Photos By Chris Cantle, Ara Ashjian and Jamey Blunt
After Sacramento, I was fortunate enough to continue competing in three more rounds of the Southern California Flat Track Association’s series in Perris, race a couple of open amateur events at Costa Mesa Speedway and “venture” up the coast to Ventura Raceway. Plus, I even made it to the AMA Nationals in Salinas, Springfield, Sacramento and Pomona.
This was my second year of dirt-track racing in the SCFTA series, and I had my ups and downs. I won a few heat races and a dash for cash, set some fastest laps in Open Pro mains and got into some great battles.
But I struggled with suspension setup all year. Our CW CRF450 dirt-tracker was fast, but getting the power down and adapting my riding style to get the most out of the Honda wasn’t easy. Eliminating variables is a big part of racing; detailed preparation and a well-maintained motorbike are essential. Thankfully, Yoshimura R&D handled that for me again this year.
Our Honda was equipped with a lot of good performance parts and delivered excellent power, but I struggled getting it hooked up. Besides setup woes, stretching tire life cost me. I used the same set of Goodyear CD2s in six heats and six mains—regrooving down to the cords, then turning them around and doing the same on the other sides—until the tires finally chucked their knobs. It’s hard to win without fresh rubber. To eliminate that excuse would have cost me $360 a set that I didn’t often have.
Ventura is in an awesome location just a couple hundred feet from the ocean, making it a great place to race on my birthday. A program filled with competitors meant a lot of waiting before getting the hurry-up to the starting line. Winning my DTX 450 heat and the main with a clean faceshield was a nice present, but I made some mistakes in the Pro race by not adapting to a changing track fast enough. I gambled that my worn-out CD2s would work on the blue groove, but thanks to coastal fog and a late dump by the water truck, my “slicks” never came to grips with the mud cushion. And like at a couple other races this year (Cernicky Does Sacramento Mile), I didn’t have enough tear-offs.
The most recent outing for the 450 was in mid-October, and Round 10 of the SCFTA series at Perris. I got into some great on-track battles, then missed the Pro A main by one position. Then, a bit of off-track comedy courtesy of Cycle World reader Jerry Greer carried on until I missed my pole-position start for the B main. My bad!
I also didn’t run at Calistoga so I could save up for VP C-12 fuel ($86), new tires (1 front and 2-rears, $540), entry fee ($75) and tickets for my family ($308) to make the AMA final round atPomona. The Pomona Fairplex, built in 1937, is a very cool venue that includes a beautifully groomed 5/8-mile oval. The AMA put a lot of effort into track preparation; seven tons of chloride and a deluge of water were used to hard-pack the organic surface.
On this track, the 450 had 14/44 gearing so I could approach the corners WFO in 4th before back-shifting to 3rd and drifting; then, just after the apex, it’s back to 4th for feet-up drifting on the drive out. Turn 1 and 2 in particular were so much fun. During qualifying, the CRF felt fast, and the revised fork length and valving were giving good feedback—good enough for 14th out of 35, just 0.647-second off Briar Bauman’s pole time.
I took my spot down on the inside of row two next to Shayna Texter for my heat race, got away clean and was running in fifth before a red flag. On the restart, I got pinched down at the bottom of Turn 1 and never made up for the lost time, so it was onto the Last Chance Qualifier.
From the second row on the right side of the track, there was a lot more grip. Maybe too much. After a great launch from the line, the swapping rear wheel of Aaron Colton took out my front wheel and put me on the ground in front of a pack of Pro Singles who proceeded to use me for traction.
Sitting in the ambulance, I contemplated a night in the hospital, then climbed back out. As soon as my feet touched the dirt, announcer Barry Boone said, “Cernicky’s looking for his bike!” I thought, groggily, “Good idea. Where is my bike?”
AMA Pro Flat Track Operations Manager Steve Morehead said, “Your bike went behind the railing. You’re done,” then gave me a ride back to the van. My race—my season—was over.
By the end of the day, Jake Johnson had won his second GNC title, Michael Martin was crowned Pro Singles Champ with 3 wins, Michael Avila ended up second with 6 wins and Chris Carr says goodbye. Meanwhile, that same weekend, Ryan Villopoto wins a million in Vegas, Dan Wheldon dies in an Indy Car crash and Casey Stoner celebrates his second MotoGP title. The following weekend, I sat around the house with a broken tibial plateau and torn meniscus watching Marco Simoncelli lose his life in the MotoGP of Malaysia.
It runs through my head that racing makes and takes great characters; Number 58 will be sorely missed.
