I have been told in the past that I am crazy for giving away my race data. I wish that I had access to data from other riders when I was younger. It would have helped me understand more about the technical side of the sport and develop faster as a racer. If I can be that person for others, then I think that is incredibly special. I look at this series of articles that I have written during the past three years as helping a younger version of myself.

In 2023, I raced two MotoAmerica classes, Superbike Cup and Stock 1000, on a Tom Wood Powersports BMW S 1000 RR. Our privately supported team—my crew chief is Dustin Meador, my mechanic is Dustin’s dad, Donny, and my own dad, Bill—won the Superbike Cup championship and in Stock 1000, we finished the season fifth out of sixty-four riders.

I have shared my data before, first in 2020 and again in 2021. In both of those years, I was riding a Yamaha YZF-R6. Link Here This season, I worked with BMW race support engineer Steve Weir, who also built my electronics maps. Steve worked with several other riders during the MotoAmerica race weekends, including Corey Alexander in Superbike and Travis Wyman in Stock 1000. 

2023 was the first time in my career that I saw my data (and what I am doing on the bike) compared to that of other riders. In this article, I am sharing my data collected at Brainerd International Raceway, Pittsburgh International Race Complex, and New Jersey Motorsports Park. On average at all of the tracks we went back to in 2023, we went around 2 seconds faster per lap compared to 2022. 

Link to my 2023 data

Brainerd International Raceway

This data is from Stock 1000 Race 2. I finished fourth in the race and set the second-fastest first sector and the fastest overall second sector. My highlights from the TV broadcast of this race are here. Pause the recording at any point and look at my data generated at that exact moment.

New Jersey Motorsports Park

This data is from the first Superbike Cup qualifying session. At NJMP, it rained on both Saturday and Sunday, so I wanted to include the best dry session I had, which was Q1. In this session, I qualified first out of the Superbike Cup competitors.

Pittsburgh International Race Complex

This data is from Qualifying 2, the final qualifying session of the weekend. In 2023, the chicane on the back straightaway changed and made that turn, and therefore the whole sector, around one and a half seconds slower overall. Despite that, we still went one second quicker in our overall lap time from 2023 compared to 2022.

BMW Electronics / Data Screens

The BMW “kit” electronics homologated for the MotoAmerica Stock 1000 class use a sophisticated MoTeC i2 software to “see” the data. You can set your computer screen to look exactly how you want it. In previous years, I used AiM’s Race Studio 2, so I knew how to use that software but the MoTeC software was totally different and I felt that I had to learn things all over again. MoTeC calls your screen set up, your “workspace.”

I didn’t know where to start when laying out my screens. If you have the BMW M-RCK software, you can go to the “Help” tab at the top and it will show you examples of the different channels and how they can be laid out. That is exactly what I did, with minor tweaks. I want to make this information as easy as possible, so I have my workspace in the link with my data for you to download. That way, you don’t have to sort through all the options. If I am looking at my data quickly, this is what I use. 

Working with Steve Weir was fantastic. Because he was very busy, I gave him my data after each session and then would look at it myself to see if anything stuck out. That way, I could pass along the information to Steve (with him sorting through multiple different rider’s data besides myself) and my crew chief Dustin Meador. When I am looking at data, I generally look at the fork and shock data first to make sure we are in the ballpark with the spring rates, especially the shock.

I hope this article helps other young racers. I am thankful for everything I have been able to do with my program and the progress we made this season. In the folder linked above, it has all of the individual data files, plus I included images of the data traces to make it easy. I am looking forward to announcing my plans for 2024.

Thank you to my partners this year:

Tom Wood Powersports and the Indiana Destination Development Corp. (Visit Indiana). Plus, R&G Crash Protection, Westby Racing, EBC Brakes, Evol Technology, Superbike Unlimited, REV’IT Sport USA, HJC Helmets, and PopShadow Decals

About Visit Indiana: “Planning a trip? Then you should come to the home of Hoosier Hospitality. While Indiana is famous for Basketball and Motor Sports, there is so much more to discover than you ever could have imagined. From the deep caves in Southern Indiana to the rolling Indiana Dunes in Northern Indiana, Indiana is a diverse state full of natural and man-made marvels. Whether you love the outdoors, the arts, food, drinks, or history, Indiana has something for you.”

About Tom Wood Powersports: “Tom Wood Powersports (part of the Tom Wood Auto Group) is a family of dealerships in Indiana, Kentucky, and Minnesota, offering the best in new, pre-owned motorcycles and other Powersports vehicles. Complete with a staff of friendly enthusiasts who are knowledgeable sales, finance, service, parts, and customization experts. Our motorcycle dealerships carry a variety of brands including BMW motorcycles, Honda, Kawasaki, Indian, Ducati, ZERO, MV Agusuta, and more.”