Higbee Race Summary from the AMA Mid-Ohio Roadrace

July 18th-19th   2009

Prior to leaving for Ohio, Mitsu and I had our work cut out for us as we swapped the well-used motor for another fresh stock, crated motor.  Mitsu gathered his tools from Bartels’ HD and flew in from LA to Milwaukee on Wednesday night.  He immediately started working on the Buell1125R race bike in my garage.  I had previously removed the old engine and so the bare frame was ready for the new heart.  Mitsu clicked away at the project with the precision of a Swiss watch.  I only tended to a few areas of the engine installation. Leaving Mitsu from the distraction of my hands I focused on repairing bodywork, preparing wheels, sprockets, swing arm etc.  

Photo by Dan Lo of cornerspeedphoto.com

My 3 year old twins were having fun playing with us in the garage.  I only had to fetch a few tools from the front yard, LOL.  It quickly became bedtime for the kids so I tucked them in bed and went back to help Mitsu.  We worked all night and finally finished the bike, loaded up the trailer and were ready for bed around 5am on Thursday.  The alarm was set for 7:30am, 2.5 hours of sleep would have to do.  Unfortunately the kids beat the alarm by a few minutes and were up and playing in their bedrooms.  We  loaded the kids into the dually and with a 44ft trailer in tow, we set out for a 7 hour drive.  Okay here we go, all I need is a little Redbull and adrenaline. Thank God my mom was coming to the races to help care for the kids!

The crucial decision heading into Mid-Ohio was should I catch up on the mortgage or buy tires?  This weekend is a double-header so that means a huge tire bill to compete in the Daytona Sportbike and Superbike events.  As the AMA has increase parity, it too has increased the importance of new tires for all track sessions.  A few tenths of a second could mean several position further up the grid and farther away from the dreaded 21st position.  To ensure your best qualifying position and solid races, I estimate it takes at least $3700.  To max out the regulated tire allotment, and burn up some soft tires for a few extra tenths of second improvement in lap time, be prepared to dish out over $5000.  Now I’m sure that these costs are not considered high for those accustomed to running racecars, or even the motorcycle teams with 1 million dollar budgets, but for the privateers who fund their program from the purse money it’s a debilitating reality.  Especially when top 20 results for all four races will only gross $6000.

The Laguna Seca purse/Mortgage money ran out early and I need to thank my parents and Ozzie for contributing to the tire fund and getting us through the weekend.  I also want to thank all of the fans who purchased shirts through the higbee-racing.com website and showed up at the races.  There were so many people supporting me at Mid-Ohio, I couldn‘t give up, even as hard and dismal as things seemed.  I attacked every corner of every lap like I was running scared from a disaster.  Every corner was an opportunity to evaluate the limits of the tires and plan a more aggressive attack the next time around.  I not only found the limits but found myself riding past the limits of the tires all too often.  Frequently losing the front tire and falling down on the footpeg, fairing, and ultimately preventing a crash by putting my knee down and using more throttle.  Whether it was heroics or intervention, I felt fortunate not to crash out.  However it does seem that the TTR dirt riding is helping my riding abilities too, as I felt comfortable drifting the 1125R with both tires sliding evenly through a few corners.  

I also worked with the crew and we honed the bike setup throughout the weekend.  We struggled to find the best combination of front/rear tire balance, versus tire wear, while maintaining good cornering abilities.  Saturday’s setup was good for tire wear but compromised grip balance and wasn’t finishing the corners well.  In Sunday’s Sportbike race we went backwards in the setup and grip levels and balance were off in left field.  We finally got the setup right in the Sunday Superbike race and where able to click off some mid 1:28 laps.  The bike would finally turn, had good grip balance, but was a bit  harder on the tires.  The net result was a faster elapsed race time for the 23 laps, but the pace definitely slowed in the last part of the race.  Whereas the Saturday race setup was slower ultimately but was easier on the tires and allowed me to run consistently right to the end of the race.

Photo by Dan Lo of cornerspeedphoto.com

Overall the Mid-Ohio weekend was promising, with a 10th place finish in Sportbike race 1 and a 15th place finish in Superbike race 2.  I feel like we can claw our way back up into the top five with some sponsorship, bike development and a crap load of work!  I’m very frustrated with having to run a stock 1125R engine in the Superbike class.  It’s unrealistic to keep running the stock bike in Superbike and expect to always finish in the top 20.  So I am going to work hard to get onboard a competitive Superbike before the end of this year and see how far up the finish order I can get!  I either need to hop-up the stock Buell engine, by the grace of God and the powers that be somehow obtain a 40K Buell1125RR, or will have to ride “something else” in Superbike. 

Photo by Dan Lo of cornerspeedphoto.com

I really missed not having my fiancée, Marianne, trackside to help out, but it was nice to have other family members there along with plenty of friends and fans.  Even though not at the track, Marianne did an awesome job reporting on the races remotely via twitter.com.  I would like to give special thanks to my crew Mike Richter, Mitsu, Scott, Michelle, Paul, Tyler, Rosemary, Ozzie, and Mike. Mike R. did a fantastic job as crew chief once again.  Mitsu was extremely overworked but never missed a beat and kept the bike running without any issues.  Scott really came up to speed as he is more familiar with the maintenance and tire changing routines.  Michelle helped out in the pit area and cheered us on.  My dad managed the tires, fuel, and pit board, as well as offering the good father to son talk.  Tyler kept me hydrated and was my go-to person.  My mom, Rosemary, took care of my kids and cheered from the trackside.  Ozzie and Mike were always in there lending a hand, taking split times, and helping with pit transportation.  And as always racing wouldn’t be possible without my sponsors Bartels’ HD/Buell, Buell Motorcycle, Pilot Leathers, Shoei, Pit Bull, Dunlop, Sunoco, Traxxion Dynamics, EK chain, Vortex, and Pit Bull.  We also received some help from the James Gang / Hoban Brothers Buell racing team.  Thanks to everyone!

I’m off to CA to hang out with the SoCal Buell riders for a ride with their group in San Diego this weekend.  Other than that I’ll be busy training, searching out additional sponsorships, enjoying some time with Marianne, and preparing the bikes for the next round at Topeka on August 1st and 2nd.

A huge thank you to Dan Lo of http://www.cornerspeedphoto.com  for the great photos!