Recently Doffo Winery and Moto Doffo hosted it’s first Supermoto and Strider Event. The event took place during the The WAR Supermoto series, which is Southern California’s premier Supermoto race series. For those who aren’t familiar with what Strider Bikes are, they are lightweight all-terrain bikes that build two-wheeled balance, coordination, and confidence in children! On February 12th, parents and their tiny racer’s arrived at Adam’s Motorsports Park in Riverside to kick off the first event, and it just so happens that Damian Doffo was able to participate in a Supermoto race that same day as well! Damian shares with us how he came up with idea to start the races and how the first event went down!
“When my three year old son Lucca started showing interest motorcycles, my father and I could not have been more excited. Grandpa Marcelo lights up when he see’s Lucca playing or riding anything that resembles a motorcycle. As Lucca’s interest and ability developed on his Strider balance bike, it inspired me to embark on our latest adventure: starting a Strider Racing series in the Inland Empire. We began to research the subject and found that the nearest sanctioned racing facility was in Whittier, CA, which is over an hour drive away. Luckily we know a few people in the racing community that helped us put together the Strider race during a Supermoto event at our local go-kart race track.”
“Our first event was held on February 12th during the WAR Supermoto event and the attendance was much more than we anticipated with 14 kids making it out to the races. There were two age brackets- the 2-3 year olds and the 4-5 year olds.”
“For the first race we decided to do an all asphalt course, as I was a little hesitant to use part of the Supermoto course without knowing the skill level of the participants. However, as soon as the racing was over all the kids headed right over to the dirt section and enjoyed the hills and turns. At that moment, I knew that our next event would definitely have a dirt component to it!”
“Next it was my turn to race! As an amateur racer I had to take advantage of being at the Supermoto races that day and I was fortunate enough to be lent a bike to ride. I geared up and gave it a go! The first practice lap was a learning curve as I had to get acclimated with the CRF450. I had few of those “oh #$%” moments, but managed to keep myself in one piece for the racing action. In the first heat I got a decent start and made my way up to 3rd. I was running a comfortable 3rd place and on the white flag lap decided that if the 2nd place guy made a mistake, I had to capitalize on it and make a move! He made the mistake I was waiting for and I was able to grab 2nd!
“The main race of the night started much like the heat race. I got off to a great start, made a pass to get into 2nd and I challenged the leader for the distance of the race. I never had a clear chance for a safe pass and had to settle for 2nd place. For those of you unfamiliar with Supermoto, it’s essentially a motocross bike with street racing tires on a small asphalt and dirt track. If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend you do! For the Motocrosser’s who want to try Supermoto, it takes an entirely new set of skills to learn, from using the front brakes and to new road racing techniques. As for the road-racing itself, it’s a whole new world! Imagine getting into the dirt section and trying to conquer jumps and turns with slick racing tires that provide virtually ZERO grip. All in all, Supermoto is one hell of a ride!”
“It was a great day for our family, not only was it the first father-son racing experience for Lucca and I, my own father got to be a part of it. What really made the day even more special for me, was that it happened to be at the same track that I grew up racing karts with my Dad. Overall, I am very happy with the outcome of our first event and look forward to organizing a few more races. All of them leading up to our grand finale race at our annual Kurt Caselli Foundation Fundraiser on June 17th, 2017. Until then, stay tuned!”