Chris Hesse, drummer for the Gold and Platinum CD-charting band Hoobastank, has shown he takes his motorcycle road racing seriously when he wrapped his nervous fingers around the throttle of his Yamaha YZF-R6, shod with a set of sticky Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa DOT race tires, for his third racing event; this one at the Buttonwillow Raceway Park outside Buttonwillow, California.

Prior to his races at Button Willow, Hesse competed in the WERA West round at California Speedway in Fontana, California, finishing 1515th in B Superstock and 17th in C Superstock. Hesse said after the event, “My first race was best. There were accidents in every race and nearly all in turn one. So it was a bit of having to run everybody down in each race.”

At Buttonwillow Hesse turned up the volume and in the WERA novice classes finished 7th in B Superstock, and 8th in C Superstock, C Superbike and Saturday’s Medium Weight Solo 20. Hesse said, like a true racer, “I had a great weekend. Buttonwillow seems to suit my riding style much better. My favorite race was the 20 lapper because even though I was wasted by the end, I still put in my best lap time on the last lap and I had time to catch ALMOST everyone I was faster than. If I hadn't run off the track at one point I think would have caught them all. I tried the soft compound Supercorsas on Sunday. They held up really well on that track even though I was still super beat from the previous day and couldn't get my times up to par. Now that I think about it, that last lap of the solo 20 was my best time of the entire weekend.”

Hesse attended his first riding school August 27-28, taking part in Jason Pridmore’s Star School at the Jennings GP track in Jennings, Florida. Hesse said, “I've gotten this far without even really asking someone a question about riding so I figured it’s time. I learned so much at Jason’s school that I had to limit myself to just three things to work on for the course: body position, picking the bike up quicker and RELAX!!!

“Breathing is a basic human instinct that somehow goes right out the window when I'm really going for it. I literally stop breathing so much so that I start getting dizzy after a few hard laps. In order to get that oxygen I cut my speed and concentrate on relaxing every part of my body. I find then that somehow my speed increases without effort.”

from Peter Jones/Pirelli Press