Safety First Racing: Racing and helping.

Being a race rat has it’s privileges and few downsides. One such privilege is getting to spend time with an up and coming race team. You get to see the effort, dedication and growth of a team’s chemistry develop through the hardships and the progression.

It’s all the better when that team also is helping give back to the community. Safety First Suzuki is one such team. Safety First not only provides great racing for race fans, but promotes bicycle safety awareness to children also.

Team owner Kevin Hanson

When I first met team owner, Kevin Hanson, I thought “I hope he doesn’t hit me” (this is natural for me, as I can be very annoying). Then when Kevin talked to me about his career as a Police officer where he worked on the Gang/Drug Unit, SWAT team and served as a Detective in the Investigations Division, I thought “I hope he doesn’t hit me”.

Then a funny thing started to happen.  Kevin talked about his goals for Safety First and his passion for helping children and I realized how good of a guy he is. He talked about struggling to get the team going, while continuing to make his various appearances at schools, all the while smiling. You get the sense he’s happy to be able to combine his passions into a fulfilling career.

Safety First started in 2003 with Kevin doing duty as team rider, manager and promoting safety at schools wherever he went. He teamed up with Jim Rashid from 4&6 racing because, honestly, Jim knows how to build a great race bike. Jim’s bikes were the last true privateer bikes to actually beat the factory machines in 600cc supersport. This is no small feat.

Crew chief, Jim Rashid

So, Kevin had the bike and a great tuner. He proceeded to go out and contest the AMA Superbike series. After having some success, Safety First’s unique brand of public service and successful results caught the eye of American Suzuki. In 2004 Safety First became a factory supported Superbike team. This turned out to be a blessing and a learning experience.

In 2005, the team expanded their scope to run all classes in the AMA series. This was very ambitious and turned out to be a learning experience for the team. Stretching themselves out produced good results, but not what the team wanted. Realizing that it would be better to focus on certain classes, they refocused their efforts in 2006 on the 600cc Supersport and Formula Xtreme classes.

This year, Safety First teamed up with new sponsor Komodo riding apparel, a top quality manufacturer of racing and street apparel, to help push the team to the next level. This partnership will include a line of Safety First Suzuki branded clothing and replica leathers available on Safety First’s website.

In 2006, the team secured the services of two top level riders. Former Factory rider Tony Meiring and perennial top AMA rider Chris “Opie” Caylor. With the top level talent riding their bikes, they still face a tall test developing the all new 2006 GSXR600. To add to the difficulty, they received the bikes 8 days before the season was to begin. While the chassis has been great for the team, the motor still needs a few ponies to keep up with the factory teams. They have set a goal of podium finishes by the end of the year, which is no small feat with at least six factory teams racing in the Supersport series, but they are already close, as you will find out in a few paragraphs.

 Chris “Opie” Caylor

Tony “The Tiger” Meiring

I got the pleasure of watching the team do their thing at the Road America AMA national.

During the Road America weekend, the team had their work cut out for them. Road America is a horsepower track and generally favors the more developed motors. By more developed, of course I mean, factory motors. During the practice sessions, the riders showed strong results with the 10^th and 14^th fastest overall times, behind a parade of factory riders.

Qualifying for the race, the positions were the same, with both riders turning fast lap times, despite their horsepower deficit. Tony’s best lap was a 2:22.160, just 1.5 seconds behind the factory Kawasakis and 2 seconds behind the factory Yamahas and Opie was .5 behind that. Both bikes were running strong and hopes were very high for the race.

During the race, both riders got out to a good start, as the race progressed, both riders turned in very strong laps, Sitting in the pits with the team, I got to see how a team works while the riders are on track.  Craig "Huey" Stewart, Opie’s lead mechanic, was charting lap times and taking notes, as he watched the closed circuit television feed of the race in the pits. The rider’s places and times were sent out to the pit wall, where the pit boards then communicated positions and other information to the riders.

Tony was running closer to the front, but he had lost the draft of the factory teams despite putting in consistently fast lap times. Opie was struggling with a grip problem at the start, but as the race progressed, got faster. The team was not only communicating information to the riders, but willing them forward. The excitement of the race is palatable within the pits. The sense of urgency, the analysis and the cheerleading all seem to gel into a cohesive group. Even though the team wasn’t dicing for the win, they knew that it will be within their grasp soon. Confidence is the word I would use to describe the overriding feeling. Tony wound up in 11^th position, but had turned the 9^th fastest lap of the race. This shows the team has the speed and, with Jim doing the tuning, will soon have the ponies.

One other note, something I hadn’t experienced before. I watched the Superstock race in the pits with the team. While sitting there I noticed that, despite these guys having achieved a level I can only lie, er… dream about, they were hooting and cheering for riders in the race. At that point, they were race fans, just like the rest of us. The only difference was they had snazzy outfits. This moment, above all, will be the one I remember, just a bunch of fans cheering on a race.

You can find out more about Safety First Racing at http://www.safetyfirstracing.com/. You can support the team and pick up some really cool gear on the site.

You can get yourself a fast motor and smooth chassis by contacting Jim Rashid at 4&6 racing. http://www.4and6.com/

Also, Tony would like to say thank you to all the race fans who support him. He is a great guy and go out to the AMA races and say hi.

Opie wanted to say happy 1^st birthday to his son, little Ope-dog. I’m sure we’ll see him ripping around a track soon.

Some thank youze to hand out.

First, I would like to thank Kevin Hanson, for letting me hang out, providing a great service to the community and for showing me his very cool socks.

Jim Rashid, who introduced me to the team and built my kick ass TLR back in the day. Folks, you want fast? he can give it to you.

Thanks to Lee Schwarzentraub, owner of Komodo riding apparel, http://komodogear.com/

He answered all my questions and taught me a lot about great safety gear.

To the team, for convincing me that I need a quoted nickname too.

Safety First Racing is sponsored by :

Suzuki Cycles Komodo Riding Gear Dunlop Hindle Vortex Racing Pit Bull Products Penske Shocks GP Suspension 4 and 6 Performance Hotbodies Racing Tsubaki Chain