Well, round one has come and gone, and it couldn't have turned out any better.

Aaron Hersh and I loaded up the trailer on Thursday night so we could just hook up and leave on Friday morning for the track day. Friday was interesting for me. I had my ECU flashed and a quickshifter on the bike now, and I've never tested either one. So Friday was my day to test it all... the day before the race, awesome.

We got all set up and ready to go out, then my throttle was sticking. Great. So after about an hour of fooling with that, we got it fixed. I got some new Pirelli tires fitted on the R1 and I was ready to go! I haven't ridden since round 7 last year, so getting out there was important to me to knock off some winter cobwebs. I did a couple slower sessions in the afternoon and I was starting to feel better. By the end of the day, I felt pretty good.

Saturday morning practice went well, but I still didn't feel like I was up to my normal speed, but that was ok. I knew once the race started I'd be able to put my head down and it would all come back to me..... it did. First race was Novice GTO. I started in 5th on the 2nd row. I got a good start, but the guy that started next to me had a better one. We went into turn 1 together and he got in front of me by turn 2. I followed him for the first lap and then made my move into turn 1 on lap 2. After that, I put my head down and turned a 1:21 on my 2nd lap. After that, it was 1:23s-25s. I started to relax a bit, which was the wrong move because Brad Morris was catching me fast. I slowed down behind some lappers coming out of turn 2 and Brad showed me a wheel. After that, I knew I had to go to keep him behind me. I hit traffic perfectly every time we hit lappers. It worked out perfectly and I ended up winning the race with Brad RIGHT behind me. You can see in the pictures how close he was.

Novice GTO video:

During practice:

Brad trying to beat me to the finish line:

The R1 with my 1st place trophy:

That night it rained a bit and they had to cancel the SuperStreet race. Luckily Hersh and I had the trailer, and I brought the tv and the PS3, so we finished racing, just to race again with some MotoGP.

Sunday came around and I only had one race that day as well. I skipped the first practice and just went out for the last one. I was feeling good after Saturday's race, so I just wanted to make sure everything was in order and she was good to go. My race came up after a long red flag delay in Race of the Rockies where the two Red Bull Factory Roadracing guys took 1st and 2nd, with Rob Christman taking 3rd.

I started 37th on the grid, 13th row... in the 2nd wave. There were only 4 guys behind me in the entire grid, so I had some work to do. 1st wave goes and gets through turn 1, so finally we get to go. I get a decent start, but still have a lot of ground to make up. I got through some traffic but ended up being stuck behind a big group most of the race. I was going to try and take them on the straight near the end of the race, but got a little too throttle happy coming out of turn 2, lost the rear a bit and went into the dirt. I gathered it back up and then caught back up with that group, but by that time it was too late. I ended up finishing in 14th. Luckily that's enough to put me in the 1st wave for round 2. So I'm hoping for a better finish.

Amateur GTO video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usYNk9Pgnnc

 

Special thanks to my sponsors this year. G-Force Powersports, Mad-Moto, Speedin' Motorsports, Sol Performance, Mo-Door, JLoh Photos, Factory Effex, Liquid Image, Pirelli, and my girlfriend, Faith.... GO TEAM!

April 25, 2013

​April 25, 2013
It's been a while since I've updated this, so I wanted to let everyone know how it's coming along.

I signed with Faster Motorsports and they ended up closing their doors, but thankfully didn't leave their racers hanging. They got together with Mad Moto and made this season happen. I'm glad to have them in my corner for any engine help I may need throughout the season.  http://www.madmoto1.com/

Scott with Chicane Trackdays had to put his race effort on hold this season, so I will no longer be pitting with him, but I'll still be able to get some on track help from him from time to time, which I'm excited about. This season I'll be pitting with Aaron Hersh. I've sponsored him in the past with photos and getting posters together for his season in the AMA, but now we're teaming up and helping each other out this season.   http://www.aaronhersh.com/

I received 2 new sponsorships for this season, Factory Effex and Liquid Image. Factory Effex makes some bad ass race numbers and they also make hard parts for bikes and apparel for the different manufacturers. So if you need some race numbers, I highly suggest you check them out.  http://www.factoryeffex.com/



Liquid Image is the other sponsor I have gotten in the last couple months. Not a lot of people have heard about them, but they are an action camera company that's about to take over. They have in goggle cameras for motocross and snowboarding, but I picked up the Ego, which is a mountable camera. I'll be updating my YouTube channel with videos from my races using the Ego. It has 720p @ 60fps and 1080p @ 30fps along with a 12MP camera. I'm very excited to use this during my races. It's small and compact, so it won't get in the way.  http://www.liquidimageco.com/



That's about all I've got right now. This winter, Faith and I have been going to a lot of Mammoth games since I have season tickets. The last home game of the season was a couple weeks ago, they lost, but we still had a good time. I also did a bunch of fiberglass work on the old bodywork, then sanded and primered it. It was a pain in the ass, and I never want to do that again. But right now, the fairings are with EJ and Big Dog Dips (who is also my Mo-Door sponsor) getting plasti-dipped. I'm excited to see how it turns out! The ECU has been flashed and a quickshifter has been installed. I can't wait to get her out on the track and open her legs again.

