E X P E R I E N C E
Slicer’s Corner
Welcome to this special edition of the MotoAmerica VIP Superfan Magazine, a celebration of unforgettable moments, legendary riders, and the incredible energy you brought to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
This past weekend was one for the history books. Watching Wayne Rainey take to the track at Laguna Seca after a 34-year hiatus and aboard a specially prepared Yamaha XSR900 GP equipped with adaptive controls was profoundly moving—not just for Wayne, but for everyone fortunate enough to witness it. Joined by nine Legends and the California Highway Patrol who were the honorary Grand Marshals for the event, the spirit of camaraderie and passion for the sport was palpable as they toured the iconic circuit.
The weekend kicked off Friday with “Rainey’s Ride To The Races,” a scenic 88-mile motorcycle ride from the Baja Cantina in Carmel Valley, culminating in a lap around the legendary Laguna Seca circuit. Whether you were in the suite enjoying exclusive access, on the grid soaking in the pre-race buzz, or cheering during the podium celebrations, your presence elevated the experience for everyone.
These moments weren’t just memorable—they helped raise vital funds for the Roadracing World Action Fund. If you’d like to contribute, we’ve included a QR code in this publication for easy access.
In the VIP Superfans Suite on Saturday and Sunday, guests were treated to appearances by some of the most iconic figures in motorsports. The on-track action was electric, with fierce battles across every class. We also joined the pre-race and post-race festivities for the Mission King Of The Baggers and Superbike races—truly unforgettable highlights.
From legendary appearances to edge-of-your-seat racing, the weekend delivered nonstop thrills. Inside this issue, you’ll find Sean Bice’s post-event Duly Noted column, a feature on Mission Super Hooligan national Championship founder Roland Sands, and exclusive photos and video links capturing the thrills of Laguna Seca.
Looking ahead, we’re gearing up for the next round at VIRginia International Raceway on August 1-3, 2025. Catch all the action on MotoAmerica Live+ or now streaming on Peacock. Thank you for being part of this incredible journey. Your enthusiasm, support, and love for racing are what make this community so special. Enjoy the magazine, and feel free to share.
With gratitude,
Ron “Slicer”Heben
GUEST
LEGENDS: Wayne Rainey, Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson, Rick Johnson, Freddie Spencer, Bubba Shobert, Doug Chandler, Kenny Roberts Jr., Ben Spies, Bud Aksland, Kel Carruthers, and Erv Kanemoto.
SPEAKERS: Kenny Roberts, Kayla Yaakov, Max Toth, Roland Sands, Gard Hollinger, Cameron Petersen, Lily Ei-Masri, Gerrad Capley, and Kel Carruthers. .
PRESENTED BY
Lots of good stuff from the start of “Rainey’s Ride To The Races” at the Baja Cantina to Turn 3 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Marty Beaulieu (shown here with Rick Johnson) was the big bidder, taking home a collector’s painting of the 2025 Legends in action!
Thank you, Marty!
What a machine Yamaha Motor Europe built for Wayne Rainey. Yamaha’s Gerrad Capley showed us some of the unique aspects of the one-off XSR900 GP equipped with adaptive controls that enabled 3X World Champion Rainey to ride at Laguna Seca for the first time in 34 years.
Other notable guests in the suite were Max Toth, Kenny Roberts, Kenny Roberts Jr., a host of the California Highway Patrol’s finest, as well as Rahal Ducati Moto’s Kayla Yaakov.
Talk about exciting, the pre-race grid for Mission King Of The Baggers was all of that and more. First off, an awesome
group photo with our MotoAmerica brand ambassadors, then up close with the stars of the Baggers class!
Kyle Wyman is on a winning roll and again dominated the class. We’re not sure who was more stoked: Kyle winning or these two VIP Superfans who got to hold Kyle’s #1 trophy. Either way, congrats to Kyle and all of our VIP Superfans for being part of the special moment.
Sunday’s activities were amazing - from meeting Insta360’s founder Roland Sands; to having your photo taken with King Kenny Kyle Wyman; to getting to know world champion and legendary with his uncle Skip Aksland who was also a racer - the VIP Superfans
Lily Ei-Masri, ARCH Motorcycle Co-founder Gard Hollinger, and Super Hooligan Kenny Roberts’ authentic race-worn leathers and the Mission Foods standee of H-D’s legendary tuner Kel Carruthers, MotoAmerica COO and former racer Chuck Aksland along Superfans Suite was buzzing with excitement.
