While it was raining in Northern California, the conditions were ideal at Buttonwillow Raceway, West of Bakersfield, CA, for the first round of the 2016 AFM season.

The grids were well represented and 30 bikes took their positions at the start of the premier class Dunlop Race Tire Service Formula Pacific Race. The offseason saw a lot of changes as a high number of top tier riders scrambled to get their new bikes ready. The apparent bike of choice was the all new Kawasaki ZX-10R. Joey Pascarella returned to defend his #1 plate on a new Kawasaki ZX-10R. Another Daytona 200 podium finisher, Wyatt Farris, also represented the new Kawasaki, as did Devon McDonough, Lenny Hale, Chris Siglin, and five others. Cory Call stuck with his last season’s BMW S1000RR after healing from an off season injury.

At the drop of the green flag, it was Pascarella looking to make an early break way, followed by Hale, McDonough, Farris, Call and Siglin. Pascarella had the pace early on and quickly dropped to 1:45s. Behind him, five bikes swapped positions, with Farris working his way up to second place. Once free of the pack, Farris put his head down and put an all out effort into catching the blistering Pascarella.

The laps went by and Call worked his way past McDonough and then Hale, to move into third place. As he look at the track in front of him, Farris and Pascarella had built up a sizeable lead. Call put a cushion between the battling riders behind him and himself, while Farris continued to take time out of Pascarella’s lead.

With one lap to go, Farris was within two bike lengths of Pascarella and sensing another rider, Pascarella wicked up the pace. As the two riders flew through the track, Farris made a bold move of the exit of Riverside to set up and outside pass on the entrance to turn 8a. Off the racing line, Farris gave it his all, but Pascarella had already established his line on the inside and made it to the top of turn 8a first. Farris kept on the real wheel of Pascarella through the final few corners, but Pascarella ran flawlessly, leaving no openings. Call took a long look over his shoulder as he drove onto the front straight away and seeing a large enough lead, rode past the checkered flag on his rear wheel.

The weekend also saw the return of the aptly named Bradley Champion, who after over a ten year break from racing, reintroduced himself to the newer racers by winning three races. Champion rode a TWF prepared SV650 from the back of the grid and finished first in each of the races he entered.

March 19-20, 2016 @ Buttonwillow – Results

Dunlop Race Tire Service Formula Pacific
1. Joey Pascarella (Kaw ZX-10R)
2. Wyatt Farris (Kaw ZX-10R)
3. Cory Call (BMW S1000RR)
4. Devon McDonough (Kaw ZX-10R)
5. Lenny Hale (Kaw ZX-10R)
6. Chris Siglin (Kaw ZX-10R)

Open SuperBike
1. Wyatt Farris
2. Sebastiao Ferreira
3. Jordan Edginton
4. Cory Call
5. Adam Robarts
6. Lenny Hale

Novice Open SuperBike
1. Szymon Dziadzia
2. Romell Rogers

Open Production
1. Joey Pascarella
2. Cory Call
3. Wyatt Farris
4. Lenny Hale
5. Devon McDonough
6. Sebastiao Ferreira

Novice Open Production
1. Szymon Dziadzia
2. Steve Habura
3. Matthew Runyon

Open GP
1. Cory Call
2. Jordan Edgington
3. Steve Metz
4. Jason Lauritzen
5. Peter Kemling
6. David Raff

Novice Open GP
1. Szymon Dziadzia
2. Jesse Moreno
3. Romell Rogers

Formula 1
1. Andrew Lee
2. Ricardo Villegas
3. Ryder Morrison
4. Brandon Crawford
5. Patrick Murphy
6. Brian Morris

Novice Formula 1
1. Fabian Fernandez
2. Steve Habura
3. Nick Lindquist

600 SuperBike
1. Deion Campbell
2. Tucker Lancaster
3. Brandon Crawford
4. Gage McAllister
5. Jai Armstrong
6. Ryder Morrison

Novice 600 SuperBike
1. August Weber
2. Deivide DaSilva
3. Nanda Doddapaneni

600 Production
1. Deion Campbell
2. Andrew Lee
3. Gage McAllister
4. Brandon Crawford
5. Tucker Lancaster
6. Thomas Montano

Novice 600 Production
1. Fabian Fernandez
2. Nick Lundquist
3. Nanda Doddapaneni

Open Twins
1. James King
2. Jason Butler
3. Brendan Walsh
4. Jeff Graham
5. Robbes Stieglitz
6. Steve Metz

Novice Open Twins
1. Cliff Ramsdell
2. Joseph Akrop

750 SuperBike
1. Xavier Zayat
2. Ricardo Villegas
3. Brandon Crawford
4. Rodrigo Arrazola
5. Ilya Roytman
6. Christian Diegelman

Novice 750 SuperBike
1. Steve Habura
2. August Weber
3. Richard Conway

750 Production
1. Andrew Lee
2. Patrick Murphy
3. Brandon Crawford
4. Ricardo Villegas
5. Rodrigo Arrazola
6. Ezra Beaubier

Novice 750 Production
1. Deivide DaSilva
2. Fabian Fernandez
3. Steve Habura

Formula 4
1. Bradley Champion
2. Aaron Tulchinsky
3. Sam Romick
4. Jason Catching
5. Mickey Fimbres
6. Patryk Buchcik

