Fast like a Nascar, Auto Club Speedway

This WERA event was 1/13/2013 held at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana,California, This would be the first race of the year for WERA and my first time at Auto club Speedway as well as racing with WERA.I arrived Thursday night in with my TTF crew (AFM #607 jeff Keohen and AFM #875 Ricco Nicholas) in preparation for Friday trackday with Fasttrack Riders.

Friday- we arrive at the track at around 7, early enough to get a garage and stay out of the low to mid 30's degree temperature and wind, due to bike maintenance I was unable to get my first taste of the track until 12 pm. My first session was difficult, I found out my gearing was a little off and I did not have any other sprockets to change that in addition I was also trying to get use to the track and make sure I did not crash due to cold and windy weather. Second session I started to feel a little more comfortable with the track as you can see by the digram below I was able to get down to a 1:47 seconds once,Session 3&4 I started to get in a grove and was able to constantly stay in1:47-1:48 range with my fastest lap being a 1:46.

Session 1 JOVAN BETTON -
12:06:35.6	1	2:00.792	70.634
12:08:50.2	2	2:14.631	63.373
12:10:46.0	3	1:55.852	73.646
12:12:40.5	4	1:54.484	74.526
12:14:33.1	5	1:52.531	75.819
12:16:23.4	6	1:50.293	77.358

Session 2 JOVAN BETTON -
13:06:27.1	1	1:51.382	76.601
13:08:33.9	2	2:06.762	67.307
13:10:24.5	3	1:50.594	77.147
13:12:14.0	4	1:49.501	77.917
13:14:01.0	5	1:47.060	79.694

Session 3 JOVAN BETTON -
14:04:44.7	1	1:50.760	77.031
14:06:32.8	2	1:48.099	78.928
14:08:19.8	3	1:47.034	79.713
14:10:07.7	4	1:47.870	79.095
14:11:56.4	5	1:48.667	78.515
14:13:43.4	6	1:46.986	79.749
14:15:30.7	7	1:47.308	79.509

Session 4 JOVAN BETTON -
15:10:23.7	1	7:53.747	18.010
15:12:11.7	2	1:47.995	79.004
15:14:00.2	3	1:48.524	78.619
15:15:47.2	4	1:47.006	79.734

Sunday- Sunday was race day. I signed up for race #2 600SBK and race #12 600 production. The weather was still a little chill but more sun and slightly higher temperature for mid-day.

Race #2 600SBK- I started in 11th Position, with a good start I was able to make up a couple places going into turn's 1 and 2 but lost a few back going into turn #3, I was able to make up one spot back on the breaks going into turn 12.Lap 2 I remained in the same position gaining ground on 6th and 5th place. Lap 3 I was able to make a move on 6th place on the breaks again going into turn 12,turn 13 5th place almost had a high-side which allowed me to gain ground on him going into turn 17 and to set up a pass going onto the nascar banking. I would finish in 5th place with a fast lap of 1:42.



Race#12 600 Production- I started in 9th position,had another good start and ended up in 5th place through turns 1 and 2 but lost a few places going into turn 3 and another 3 going into turn 4 and 5.Lap 2 I was able to make up one spot going into turn 12 but this time rider #88 Joe Rocha tried to make a inside pass but overshot the corner,a little, I was able to regain my position. Lap 3 I was able to gain couple of position by making a outside pass on a rider going into turn 4 and turn12. Lap 3 #88 Joe Rocha was able to make a inside pass on me going into turn #12 as we gained ground on rider #80 John Erickson to finish off lap 3. Lap 4,Joe,John and I had very close race with John leading the pack.Joe tried to make a inside pass going into turn 3 neither rider wanted to give up the position which caused both riders to run wide,I was able to capitalize off of their mistakes and claim 2 positions. Joe was able to catch up to me 7 turns later and make a pass going into turn 11 where he inched out a little gap and was able to maintain it for the rest of the race.I finished 5th with my fast lap being a 1:41.



I would like to thank all my sponsors - Arclight Racing,Munroe Motors,Axo,Woodcraft,Silkolene,United Capoeira Association,Optimal Racing,Stage1Racing and last but not least, all of you for your support and encouragement.

New Sponsor

Fuchs Silkolene is now a sponsor of Jovan Betton Racing for the 2013 season. Go check out their products! http://www.silkoleneusa.com/default.aspx

Conditioning with a twist

Who say's conditioning cant be fun???? one way I like to stay in shape is by going salsa dancing.Its a good form of cardio mixed with a lot of fun!!!

A little Dirt biking & Supermoto

To better prepare myself for the 2013 racing season I wanted to do various types of riding, I took Rich Oliver's mystery school and Road Race Factory supemoto school.

Rich Olivers mytery school: was a two day flat tracking course I took in November 2012 , this was my first time ever on a dirt bike.Day 1 was focused on learning all the fundamentals on how to ride a dirt bike. We did a bunch of turn configurations to help us get use to different type of turn situations such as figure eights, hairpins and U turns along with working on body positioning transitions .It took me a good portion of day one to get use to the difference in body positioning,engine feel and the way you steer the bike.Day 2 we did a lot of sprint racing, Rich also taught us how to slide the rear going into corner.Riche and his family were real hospitable and helpful ,I will definitely do Riche's school again, I had so much fun!

Road Race Factory school: held a supermoto event at sonoma kart track on December 2012,this was my first time on a supermoto bike. This day was flooded with bad conditions due to cold weather and rain.The first few session of of the day a bunch of riders fell, the tracks surface was real slick. My main goal for doing this school with the conditions was to get use to the bike moving around underneath me,learn how to back it into corners and improve the skills I learned from Rich Oliver's school.Throughout the day I crashed about three times all tucking the front, this day was pretty much a crash course but real fun. Danny and his team were real helpful and real informative on how to keep us on the bike. I would like to take this school again but with better weather conditions.

Below is a video I put together with clips from both school hope you enjoy it!