Tales from a female racer's perspective...

She Said: Media Coverage
February 29, 2004 - Revised on March 11, 2004

What can I say..this has been an incredible week at Daytona. First because of the overwhelming support from my friends at NASCAR. I have some great supporters and will never forget how they have helped me. Secondly, I am in the Daytona Beach News Journal! If the link stays live you can click on the text here. If not, try this pdf file. This is the first major article in Draganee Racing history to be featured in a Sunday edition. Thank you to Bill Lumpkin, III (News Journal) and Andrew Booth (DIS PR) for pushing for this article and to Nigel Cook (News Journal) for the terrific photo. It is rare that we motorcycle racers get that much coverage in the newspaper - this is great for amateur motorcycle racing.

After finishing my race my name was announced over the loudspeaker to go to the media center. There I met Andrew and Bill who were interested in interviewing me for a potential article in the News Journal, based upon my second place finish. When I told them of my involvement in NASCAR, they were even more interested. The article turned out great! Jeff was there for the interview...let me tell you he makes a great PR guy. He certainly knows what will interest the reporter.

Now does the fact that I am female and a racer help in media coverage? I think so. But would I have been featured if I hadn't finished well? No. The fact that I raced well in the frigid temperatures, I am a local rider, female, and work in the motorsports industry all factored into the equation, making for a newsworthy article. During Bike Week the only bikers to be highlighted are those on Main Street - they bring in millions and millions to the local economy, rightfully so. But once again, I am thankful to the News Journal for featuring a local racer.

At the track yesterday (Saturday) we took a lot of photos - thanks to Mike Meadows. Jeff and I took our bikes over to Victory Lane for some team shots. We will post them soon in our photo album.

Now, about my SECOND place finish - Jeff had his suspicions while watching the race that the eventual winner's "RS250" did not conform to the CCS rules governing the Ultra Lightweight Superbike category. This was based on the position and shape of the exhaust pipes. Jeff commented after the race that the pipes appeared to be factory Aprilia Corse equipment. Immediately following the race Jeff attempted to find the bike to confirm that the bike indeed was an Aprilia RSV250 (3-10 hand made factory bikes at $100,000 a piece) in order to lodge a protest with CCS officials. We did eventually find the bike sequestered in a trailer outside of public view the following morning, belonging to BGV Racing. Our suspicions were confirmed by the carbon fiber wheels, factory radiator, chain drive and "reversed" caliper placement and bearing Amateur #24 on the tail section. When Jeff inquired as to the manufacturer of the pipes to the team mate of the eventual "winner" he responded by saying they are the "new Tygas" which Jeff knew was a lie and the bike may have been a ex-Factory Aprilia RSV250, but in order to lodge a formal protest it must be within 30 minutes of the race completion.

In the end Jeff was right, the "RS" in question was a full blown World GP RSV250. Since I did not protest there was nothing anyone could do except for the other team. About the protest: Before I went off to CCS to protest I wanted to be sure about our suspicions. Why? Because I like James and Duzi and like racing against them. I didn't want to create a problem with my fellow competitors if there wasn't one to begin with. Besides, this was just the first race of the season.

They were good sports and forfeiting the points and trophy.

Tales from a male racer's perspective...

He Said: Daytona
February 29, 2004

Before I go on my rant about cheating, lets talk about my weekend at Daytona. One must remember that I have been struggling with Daytona since 1997 with the track "beating me down" each year since. Either mechanical faliures, brain farts or other racers interrupting my path to glory have always resulted in DNFs or lack luster results. This year I kept my expectations very realistic by setting a goal of just finishing the race with out incident. I can proudly say that I achieved my Daytona goal in '04.

We arrived on Wednesday to set up camp and get the bikes through tech inspection. Both went without any problem. To this day I still wonder why the majority of racers arrive at the track with their bikes incomplete and get quite a kick at watching their furiuos attempts to get their bikes raced prepped.

The guys at the Michelin camp mounted a set of fresh race rubber on our bikes as we prepared for Thursday's practice session. As usual the overpaid weather forecasters were not even close and we were plagued with high winds, misty rain and frigid temperatures. Nicole did manage one session to scrub the tires in but I was not going to risk crashing so I sat the entire day out.

Friday arrived with the crappy weather we experienced the prior day only this time it was much colder (in the 40s) and just as windy. I knew that scrubbing the tires in was critical so I opted for a wet/cold/windy practice session and off I went... very gingerly I may add.

