Series: AHMRA
Date: May 1-2

Classes raced and results
Battle of the Twins F2 - 1st
Battle of the Twins F1 - 1st
Battle of the Twins F2 - 1st

What a fun race weekend! I'm tired as its seven a.m. on Monday morning and I'm on the BC ferry ride back to Vancouver Island, but in a great mood as my late drive was made easier by Dr. Drew's "Love Line" radio show. I'm a closet addict of this show by the way - entertainment and human dysfunction at its best my friends.

The Video for the weekend

The weeks leading up to this race were a bit frantic for me. Basically I'm at the onset of eight weeks straight racing and traveling so my time has to be used efficiently to get everything done. In this case I had just gotten back from a trip to Europe to watch the World Superbike races and test some tires only to get home, super jet lagged, do a load of laundry and get back on the road again. And this is essentially my schedule, without a day off, for the next two months. (Have I thanked my bride Karla for her ahem… patience yet?)

Despite the schedule I honestly can't remember a time when I've looked more forward to getting on a race bike and pushing myself. I was recently asked by some dear friends what I felt were my "glory days" and had to answer that I feel I'm in them right now. If that doesn't sum it all up I don't know what does.

As this was a National series visiting Portland Dan had discussed racing his SVZR with me earlier in the year. Our hope was to put the little 650 twin against some new competition to see what we could do. We weren't to be disappointed. And in what wouldn't surprise anyone who knows him Dan toiled for over a week to extract just a few more horsepower from the SV650ZR. Apparently it now has an optimized intake wavelength from the valve to the intake velocity stacks. I know what you're thinking… I just nodded, smiled and said "so it's got more power huh?"

Day one - Race one - Battle of the Twins - Formula 2
I got a great start and lead the field into turn one. Although I wasn't riding exceptionally well the bike made up for my lack of talent and I got the win. The cold temperatures, both track and ambient, reeked havoc on our Pirelli tires. We were looking forward to the next day's warmer forecast.

Day two - Race one - Battle of the Twins - Formula 1
Dan and I came to this event really looking to push ourselves to see what we could do with the SVZR. Honestly, I was looking for a scrap, so we entered the bike in the Formula 1 race. As we were going to race against 1000cc twins, we knew we would have a significant speed disadvantage on the straights but hoped our braking and cornering advantage would pull us through. What a race! I did well off the start and entered turn one in third place. With some aggressive moves I made it up to the lead by turn three. I lead until the straight but, as you might imagine, was passed down Portland's very long straight like I was tied to a fence. It was disheartening to watch my competition disappear ahead of me but it motivated me even more to dig deep into and through the corners. I managed to get right back to the sharp end as we came back onto the straight. Repeat the view of the competition disappearing off into the sunset. On the fourth lap I was still pushing and right on the leader. As we entered turn one together he went just a little too deep and was forced to run off the track (thankfully he didn't crash). This gift gave me a lucky win.

Day two - Race two - Battle of the Twins - Formula 2
Having been spooled up from the previous race I was in the mood to improve my lap times from the morning. I got a great start and lead the field into turn one. From here I found a good rhythm and managed my best lap time of the weekend a 1:13.3. Slightly more than my personal best at Portland on this bike, but a decent time considering track conditions and temperatures. With the efforts we got a win.

Huge thanks to Dan, Dale and the team, Tom Young and Pirelli, Jeff and Francie and everyone else that supports our racing program. Without your help and support we wouldn't be racing.

Stay tuned -

Oliver