Sunday brought another big group to the Superbike pre-race grid and, just as we did in the Baggers class, our VIP Superfans
Superfans got up-close with their favorite riders to wish them luck and get a candid picture for this magazine.
Bobby Fong and his Yamaha YZF-R1 were impressive, topping both Superbike races on Sunday over phenomenal championship contenders Josh Herrin and Cameron Beaubier. That was some great racing! We celebrated the victory on the podium after Race 2.
Duly Noted
Random notes, comments, statistics, musings, and bits of trivia from the MotoAmerica Superbike Speedfest at Monterey Presented By Law Tigers
Di Mario’s Di Margins Di Victory
At MotoAmerica, we take a lot of pride in the closeness of our racing, and more times than not, the margins of victory in virtually all our race classes are measured in split seconds. Riders winning by less than a bike length is a common occurrence in our series and at every round.
So, what’s the deal with Alessandro Di Mario? He’s only 16 years old, and he has already graduated from high school, but does he have to do everything at an accelerated pace? OK, he didn’t break the Twins Cup lap record at Laguna Seca, but his margin of victory in SC-Project Twins Cup race one on Saturday was 9.164 seconds. In Sunday’s SC-Project Twins Cup race two, his margin of victory was 7.005 seconds.
And, have you seen his hair? The kid is going so fast that he’s losing all the color from it.
Several people have commented that he probably shouldn’t even be racing for a second season in Twins Cup, but again, he’s only 16 and is less than two years removed from the minimum age required to
race in any class in MotoAmerica. Plus, coming into the 2025 season, he badly wanted to race in Supersport, but a ride just never materialized for him. So, he gets to race with the number one on his Robem Engineering Aprilia RS 660, and he’s also competing in the inaugural Talent Cup Championship for Warhorse Ducati/American Racing.
Let The Records Stand…Except For One
Alessandro Di Mario wasn’t the only rider who didn’t break any lap records at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca this past weekend. In fact, no one except Kyle Wyman set a new lap record. The eldest Wyman brother actually broke the lap record in the Mission King Of The Baggers Championship at Laguna Seca twice. He did a 1:28.057 in Friday’s Qualifying 1, which eclipsed his old record of 1:28.152 that he set in KOTB Q2 last year. Then, in Saturday’s Qualifying 2, Wyman went even faster aboard his Harley-Davidson x Dynojet Factory Racing Road Glide, turning a 1:27.524, which is now the new King Of The Baggers lap record at Laguna Seca.
Surprisingly, neither Kyle Wyman nor any other Baggers competitor broke the race lap record in the class, which Wyman set last year in KOTB race two with a 1:28.207.
Greasy Kid Stuff
One of the reasons no new lap records were set in any of the race classes except Mission King Of The Baggers may have been because of something that a lot of riders commented about over the weekend: that the track was “greasy.” Now, that doesn’t
For purple mountain majesties: Mount Rainier rises above the bustling MotoAmerica paddock at Ridge Motorsports Park. . Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Di Mario Domination: are we seeing an American World Champion in the making?
Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
mean that there is actually any grease on the track or that the race surface is slippery due to a foreign substance. “Greasy” is a term that motorcycle road racers use when their tires don’t provide the level of grip that they’re accustomed to. Normally, greasy conditions occur when the air temperature is high, the sun is bright, and the track temperature is well into triple digits. But, that wasn’t the case at Laguna Seca. The track temperature was a little over 100°, but the air temperature was only in the mid-60s. No one seemed to have a clear answer as to why the track was greasy.
Rapidity At The Dry Lagoon
Ask Tytlers Cycle Racing‘s Cameron Beaubier, and he would probably tell you that his Laguna Seca weekend didn’t quite go as well as he hoped. The five-time Superbike champ did reach the podium in two of the three races with a pair of third-place finishes in Sunday’s Superbike doubleheader, and he recorded the highest overal trap speed of any rider in any class over the weekend. Beaubier got his BMW M 1000 RR Superbike up to 165.5 miles per hour on the penultimate lap of the 15 he did during Saturday’s Qualifying 2 session.
In Mission King Of The Baggers, both RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson‘s Rocco Landers and S&S/Indian Motorcycle‘s defending class champion Troy Herfoss went 152.2 miles per hour on lap two of the three-lap Challenge race, which was the highest trap speed of the weekend among the KOTB ranks.
