Alex 'The Claw' Ricci

AFM Racing Round 3 recap!

I got my first lunchtime podium in 7 year. About time Mickey Fimbres!
I was so close to a clean sweep in the middleweight classes sponsored by Christian Cepeda and Ryder Gear. The conditions were not ideal for fast times, but managed some fast lap times for the weekend. Every single one of my starts were absolutely terrible and the Formula Pacific main race..... Worst start I've ever gotten. The BMW launch control is so finicky, I didn't trust it after the multiple wheelies off the start on Saturday.

Sunday races: Middleweight Superbike. Slotted into 4th going into Turn 1 off the start. Made a quick move into turn 2 to get in behind Tom. Followed Tom and Greg for the first lap. Mave an outside pass on Tom into turn 2 on the next lap and slotted in behind Greg. Then set up a move on him into turn 5, just like Saturday lol. Got a gap and managed to the end. P1🥇

FP Main: went into turn 1 D.F.L..... made two passes on the first lap to get up into P4. Halfway thru I caught up to ryan shu and made a pass into turn 9 for P3. I tried to check out and build a gap, but the tires started to slide in the last 5 laps. We had a good battle on the last lap, but he got the better of me. Finished just off the box in P4.... I was mad, especially after how Saturday's sprint ended.

Middleweight Supersport: Annie told me to slow down again, so I did, for 1 lap 🤣 used some back markers as some blockers and maintained just enough of a lead to take home the win!

I want to thank every single one of my sponsors and everyone that has helped so far!
TEK Moto Performance
Turn 3 Racing
Gregg Lyons
August Weber Fun Track Dayz
Woodcraft Technologies Inc.
Hindle Exhaust Systems
Ryder Gear
Mike Canfield
Motul USA
Vortex-EK
Arai Helmet Americas
ASV Inventions, Inc.
Dale Kieffer
Antigravity Batteries
Motion Pro Inc.
Ryno Power Inc.

AFM Racing Round 3 Saturday shenanigans:

Felt terrible in qualifying on both bikes, but put down fast times.
Race 1, Middleweight Superbike sponsored by Christian Cepeda. got a terrible start with a false neutral and had to make time back up. Passed 5 people in T1 and T2 to slot into 4th. Made some passes, pi**ed Greg Olson off with a back marker lol. Finished P2 🥈

Race 2, Formula Pacific sprint. The launch control on the Beamer was terrible and I looked like I was on a Pogo stick. Went into T1 dead last and had to play catch-up... Made some moves, moving my way up back to P3. Set the fastest lap of the race on lap 3 while making a sweet move on Rue into T9. Last lap I made a couple moves on Jason and was leading coming onto the front straight. Didn't get a good drive, and he blitzed by me. Finished P2 🥈

Race 3, Middleweight Supersport sponsored by Ryder Gear. Got a better start and slotted in behind Montano and made a move on him into T10. Sat behind Annie Cbr for a couple laps before back markers started to play in. Finished P1.

Lets see what tomorrow brings and try and win FP!

TEK Moto Performance
Turn 3 Racing
Gregg Lyons
August Weber Fun Track Dayz
Woodcraft Technologies Inc.
Hindle Exhaust Systems
Ryder Gear
Mike Canfield
Motul USA
Vortex-EK
Arai Helmet Americas
ASV Inventions, Inc.
Dale Kieffer
Antigravity Batteries
Motion Pro Inc.
Ryno Power Inc.

Round 1 at on the ZX-6R and the S1000RR.

6 races..... 4 races with no gap..... I'm not doing that again. My body hurts. IDK how I managed to keep pace at the end of the day.

I'm going to shift my focus to middleweight and Formula Pacific and leave the 700 classes in the past. Time to go after the #1 plate.

Well the season is over and what a heel of a year it was!

Round 5, The Circuit!

A few of us boyz decided to do Friday practice to get better acquainted with the new track. We all got up to speed very quickly and ready to take on the weekend!

