I've moved the racing stuff over to the Some Clowns Racing site. Hop over there to check out our race reports and bike trips, and to see the personal web pages for our group.
| Sep' 2003 | Spokane Eight Hour - 2003... It was a long season's quest - get two new racers trained, and enter the Spokane Eight Hour Endurance race. Click here to see how we did, and get the flavor that only a full day of racing can provide... | 
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| Sep' 2003 | Rice Day - 2003... Flush with the success of the 2002 Rice Day, and the impending end of the summer of 2003, I present Rice Day - 2003 Edition. There are five entries in this year's extravaganza, and some very close competition. Click here to see these newest developments in rice mania... |  |
| May 2003 | Spokane Raceway Park... I've been riding with this group for a couple years now. Everyone is good, but it's time to stretch their legs a bit. Most have come out and helped me during endurance races, and have been a part of the racing scene. I invite them out for a weekend overdose of fast riding in Spokane, Washington. Click here to see the birth of Some Clowns Racing... |  |
| June 2002 | Rice Day - 2002... Fed up with the all the imitation Civics (and other rice boy cars) in the area, we felt these rice boys needed some competition. So here it is, Rice Day - 2002. John and Nate deck their rigs up with the de rigor accessories, and go strut their stuff. Click here to see the latest developments in rice mania... |  |
| May 2002 | NorthWest Endurance Cup - Portland... Alan took this shot late in the day at the May endurance race at Portland International Raceway. Here, I had just passed another rider at turn 4, a very flat right hander. Alan was our media guru for this race, capturing numerous stills and short videos. Click here to get a taste of what endurance racing is about! |  |
| July 2000 | World Superbike at Laguna Seca... I took this shot while attending the WSB event at Laguna Seca in July, 2000. While there was some close racing behind the leaders, the front of each heat was a run away. Haga in the first, Ben Bostrum in the second... |  |
| May 2000 | My Best Real Superbike... After test riding a Y2k 'R1, I had to have it. I picked this one up in May... Difference between it and my 1 liter Fizzer are night and day. This one actually handles, is 75 pounds lighter, and has a great powerband... |  |
| May 1997 | Seattle Int'l Raceway - Turn 9... This was the last year I actively raced sprints... Here the Fizzer has some stripes, and a fully sucked in crank cover for better ground clearance. |  |
| June 1996 | Seattle Int'l Raceway - Turn 9... Phil also took this shot of me at turn 9 at Seattle. Slightly banked, and pretty coarse, most new racers have no idea how good and predictable the traction is here. Look closely, yes, both wheels are in a drift! |  |
| April 1996 | Seattle Int'l Raceway - Turn 4... Crain took this shot of me entering turn 4 at Seattle. Turn 4 is a 180 degree left hand switchback that has slight camber on the entrance and apex, but flattens on the exit to the back straight. Abrasive, but patched, it's bumpy, had variable grip, so be smooth and save the real speed for the back straight... This was the first race after I put the RS250 bodywork on... |  |
| Sep' 1995 | Pushing the Front End At SIR... Phil took this shot at the last race at SIR entering turn 9. 1995 was a very disappointing year as engine mods we made at the beginning of the season complicated my jetting, which we never did get right. Then a crank failure mid-season forced me to sit out 6 weeks! By this time though, the bike is back together, and everything is perfect! I was catching Jason Frasier in this race, doing 1:36s in the process - another lap and I would have had him! |  |
| April 1995 | Portland Int'l Raceway - Turn 3... Phil Tanner took this great shot of me entering turn 3 at Portland. Note the added clearance on the header and muffler. Portland is so smooth and has decent enough traction that some insane lean angles can be achieved. But you've got to watch the throttle on the exits though, high sides can happen pretty quickly - yes that's experience talking. |
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| June 1995 | Seattle Int'l Raceway - Bailey's Bus Stop I'm not known for lofting the front wheel, so anytime it's caught on film, I've got to show it. This was taken at the exit of the Bus Stop at SIR, a 2nd gear chicane that was created in 1992 following the death of James Bailey. The purpose of the turn was to reduce entrance speeds on to the front straight, to enhance safety, the effect was to turn a riders track into more of a horsepower track. There weren't too many FZR 400s that could do this (second gear wheelie with no clutch...). |  |
| Sep' 1994 | The Competition... The guy to beat in the 450 class in '93 and '94 was Damon Mon Wai. I swiped this picture from his web site as he leads me through turn 3 at SIR. Damon's bikes were always fast, and Damon was always smooth, and rarely made mistakes. |  |
| May 1994 | Turning Right at Portland... Racing at Seattle and Portland was great as the two tracks are organized to turn in opposite directions. Portland is clockwise, with predominantly right hand turns, with Seattle counter-clockwise and to the left. This was great for evening out tire wear! This is Portland Turn 2, a third gear right hander... |  |
