From Brian:
Brammo Racing Update – AFM Sonoma Round 2 – May 4-5, 2013
A major milestone for team was set this past weekend as Team Icon Brammo and Team Parker Brammo competed for the first time head-to-head alongside our gas burning brethren in round 2 of AFM’s race season at Sonoma Raceway (Sear’s Point). With 4 bikes in action over the 2 day event, it was also one of the most logistically challenging events we’ve run. Keeping up with the fast moving race schedule, multiple practice groups, 3 riders providing invaluable feedback to capture, and keeping the bikes charged up to hit every session was tough, but the team stepped up to the challenge.
The main goals for this first race event with AFM was to learn how their race weekend operates, hit every practice session, and finish in the top 10 in our races. The last goal ended up being a bit out of reach for us with the RRs, but the team is holding its head high as we leave Sonoma and everyone’s very proud with what was accomplished.
Shelina ran a great 250 Superbike race, gridding in 14th position and finishing in 7th. She showed great poise as rider over the weekend, consistently dropping time in every practice session and then putting in a string of best laps in the race. There’s more speed to come from the Parker Racing Brammo Empulse TTX and Shelina Moreda, without a doubt!
Eric and Steve focused on the 750 Superbike race at the end of the day and used the Formula 1 race as some additional practice to get final settings dialed in. Both riders struggled with suspension setup to deal with the technical nature of the track and the weight penalty of the RRs over the 600s, 750s, and up to 1000cc V-twins they were competing with. We didn’t quite get down to our target lap times, but we still made a massive improvement over the last time we ran at Sonoma Raceway. It was clear that we wouldn’t be mounting any major challenge to the incumbent technology this time around, so the riders kept the racing clean, the bikes upright, and brought back some very valuable data for the team. It’ll take us awhile to get through it all, but rest assured we’ll be figuring out how to improve for the next races. Both riders had a great time racing the gassers and the bikes looked great and were respectably fast in a field of very fast bikes and riders.
Last couple of notes:
Shelina raced our Engage Supermoto prototype bike in the all-women’s Supermoto class and finished 4th. She pushed to get us to bring the bike, so she deserves much credit for that near podium finish. I’m guessing this won’t be the last time she asks to race Supermoto with the bike!
Thanks to AFM, SuperMoto USA, Sonoma Raceway, and all the fans for making this a truly remarkable and historic weekend. We’re proud to be part of the paddock!
-Brian Wismann, Brammo Racing Team Manager
