Sport Rider-sponsored AMA Supersport racer Javelin Broderick and the Dynojet - ZAG Racing team attended the AMA Pro Road Racing series event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Here is the weekend's report from Javelin's father Bernie:
This was by far the most important race of the year for us and for everyone in the AMA paddock. Not only was it an opportunity to race on the historical Laguna Seca Circuit but it was also an opportunity to race in front of a worldwide audience as we all played support classes to the MotoGP Series - the largest in the world! The likes of Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Ben Spies, Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo were all present from around the world to give the massive crowd something to cheer about. That same crowd sat and watched our racer, Javelin Broderick, contend in AMA Pro Racing Supersport alongside 50 others on the massive grid!
We started the weekend off by announcing support of Real Water! Yes, while others touted the benefits of a variety of energy drinks, ZAG Racing did what it always does and took a left turn to an extremely healthy and necessary alternative. Real Water is based out of Las Vegas, NV and we have know the owner of the company, Brent Jones, for quite a few years. The time was right for us to partner at Laguna Seca and we provided our fans with the clean fresh taste of their alkalized water. Eight cases of water later and our fans were content and well hydrated. The key to Real Water is that the body can absorb more of it quickly. Less waste and more hydration into the body is key to what they do. Javelin enjoyed it all weekend long and we were proud to show the young people especially, the difference a clean, clear water can make over the normal plethora of highly sweetened energy drinks that do absolutely nothing to aid the body. Thank you to Brent and Real Water for coming on board and helping us this past weekend! www.drinkrealwater.com
The energy was in the air as we arrived at the track the first day. This weekend only has 1 race for all AMA Pro Racing teams so we had to make it count. We were coming off a pretty successful weekend at Mid-Ohio having our highest finish of the season so far in 15th place and Javelin has wanted to race at Laguna Seca since he first threw a leg over a motorcycle at the age of 9 years old. The team would get 1 practice, 2 qualifying sessions and a single race - it had to all count!
The Dynojet crew did an awesome job preparing the bikes and we made a couple of simple adjustments to help with the very demanding circuit. The biggest change was really Javelins approach to his riding. He has been working very hard with Andrew Trevitt to overcome some old habits that he needed to break to move forward and went into this round determined to make those changes stick. The practice session saw a significant improvement in the time it took to get up to a competitive speed and all the rider wanted was more and more time on the track. The Race Tech suspension was working great, the bike was making great power and torque. We were in a good spot but the competition was fierce! There were 55 entries in the class and the track was packed with riders. Everyone doing everything humanly possible to put down fast laps.
The first qualifying session was late in the afternoon on Friday and Javelin was ready for it. He felt strong but had suffered all day with a bad headache. I guess the stress of the day was having an effect but he marched to the pits ready to go regardless and got down to business. By the end of the 40 minute Q1 session, he had placed himself in 16th position on the grid of the 55 riders who tried their hand with a 1:32.7 second lap. There were a lot of riders on the bubble that had to come back in Q2 to try and do their best to stay on the grid and sadly a number of them didn't make the cut. We were very happy and went back to the hotel for much needed rest. Q2 would be in the morning!!
We were not surprised when we went to the track on Saturday morning to see it socked in with fog. This is a problem with morning sessions at Laguna Seca and the on-track activities were halted for safety. Everyone was getting impatient as rumor spread we would not get a Q2 session. We were ok with the 16th place position as it was our highest qualifying position this year but Javelin was convinced he had more in him and needed another shot. Word finally came down that we would have 1 shot at a 15 minute Q2 to better our times at 12:30PM and we were ready for it. Jav went out in Q2 and by the second lap was riding fiercely. We watched the timing and scoring as his positions started to increase! By the end of the session, he had done his magic and put the Yamaha R6 in P13 on the grid for the race with a 1:32 flat! We all jumped for joy as this was by far his best performance of the season at a race that was so important to the team and to Javelin himself -------- this was MotoGP!!!
The race was later in that day and we spent time meeting with fans and friends who all came out to watch the kid do his thing. I believe in positive energy and it was so thick around Javelin you could cut it with a knife. Everyone was rooting for him and we hoped so much for a great day. All of the festivities were over and it was time to line up. We had some great help from friends Jonathan Martin and Heidi Moore with them helping in the pit and Heidi handling umbrella girl duties. Mom paced anxiously in the hotpit waiting for her son to do his thing and when the lights went out, we all went crazy!
Jav got a bit of a slow start but managed to hold 14th under brakes going into turn 2. In turn three he dropped the hammer but got a little too greedy with the throttle and saved what would have been a very nasty highside crash that many have encountered in T3. Unfortunately, he fell back to 22nd place because of this as his competitors streamed by the recovering rider. As he came down the front straight for the first time, he was in 21st but the body language told me he was in this for a brawl and brawl he did. P19, P18, P17, P16 - lap after lap, he reclaimed positions but at 16th there was a very big gap to 15th. The laptimes dropped and the bike slid, bucked and wheelied every time he came off of the T11, the final corner onto the straight. His lap times were now in the low 31's with a fastest lap of the race at a 1:31.3 which is seriously quick around Laguna. With only a couple of laps left, he had gapped 17th place by a huge amount and had chased down and passed for 15th place! That's where he brought it home and we couldn't have asked for a better performance.
Javelin was angry with himself when he came in as he really felt a top 10 was possible and his race pace showed he had the possibility of at least 11th. Still, when all the cards were layed on the table with his qualifying performance, saving a huge highside and making all of those positions back up? Well let's just say that anyone who has ever raced a motorcycle will tell you that it was quite an effort. Congratulations to Javelin and the team for awesome work in front of the most important audience of the year!
Now our 2013 sponsorship season is upon us. We will be reaching out to all of our 2012 sponsors to assemble our program for next year. We need to grow and we need to grow fast. The teams at the front have huge resources available to them and lots of manpower. Our efforts this year have been on a very tight budget and we are hopeful that for our champioship chasing year in 2013, we will have the necessary tools and resources to give them all a run for their money.