| April 1994 | Birth of a Superbike... In '94, I wanted to go faster, and get off DOT tires... So I bought some wheels, ran slicks, and started upgrading the motor. By mid-summer, I was at 70 hp at the rear wheel... The bikes around me were getting faster also, I only finished 4th in the Seattle 450 Superbike championship... This was shot after the first race in Portland. |  |
| 1993 | A Very Fun Year... Having pretty much dialed the Fizzer in the previous year, I had a lot of success on the track in '93. I finished 3rd and 5th in the Seattle championships (450 Production/450 Superbike), and 3rd and 4th in the Portland championships. I'd run the bike a tad rich in the production classes, and put on a header for the Superbike classes (and run it a tad lean)! Here I'm entering turn 9 at SIR... |  |
| 1992 | Portland Int'l Raceway - Turn 1B While I was eventually able to go fast on the F2 in 1991, I wanted to step down a bit in intensity. So in mid-season of '92, I got this '90 FZR 400 for the 450 classes. I was instantly at home on it with my knee on the ground after the third lap of my first practice. After sorting out some jetting, I was placing with the top three finishers... |  |
| 1991 | Revolutions Happen Every Three Years Or So... In the 600 class... 1984 500 Interceptor, 1987 Hurricane, 1991 CBR 600 F2, 1996 GSXR 600 and ZX-6R, 1999 Yamaha R6 and so on... Anyway, I picked up this sponsored ride ('91 F2) from Brothers Honda in Bremerton, Washington. This shot was taken in turn 9 of Portland. It spanked me early (in the spring time wet), and it took half the year to get set up, and my confidence rebuilt. By the end of the year, I was running consistent top 5 finishes, but too late to make a dent in any of the club championships... |  |
| 1990 | My First Real Superbike... Although I had been riding bikes fast for almost 15 years (including several years of racing), I hadn't really owned a bona fide big bore. So in 1990, I test rode and fell in love with this Fizzer. It took a while to sort out though as it came with out of round tires (Pirelli), and a slightly warped rotor. Eventually these were fixed, and the bike rocked! |  |
| 1986 | Road Trip In Wyoming... I took picture as I was making my way back from South Dakota somewhere in Wyoming... I still have this K75, which runs like a clock. |  |
| 1985 | International Racing... With my success during my rookie year, I jumped on a 500 Interceptor for '85. While I became pretty fast on it, it required immense attention to detail on the brakes, as the 16 inch front would tuck or lock up when least provoked! Denise took this picture of me entering the Clubhouse Corner at the now defunct Westwood track in British Columbia... The track is now the site of condominiums and other housing. |  |
| 1984 | Racing Mark Haskins... This was taken during my 4th race day in my rookie year. While I'm leading Mark at this point, he went on to take the win. Mark and I had a friendly rivalry going that year - he won the class championships (450 Production and Superbike, I finished second in both), but I did manage to beat him a few times. I won four races that year! This picture was taken at the exit of turn 8 at SIR... |  |
| 1984 | Rookie Year Road Racing... Denise took this during my second weekend racing, coming out of turn 9 at SIR. Not a bad day as I collected two 2nds after two very crapping starts... |  |
| 1983 | Superbike
Goes 750cc... I took this shot of
Mike Baldwin at SIR as he heads out of turn 9 toward the front straight. The Honda
contingent was huge that year as the Superbike class went to 750cc, down
from 1025cc. An upstart named Wayne Rainey on a Kawasaki won this
race though. Baldwin's rookie teammate, Fred Merkel ended up sending his bike
through a tree
at the entrance of the turn 3 hairpin!
But the star of the day was Wayne Rainey - an upstart with the weak Kawasaki GPz 750. He handily won each of the heats he was entered... |
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| 1983 | R65 in Canada... In 1983, I took a three week, 5,000 mile trip that started near Seattle, took in Banff in Alberta, to the eastern region of South Dakota, then back west performing a wide Z through Colorado, down to Phoenix, back up through Las Vegas, through Death Valley and then north on the eastern slopes of the Sierras and back to Seattle. The R65 ran like a top the whole time... Here I stopped in eastern British Columbia before heading into the Kootenays to Banff. |  |
| 1981 | My First Superbike Race... The first superbike race I ever attended was one of the best. I took this shot of Eddie Lawson as he clinched his first Superbike championship with this win over Freddie Spencer. Wes Cooley was a distant third... Eddie passed Freddie coming on to the front straight on the last lap by going wide and flat tracking out of the grass! |  |
| 1980 | Fond Memories... I have fond memories of this 1976 Yamaha XS500 - it was the first street bike I really made modifications to. I had owned one of these a few years earlier, but it was stolen. I wanted something to squirt around in the twisties, so I bought this one, and put on some Michelin PZs, S&W shocks and a Russ Collins pipe, along with some orange paint! For the time, it handled great. |  |
Check out these Racetracks From Space! I constructed these by taking composites taken for the USGS, and compiled by the Microsoft Terra-Server Project.
Get into racing by checking out the Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association!
Live in Oregon, check out the Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association!
Looking for some off-road riding in Kitsap/Mason County, check this out!
My friend John has an R6 - check out his page...
