Daytona’s done and April’s ahead….an page from the Safety First Suzuki Race Team’s Diary
Article by: By Dr. David Eric “Doc” Boll 

Daytona was an up and down week for the Safety First Suzuki racing team.  We had new riders, some new crew, a new race semi and new tires in the way of Michelin. That makes for a lot of “newness”.  As the riders got the bikes sorted, the team got into its groove by Saturday, when it mattered the most.  Supersport was up first and this class may be the most talent-deep one of the four.  At last count there are 19 factory and factory supported riders taking place in this class. The team saw 21st and 35th place at the flag.  Friday is our day off while the Supercross boys take to their track, so we take the time to freshen up the race bikes, practice our pit stops for the 200 and talk strategy.   Come race day, everything clicked and both riders Bobby Fong and Scotty Ryan moved up in the field.  Scotty had a low side during his middle stint, but was able to regain places that were lost with some great riding.  Once the riders learned about how the draft works, they really used it to their advantage!  Fast stops by the team had us looking at having both riders in the top 15.  That’s quite an accomplishment as both lads have never seen or ridden the track until that Wednesday. With five laps to go, hopes were dashed as Scotty’s bike pulled up with a mechanical issue while he was solidly in 15th place, closing in on 14th.  Bobby came home 12th, matching the teams best ever finish in the 200, with Scotty ending up being  classified in 44th place. 

The transporter goes back to the shop, the riders go back home to continue with their training program and the team sits down to strategize how to tackle and develop the bikes for the upcoming races.   I’m not quite sure about how the AMA does their schedule.  We have an event in Alabama, then everyone packs up and races to be in Los Angeles two days later for Fontana.  Then, its two weeks off and we head to northern California for Infineon, or Sears Point as most of us still like to call it, up in wine country.  For this reason, a lot of east coast teams don’t do the western swing.  It’s too hard financially to either drive back between Fontana and Infinion, or park the vehicle and fly back and forth. Just to give you an idea on racing costs….it’s $2,500 in fuel just to run the semi one trip to CA and back to Chicago. This doesn’t include all of the airfares for mechanics. Would it not make much, much, MUCH more sense to have Barber, then a week off, THEN Fontana followed by Sonoma the very next weekend?  Teams could make better use of the three day break by taking their time driving from Fontana to Sonoma, maybe stopping along the way and taking in the “Sideways” wine tour, or the Monterrey Aquarium, or visit Jerry Garcia’s grave and Ghiardelli Chocolate in San Fran.  When you race in the AMA, you don’t get to see many sites.  You see tracks, hotels and airports…… 

So, the team is back at the new shop in Arlington Heights, IL, prepping the race and back up bikes, as the next time they see the shop after the semi leaves for Barber, the calendar will say its mid- May.    

Did I tell you about the new shop??  It’s nice!  They are going to have an open house on Sunday April 15th, so unless someone in the Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin area is a procrastinator and waist deep in receipts for unfinished taxes, they should pop over.   The shop will be a full-on performance shop with retail for the sport bike and track day addict riders. Safety First is going to sell what they race; they believe in their sponsors that much.  You’ll be able to buy Safety First men and women’s casual wear, Team Replica leather and textile jackets, Komodo leathers, jackets, gloves, and boots, Hindle and Arata exhaust systems, Suomy helmets, 7th Gear Oil, Hotbodies bodywork, directionals and undertails, Penske shocks, Gp Suspension components, all Vortex products, Tsubaki chains…and, this is the coolest thing, the new Safety First race shop can have your bike wrapped.   

No, not wrapped like a Christmas present.  Wrapping is what you see on those delivery trucks or city buses when they are all dolled up in company logos and advertising.  Instead of painting, a vinyl “wrap” is applied.  The team is doing that to their bikes, transporter and pit bikes this year.  With a wrap, you can design some pretty funky stuff.  You should have seen some of the wild ideas we were shooting around for the race bike this year.  The custom bike group will love all the possibilities, intricacies and uniqueness you have with wrapping.  Plus, it holds up better than painting.  For Daytona, with the high-speed banking, the old bodywork that was painted would basically be junk after that round by being sandblasted and chipped from all of the seashells in the asphalt.  But the wrapping on the bikes held up perfectly. Just wipe down the bug innards off the wrap and they looked as good as when it was applied!  You are going to see a lot more teams and riders wrapping their bikes instead of painting…...plus it’s cheaper!  

The shop also has a brand new, state of the art Dynojet 250i dyno.  With all the sport bikes in Chicago, I would think that a lot of them will come out to the race shop to get some gear and accessories and get their bikes dyno tuned. Dynotuning is one of the most overlooked things sportbike riders can do to their bikes.  It makes a huge difference in driveability, hp and throttle response of your motorcycle….plus you have true AMA professionals writing a custom map for your bike that have years of experience running dynos. 

Well, gotta run, I am one of those procrastinators and I have to get my taxes done.  But I’ll check back shortly and let you know how things are going.  

Doc