoPro – Thanks Matt for the support of BARF Racing, promise we’ll have a camera on for the next one!
MotoGloss – Thanks Rob for busting your butt for me and making sure I’ve always got my stuff looking good!
Ace Custom Graphics – Thank you Mike for getting our bike looking great and all the sponsor logos looking good!
AFM - The AFM and all their staff and corner workers, so proud to be a part of this club.
And a big thanks to all my great friends and family especially, TJ Grossi, Alex Torres, Ray Perez, Berto, Screener, and Stanton because without them I would not be here racing!
And a special thanks to San Jose BMW for the support during our tough times, they’ve loaned us parts which has been a life saver for us and can’t thank Chris and Willie enough for that, shows the type of family we all are, even my closest competitors are willing to help us out in times of need. Thanks you guys!
I can only hope that this is the beginning of something big but as we all are well aware of, this is racing and nothing is ever set in stone. All I can do I try and carry this momentum on to thunderhill for the last 4 rounds and hope we can come out on top again.
Till next round!
Chris Siglin
BayAreaRidersForum.com/Fastline BMW AFM RD.5 Infineon race report
2011 BMW S 1000RR
A Garage
Aprilia Dorsoduro
Mustang Mach 1
RT1200R
RVF400
S1000RR
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