This year was a challenging year in many ways. It started out with a lot of momentum having made the switch to two new Kawasaki ZX-10R's. One exclusively for track-day use, and the other a full fledge Stock 1000 spec race machine that replaced my Yamaha R1. Things were looking great until the pandemic hit, and racing this year was uncertain. In the Northwest, track-days slowly started popping back up end of May. Come July, we were racing. I was not fully prepared, but I was excited to race.
The pandemic affected me in a few ways. First off, it caused some difficulty getting parts to finish my race bike. It also limited options to test the bike prior to racing. The ZX-10R was all new to me, and I had to jump into racing without any solid amount of testing. Fortunately, I adapt to bikes fast and the ZX-10R was solid out of the gate, making it easy to be competitive on immediately.
Locally, I had success with the Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association (OMRRA) by winning another Overall Championship #1 plate and class championships in Formula Ultra, Open Superbike and Open Supersport!
It was disappointing that it was such a short season and the final race got cancelled, but I am happy to have at least had a partial season.
Getting out to some MotoAmerica races this year and having one locally at The Ridge Motorsports Park was the real highlight for me.
In addition to racing Stock 1000, I got to race in the Superbike class. That was a new format in MotoAmerica this year, where fast-enough Stock 1000 riders were eligible to race in Superbike as part of the Superbike Cup, an extra championship for Stock 1000 riders to contend.
I had some great success at The Ridge, qualifying on the front row for Stock 1000 and running in 2nd place before an unfortunate crash. I showed some true potential by finishing 2nd in Superbike Cup and 11th overall in Superbike race 1. At Laguna Seca, I finished 5th in the Stock 1000 race, improving on the 6th place finish I had there in 2019. I was in a tight battle for 3rd place, just shy of the podium finish. I raced Superbike race 1 and 2, scoring a pair of 15th place finishes. A respectable result considering I am racing the best in the United States in the premier class, with the addition of a couple world-class factory Ducati and Yamaha Superbike riders from outside the country racing. I showed some brilliance in the races but need to improve on my fitness for 2021 to ride to my full potential and get the results I am capable of.
It was great to be at a couple MotoAmerica rounds and shake things up and turn some heads. I hope I can get back out in the series full-time for 2021! Right now, I am looking at some options and trying to see what opportunities present themselves. I really liked the Kawasaki I bought and had built this season, so I hope to stay on that bike unless a better opportunity comes up. I hope in 2021 we can have fans back at all the races and get back to normal.