Saturday, Formula Pacific Sprint. I needed to finish at least 5th to secure a top 5 plate for next year, either 4 or 5. I pushed as best I could but managed to finish in 6th place, but since one of the riders ahead was reciprocity, I still got 5th place points!

Instructor cup! This was a for fun race. I went out to push the first couple laps to see if I could beat Scott on that damn BMW of his, but that bike has too much straight line speed. So I towed around the whole race 😉

Championship Sunday!

Formula 3, I didn't race it because I had the championship locked up already. FORMULA 3 CHAMPION 🏆

Formula Pacific, my plan was to just beat and I had the 4 plate again. But I just didn't have the pace to stick with him, so all I needed to do was finish the race, and I have the 5 plate for next year! Your 2026 AFM #5 Plate!!!

Middleweight Superbike, all I needed to do was finish and I secure 3rd in this championship. This was one hell of a race between me, , and . I followed them for 3 laps before I made my move on them into turn 1 and turn 2. The last lap I almost lost it going through turn 4, chattering and sliding the front, and then swapping positions with Rue going into turn 8, and then swapping back before the last apex. It was a drag race out of the corner for 2nd place. Finished 2nd and secured 3rd in the championship! 🥉

I definitely could not have done as well this season if it weren't for everyone that helped me this year!

Round 5 was a success! The team wrapped up the championships we needed to finish strong in! The Circuit at was a great track to finish the season on! It's going to be one of the most competitive tracks in the next years to come! Full rave report to come in the next few days!

Thanks to everyone that helped out this year!

































Oxymoron Photography 📸

If you want to watch some great racing this weekend. Oxymoron Photography is live streaming our races! Go give the stream a like and watch us turn some fast laps!

AFM Round 5 LIVE! The final round of the 2025 AFM season brings us to Buttonwillow's "The Circuit" for two days of racing action!

Round 4 recap! I know it's a little late 🤷

It was another race round with the ZX-6R on the dyno again Friday afternoon. Is it really a race weekend if it's not last minute tuning on the bike? Lol

Saturday Qualifying, with a refreshed motor after the troubles at Laguna, the bike felt back to where it should be power wise! Qualified 6th for FP, and on pole for Formula 3.

Formula 3 sprint was pretty uneventful after the red flag restart. Walked away with 🥇
Formula Pacific sprint was a fight to get secure 5th.

And then, the 400ish GP! Everyone talked me into riding old glory again, even tho it's nowhere near what my bike used to be. But gave me a decent bike to be able to ride to the end of the race and finish second on a bike in a class I haven't raced in 3 years. 🥈

Sunday,
Formula 3... I went out on track to make a statement. Lap as many people as I can, and finish with the biggest gap to 2nd place that I can. Most of the race I was living in the 1:58s even getting around lap traffic. Finished 🥇 with a 36 second gap and 15 people lapped 😬

Formula Pacific.
I had a terrible start with a massive wheelie that set me back a little. Had to fight to get back up with and . After that it was on. Managed to make a gap halfway through the race, but lost all grip towards the end of the race and couldn't fight off Grant. Finished 5th

Middleweight Superbike I didn't get the best start again. Had to battle my way through the pack. Made a strong move on Tom Montano into turn 9 on the brakes, then I made a crazy move on Greg and Grant into turn 3 that had and going crazy. Managed to finish 🥉

Huge thanks to the crew coming out and wrenching all weekend so the bike was in tip top shape!

Today we remember... #911

This was such a special day of the 2021 season! Being able to honor the lives lost on that tragic day with everyone while at New Jersey. I was honored to be a part of it!

Well, this weekend hasn't gone to plan at all unfortunately. But we are fighting through it!

Huge thanks to AND for lending me his bike to do a motor swap on mine Friday night. A small crash during race one ended my day on lap one, but we are ready to go and fight during race 2 today! Big thanks to the team for getting me back and ready to go!

Day 1 here at Laguna Seca with the team! Sporting the new Corsair-X with the amazing paint jobs from ! Gregg absolutely killed it with this design!

About to go out for FP1! Stay tuned for updates throughout the weekend!