Anthony Alonso Racing

This past weekend we participated in Round #2 of the AFM series in Northern California. The weather was great, with temperatures hanging in the low to mid 90s and low wind.

Anthony participated in two races, F3 and F2 aboard his 2000 Honda RS125. For F3, he was gridded on pole. As the race got underway Anthony was P2 into T1, but managed to gain P1 out of T2. He put all of his efforts into breaking away and pushed as much as possible. Even though the front tire already had 1 full day of practice, he was still able to set very fast times even in traffic and take his first victory of the weekend.

The second race was the F2 class, against 250GP bikes. Anthony was gridded 7th out of 12 riders. Anthony got an ok start and managed to make his way into P5 by lap 1. He continued to fight with the leading group and by lap 2 he was 4th, chasing a trio of 250GP bikes. The leading group of 4 began to break away and though Anthony was trying, he could not get past P4… they were riding very well. By lap 3 Anthony finally managed to get into P2 and began his chase for P1. He made his pass stick and began to work on opening a gap to take his second victory of the weekend.

This was Anthony’s las race as a 13 year-old and is looking forward to Miller next week. It was Anthony’s first race using updated suspension from Kyle Racing. It was great to have Chris and his Pirelli crew there to give us guidance on the tires. Those guys really know their stuff.

Throughout the weekend Anthony tried out a new SaferMoto vest which he felt fit him better, he’ll be using that at Miller.

We were lucky to have several of his sponsors share the weekend with us, Budman (BARF Racing), Jeff and Chris (Pirelli), Helmut (Helimot), Alan (SaferMoto.com), Carlos (CN Racing) and Gerry (GP Frame and Wheel). Our good friend Jim (Suomy) could not make it and we missed him.

Hopefully the weather holds for Miller and we can have a safe event.

Well, it took Anthony and I, 5 days to take the engine apart and back together. This is the first engine we’ve put together and I know it will run great.

He was NOT the one that hit the rev-limiter.

Making sure he knows how to ride a motorycle… better safe than sorry (keep in mind he’s never had a bike with a side-stand)

Thanks to Budman and BARF Racing, a couple of months ago Anthony was fortunate enough to get his first set of Helimot leathers. Helimot leathers are top-quality leathers and Anthony felt really safe in them.

While picking them up, Helmut (owner of Helimot) took the time to explain to Anthony the various materials he uses to make the leathers. In particular, he explained to him the various types of soft padding he uses and why. Anthony was fascinated and kept asking questions. As the conversation evolved, the question of gloves came up. Helmut explained to Anthony that he took special care in designing gloves and its protection around it.

For example, he explained how Helimot gloves reduced the bulging of the gloves when you are holding onto the bars, and thus calluses are also reduced. He also talked about how he uses different padding on gloves than he uses on suits.

Helmut and I chatted about as set for Anthony this is what we got, custom-made matching gloves… think Rossi and Lorenzo

He was able to match each glove for each hand

A couple of months ago, Anthony began to ask me about trying out a 600. Until then, he’d said he didn’t like them and that he just wanted to ride his 125. I think part of the reason was that most of his race-buddies had moved up to 600s and Anthony had grown. In the span of only a few months he’d shot-up a few inches.

I mentioned Anthony’s crazy idea to a few people, one of them Chris from CT racing. Chris has taken a liking to Anthony and they get along really well.

A couple of weeks ago Chris called me and said he had talked to Eric Kondo, a fellow BARF Racer, and he had agreed to give Anthony a go on his 2011 R6. I was happy to hear that someone like Eric would let Anthony try out their bike because I knew it would be safe. When I told Anthony, he was ecstatic and anxious.

The big day was set for a trackday at Thunderhill at the end of April. I had my normal chat with Anthony and explained to him that it was NOT HIS bike and that he needed to be careful and just enjoy himself.

The time finally came after lunch. Anthony rode the bike for two sessions and every time he came back with a bigger smile on his face. He could not believe how much power the bike had and how easy it was to spin the rear tire. Obviously he disliked the extra weight. He commented on how difficult it was to counter-steer the bike and how much effort and time it took to get it turned (I guess he’ll need to start working out).

Anthony was so happy to ride the bike that he didn’t want to get off. We are thankful to Eric for letting Anthony use his bike and to Chris for spreading the word. We were also fortunate to have a few of Anthony’s sponsors enjoy the day with us, Jim from Suomy, Rob from Evolution Motorcycle and Rob from MotoGloss.

Today we got the steering damper for the rs125 back after servicing by evolution suspension. The bike is almost ready to rumble.