Going Racing

Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama

May 21 – 24, 2009

West/East Racing Association (WERA)

Alright then- round three of the Mid-Central Division (combined with round four of the Southeast region) kicks off Saturday. Racers start arriving at BMP Thursday evening for the weekend’s events. Friday is an optional practice day, and generally more than half the weekend’s competitors will attend this extra practice. Saturday’s schedule is for practice until 11:00, and racing starting slightly after noon. Saturday’s racing includes four separate classes of vintage / antique motorbikes, as well as modern bikes racing longer-than-normal-distances (called Solo 20). Fast from the Past is sponsoring the vintage racing, and ‘sweetening the pot’ for those competitors. Turn-out is expected to be high for these bikes from yester-year. Saturday also includes a new racer-school (racers must earn a license to race with us), so you may see some racers wearing brightly colored tee shirts over their leathers. Those racers are ‘provisionally’ licensed, and must meet several criteria over the course of several days to earn a full competition license. The “Mock Race” at the end of Saturday includes only those students, and is generally a must-see for those without a squeamish stomach.

Sunday’s events include practice until 11:00, and racing begins slightly after noon. All of these are sprint races of about 14 miles. Since this is a combined event for both the Southeast and the Mid-Central divisions (and because it’s BARBER) attendance and the level of competition is expected to be really high. As mentioned before, the first race starts just after noon. These sprint races run a set number of laps as opposed to being a set amount of time, so when the next race starts depends on when the race prior to it finishes. It’s not possible to know exactly when our races will start, but I can estimate an approximate time. Each race takes at least 15 minutes to complete, and we are race #12 and race # 17. Therefore, we can be pretty sure we won’t be on the track before 2:45 P.M., and more than likely it will be a little later than that. Race #17 (which is our second race) is the last race of the day, and probably won’t get rolling before 4:15 P.M.

Fem Fatale and I may be the only MotoSpeed.us members racing this weekend, as everyone else appears to be riding at Talladega. We’ll try to do some live updates this weekend if possible, and of course there will be a full report forthcoming some time next week. Check back for updates!

Tickets are available HERE, or at the gate. You can save a few bucks by pre-purchasing tix by the end of the business day on 05/22/09.