BUTTONWILLOW, CA

The California State Championship saw high drama and exciting racing in its inaugural round. This unique concept features a three-race format, running once each with WERA, AFM and WSMC. The idea is to allow racers from different West Coast clubs to mingle while racing at multiple tracks. Better still, several popular brands offer contingency, both in the host club's event and the California Championship. Alternately, racers on a budget have a three-race championship to fight for that will definitely go easier on the wallet, complete with contingency money. Among series sponsors such as Dunlop and VP fuels were class sponsors such as SbkPaint.com (Formula One) and Catalyst Reaction Suspension (650 Twins and Open Production). With some of them allowing racers to "double-dip," collecting from the host club as well, the series can be quite lucrative for a racer playing the numbers game. Spectators were also given a great reason to come: to watch fast names from all over the West Coast compete on a myriad of machines.

A prelude to the Formula One race came early in the day with the Open Production class. Early leader James Randolph (112, above) began to leave the field behind on his KTM, until Jeremy Toye (57) started closing quickly on his BMW. Toye passed Randolph while setting a new lap record on lap two. A lap later, though, Toye was in the dirt after lowsiding in turn three and bringing out the red flag. With Toye unable to make the restart, it was all Randolph, leaving many to wonder what would happen when the two met again for the Formula One race.

In the eight-lap Formula One event, the start went to Randolph, with Toye following. Almost immediately, veteran Jeremy Tigert moved his Honda CBR1000RR inside of Toye to take second. Suzuki-mounted Corey Sarros got a difficult start and had to fight to move from fifth toward the front.

And in the front, there was a fight indeed, as Toye forced his BMW around Tigert and then around Randolph for the lead. Fans waited to see if Toye would check out again, but his earlier crash must have been weighing on his mind. Randolph retook the lead but could not pull away. These two battled for several laps, allowing Sarros to recover from his poor start and reel in the leaders.

On the final lap, Sarros caught the lead pair, but Toye pulled out by just a few bikelengths. Exiting the high-speed dogleg, Randolph went just a little wide. A huge cloud of dust blocked everyone's view, and every fan along pit wall was craning his neck to catch a glimpse of what had happened. Out of the dust came Randolph, upright and aiming his mount back toward the pavement. All eyes turned to Sarros: Unfazed by what had happened in front of him, he was dead set on catching Toye.

Coming out of the final corner, Sarros got a fantastic drive with his GSX-R1000 Suzuki and began to gain on Toye, but Toye began to stretch his BMW's legs, and he would hold off all comers, heading home with a hard-fought victory. Sarros was second, and Randolph finished third.

In only eight laps, fans had seen four riders from two different clubs on four different brands battle for the lead, with the outright motorcycle lap record falling in the process - simply fantastic!

For more information, visit www.CaStateChampionship.com.

Results

600 S/BK: 1. Jimmy Wood (Kawasaki); 2. Bryce Prince (Yamaha); 3. Jason Lauritzen (Yamaha); 4. Jeremy Simmons (Yamaha); 5. Loren Black (Yamaha).

OPEN PROD: 1. James Randolph (KTM); 2. Matt Quigley (Kawasaki); 3. Wyatt King (Suzuki); 4. Neil Atterbury (Suzuki); 5. Jesse Carter (Suzuki).

OPEN TW: 1. James Randolph (KTM); 2. Mauro Deviasso (Ducati); 3. Sherwick Min (Ducati); 4. Donald Babb (Ducati); 5. Jason Catching (Suzuki).

F-1: 1. Jeremy Toye (BMW); 2. Corey Sarros (Suzuki); 3. James Randolph (KTM); 4. Jeffrey Tigert (Honda); 5. Martin Swarc (Suzuki).

F-40 L/W: 1. Dan Sewell (Suzuki); 2. Guy Hyder (Honda); 3. Donald Babb (Ducati); 4. Zoran Vujasinovic (Suzuki); 5. David Sapsis (Suzuki).

F-40 M/W: 1. Frank Aragaki (Suzuki); 2. Roi Holster (Yamaha); 3. Mark Hill (Kawasaki); 4. James Davis (Yamaha); 5. Matthew Buck (Triumph).

F-40 H/W: 1. Aaron Ascher (Kawasaki); 2. Sherwick Min (Ducati); 3. Frank Gray (Suzuki); 4. Patrick Corcozan (Suzuki); 5. Alessandro Assanti (Yamaha).

F-FEMME: 1. Christie Cooley (Honda); 2. Krystyna Kubran (Yamaha); 3. Marisol Lacour (Suzuki); 4. Jennifer Lauritzen (Suzuki); 5. Shandra Crawford (Yamaha).