Celtic/Economy Lube+Tire/Warhorse HSBK rider Cam Petersen had a very fast Panigale V2 under him at Laguna Seca. Not only did he notch a runner-up result in Sunday’s Motovation Supersport race two, but on lap two of the 19-lap feature, Petersen went 151.2 miles per hour, which was the fastest anyone in MotoAmerica’s middleweight class went during the weekend.
The Mission Super Hooligan National Championship Powered By Harley-Davidson saw Cody Wyman also powered by Harley-Davidson as the KWR rider achieved a highest trap speed
of 146.8 miles per hour on the second lap of Saturday’s 8-lap race one aboard his Harley-Davidson Pan America
And, finally, in SC-Project Twins Cup, Matthew Chapin maxed out his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki GSX-8R at 137.7 miles per hour on lap four of Saturday’s 13-lap race one.
Good On Ya, Kelza
It was nothing less than incredible seeing MotoAmerica president, three-time 500cc World Champion, and two-time AMA Superbike Champion Wayne Rainey rip around Laguna Seca on a specially prepared Yamaha XSR 900 GP resplendent in Marlboro Team Roberts-inspired livery. But how about 87-year-old Kel Carruthers? The 1969 250cc World Champion donned his Yamaha Heritage Team leathers, was helped into his helmet by his son and our Communications Manager Paul Carruthers, climbed aboard a Yamaha MT-07, and joined Rainey and other eight Legends on a brisk jaunt around the circuit as raucous cheers rang out from the adoring crowd.
What a bonzer weekend it was.
Kyle Wyman just keeps on setting new track records as he goes. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Cam Petersen had a fast Warhorse, and it helped him gallop to a runner-up result in Motovation Supersport race two. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Crikey, it’s the Carruthers boys: Paul congratulates his father Kel after the Legends ride on Saturday. Photo by Brian J. Nelson
Sands Of Time: The 411 On RSD
When I first met quintessential Californian Roland Sands, he was competing in AMA 250 Grand Prix, an eclectic race class that I still consider to be my all-time favorite, even more than two decades after it ceased existence following the 2003 season.
There was just something about those bikes and riders. Both were persnickety, temperamental, and thoroughly captivating. Rich Oliver won five AMA National Road Racing Championships and 71 races aboard the two-stroke machines that were fawned over with near-constant attention to barometric pressure, humidity, and stoichiometric ratios, along with glorious plug-chop procedures after every track session, followed by carburetor jetting changes and needle-height adjustments.
It was after one particular plug chop at New Hampshire International Speedway (Loudon) when I met Roland Sands. As he rolled his blue number-10 Yamaha TZ250 through the infield gate adjacent to Loudon’s Turn 1-1A-2 combination, I instinctively, put my hand on his bike’s aerodynamic tail section and
helped him and his crew push the silent machine back to the paddock so they could check the color of the two spark plugs in the V-twin’s cylinders and make sure, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, that the porridge, I mean, the air-fuel mixture was not too rich and not too lean. “Just right” works for two-stroke production GP road racing as well as it does for fairy tales.
It didn’t take me long to realize that Roland Sands was different. All the 250GP riders were different, but Sands was especially different. He thanked me for helping get his bike back to his paddock spot, but he also asked me about me: where was I from, what bikes did I ride, and questions of that nature. Soon, he realized my penchant for two strokes and, eventually, my professional life as an advertising creative director.
Roland Sands and I have that in common: creative services.
Working with his dad Perry at Performance Machine in California from the age of 14 not only provided him with the ways and means to race in, and win, an AMA National Championship in 1998, but it also provided him with an outlet—a motorcycle-centric palette—on which to express his creativity.
From 1994 through the 2002 season, Sands and his familiar blue-liveried, Performance Machine-sponsored TZ250s were a fixture in the AMA paddock as he competed against the likes of the aforementioned Oliver, Chuck Sorenson, Jimmy Filice, and other notables.
As he transitioned from road racing to “the full-time working world,” his life was focused on art, design, engineering, fabrication, and turning his dreams into reality.
Sands in 1999 aboard his blue-liveried, Performance Machine-sponsored Yamaha TZ250 as he defended his AMA 250GP Championship. Photo by Henny Ray Abrams
Roland Sands Design, which he founded in 2005, quickly became so ubiquitous in custom motorcycle culture that, soon, the three letters “RSD” were enough to stir the senses and conjure up visions of bespoke café racers, customized production bikes, tribute bikes to road racing legends, and even nimble road racing machines powered by four-stroke, single-cylinder 450cc motocross engines.
