Roadrace Director

My first experience with AHRMA Roadracing was at the 2021 season opener at Roebling Road Raceway and was exactly what I was hoping for—a tight community that supports each other and their sponsors. RRR had a huge turnout of riders even though many couldn’t escape the winter storm that crippled portions of our nation.

Not only do I have huge shoes to fill, but times two, as the new roadrace director coming in for Tony & Faynisha Pentecost. Thankfully, the Board decided it would be a good idea to give me a two-round learning curve grace period. The idea was to shadow the Pentecosts and the crew, learn as much of the AHRMA roadrace operations as I could and all the moving parts that come along with a successful national race series.

As I introduced myself to registration, tech inspection, start, pit in and pit out, timing and scoring, race control, flaggers, medics, track management, and the list goes on of all the back end moving parts it takes to put on a safe and fun race for all of our members. I quickly saw that the AHRMA roadrace crew take pride in the positions they are in and they do it very well! With a solid crew in place, that allowed me to go through the pits here and there to shake hands and chit chat a little with our members and sponsors.

The weekend in Roebling went well and I now knew I only had one more grace period round where I can shadow and learn from the Pentecosts. They put together a solid program and I need to keep it going and only improve on making our members’ racing experience the best they ever had.

Fast forward a month, and we are now at round two of the Bridgestone Tires AHRMA National Historic Roadrace Series, Carolina Motorsports Park. Driving from Southern California I experienced weather the entire time and finally made it to South Carolina which was much colder than the 70-degree weather I am used to.

As I rolled into CMP Thursday afternoon, I saw Tony, but not Faynisha, and soon after that we were told that Faynisha would not be able to make it. She texted, “I am so disappointed that I couldn't be there. In 30 years, I have never had to miss an event because I was sick.” Let’s all keep her in our thoughts and prayers!

With Faynisha out and Tony not able to concentrate, AHRMA made a quick decision to send Tony home to be with family and take care of what’s needed. Now, ALL EYES ON ME, jumping into the deep end with no floaties, no problem; we got this team! What I was hoping for was to have Tony look over my shoulder while I created race grids, race orders and to shadow Faynisha one more time because she is definitely a pro in the tower. The Pentecosts’ dedication put forward to make the programs possible for all of us to enjoy is what we all experienced this past weekend.

AHRMA rider count was the best CMP management has seen compared to the other roadrace series. Hundreds of racers filled the paddock, class entries were through the roof with riders adding additional classes as they got off track because they were having so much fun. With so many entries, we added two races, more than our normal 12, to ensure there weren’t too many bikes on track at any given time for safety reasons. The sidecar class is not the sideshow anymore; they rallied the teams and came out by the dozens. Props for setting a goal and crushing it. The Thruxton Cup Challenge also saw full grids with all the riders showing up to put on a show, and let me tell you, a show it was!

Cold track conditions with some moisture at times caused many red flags and luckily, we made it through the weekend without any major incidents to report. When the helmets went on, racing was intense and competitive throughout the day, but everyone enjoyed each other’s company in the pits after the races. I couldn’t even tell you how many times I heard other riders tell complete strangers to come join them in their pits for food and drinks later. This is the community I want to be a part of. See you all at the races!

– Alex Mock Road Race Director, AHRMA alex.mock@ahrma.org 949.351.3112 mobile IG: @ahrma.official IG: @alexmock25