FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2025 – FP and Q1
I woke up at my customary “way too early” time, buzzing with the usual mix of anxiety and excitement. Super Hooligans were first on the schedule for morning practice, set to go live at 9 am, which was still hours away for this worm-catching early bird. That gave me plenty of time to sip coffee, watch some MotoGP from the Sachsenring round, and wait for everyone else to wake up at much more normal times.
Despite my otherwise fairly typical Friday morning routine, today was going to be somewhat unique for me, given that I was sharing my garage with Carbon and his teammate, Neiko, both of whom had little to no experience on Laguna Seca. I had grown very close to Carbon and was still getting to know Neiko, but I felt very invested in both of their success this weekend. Carbon had several rounds of MotoAmerica experience, both as a rider and as my Crew Chief, but this was Neiko’s first MA round as a rider, and in fact, his first time at Laguna Seca, which is far from an easy track to learn.
We had all done a track walk the previous evening, which is always helpful, even for seasoned riders. I did what I could to provide tips and tactics based on my (somewhat limited) experience on this track, but only time would tell whether it would be of any value in helping them both get up to speed quickly, starting this morning in Free Practice.
By the time we were all suited and booted, ready to mount our bikes for the 9 am release onto the hot track, the typical Laguna Seca dense fog layer was still lying heavy on the asphalt like a pillowy blanket. Race Control decided that the limited visibility was a safety hazard and delayed the start of our session. Of course, this was the smart choice, and I can’t imagine that any Super Hooligan rider was questioning Race Control’s judgement, but I’m also sure that we were all anxious to get this show on the road – key word: “anxious,” at least as far as I was concerned.
About twenty minutes later, the call came over the radio announcing a 5-minute countdown to our new session start time. Finally! We all made our final preparations, and when we reached the 2-minute mark, I made my way to Hot Pit with Carbon and Neiko following close, but cautiously, behind.
Speaking of cautious, thanks to my speeding sanction and $150 fine from last round for exceeding the 60 kph limit in Hot Pit, I was “twice shy” and took my time casually cruising up to the pit lane exit. But once I reached the marshal’s waving green flag, I twisted my throttle –- which I had upgraded to a quick-turn for this round –- and ripped down the narrow path that runs along the far left side of the front straight and through a tight hairpin to the far left inside of Turn 2 before blending onto the track.
On the out lap, the first turn is T3, and as I tipped the bike to the right to start the turn, the rear tire kicked out like I hit an ice patch! I kept everything under control –- no harm, no foul –- but it definitely got my attention. Of course, it was still very cold out, and there was a dark patch of track where the asphalt had been resurfaced. When we did our track walk the previous evening, we noticed these patches in various places along the track and tested them for grip with our shoes. I remembered thinking that they would have plenty of grip, unless it was cold and/or damp out. Well, it was a bit of both this morning, so I figured that would explain the rear tire slipping. Unfortunately, these patches seemed to be at nearly every turn, either at entry, apex, exit, or some combination. In any case, it made the entire track very sketchy, and not only was I having to constantly manage the lack of grip, but it was completely killing my confidence.
Each time past the start/finish, I would glance down at my lap timer and see that I was WAY off pace, and nowhere near a time that I would need to qualify. I was getting frustrated and discouraged, and despite getting slightly faster each lap, I finished the session with my confidence totally deflated.
I returned to the garage, parked the bike, and removed my helmet and gloves. I checked the times for all riders that session, and to my great relief, we were all WAY off typical times, and I still finished 15th out of 33 with a time that would have earned me a grid spot based on the fastest P1 lap time, but barely. But after talking with a few other riders, all of whom had the same complaint about how slippery the track was, I felt much better – well, at least less bad.
During the intervening hours until Q1, I tried to relax, refocus, and get myself back into a competitive headspace. At least my bike was performing well. I wish I could have said the same for Carbon’s. He warned us that there were a lot of mechanical gremlins he had been working out in the days preceding the race weekend, but despite having a running bike for FP – albeit a relatively underpowered, overweight bike – somewhere in the first few laps, his rear shock reservoir cable snapped, spitting fluid all over his back and back wheel, and causing his shock to bottom out at every bump and dip. Needless to say, he couldn’t put in any decent lap times, and with minimal experience at Laguna Seca to begin with, he would be behind the 8-ball going into Q1, that is, assuming he could get the shock fixed in time.
