2015年3月16日月曜日

My riding over the past two years


2015年3月14日土曜日

Tsukuba TT March 2015!

I decided to concentrate on only racing at Tsukuba this year, so I signed up for all 4 championship races and the Tsukuba TT in March.  Lately I've been crashing too much so it was a little rough getting back into the flow of things and I couldn't put out a good time during practice on Friday.  Was still 3 seconds away from my best time and struggling with the stiffness from resting my collarbone for so long.




Every time my pit neighbor Chihiro passed me on the track I tried to keep up to pick up pointers from her line and turn in point but it's always hard to keep up.  These kids are really amazing out here...


ちひろちゃんお疲れさまでした。ちひろちゃんとめいちゃんの二人の走り方をみていろいろ勉強になりました。ながく追いつけなかったが、頑張ってみた。


I came here today to practice mainly one thing, body positioning.  I have trouble turning properly because of poor line of sight and poor upper body movement, leaving too much pressure on my hands.  Made some notes and stuck them to the bike to remember what I need to do.

Come Saturday, time for qualifiers.  I got a lot of comments about my new bike design and it seems like everyone thinks its cool.

Glad it wasn't just me... かっこいいデザインだねと言われた、僕だけがそれ思うじゃなくてよかった (汗




My first hairpin speed is painstakingly slow and the timing where I open the acceleration is a good 5m too late.  I tried to keep that in mind during the race and was able to shave a little bit of time here.  Still a long way to go. Video is from qualifiers.  ビデオは予選から〜




五百部さんいつもいろいろ説明してくれたありがとうございます!いろんなアドバイスを受けてこれからも頭にいれて、意識して頑張って練習します。


Just before the race!  いつもドキドキしてるね


As always I got a good start, passing several people fairly easily moving up from 21st to around 14th.  I was able to hold onto 17th place until the final lap, but finished 18th total and 16th in my class.  I've come a long way from my riding last year, no longer at the tail end of the race, moving up to the front!





This race was a good experience and I think really helped me get back into the groove of things after my recent crashes.  I came very close to my best time during the race, and I know I can push harder next practice!

Resultの写真とるのを忘れて、日比さんのFacebookからこの写真頂きましたw。

2015年3月11日水曜日

Optimised Nissan Caravan

I finally upgraded my Kei-van to a Nissan caravan and then while resting my collarbone decked it out with a wood floor and shelving.  I guess you could say I didn't rest as much as I should've been?  Anyway, it's space saving, optimised, and awesome!



2015年3月10日火曜日

2015 Race Bike

For a while I've been thinking about what bike design I should do, one that won't be too expensive but couldn't decide on anything.  So I decided to just paint the whole bike black, before it was black and white.

Once it was all black it somehow struck me, that putting the Ghana flag on the bike could be a cool idea.  The black star would serve as a good contrast connecting with the all black theme and the colors are vibrant and catch your eye.

I also figured that I can flaunt my heritage a little bit.  Being an American, child of a black African and white American, living in Tokyo Japan racing motorcycles is a pretty niche category so why not show it off a little :-D

I can't say it was good that I crashed an dislocated my collarbone, but it did free up a few weekends to finish this project.  I guess it wasn't as bad a recovery as I envisioned :).











2015年3月9日月曜日

2015 Race Suit

For 2015, my sponsor AFG Motosports helped deck me out with new gear! 

Apparently, I have the only MFJ certified Alpinestars in Japan at the moment
 🎶 damn it feels good to be a gangsta 🎶.  

Excited for a year filled with racing!












2015年3月8日日曜日

2014 CBR Dream Cup Grand Championship at Motegi

I totally forgot to post about my first race at Motegi last year.  In November I participated in the CBR Dream Cup Grand Championship which is a race held for the top racers at the various circuits around Japan.  This is the B-class (beginner) and I got here from placing second at Shiraito Circuit.

It was a lot of fun to race at such a legendary track, and seeing those MotoGP skid marks up, close and personal was pretty awesome.  Can't wait to race here again.