It’s difficult to know just how many different motorcycles, motorcycle components, and custom parts Roland Sands has created and produced. Most started out on a sketchpad and have ended up winning top prizes in bike-building contests and been sold at auctions for hefty sums of money.
The man has vision. He sees things differently than most other people.
RSD also carries all sorts of other motorcycle paraphernalia, from hats and helmets, to jackets and boots, to parts and accessories for a wide range of motorcycles.
And then, there is the MSHNCPBHD, an acronym not quite as compact and recognizable as the quintessential “RSD,” but the Mission Super Hooligan National Championship Powered By Harley-Davidson has gained quite a fan following, and that includes me.
“Super Hooligan,” if you’re into the whole brevity thing, started out on the beach in Southern California with streetbikes converted into racing machines and kicking up sand on makeshift ovals merely footsteps from the Pacific Ocean.
In 2021, the Super Hooligan National Championship became an exhibition class in MotoAmerica, owned by Roland Sands and operated by MotoAmerica. In a short time, the SHNC gained a title sponsor and was officially recognized by the American Motorcyclist Association as a road racing-only championship for which the AMA awards a number-one plate each year to the season champion
I coined the phrase “high-handlebar heroes” for this class because one of the hard and fast rules is that the bikes must
be equipped with handlebars that rise ever-so-slightly above the triple clamps. No clip-ons below the triple clamps means the riders have to be “in the wind” to be in the winning. They’re naked, streetfighter-style motorcycles with little to no aerodynamic bodywork, and the class has attracted more than 10 different OEM brands of motorcycles, from Harley-Davidson, to Ducati, to Yamaha, to KTM, to Indian, and the past two years even saw a couple of EV on the grid, with Energica and Zero Motorcycles also joining the fray.
And, what a fray it is. At the rounds where Super Hooligan competes, the class always attracts the most rider entries and is, without question, one of the fan favorites during our race weekends.
But, enough about the bikes and the race class, how about that eclectic two-stroke road racer Roland Sands? He grew up to become one of the world’s best-known and foremost custom motorcycle creators, and he has now become one of the world’s best-known and foremost creators of a highly successful motorcycle road racing class.
The man has vision. He sees things differently than most other people. And he’s created a livelihood and a lifestyle by allowing his creativity and free thinking to flourish.
He also clearly knows how to give the people what they want. What they want right now are high-handlebar heroes.
Enjoy the racing.
- Editorial By Sean Bice -
The RSD “450 Super Single” road racer was a pet project for Sands, and it tied together his love of small-displacement road racers and high-tech design and engineering. Photo courtesy of Roland Sands Design.
“Super Hooligan” has become synonymous with the name “Roland Sands,” and the streetfighter race class continues to grow in popularity. Photo courtesy of Roland Sands Design.
The ever-prolific Sands has already accomplished so much in his lifetime, and he is still just 50 years old. Who knows what he will come up with next? Photo courtesy of Roland Sands Design.
These two pages are dedicated to those who ride for camaraderie, live for racing, protect others, and support “Rainey’s Ride To The Races” and the Roadracing World Action Fund in advancing rider safety. Motorcyclists are good people. Thank you!
With heartfelt gratitude, we honor the legends who make Rainey’s Ride to the Races possible. Your unwavering support enriches the sport and uplifts its community.
Doug Chandler Three-Time AMA Superbike Champion and AMA Grand Slam Winner
Kel Carruthers 1969 World Champion and Legendary Tuner
Rick Johnson Seven-time Supercross and Motocross National Champion
Eddie Lawson Two-Time AMA Superbike Champion, Two-Time AMA 250GP Champion, and Four-Time World Champion
Wayne Rainey Two-Time AMA Superbike Champion and Three-Time World Champion
Kenny Roberts Two-Time AMA Grand National Champion, AMA Grand Slam Winner, and Three-Time World Champion
Kenny Roberts Jr. 2000 World Champion
Bubba Shobert 1988 AMA Superbike Champion, Three-Time AMA Grand National Champion, and AMA Grand Slam Winner
Freddie Spencer Three-Time World Champion
Ben Spies Three-Time AMA Superbike Champion and 2009 World Superbike Champion
Bud Aksland Legendary Tuner
Erv Kanemoto Legendary Tuner
Thank you for your contributions to making our race tracks safer for every rider. If
Photos courtesy of Brian J. Nelson Photography and Scott Odell
Here’s a look back at our Other VIP Superfan Weekends. Click the covers.