Sometimes it's hard to find a silver lining in a dark cloud, and Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Ken Van
Buren is searching for the positives out of his weekend at the FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals in
Sonoma, Calif. Although he is a decorated sportsman racer with two championships and multiple event
wins, this weekend was just his third event in Pro Stock Motorcycle - and the New River, Ariz.
resident is finding out quickly the difference between the sportsman and Pro ranks.
"If it was easy, everyone would do it, right," Van Buren said with a laugh. "Seriously, though, it
really shows the difference between the guys who are out here week-in and week-out, and teams like
us, who hit a national event once every six weeks."
The AGP Turbo-backed team debuted in Houston in the spring, and then raced again two weeks ago in
Denver before racing in Sonoma this weekend, and, by the numbers, has seen a marginal improvement
each event. Van Buren finished 20th out of 21 here, having run their fastest mph at 177. 21 and
actually improved almost two-tenths in performance from his Denver showing.
"The track was awesome, I was just ahead of the bike all weekend. It was driver error. I was
shifting way ahead of when the light came on, which was uncharacteristic for me, especially at this
track, it really came down to the fact that we have to go get more seat time and experience before
we go to Vegas in the fall. We're just on a steep learning curve," he said.
Team owner Ben Kriegsfeld echoed his father-in-law's sentiments. "We've had better events, and
we've only had three," he said.
"We left Denver and felt really good, thinking we had what it took to make the show, and maybe even
go a round or two. Then, we got here and just careened down the confidence path. We're playing
catch-up, really, to a bunch of teams that really know what they are doing.
"I know, realistically, that we're just a fledgling team that is learning, so, I'm ok with where we
are - but, my competitive side tells me that I want to move forward quicker," Kriegsfeld said.
Kriegsfeld said the plans for the team are to spend as much time as possible testing at the local
track in Phoenix to work out any bugs in the system and the teams race-day procedures.
"We've gotten a lot of help and input from the guys at Vance & Hines, and even Eddie Krawiec came
over Saturday morning to see if he could offer any assistance. They have given us a lot to look at,
and we're going to go back, take it to heart, and then move on from there," he said.
Van Buren added, "We're going to make a ton of test laps between now and Vegas, just going rounds
and rounds and rounds until we have it down.
"We all had a good meeting today, got some new ideas and created a game plan, and now we're just
going to go for it. Ultimately, we'll be a lot better off when we go to a lot more races. And
that's the plan for 2010 - and this is really just intense testing.
"We're not giving up, we're full steam ahead. We have plenty of experience on this team with Mitch
and Ben, and we're just going to keep hitting it hard, working forward to the next race and next
season," Van Buren said.
ABOUT COMMITTED TO FREEDOM
Ken Van Buren is dedicated to bringing awareness to a plight in American life that affects millions
- physical, sexual, emotional and spiritual abuse. Abuse survivors have difficult questions, and
the damage has many layers. Committed to Freedom offers spiritual tools to help survivors of
childhood or adolescent abuse - especially sexual abuse - move beyond their abuse experiences
through various programs including retreats, seminars, self-help curriculum, support group studies,
and other sources of information and encouragement. For more information, visit their website:
www.committedtofreedom.org.
ABOUT AGP TURBO
Headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., AGP Turbo is an aftermarket performance company specializing in
niche turbocharger applications. For more information about the company, visit their website:
www.agpturbo.com.