And if you want to help out my race effort this season, I have a Go Fund Me account where you can donate to my race effort this season!  http://www.gofundme.com/MRA-825

November 7, 2012
Thought I'd update everyone on how things are going in the off season and update my sponsor list! I got my resume together and started getting it out there to people and shops around Colorado. I'm pleased to say that I'm getting sponsorship from G-Force Powersports, Chicane Trackdays, Sol Performance - Pirelli, Speedin' Motorsports and Mo-Door! Hopefully there will be one more announcement, but I'll have to wait until next week. I'd like to thank my sponsors for believing in me and can't wait to work with everyone next season!

www.gforcepowersports.com
www.chicanetrackdays.com
www.solperformance.com
www.speedinmotorsports.com
www.mo-door.com/John-Chadwick.html

October 23, 2012
Well the final MRA round was at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colorado on September 15 & 16 and I was all licensed up and ready to race. Due to some financial things that unexpectedly came up, I decided not to race that weekend. Luckily I have some AMAZING friends and an even better girlfriend by my side that wouldn't let me say no. With the help of Lisa, Randal, Jim, Rey & Bryant, and Faith, I was able to race my first round as a novice in the MRA. I can't thank them enough because it made for an awesome weekend.

I borrowed Randal's S-10 for the weekend since I haven't put a hitch on the Subaru yet, so we packed up Friday afternoon and headed down to PPIR. It was a tight squeeze, but we made it work.




PPIR is a track that I've been to many times, but have never actually been out on the track on a bike, or even in a car, so this was an all new track for me. Honestly I was a bit nervous to get out there to check it out. We were pitted in the garages with Peter, Zach and Jimmy, so I was with people I'm familiar with, so that helped knowing that I would have some people willing to help out if needed. I wasn't going to do the first practice session because my tires weren't warmed up all the way yet, but Jimmy said that I should at least get out there and check out the track. He said to take it easy the first few laps just to see the track for the first time. I'm glad I did, because that helped a lot with my next practice session. I got a little faster in the 2nd session, but still wasn't totally comfortable with the track, or fast at all, but I was going to make the best of it for my races and see how it goes.

My first race came up, Novice GTO, and I was ready to go. I was excited to get out there in my first race as a novice and see how I do. I started 17th on the grid of 28 riders. I got a decent start and was able to make up a couple places. I wasn't sure how fast I could go around the outside in the first turn, so I just sat there and waited until the exit of the corner and picked one more off. After the first lap I was getting more and more comfortable and got to follow another racer on a blue CBR600RR around as he picked people off and I followed suit. Eventually I was able to get past him and passed a few more people and I ended up in 4th!! My first race as a novice on a track I've never been to and I got 4th. I was in shock. Here's the video from my NovO race.

My 2nd and last race of the day was in Open Endurance, a 30 minute race against some pretty fast guys, one of which will be holding the #2 plate next year. This race was more practice for me and trying not to get in these guy's way. Ha! I started 16th in this race, out of 19 on the grid. My start SUCKED, but I got better as the race went along. I was chasing Stephen Mills around for most of the race and as I got faster through turns 1 & 2, my braking point for turn 3 wasn't working any longer. I kept blowing turn 3, so I had to adjust my braking point for that turn, which didn't help me when trying to catch up to Stephen. At one point I got a false neutral going into turn 3 and I lost a lot of time because of that, so there was no way I was going to catch up to him after that. Lap 11 I posted my fastest time of a weekend, a 1:03.808. I ended up in 11th for that race after a red flag stopped the race with about 10 minutes left. Here's my GoPro video from that race....

Trying to catch Stephen.




Overall I had an awesome experience at PPIR and can't wait to race a full season in 2013. Thanks to everyone that helped me get out there, I can't thank you guys enough!

August 25th, 2012
My first race win.... It was only in the Superstreet class for the MRA, but it was a win none the less. I got to do some practice on Friday afternoon since we would be racing the North Course at HPR and I've never ridden the north course before. The new turn 4 took some time to get used to, but I started to get the hang of it. Go Team!

Got some Pirelli rubber from Scer!

I got some invaluable help from Rybo on Friday which helped a lot!

Saturday came around and I was pumped for the race that evening. Faith was taking all the nervousness for me. :)  Her and I were watching some of the racing from pit wall when I heard my name being called to report to the race office.... dun dun dun! I wasn't aware that the class room portion of Superstreet was already starting. Oops! So we go through the class, and get a time for tech.


I go through tech and find out where I'm gridded.... 8th row left.... that's 22nd place, almost at the very back of our 26 rider grid! I had a lot of work to do...

Zoning out and listening to Rise Against before the race...

So during Superstreet, you get a practice session where you get partnered with a licensed racer and get some pointers from them. They show you lines, help with whatever you need basically. I got to work one on one with Peter Tabor, one of the guys fighting for the AmU championship. We work on the bobsled, turn 11 and the corkscrew to try and get me better drives through there. It definitely helped in the race, that's for sure!
Race time! I'm all set at my grid position, waiting for the lights to go out... Bob turns the lights on and then off and here we go! The guy in front of me didn't have his bike in gear so I scoot to the left of him and get a good launch... going into turn 1 I've made up a bunch of spots and settle into 8th position. Turn 2 I'm stuck behind a couple other riders and I see the lead pack start to pull away from us while I'm behind them. Turns 3a & 3b, finally able to open the throttle and get past the 2 slower riders. I brake for turn 4 after the straight and get passed by a newer ZX-10 who ends up parking it in the corner and I end up passing him on the outside through the bobsled heading into turn 10. I never see him again and put my head down to catch the lead group... here's the video to tell the rest of that story...

So after my first Superstreet win, I've decided to apply for a race license. My first Novice race will be this Saturday at Pikes Peak International Raceway. I'll be racing the R1 in Novice GTO and Open Endurance! I'm really excited to FINALLY get out there and get to race with everyone. I'll update next week on how it went!