El_Diablo_R1M
BARF Racer
Thunderhill Raceway Park | May 8–10, 2026
First and foremost, I want to sincerely thank all of my sponsors and supporters for helping make this race weekend possible:- Bay Area Riders Forum (BARF)
- Tellus Coffee
- O'Malleys Sports Bar
- Fred's Place
- MouraScape
With the help of Budman and BARF, I was able to get both race bikes serviced and repaired just in time for the season opener. Knowing I had fallen behind due to the lack of seat time, I decided to invest heavily into rider development and data analysis for this first round.
I hired fellow racer and coach Christian Cepeda of MotoLogical, who is extremely familiar with Thunderhill Raceway and data-driven rider development. Christian was able to secure a data logger setup for the race bike and worked with me one-on-one throughout the weekend to analyze telemetry, compare my riding data against faster riders, and identify major areas for improvement. This was a huge learning experience and something I believe will pay dividends throughout the season as I continue learning how to interpret my own data moving forward.
The investment into coaching and telemetry alone totaled approximately $1,060. Friday’s practice day cost $220, race entry fees for the weekend totaled $452, and once fuel, race gas, food, travel expenses, and general operating costs were factored in, the total weekend operating expenses exceeded another ~$500.
Despite the challenges, the weekend proved to be one of the most educational and rewarding race weekends I have had so far.
Friday, May 8 – Practice & Data Collection
Friday served as a much-needed reintroduction to both the motorcycle and Thunderhill Raceway. Conditions early in the morning were excellent, with cool temperatures ideal for fast lap times.Since the final race weekend of last season, the 2006 Yamaha R6 received several upgrades, most notably a new MotionPro Race Throttle setup that required adjustment and familiarization. The first session of the morning was rough by my standards, finishing with a 2:13 lap time — significantly off the pace I had ended the previous season with at the same circuit.
However, the telemetry immediately revealed several major opportunities for improvement. Christian was able to visually compare my data against faster riders and highlight exactly where I was losing time. By the second session of the day, I was able to drop nearly 10 seconds per lap down to a 2:03 pace, which was incredibly motivating and showed how effective proper coaching and data analysis can be.
As temperatures rose throughout the afternoon, my pace continued improving. Unfortunately, I began experiencing severe rear tire spin and instability during high-speed corner exits, particularly while loading the rear tire exiting Turns 2, 5A, and 6. The bike repeatedly stepped sideways under throttle, making it difficult to ride with confidence.
We experimented with tire pressures throughout the day, but were unable to fully resolve the issue. Even with the instability, Friday still felt like a major success simply because of the amount of progress made in a short period of time.
Saturday, May 9 – Expert Middleweight Superbike
Saturday marked Race Day #1 in the Expert Middleweight Superbike class.This round introduced several new race classes into the AFM schedule, including sidecar racing and additional street stock categories. While it was exciting to see grid sizes growing, the condensed schedule created extremely crowded qualifying sessions.
Instead of the traditional split practice and qualifying groups organized by lap times, all riders were condensed into only two qualifying sessions. This made finding clean laps extremely difficult.
Despite the crowded conditions, I qualified 16th overall in the fourth row of the grid. Considering this was my first expert-class qualifying session, I was very happy not only to avoid qualifying last, but to place solidly in the middle of the pack.
The race itself was extremely competitive with several close battles throughout the field. Unfortunately, the rear tire instability from Friday persisted into the race. I had to be very conservative with throttle application on corner exits to manage the constant spinning and sliding from the rear tire.
Even while fighting the bike, I was able to work my way forward through the field and finish in 13th place.
After the race, I knew I needed to understand what was causing the rear instability before continuing the weekend. Once I removed the rear wheel, I discovered the root cause: the tire I had been racing on was nine years old.
Although the tire had been purchased from a track vendor last September, I unfortunately failed to verify the manufacturing date beforehand. While I would like to believe it was an honest oversight, I am ultimately just grateful the issue was identified before something much worse happened.
Sunday, May 10 – Expert Legacy & Middleweight Supersport
Sunday morning immediately started with a fresh set of Michelin tires for the 2006 R6. I was fortunate enough to secure the set at a discounted rate of $415, down from the normal $520+ pricing.The difference was immediate.
The motorcycle finally felt planted and predictable again, allowing me to regain confidence during corner exits and improve my drive onto the straights. I was able to gain another full second in lap time almost immediately.
One of the biggest surprises of the weekend came during Sunday’s races, where I actually found myself riding faster and feeling more comfortable on my older motorcycle than on the newer machinery in the paddock. There is something extremely satisfying about pushing a “dinosaur” of a bike faster than many of the brand-new Aprilias and Ducatis around me.
Most importantly, all practice sessions and races went smoothly, and we completed the weekend safely and in one piece.
Sunday Results:
- Expert Legacy Class – 5th Place
- Expert Middleweight Supersport – 6th Place
Final Thoughts
I want to sincerely thank all of my sponsors, supporters, friends, and everyone who continues helping me chase this dream. None of this would be possible without your support.This first round required substantial investment into coaching, hardware, setup, tires, race fees, and overall operational costs, but I truly believe these investments are already paying off in both performance and long-term rider development.
I remain fully committed to continuing this season and pushing myself to improve every race weekend. I will continue self-funding as much as possible, but any additional support is always deeply appreciated and goes directly toward helping keep this program moving forward.
Thank you again for believing in me and supporting this journey. I am excited to see what Round 2 brings.
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