#11 Higbee Racing Barber Motorsports Park Report – AMA Pro Roadracing

Leeds, AL 5/2/09

 After having such a good weekend at Willow in April, I was hoping to take that momentum to Barber and put in a really good showing on the Bartels’ HD/Buell 1125R.  The Barber track is tight and technical just how I like them.  Horsepower shouldn’t matter as much at Barber and felt like top 15 in Superbike was possible.  Daytona Sportbike has proven to be the most competitive class I’ve ever competed in but felt like a top 10 was a realistic goal.  I was extremely thankful for my friends and Buell employees’ support that would allow me to compete at the Barber event.  These days just getting to the next race is an accomplishment.

I had a hard time focusing on improving the bike setup and getting myself dialed in on the corners because of the varying weather conditions and non-stop on track and off track  responsibilities.  The double header weekends are an incredible amount of work for rider and crew!  When running Superbike and Daytona Sportbike, Friday thru Sunday it seemed like we were always on track with practice, qualifying or races.  With that much track time there isn’t enough time for my traditional relaxation and mental prep naps prior to going out on track.  Plus, the torrential downpour and tornado warnings put everyone on edge.  As if the crew didn’t have enough to worry about, now they had to tear down the pits only to set it up again after the weather passed.  And my lowside crash in qualifying added some additional work load too.  Luckily the bike was only lightly damaged and the Pilot leathers held up well so I escaped without injury.  At the apex of turn 8, I was caught off guard and lost the front end,  partly due to the combination of  a new rear and used front tire, plus a slight change to the setup which caused the front to push more.

The crash during the Sportbike qualifying meant that we weren’t able to put in a good time and therefore was stuck starting back in 30^th position.  A poor starting position in combination with the 2 by 2 bike rolling start configuration pretty much shot my chances of a top ten finish.  Barber is a difficult track to pass at plus the field was very stretched out at the start of the race.  So moving up through the pack to finish in the top twenty in the Daytona Sportbike race #1 felt like an accomplishment.   

Tire choices, tire choices, tire choices…..slick, DOTs, or full rains?  Well for the wet  Daytona  Sportbike race #2 we ran with full rains.  The track was quite wet at the start of the race but a dry line slowly developed throughout the race.  The grip was amazing, dragging knee even at the start of the race when the track was completely soaked.  Wet tires were the right choice, but the front rain tire was completely shucked by ½ way through the race.  Every right hand corner was a perpetual crash that never completely happened.  I held my breath on right hand corner entry until I could get past the apexes.  There were more moments of falling onto my knee and  hold the bike up than I’ve ever had in a single race!  I think this was my best wet performance since racing in the Lemans 24hr endurance race years ago.  I was very excited to be working my way up through the field and wished the race was a bit longer.  I had to be pleased with finishing 16^th in the Daytona Sportbike race #2 especially considering the 30^th starting position.

 

The Superbike races results were just “okay”, finishing 19^th and 20^th.  The highlight was being ninth quickest on the Buell in the wet warm-up session right before the Superbike race #2!  Granted just coming off the track gave me an advantage because I had a handle on the grip levels of the track surface.  Nontheless, it was cool to see the Buell that far up in the Superbike order. 

Once again I’m very thankful for my dedicated crew of Mike, Mitsu, and Marianne.  I also couldn’t have competed if it were not for the support of my sponsors.  Thanks to Bartels’ HD/Buell, the employees at Buell Motorcycle, Pilot Leathers, Shoei, Vortex, EK Chain, Dunlop, and Taylor Made Racing.  Even though I went to Barber on  the thin edge of disaster we were able to just sneak by and finished in the top twenty for the 4 races.  This meant I’d have enough money to pay for the Barber expenses and go on to the next event at Infineon, or so I thought……..