The off season is here and we are all looking for work. Here is my resume for anyone who might be looking me up:

Business/Work Experiences

2006-Present Race Official, DMG: Moto-GT & AMA
2006 – 2008 Honda Yamaha of Redlands, Service Manager.
2004 – 2006 “Roadracing World & Motorcycle Technology” Staff mechanic and rider, responsible for maintenance and prep of all magazine projects and test bikes. Crew Chief for RoadracingWorld.com Suzuki race team.
1998 – 2003 EDventure Racing, Privateer AMA National 250 GP racer. Best result, 3rd. Best
championship standing 5th.
1998 Race Official, Formula USA.
1986 – 1998 Team Hawaii, Owner and principal racer of motorcycle road racing team.
1997 – 1998 Team Hawaii Formula Kart, Inc. Co-owner, Operations Manager.
1997 – 1998 Assistant Parts Manager, Cycle City, Inc.
1995 – 1998 Team Hawaii Motorcycle Shop, Shop owner. Race prep service.
1992 – 1998 Team Hawaii Motorcycle Road Racing, Owner of sanctioning body for motorcycle
road races, and racing school at Hawaii Raceway Park.
1985 – 1995 Sportbike Hawaii, Inc. Co-owner of an independent shop specializing in road race
motorcycles parts & accessories, including race prep service.

Professional Qualifications

2000 – 2003 Member, AMA Road Race Advisory Board.
1985 – 1999 Licensed Motorcycle Mechanic, State of Hawaii.
1987 – 1998 Chief Instructor, Hawaii Motorcycle Road Racing School / Team Hawaii Track Day. 1988 – 1994 Certified Instructor, Motorcycle Safety Foundation, University of Hawaii.
1995 Chairman, Committee for revision of Motorcycle Mechanic’s Certification Examination, State of Hawaii.
1990 Member, Committee that wrote the Motorcycle Mechanic’s Certification Examination for the State of Hawaii.

Other Achievements

1995 Recipient, Alfred N. Montgomery Sr. Service Award
Presented by the Hawaii Motorcycle Dealers Association for outstanding contribution to the motorcycle industry.

Education

1981 Graduated from Moanalua High School

I’m sitting in my RV, parked in spot 29 of the rider/owner lot inside Daytona International Speedway watching “Field of Dreams” on TV. One of the all time great movies and a fitting end to this past weekend.
I’m here because I was working for the AMA as one of the Buell Pace Bike riders. By now you all know of the sad news…
I made sure to enjoy my last few Buell Pace Bike laps, I did some good wheelies in the infield and ran right up against the wall on the banking. The Buell race exhaust exits on the right side and it booms. When you’re why up high on the banking about a foot from the wall the sound from the exhaust bounces back at you and gets insides your head. It feels like you’re flying a WW II fighter. Thank you Erik and all of the good people at Buell.

Most of the bikes we race start out as street bikes and have to be modified to be good race bikes. It’s common to drill for safety wire, change the tires, up grade the suspension and replace the body work. But most people don’t mess with the geometry much because they don’t understand. They think that because the bike handles well on the street and track that the geometry is fine and are reluctant to change it much.

I’ve been fighting this battle all year. Here is the main point: The average street rider requires different geometry than a racer. The stock geometry on most sport bikes is set so the bike turns easy. When you go racing with the stock geometry and then add a larger rear tire you’r making the problem worse. But most racers can’t feel the problem and are happy with their times.

Fortunately for me most of my customers believe me enough to try the changes I suggest. This case started with some big changes to Jim’s R-1 at Miller for the WERA 6 Hour that gave him more stability, easier turn in and more drive grip.

Then at the last WSMC weekend at Willow Spring we made a change to his R-6 and he sent me this line in an e mail:

“BTW I turned my fastest laps at Willow on a 600 this weekend after dropping the forks.
Thanks for the help.
Jim”

No Jim, thank you.

I hope you are asking yourself this question:

“How can he make a bike turn in better AND be more stable?”

The answer is that everything is connected and most importantly you are connected to the bike. If I give you a more stable bike you will ride better and be able to put more energy into the bike, you will feel better, more confident and will be better able to keep the brakes on until after your turn in. When you are braking hard the forks compress between four and six inches, this gives you a steep steering head angle, very little trail and easy turn in.

What a good crew chief does is set the bike up to make the rider happy. Then the happy rider goes fast and makes the crew chief look good.

I was up at Willow Springs this past weekend working with a really nice guy named Tony. Tony brought his ’04 250 Ninja to my shop last week for a jet kit installation and some race prep. Then he hired me to be his coach and crew chief for the weekend. Tony’s friend Tom also races a 250 Ninja and they pit together. Both Mr T’s took about two seconds off their personal best lap times over the course of the weekend.