Carbon is a very talented rider, an excellent coach, and Crew Chief, but what I admire most about him is his persistently positive attitude and never-say-die mentality. So, after hustling up a few replacement parts, he went to work on the repair job with the help of our mechanic, Brian, and with only minutes to spare, had his bike ready to hit the track in time for the first qualifying session of the weekend.
While Carbon was getting his bike sorted, my parallel process was getting my head sorted. I was ready to go out in Q1 and remind myself that I belong here. The weather had warmed nicely, and with all the laps spun during FP across the full field of classes, there would be plenty of sticky rubber laid down to provide a much grippier track than we had earlier that morning.
After the countdown calls came through, I made my way to Hot Pit and barged my way toward the front of the group waiting to be released onto the track, to let everyone know that I’m ready for a fight.
The marshal released us onto the narrow track entrance ramp, and I quickly got heavy on the throttle, working my way around a few other riders who seemed a little more timid than I was feeling. As soon as I entered the track, I launched into full race mode, doing my best to hang onto the backs of the top riders who were still just in front of me. It wasn’t long before our group started to spread out, and I lost touch with them, but I was still feeling confident and fast.
I began attacking every corner and getting great drive on the exits. Within a couple laps, I knew I was putting in solid qualifying times, so the only question would be how far up the grid I could go. I have never been particularly strong at Laguna Seca. As much, if not more, than most tracks I’ve ridden, it takes my full attention to manage the very technical elements of the track, which include odd camber, lots of elevation change, and a couple of super heavy braking zones. As a result, I paid a lot less attention to my lap timer than I usually do. However, I managed to take a brief peek after each completed lap and saw that I was consistently beating my target time and shaving tenths off with each lap. Awesome!
I exited the track slightly early, having reached a point where I was happy with my lap time and didn’t think I had more to give without taking big risks. I cruised into Parc Ferme where my team was waiting for me, faces full of smiles! After parking the bike and removing my helmet and gloves, I checked the results and saw that I had not only smashed my target time, but finished in P13 for the session!
Unfortunately, Carbon and Neiko didn’t have the qualifying session they had hoped for. Carbon, plagued with more mechanical issues, was still outside of a qualifying time, and Neiko, who went slightly faster, was also a few seconds off. The good news was that they would have another chance Saturday morning in Q2, but the bad news was that it would likely be in conditions similar to FP — cold and foggy. Nevertheless, they both seemed to have a good attitude and were determined to give it their very best, no matter what.
The mood in the pit was mixed, given all the circumstances. I was concerned about my pit mates being at risk of not making the grid, and I was also so thrilled about my Q1 performance. Given that Q2 conditions would make it unlikely that anyone would go faster, there was a real possibility that I would start the races from P13, a much better grid position than I had achieved at either of the previous rounds. Admittedly, this was going to be my best chance at a top 10 finish, but I tried not to put too much pressure on myself and follow Carbon and Neiko’s lead by focusing on what I could control, by simply doing my very best and accepting whatever outcome fate had in store.
So, even though there was plenty to worry about, I chose to focus on the positives. Not only had I exceeded my expectations for my qualifying performance, but since we finished so early, I had the entire rest of the afternoon to enjoy the day and the company of my best friend, Sam, and his daughter, Penelope, who traveled all the way from North Carolina.
Sam and I met roughly 15 years prior when he moved to California from the East Coast. We quickly became close friends. So, when he decided to move back to North Carolina after only a year because his wife (at the time) got pregnant and they wanted to be closer to family, I took the cross-country road trip back to North Carolina with him. We’ve stayed close ever since, choosing one or more occasions every year to visit each other or meet up in some vacation spot. Sam came to my first MotoAmerica round of this season at Road Atlanta and was an integral part of the pit crew, but we also got to spend a few days afterward in Asheville, NC, before I returned home. It was great to have him join me for this round, and I wanted to be sure that I didn’t just put him to work but also made time to enjoy his and Penelope’s company. So, we spent the rest of the day away from the track and all the race-weekend stress, and explored the beautiful bayside city of Monterey.