Since I pre-registered I was on the "pole" posistion for the start of the race. Luckily I have been blessed with getting great starts and this was no exception. The flag went green, I hesitated for a split second and off I went. I managed to catch the last row of the Expert field as we entered Turn 1. I , as usual, balked going into the turn and was passed by 1/2 dozen riders. 30 seconds into the race and I was already in a hole. As the race progressed I felt more "mechanical" then smooth, even the easiest of shifts was a more deliberate action as oppossed to a natural flow. My "mechanical" movements resulted in a missed shift heading into the West International Horseshoe and being passed by a few more competitors. At that point any chance at glory was a distant memory and foregone conclusion so I opted to concentrate on my "smoothness". As The race progressed I began to settle into a "goove" and my lap times fell as my confidence grew. I finished 9th, but more importantly I survived.

Cheating, yes cheating or the mere thought of cheating occupied a good portion of my weekend following Nicole's race. As she wrote, I suspected that all was not on the "up and up"at the BGV Racing camp. My suspicions were confirmed by confornting the teammate of the Ultra LW Superbike and gauging his reaction when asked about the legitimacy of the "winner's" RS250 . Eventually they caved in and admitted their deviant and untruthful behavior and Nicole was declared the winner. But what if I did not say anything, or alert the CCS Officials, would James or Duzi took it upon themselves to "fess up"?.. I doubt it. But THEY GOT BUSTED....PERIOD. I sometimes don't understand the limited mentality if those who cheat, whether it be at a club race, a math test or in life, who are they really kidding if they think that those around them who fall for their ruse are that stupid. Like "Mr. T's" famous tag line " I pity da fool".

Tales from our competitors..

From Nicole: We have never posted anything like this before. This is the response from our fellow racers on what happened in Nicole's race. We are happy to hear from them and want to post their response of what occured. This was originally posted on Sportbikes.ws:

"Wow, I didn't know that we had become so popular. LOL Thanks for the heads up "looking in" we appreciate what you are trying to do but there is no need for it. Unfortunately you are not completely correct in your statements. Jeff and Nicole are correct in the fact that it was not an issue of us running the bike it was an issue of the class that we ran it in. However, we did not knowingly "cheat". I scanned that rules out of the CCS bulletin we received at the beginning of the year showing the requirements for Ultra Lightweight Superbike, but I don;t know how to attach it. Anyways Jeff if you still have the flyer you can look on page 15. The NOTE says: Ducati/Bimota/BMW Supermono and Woods Rotax machines are exculed from this class. It says nothing about a GP bike all it has is displacements and we fell within the displacement requirements. The CCS offical told us that the GP bikes are not legal in ANY Superbike or Supersport. Never mind that, I am not here to make excuses. Yes we did run an RSV 250 in the ULSB class and yes it was illegal. Would we have forfeited on our own accord? probably not. However, Jeff kept us honest and we did forfeit all points and trophy. Nicole, as "looking in" said; If we had been low class we would have kept the points and trophy, b/c even the CCS offical said that there really is nothing he could do B/c the results were final, so yes we did do it on our own accord ( with a little help from you guys) We had no problem doing it because we like you guys. Again we do apologize for the misunderstanding. Nicole I'm glad to hear that you and James were able to Joke about everything, he told me that everything was cool, so I thought great everyone's happy. Then I get an e-mail from "looking in" with a link here and to your site (pretty nice site by the way, hopefully we will have ours up again soon) I read all of this, your he said/she said, and realize that everything is not cool. Obviously we upset Jeff pretty bad, it's been a while since I was hammered like that, but I guess you have a right to be upset and it is you right to voice your opinion. Look we like you guys and have nothing but love for ya, even if you don't care much for us. As for you last statement we always try being the GOOD GUYS. On another note. James did run Lightweight GP (which the bike is legal in..LOL) and needless to say James dominated beating second place by over 45 secs and finishing 11th against the experts. Ward was 6th in his first race since 99. "looking in" again thanks, but like Jeff said it is over and we all need to let it go. BTW we are now keeping the lathe in the trailer just in case something happens again like it did at VIR we will be able to help you out better than the way we had to rig that foot peg. To all the people reading this we apologize, I know that you would rather hear about rides and races than people arguing. Jeff and Nicole I guess we will see you all at Jennings (hopefully, if I get my bike back together, again sorry! See you all at the races Duzzi ex #413 BGV Racing"