One of the great things about what I do is that I always get the credit for the faster lap times that my clients turn when they are the ones who take the risk and do the work.

As is normal at Willow Springs the sun was hot! I’ve been on the look out for a good sun hat because a baseball cap does not protect my ears or the back of my neck. A trusted source at the track told me that the Albertsons in Rosamond had the hat I’ve been seeking. Tony’s girlfriend Gloria offered to pick one up for me when they made a stop for water and supplies. Unfortunately, my trusted source turned out to be less reliable than I thought and Gloria was left to choose the least gay hat there. Seeing the hat with fringe that Gloria picked for me the next day I of course thanked her, said it was fine and wore it all weekend. The gayness becomes a lot less of a factor when it keeps the sun from cooking you.

On Monday Motoyard.com had a track day and I stuck around to see if I could drum up some business. My friend Louie from L&L Motorsports was there and he asked me to test ride a bike. The owner’s nickname is Wheels because he’s a wheel chair pilot. Someone previously did some poor work on Wheels’s bike causing it to quit running which can be a problem when you can’t just jump off and start pushing. So I’m cruising down the front straight and the bike is running great, problem solved, good job Louie. Brake for turn one, counter steer and lean left, no lean, what the heck? The out riggers that keep the bike from falling over when Wheels stops have deployed on their own. No problem, brake hard and just go straight into the dirt. Louie found and fixed this new problem and I did another test ride then handed the bike over to Wheels for a full day of fun. I meet a bunch of nice people at the Motoyard.com track day and passed out some cards.

On Tuesday Tony came by my shop to drop off some parts for his bike and brought me a new hat from Gloria. And I thought I did a good job acting like I liked the first one. Thank you Gloria and my wife loves the fringed hat I gave her.

The New Jersey races went well, I missed having my RV at the track but it was to far to drive for one race. Once again the racing was fantastic. It was great seeing Cory West do so well with his first ride on the Buell Superbike. Cory and I had some great AMA 250 GP races back when he was a kid and I was an old guy on a fast bike.

This weekend I’ll be at Willow Springs. You can find me at the Roadracing World garage.

Have you always wanted to ride Daytona? There is a Team Hammer Track Day at Daytona on Oct. 15th. I have room in my trailer for one more bike. You can send your bike and gear with me, fly out and ride the banking. You owe it to yourself to ride on the banking at Daytona at least once!

Seven weeks and 8,376 miles of driving and I’m home. At least till the next race. I had to rush to get to VIR on time after the Shube race but I made it with two minutes to spare. I pulled into the pits at VIR at 7:58 am on Thursday to help with parking that started at 8 am.

My job after parking was Buell Pace Bike rider. There are three Buell Pace Bikes, I’m the second one. I ride one of the 1125’s. The riding is fun but the sitting around in leathers all day can get a little warm.

I’m doing some work on customer bikes in my shop and getting ready for my next race trip, New Jersey Motorsports Park Sept. 4th to 6th.

I raced at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia this past weekend in the Parts Canada Superbike Championship Honda CBR125R Challenge. Last time I did this, at ICAR I was 5 seconds off the leaders pace but this time I was only 2 seconds slow. I coached the kids again, this time Honda set up a school on Thursday just for the 125 riders so we got plenty of track time and had lots more fun than everyone else.

Now I’m on my way to VIR for another AMA race weekend.

The AMA race weekend at Hartland Park went well. I rode one of the Buell 1125 Pace Bikes. Alex Lazo had his best finish in Supersport, 9th.

This weekend I’ll be at the PCSC race at AMP working with the Honda CBR125R Challenge riders.

This post is short because I have to get some sleep. I drove for two days from Topeka so I can catch an early flight tomorrow from Newark NJ.

I worked with Alex Lazo and his Dad, Ed (good name) at Hartland Park this weekend. I last raced here in 1990 in a WERA 6 hour, it was a fun track then and it still is, now with more stuff in the pits.

On Saturday, after the track dried Alex rode and we made a 10 mm change to his front ride height that helped. Today I did lead/follow with Alex to work on lines and that was useful but then we came up with the idea of “Passing Practice” and that was really useful and fun. After lunch we made a 10mm change to the rear ride height on Alex’s R-6. This change combined with yesterdays change gave Alex lots more feel. Look for Alex to have his best race yet at next weekends AMA Supersport race.

Tomorrow Alex and I will repair the Mid Ohio crash damage to his other bike then just hang out till it’s time to go racing. I will not be racing, I’ll be riding one of the Buell Safety Bikes.

I’m at Hartland Park Raceway with Alex Lazo for two days of testing but for now (7:42 am on Saturday) we are just sitting around waiting for a storm to pass.

Peek-A Boo. I’ll be sure to call my wife today, it’s our 11th anniversary.