Even though I'm three months away from my first race of the 2010 season, there's a lot going on right now to get ready for some high speed fun.
New name... First of all the team name has changed along with the addition of a new teammate.
The team name is now, I.F.M. Racing, which stands for Iowa Farm Mafia. It's a tongue in cheek name that our street riding group had been called for almost ten years. We got it thanks to some friends as a tease but it stuck so we're going to race under that name from now on. Troy has already designed a pretty cool logo for us, so as soon as it's done I'll post it.
New teammate... New teammate, Craig Davis, has been a good friend and fellow Buell rider for many years and after getting a great deal on a 2008 Buell 1125R he announced he wanted to go to race school to earn his license, then do a race or two. Within a few weeks the few races grew to all the Blackhawk Farms races and maybe more! Yep, once the bug bites you, you're in, hook line and sinker! He'll be racing the XB12R's big brother so we won't get to race with him except in the SuperTwins class so we'll be able to watch him race in the other classes and cheer him on.
Mike Boomer will get a chance to get back on the track this coming year, also. He was all set to compete at Blackhawk Farms early last season but an unfortunate street accident landed him with a broken collar bone and out for the summer. To say Mike is highly motivated to get his Buell XB12R on the track is an understatement!
Troy Walbaum returns, campaigning his Buell XB12R. He plans to race in CCS and is also moving up to the next level, the ASRA PRO Series, American Sportbike Racing Association. In ASRA PRO Series competition, Troy plans to race with the big boys in the Thunderbike class. This is a big jump in the level of competition but he's ready and really excited about the new challenge.
New race series... During the July 2-4 Road America round, the I.F.M. Racing crew will enter the Michelin Team Challenge. The race is two hours or 200 kilometers in length with at least one mandatory pit stop. Our plan is to compete with all four guys initially with two or three pits tops. We'll need two fuel stops for sure but depending where we are in the race, we'll figure out who rides in which order and for how long.
This series travels all over the country but the only opportunity we will have to try it is at Road America this season. We've been actively recruiting pit crew members and planning for the additional needs to properly compete in an endurance racing series. It should be lots of fun, for sure!
Stay tuned!
