Team S-Works AMA Road America Update

June 17, 2008

AMA Road America June 7-8 2008

Road America is definitely a unique race track with it’s long straights and high speed corners and 4 mile layout. It was good for Shane to finally be back at a track where he has some reference to use from past races there. I drove the rig from Utah to Wisconsin and we were back in action on Wednesday with set up, and right into the promoter practice on Thursday. Luckily, we left Miller with everything running well, and didn’t have to deal with anything in between. To sum up the Road America weather throughout the weekend, it was not great with rain coming and going often. When it was dry, many times on the track it was on the brink of a downpour, or would sprinkle enough to hamper a rider’s confidence to run hard laps. Anyway, we did get some good practice sessions in for both wet and dry conditions, which according to the local forecast was likely to be a good chance of at least one race in the rain. Road America is a track that demands horsepower, and we knew coming in we were down from where we would like to be, but had to deal with it the best we could. Shane did a very respectable job of riding the Triumph well by keeping his corner speed up and getting into lap times that pretty much matched his previous times at the track. He was only four seconds slower than on the Suzuki 1000, which at this track was a pretty small margin all things considered. We did a lot of guessing on tire choice throughout practice and qualifying, mostly choosing incorrectly by the time the bikes got on course and the weather changing. We changed on the pit lane many times, and our quick change hardware  designed for the Daytona 200 were a big help to allow quick, last minute decisions. As many know, rain tires are useless unless there is standing water. You will burn them up in a lap, especially at a high speed track. They rely on a sharp edge to the cleats to create grip, and once those are gone, that is pretty much it. They will make a bike drift like it was on marbles on a dry track. You always just wish it would pour, and make it bad for everyone. Shane has a good feel for rain riding and it probably comes from his Dirt Track background. Being down on power, we knew his best chance for a top ten finish there would be in the rain. On Friday morning’s FX practice we were twelfth fastest in the wet at a 2:36.948 which put us in the A group for qualifying. The practice session went well and confidence was high. We also did well on the 1000 in a drier condition at seventeenth fastest at 2:26.732.  FX Qualifying was in a dry condition, and we did very well ending up fourteenth out of 42 at a 2:26.361. Race day brought more unpredictable conditions with every form of weather. Our warm up session for FX was in dry conditions with a best time of 2:26.193, and we were assuming we would have a dry race by the looks of the weather. The Superbike race got underway and was finished in dry conditions. The schedule accounts for a break before the FX race to allow the Podium celebration for the Superbike race, so as we sat on the pit lane and then the grid, we sadly watched our window of opportunity shrink to nothing as the weather again took over. Everyone nervously made dry tire choices knowing it could change in a heartbeat, and as it turned out, the rain held off long enough to get the race underway with the likelihood of finishing in the dry.  Then the start. Great action off the line, things settling out. Then going into turn one I believe on the first complete lap, trouble came. Nicky Moore tried to make a pass on Eric Wood and Jason Farrell going into turn one and collected both of them at full tilt going in and piled them all up in the gravel trap. The race was red flagged, and Eric Wood sustained a pretty bad concussion, and literally destroyed his beautiful NCR prepped Ducati 848 that he had worked like mad to get an engine changed before the race. The other guys were OK from what I was told. Eric is a fellow Loudon guy, so looking out for each other at any track is standard. He was beat up and sore, and I got him to Milwaukee that night, and took him to the airport Sunday AM. Anyway back to the race.  It was painful sitting on the grid that whole time watching the conditions deteriorate by the minute, knowing the race could have been complete. The restart went off OK, and all this time, the sky was getting pretty angry with dark clouds and now huge lightning bolts were starting to emerge. Red flag again, this time due to lightning. Understandably, the corner workers are not too keen on standing out there waiting to be BBQ’d, so it was decided to wait until the lightning subsided to again restart the race with 8 laps to go. It did get even worse and then subsided some. Close to an hour went by, and there was another problem. Due to the condensed schedule from combining Moto ST with the AMA event, the start of the three hour Moto ST race was being delayed as well, and it probably added to the already hectic plan. Then, they announced the start time at which time it started to rain and there was still some lightning, but not enough rain to wet the track to suit full rain tires. From all indications, it was going to worsen and start pouring at any time, so like most of the field, we chose to ride on full rains. Again, it turned out to be the wrong choice, but the safer one considering the consequences if it did pour. An intermediate rear and a rain front would have been the crystal ball’s choice. The track stayed damp throughout the race, and we came home 21^st. It was a disappointing day after all the drama and weather. We felt lucky to get through the FX race in one piece, and as many riders get, Shane was completely frustrated and probably lost his edge during the down time on top of the fact that the weather was so undecided.  Sunday was more of the same stuff for the Superstock practice. Fully wet for the warm up session which we ran at a best time of 2:50.400. We qualifed 14^th at a 2:21.292 in the dry on Saturday in a combined and shortened session due to the Moto ST and Red Bull Rookies Cup being added to the schedule. We did start the race, but ended up smoking the clutch on the start and pulling in on the first lap. It was definitely overdue for a change, and was unfortunate since Shane would have finally had a wet race on full rains. Again, in general considering how many bikes came back in the crash truck, we were fortunate to leave with everything still in good shape. The fan turnout was less than great, due to the weather, but we did meet many people despite it, and appreciate the support from the Triumph people. Our equipment will be home for the first time since before Barber, and we will be working to get everything back in tip top shape for Mid-Ohio. We will be running AHRMA the weekend before the AMA race. Triumph is the featured Marque for the Vintage Days and we are doing what we can to promote the brand and hope to give them a couple of wins. I am negotiating for Shane to ride a pretty special Triumph Seeley Triple in one or more of the vintage classes as well. We hope to see a big showing of Triumph people there, and encourage you to stop by to see us throughout the two weekends. We plan to have Gene Romero, the Grand Marshal, and Mark Kennedy, CEO and former racing champion ride our 675’s on some laps of honor for the brand as well.  As always, we would like to thank our sponsors who help to make our program possible.

Triumph Motorcycles America, Commonwealth Motorcycles, Meyers Performance, Regina Chain, T-Man Suspensions, Chickenhawk Tire Warmers, Dunlop, Pit Bull, Vanson, Pipercross, Helmet House TCX Boots, Yoyodyne, VP Fuel, Held, Arai, Woodcraft