Laguna Seca 2020

I've raced at Laguna Seca on seven different occasions going back to 1982 (which was a shorter circuit then without the current turns #3, #4, and #5).  The last time I raced there was 1989.  The last time I rode there was 2008, when I did a Moto Giro based in Monterey and we got to do a lap of the circuit, me on my '53 250 Airone Sport (I crashed).
In Fri. practice, I was second out in my group and first out, Brian Larrabure, crashed on the pit out road before he even got on the circuit.  This freaked me out, as it didn't look like he was going fast, and I slowed way down.  I started gingerly on the circuit and when I got to turn #5, I saw the red flag.  So, I threw my hand up and putted slowing ahead.  Even at this pace, I blew the corkscrew, forgetting how tight it was and ended up on the rumble strip going down the right.  In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that I did my first lap of the circuit in almost 12 years under the red flag.  A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.  But, everything went well for my four rounds of practice in beautiful weather.
I had entered 350GP and 'bumped-up' to 500 Premiere with my 350 Sprint.  I noticed in practice that my times were better than Andrew Mauk on Keith Leighty's 450 Honda, one of my competitors in 500 premiere, but I didn't put too much stock in that as it was Andrew's first time at Laguna.  The sunshine ended around 4:30p when the fog rolled in and the last two practice groups didn't get their last round of practice.
The fog was very slow to lift Sat., and there ended up being no practice and we went straight to racing after lunch.  My first race was the 500 Premiere.  We were in the second wave behind the first wave of Sound of Thunder 3 (which consists on SV650s and 750 Ducatis and such).  Behind us in the 2nd wave was Formula 500, and 500 Sportsman, with Lightweight Novice Production in the third wave, 42 entrants in total.  Brian Larrabure, on his Minovation Seeley G-50, now without a windscreen after his Fri. crash, and Andrew Mauk came by me almost immediately and gradually pulled away.  Mark Morrow on his two stroke Yamaha came by the three of us to win the F-500 class and Ari Henning, on his 350 Sportsman Honda, finished 0.001 seconds behind me to win his class.  I was 11th overall.
The 350GP followed after two races and we were gridded in front of 350 Sportsman in one wave.  I got the holeshot, but Ari Henning came by before we got to turn #2 and pulled away, but no other bikes challenged me.  I finished more than 16 seconds behind Ari, but more than 30 seconds ahead of my teammate Walt Fulton III, who was second in class, third overall.  My best lap was more than a second quicker than in the 500 race.
Sunday was sunny, but windy.  We did get one round of practice in and I just did two laps to make sure everything was alright and get my mind right.  But, all the 8 lap races were shortened to 6 laps as they had run out of time on Sat.  In the 500 Premiere, again I was first off the line and again Brian and Andrew came by me, but this time I was able to hang with them.  On the second lap, Brian was leading and I was second when he seemed to check up early in turn #6 and being right on top of him, I stuffed it inside him and there was light contact.  He immediately shot off the track, but it seemed he decided to rather than it was out of his control.  In subsequent laps, I saw him standing with his bike at the barrier on the outside of the turn.  Had I damaged his bike when we touched?  No time to think about that now as Andrew was all over me.  On the last lap, I was leading when Andrew stuffed inside of me in turn #6 and again there was light contact.  I lost my drive a bit and Andrew pulled ahead up through the Corkscrew.  There was traffic ahead and I was able to get ahead and win the race.  What I didn't realize was that one cylinder of Andrew's twin quit and that's why I got by him.  Brian's drive belt had broken, probably the result of his Fri. crash and getting gravel in it, and that's why he suddenly slowed.  Mark Morrow and Ari Henning didn't start the race.  Andrew's fastest lap was about 1/2 second faster than mine.
In Sunday's 350GP it was pretty much a repeat of Sat., with me getting the jump and Ari coming by early and pulling away.  I only finished 1.5 seconds behind Ari as he had a problem and slowed towards the end.
One of the highlights of the weekend was getting to spend time with Ari Henning and Zack Courts.  I raced with both of their dads in the '90s and they both grew up at the track.  Ari's dad Todd came to Laguna to see his son race and everyone was happy to see him.  Ari and Zack are best of friends and both superb racers.  Zack won Sound of Thunder 2 and Sound of Singles 1 riding a Kramer for the North American distributor.  Years ago, Ari got a job at Motorcyclist Magazine and  brought Zack there.  In addition to both writing for the magazine, they did very creative and funny videos.  They left Motorcyclist and went to Motor Trend when it started doing online videos.  Now that has ended, but they have plenty of projects in the works.  I was very flattered that Zack took the time to photograph me at various places around the circuit.

all photos by Zack Courts.