I really can’t explain why I love this women’s race so much, but I do. I love that we’re all out there on the track at the same time, all battling each other; it’s simply awesome. I love that there are so many of us, whereas other women’s races happening around the country are sparsely attended. I love the supportive environment; not only are we supportive of our fellow girl racers, the community at large seems quite interested in the class and enjoys watching it. I sincerely hope that the AFM Board of Directors will vote to continue the class throughout the rest of the season.
This past weekend’s women’s race featured some good battles. Woman vs. woman, woman vs. self, woman vs. ground. Joy Higa and Deb Barton had a good race with each other, and from what Deb told me, she felt comfortably in the lead until she had a near highside coming out of turn 9 and decided to dial it back a notch, and that’s when Joy Higa, hot on her little RS125’s tail, made her move.
Kristy Miller, fast girl and all around bad ass, apparently had a tank slapper towards the end of the race that threw her shoulder out of its socket. This is all second hand information and I’m waiting to get the story from the woman herself, but apparently she wriggled it back into place and kept going, and it somehow came out again. “All she wanted to do was finish the race and get a prize, so she rode out the rest of her laps one handed,” said my source, with that “holy crap, what a bad ass” look on his face. Very impressive! Great job Kristy!
I made a shameful, shameful racing mistake on the first or second lap. I saw a wheel coming up on my inside going into turn 4, and Deb Barton, who’s several seconds faster than I am, hadn’t gotten by me yet. I left the door open and saw Shelina Moreda’s shiny blue Kawi sneak by. ARGH! God, I was so pissed at myself! Never, EVER, leave the door open for anyone, EVER! But I wasn’t that pissed, because I hadn’t seen anything faster than a 2:01 from Shelina in practice, so I didn’t feel that passing her back would be a problem.
Well, it was a big fucking problem! Shelina woke up that afternoon and decided that she was there to race, and I was working my ass off to close the gap. I just couldn’t believe it. It didn’t compute. Lesson number two learned: never underestimate your competition. You’d think I’d have learned that lesson already with years of competitive tennis under my belt, but mental toughness in sport is a constant, frustrating, and rewarding battle.
I couldn’t quite believe that I’d managed to stay ahead of Zoe Rem, Jennifer Lauritzen, Cassandra Gaddy, and Kristy, and quick glances behind me showed that as long as I kept up a good pace, they’d have their work cut out for them catching me. But that still left Shelina, who I figured was in third place with me in fourth towards the end of the race. I edged closer and closer, but so infuriatingly slowly. By the white flag I felt hopeful I’d be able to make a move before the checkered.
Let me preface this next paragraph by saying I had just been talking with Deb Barton about how I’d never experienced a lowside, and felt that I had much to gain by pushing the limits of traction of my front tire by braking deeper and deeper up towards my apex. I talked about it with curiosity; I wondered almost pleasantly what sliding along the ground felt like, having seen dozens of videos of racers gliding along pavement and then somehow ending up on their feet.
So when my front tucked before the apex at the top of turn 7, it did so very decisively and with seemingly little warning. Poof. It was just gone. Gone, daddy, gone. And gliding along the pavement? Nope. Somehow I was rolling, hearing my beautiful Arai helmet knocking and bumping along the ground, and seeing the much talked about phenomenon of sky, ground, sky, ground. And my butt hurt. Like someone took a chair out from underneath me that I was about to sit on.
I looked over at my sliding bike and saw sparks coming from it. “This can’t be happening,” I thought. I got up and watched the field go by, then joined them for the cool down lap. Boo.
So, ladies and gents, I give you the semi-official results:
1. Joy Higa, 01:51.3, Yamaha R6
2. Deb Barton, 01:50.4, Honda RS125
3. Shelina Moreda, 01:53.5 Kawasaki ZX6R
4. Zoe Rem, 01:54.578, Suzuki SV650S
5. Jennifer Lauritzen, 01:54.5, Suzuki SV650S
6. Cassandra Gaddy, 01:55.085, Kawasaki 636
7. Kristy Miller, 01:55.6, Suzuki GSXR-600
8. Denise Howard, 02:07.0, some sort of older Honda I think
9. Lisa Mazurkiewicz, 02:07.409, New Kawasaki Ninja 250R
DNF, Christie Cooley, 01:53.453, Suzuki SV650S
So, some special congratulations to Shelina Moreda for riding like her panties were on fire. She looked smooth and in control, and I know from the tales of her street riding that the woman is fearless and capable, so I’m sure with a little more time she’ll be even more competitive on that sweet Kawi.
Also, Jennifer Lauritzen, myself and Zoe Rem all achieved new personal best laptimes this weekend. Woo hoo! We’ve all been having problems with our SVs, so it was nice that we were all able to go out there and haul ass for once. I was especially glad that I was able to come back from crashing on Saturday (and getting hit by another bike in practice so hard I got the wind knocked out of me – that’s a whole ‘nother story) and keep pushing myself on Sunday to my new low. I guess new tires really do help a lot, too.
And finally, a big thank you to Svetlana Gorina, a woman who was instrumental in the creation of Formula AFemme; she spent a good deal of time Saturday afternoon helping me put my bike back together after my pavement surfing. For whatever opinionated, dramatic reason, she hasn’t been racing AFemme, and I spent a lot of time last week arguing with her over email about why she should race AFemme, but in the spirit of “not words, but deeds,” my high school motto, Lana’s been great to me. I don’t understand her opinions and don’t agree with the public and confrontational way that she has been known to express them, but she really helped a sister out this weekend. Come race with us!
Hopefully I’ll have some pictures up soon.
