nickhayman.com

Saturday’s early morning qualifying session for Supersport was held – you guessed it – in the fog. I set out with confidence from having the Challenge experience, but I got stuck behind some slower riders for a few laps and then there was a red flag, not surprisingly. Finally restarted, I got a few clear laps and put in a 1:34something to qualify P15 out of 32, not too bad for a mid-season pick-up team with a borrowed motorcycle.

Our schedule later that afternoon was another time crunch, as the e-Power qualifying session was directly before the Supersport race at 5:15pm. Our highly trained crew set-up both bikes ready on the hot pit, and at 4:45pm I went out on Alex’s creation.

Now Alex built his electric bike as a commuter, and it’s a little heavy and a little underpowered. I quickly figured out I could hold full throttle everywhere except 2, corkscrew and 11, and I followed the inside line where possible to shorten the track distance. I pulled in after 6 or 7 laps as there was nothing left to gain, and despite all efforts, our fastest time was a 2:24 …and we failed to qualify as the cut-off was 2:08 – shame!

Again I jumped off one bike and onto the 848, but luckily there was a short delay that gave us a few moments to breathe and relax. We went round for the warm-up lap, gridded up… and the lights went out. Once again I was struck by starting-line blues, and a gaggle of competitors went past me accelerating over the hill. This time I shot up their inside into turn 2 and passed most of them back. Of course one of the kids highsided in front of me exiting turn 3, a quick dodge to the inside saw me safely past. The race settled down for a few laps, until the inevitable red flags came out as I crested the hill to the corkscrew, and saw a crashed bike laying in the middle of the track at the exit.

Start of Supersport race – top of Corkscrew – #16 Cameron Baubier, #30 Nick, #528 Jose Flores, and #91 Joy Higa

Photo Credit: Chuck Lantz chucklantz.com

My restart was no better or worse than the first time, and I came out of turn 2 in around 12-14^th spot. I spent the whole of the race, part deux, in a heated battle, trying to get past fellow San Franciscan Jose Flores. I twice cut to his inside at the entry of the corkscrew but he slammed the door on me, cutting across my nose, making contact the first time. I also tried an inside pass into turn 2, and again he cut my nose off, bumping elbows in full view of my home crowd. After a few laps of this, Jose scraped past Sam Nash for P11, and a lap later I stuffed myself past Nash in the corkscrew using my half-baked inside line. In the last few laps, Jose and I caught up to Michael Corbino in P10, and despite a last lap push, Jose came up a little short at the line to finish P11, I eased off as I was a little pooped and took an safe 12th.

My pit bro’ Roi Holster took a strong 14^th place behind Sam Nash, and AFM fast-gal Joy Higa took an unfortunate slide into the weeds outside turn 9, let down by a too-hard front tire choice.

On the cool-down lap, I cruised back around the fabled curves of Laguna Seca one last time, waving to the fans and taking mental snapshots of the glorious views.

With thanks to… the crew at Munroe Motors of San Francisco, Pat Blackburn of Trackside Moto, Ducati North America, Catalyst Reaction Suspension, Arlen Ness Leathers, Kyle USA, HJC Helmets, TCX Boots, Super Plush Suspension, Leo Vince USA, Yoyodyne, Sport Tire Services/Dunlop, and my impeccable team: Todd Chamberlin, Bill Brown and Linda Jung.

Top of the corkscrew – Sam Nash leads while Jose Flores and Nick Hayman swap paint

Photo Credit: Chuck Lantz chucklantz.com