Novice Formula 4
1. Michael Prestano
2. Elliot Shiu
3. Pawel Rutkowski

650 Twins
1. Bradley Champion
2. Martin Sullivan
3. Aaron Tulchinsky
4. Jason Catching
5. Joshua Davies
6. Mickey Fimbres

Novice 650 Twins
1. Michael Prestano

700 Production
1. Jason Catching
2. Sam Romick
3. Martin Sullivan
4. Aaron Tulchinsky
5. Joshua Davies
6. Mark Solis

Novice 700 Production
1. Michael Prestano
2. Dean Tengan

Formula 2
1. Roger Baker
2. Sergio Morales Galvan
3. Norbert Katona

Formula 3
1. Cory Ventura
2. Austin Guinn
3. Patryk Buchcik
4. Sean Corbin
5. Norbert Katona
6. Paul Johnson

Novice Formula 3
1. Trevor Daniels
2. Laura Llovet
3. Donaciano Torres

Lightweight Twins
1. Brett Voorhees
2. Sean Corbin
3. Paul Johnson
4. Patrick Aldinger
5. Patryk Buchcik
6. Cory Ventura

Novice Lightweight Twins
1. Laura Llovet
2. Ashlee Deskin
3. Laura Kelleher

250 Production
1. Steve Driscoll
2. Wesley Lakis
3. David A Seyl

Novice 250 SuperBike
1. David Tucker
2. Pao Vang
3. Troy Duncan

250 SuperBike
1. Brett Voorhees
2. Dave Moss
3. Paul Johnson
4. Cory Ventura
5. Austin Guinn
6. Patryk Buchcik

Novice 250 SuperBike
1. Troy Duncan
2. Ashlee Deskin
3. Alex Lazaris

450 SuperBike
1. Dave Moss
2. Patryk Buchcik
3. Ian Smith
4. Charles Almy
5. Valentine Welch
6. Paul Johnson

Novice 450 Superbike
1. Elliot Shiu
2. Pawel Rutkowski
3. William Thaw

450 Production
1. Dave Moss
2. Valentine Welch
3. Patryk Buchcik
4. Paul Johnson
5. Charles Almy
6. Ian Smith

Novice 450 Production
1. Elliot Shiu
2. Pawel Rutkowski
3. Ryan Saville

350 Production
1. Paul Johnson
2. Brett Voorhees
3. Patryk Buchcik
4. Austin Guinn
5. Cory Ventura
6. Gordon Pull

Novice 350 Production
1. Cliff Ramsdell
2. Troy Duncan
3. Laura Kelleher

Formula Singles
1. Greg Clouse
2. Norbert Katona
3. John Knowles
4. Yuri Barrigan

Super Dino
1. Roger Baker
2. Guy A Hyder
3. Ed Haazer
4. Alton Dunnigan

AFemme
1. Joy Higa
2. Valentine Welch
3. Jennifer Lauritzen

Novice Afemme
1. Kimberly Burton
2. Laura Llovet

Formula 40 Heavyweight
1. Cory Call
2. Jason Lauritzen
3. Eric Gulbransen
4. James King
5. Jason Butler
6. Robbes Stieglitz

Novice Formula 40 Heavyweight
1. Szymon Dziadzia

40 Middleweight
1. Tom Wilbert
2. Thomas Montano
3. Tim Chin
4. Robert Lazzarini
5. Oliver Woelfel
6. Alan Cunningham

Novice Formula 40 Middleweight
1. Myron Bergstrom
2. James Bell
3. Luis Nunes

40 Lightweight
1. Bradley Champion
2. Kevin Winter
3. Aaron Tulchinsky
4. Jason Catching
5. Dave Moss
6. Dan Sewell

Novice Formula 40 Lightweight
1. William Thaw
2. Matt Marchini
3. Max Klein

Formula 50
1. Steven Zoumaras
2. Jeff Graham
3. Tom Wilbert
4. Alan Cunningham
5. Henrik von Buttlar
6. Thomas Dorsey

Novice Formula 50
1. Ken Rose
2. Danny Roy Lott

Legacy Heavy
1. Xavier Zayat
2. Jose Flores
3. Benjamin Gover
4. Garrett Pacheco
5. Greg Sharp
6. August Weber

Novice Legacy Heavy
1. Jesse Moreno
2. Cliff Ramsdell

Legacy Middle
1. Xavier Zayat
2. Christian Diegelman
3. Tom Kuchno
4. Jose Flores
5. Alex Corstorphine
6. Oliver Woelfel

Novice Legacy Middle
1. Steve Habura
2. Sam Buckhalter
3. Salvatore Rizzo

Legacy Lightweight
1. Guy A Hyder
2. Justus Hoffman
3. Chris Reed
4. F. Patrick Carroll
5. Daniel Coats
6. Richard Mark Appel

Novice Legacy Lightweight
1. Elliot Shiu
2. Ryan Saville

Clubman Heavyweight
1. Szymon Dziadzia
2. Jesse Moreno
3. Romell Rogers

Clubman Middleweight
1. Steve Habura
2. Fabian Fernandez
3. Marcos Brito

Clubman Lightweight
1. Michael Prestano
2. Pawel Rutkowski
3. Elliot Shiu