Race Day delay

So that means that I have time to pass on a few notes to you. We’re out here at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana California for the first of the West Coast rounds of AMA Pro Racing. Yesterday, Friday, was a truly beautiful Southern California day.All the teams are here, the garages are humming and the track is alive with sound of motorcycles but, we’re here to work. Interviews to do, photo’s to take and stories to write, who has time for watching practice and qualifying?

Our day was full right from the moment we got here, following up on past interviews, scheduling new ones and figuring how we were going to work it all in. Work,work,work…

We started the morning with our friends at Roadracing World Magazine, lining up our interview with MotoGP and Superbike star John Hopkins.

Next was over to Jordan Suzuki for a visit with Rich Alexander, technical manager and former champion road racer himself about running the Michael Jordan team.A quick hello with Aaron Yates, which who, later in the day set the fastest lap times in qualifying.

Time to sit down with John Hopkins for an interview that I have been looking forward to for a long time. We had a great visit about his life and career.

Wandering around the pits a month or so ago during Superbike testing, I met Danny Eslick, 2009 Daytona Sportbike champion. This young man always had a smile on his face and was usually laughing, and in general having a great time. We didn’t get a chance for a full interview so we planned for this race. We met up at the Geico Powersports trailer and for the next thirty minutes or so we had one of the most entertaining interviews we’ve done.

At 3PM the first round of qualifying got underway and from there until the end of the day, no more interviews so we really did get to watch. It’s always fun to watch the racers we have interviewed, you get to know and like them so naturally we cheer for them.

After qualifying we met up with Ducati Superbike pilot Larry Pegram for an interview. Now, Larry is a really cool guy and a great racer, but…he’s not much of a talker. We like him anyway.

We finished off our day in great style, a half hour with sixteen year old Elena Meyers, super fast, super nice and cute as can be. Oh, she had the wildest toenail polish I think I’ve ever seen.

At the end of the day we had a recorder full of interviews and a camera full of photos, a great day.

That was yesterday. Today the wind is howling, blowing so hard that all track activity is stopped for riders’ safety. It’s hard just walking around much less riding a motorcycle at over 165 miles per hour today. So, a couple more interviews, edit photo’s and update you all.

Our first get together this morning was with young Chris Clark riding a Yamaha R1 Superbike for the Pat Clark Motorsports, a Yamaha satellite team. Another very talented and entertaining young man.

To give you an idea of how hard the wind is blowing, while we were doing the last interview,the giant team hauler was rocking side to side to the point of making almost all of us seasick!

So here it is 1:30 in the afternoon, the wind is still howling, riders are huddled up in their motorhomes and we’re hiding in the media center. If no racing soon, we’ll be back tomorrow.

2:30 pm update..the wind has calmed down a bit, the AMA is sending the Superbike riders out onto the track for an evaluation of the safety concerns..if the riders feel they have raceable conditions…thirty minutes from now the green flag drops.

Superbikes return to Utah…and so do we.

Well, it was a year ago that we started down the path motojournalism and what road it it has become. The MotoWorld Podcast has more than tripled in listeners, magazine articles being published and more traveling, which brings us back to Utah, more specifically Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah

Last year we arrived after midnight, the campground gate was closed and we ended up sleeping in the back of the truck on a windy night. When we got up in the morning to get our credentials we looked like something the cat dragged, at least I did. I’m surprised they let us in. We vowed right then and there the next year would be different. The rest of the weekend went great, we were motojournalists.

This year the preparations were better, equipment better and the trip up much better. A little less than twelve hours drive and we arrive at camp in daylight!!! Woohoo. We caught up with a couple old friends, made plans for a get together, had an evening libation and crawled into nice warm sleeping bags.

This is the U.S round of the Superbike World Championships and really excited about it. This year we know where to go, what to do, how to do it and who to see. The media center here at Miller Motorsports is full of the “Rock Stars” of motorcycle journalism from all over the world. Looking over the shoulders of the best phographers in Moto Sports ia awe inspiring.

Today is Friday, mostly practice and setup for the race teams and the energy level is so high it’s catching. A couple of American ‘Wild Card’ racers including the first woman in World Supersport racing.There are new race teams, new bikes and a great race series going on right now.There is nothing like the World Championships coming to your backyard

Getting around town

I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time on a motorcycle. My regular commute is over 50 miles round trip and my son used to commute 120 miles a day. We both do it on motorcycles. Now,we all know people that use their bikes as their sole transportation no matter what the weather. What do they ride? Would you ride a Ducati 916 on the freeway, in traffic, 120 miles a day? NO. How about a customized Harley with ape hangers? NO. Well wait, I’ve seen some that do..you see everything in Southern California.

So what does make a good commuter bike? Well, it’s got to be easy to ride, reliable as a rock, good gas mileage, easy to park and able to carry a small amount of luggage (your tank bag, briefcase and maybe a bottle of wine on the way home). What else does it need to be? Here in So Cal it needs to be freeway legal, you pretty much can’t go anywhere without getting on the freeway, being inexpensive wouldn’t hurt either.

So here are some of my thoughts.  Here in the good old USA motorcycles are mainly considered toys, throughout the rest of the world motorbikes are transportation. In Mexico your pizza is delivered on a specially designed Honda 125, the police ride 125’s too and your mail comes on a special little 125. In Europe scooters and small motorbikes are king. When I was  in Italy a year ago small bikes out numbered big bikes it seemed like 100 to 1. Why don’t we see that here? Yeah I know, it’s a big country, lots of wide open space etc. But I’m talking about cities and suburbs where a small, easy to ride, quick little two wheeler could make your life a lot easier. Again I’ll go back to the theory that here in America motorcycles are toys not transportation.

If you were going to get your self a commuter bike to scoot around town what is out there? Actually quite a few. I’ll focus on small bikes this time. They are all fun and easy to ride and pretty cheap for all you get.  Most seem to hover right around that $3500 range and get great gas mileage. The first one that comes to mind is the Honda Rebel and Nighthawk, little 250’s that have been around forever. If you want something a bit sportier, Kawasaki has revamped the Baby Ninja 250 into first rate little sportbike that would be fun for dodging traffic. Suzuki has their GZ and TU 250’s. Like the Honda’s, they come in kind of a cruiser style and a standard model. Hyosung out of Korea (who does a lot of work for Suzuki…thats why they look similar) also has a couple great little 250’s. That’s actually a good selection. There are also some very good 250cc Dual Sport bikes that would fit the bill although a little pricier.

I know most people consider all of these motorbikes for beginners or girls, but for getting around town easy and cheaply, you can’t beat ’em. Some of them you could even take on a trip ( if you are into self abuse) they are capable. A few years ago while on a trip of my own, I ran into a couple on their way home from the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota, the wife was on a Yamaha Virago 250!! L.A to Sturgis and back on a little 250.

I think that as traffic gets worse, the streets get more crowded, parking is harder to find and more expensive these little bikes are going to start looking a whole lot better. They do in the rest of the world.