RPS sponsored racers and customers dominate at Motorsport Ranch!!!
RPS racers flat out dominated at Motorsport Ranch and look to have solidified their championship chases.
Saturday's CMRA endurance race was just a prelude to the success that RPS riders would Enjoy through the weekend. Leading this Event was Overall winners and RPS customers Northwest Honda. NW Honda won both the UGP class as well as the Overall event on RPS prepared Ohlins forks and a Penske shock. RPS sponsored Lone Star Track Days also carried the RPS win banner with a huge class win and 7th overall finishing position. NW Honda, 2Wheelz.com, Team O'Donnell, Team Penetration, and Lone Gunmen lead the domination of RPS customers and sponsored teams. All told, RPS sponsored riders and teams took 5 of the top 10 finishing position in the race. Great Job.
Leading the RPS party wagon for wins was Sponsored rider Ty Howard. Ty won 3 races and took home $5850.00 while battling the visiting Robert Jensen. With Jensen visiting MSR for the very first time, All money was on Howard to beat Jenson and take home a new track record. Things changed however as Michelin asked sponsored Jensen and Howard to test tires. With this extra practice, most of the "hometrack" advantage was nullified. The first race of the day for Ty was the B Superstock race. It was expected that this race would be a good barometer for things to come. Although Jensen's GSXR-750 made more HP (As measured during the GSXR-750 World Cup dyno @ Mid-Ohio), Howard felt he could meet the challenge. In the end, no challenge ever came from Jensen as he was not able to pass any of the usual podium finishers despite several laps to do so and Ty won the race while running almost 2 seconds faster than the previous track record. After the race, RPS owner Marcus McBain, Steve Upchurch, and Howard talked and felt that the shock was not working properly. McBain quickly serviced the shock and found that the shims were fatigued. It was expected that the service would be worth a second a lap for Howard. Next up was the C Superstock race. Howard put Jensen in check and took the $2,000.00 contingency check home offered by Yamaha. Next race up was Formula One for Ty and without Jensen in the race, it was an uncontested win. The A Superstock race would be the last race that Howard and Jensen would race on different machines. With Jensen's R-1 having a 30-40bhp advantage, the outcome of the race was predictable with Jensen taking a 5 second win over Howard. The last race of the day for Ty was the last opportunity for Jensen to best Howard on equal machinery. With the first two races between the two going in Howard's favor, Jensen wanted to prove he could beat Howard on similar equipment. Jensen showed his determination by taking the lead on lap 2. Howard would not be bested and moved back to the point right after mid-race. One lap from the end, Jensen showed why you have to respect him no matter what the circumstance are by passing Howard. On the last lap, it was a win it or bin it situation for both the Yamaha riders as Yamaha does not pay for 2nd place!!! With less than .3 seconds covering the riders, Howard grabbed a little too much throttle and the Yamaha R-6 he rode didn't like it. Jensen took his first win on equal equipment against Ty and Howard walked away with some bruises and a second hand looking motorcycle. Despite the late in the day issue, Howard took home the lion's share of the money.
Cory Burleson was our second highlighted rider of the weekend. First year rider Burleson came to RPS owner Marcus McBain to get his new 2004 GSXR-600 setup and go multiple wins on the inaugural weekend of the motorcycle. RPS put together a potent combination of Traxxion Dynamics Axxion Valves, a custom configured Penske triple adjustable shock, and the basic RPS setup that thousands of customers have come to rely on. Burleson did not fail to impress. Sunday morning required some "tweaking" as Burleson's first lap on the new race setup was during the sprint practices. With extensive experience on the new GSXR's, RPS quickly fine tuned Burleson to an easy 1:20 pace. This would be well fast enough for Cory to win every one of his races. Cory stepped up to the plate and made it happen after that. Running a best time of 1:19.9, he captured 4 wins for the weekend (Including 2 wins on the RPS prepared SV650 endurance machine) and missed a fifth win in theatrical fashion. Burleson easily captured the wins in RRC, C Superstock, B Superstock, and D Superstock races. In the C Superbike race however, over-ambition got the best of Cory. Although Cory quickly blasted out to the lead, he also had been identified as jumping the start. As he re-joined the race in 5th place, the crowd and his sponsors probably felt he still might be able to get a top 3 finish. Cory said, "hell with that!" and proceed to retake the lead with 2 and half laps to go. As Cory re-took the lead, most of the crowd would have figured that Cory would have settled in to keep the lead. NO, Cory decided to turn it up a notch and clicked off another fast lap. Cory then ran off the track in the tricky wagon wheel turn which claimed about 30 bikes this weekend. Although he kept it upright, Cory was now in 2nd place about 4 seconds behind the new leader. So again, the crowd thinks he will settle in for second place. Again, "hell with that!" over took common sense and Cory caught the leader within 6 turns. As Cory setup for the pass, he finally used up all of luck and crashed. Cory injured his shoulder/collarbone in the crash, but RPS owner Marcus McBain has a great admiration for anyone that is so committed to winning. Cory should be back for the final CMRA round and RPS looks forward to working with him to win more races.
The rest of the RPS riders and customers continued to win and build championship points leads. Here is the breakdown of some of the RPS riders and customers.
Expert Riders
Andy Galindo - This Expert RPS sponsored rider is poised to win A Superstock championship. Andy has been fighting an uphill battle all season because he missed the first round. Regardless, his tenacious riding has him positioned to win the class. He is also leading the Formula 1 expert class and there is no reason he will not capture the championship. Andy is also positioned to take the B Superstock Crown should Phillip Lawlis make any mistakes.
Phillip Lawlis - Phillip is doing an outstanding job of riding and the payoff from the RPS sponsorship has been huge. Phillip is position to capture championships in the B Superstock and A Superbike classes.
Ronnie Lunsford - Ronnie is an RPS customer that has had his Ohlins forks re-valved by RPS. Ronnie is positioned to capture championships in the Heavyweight Twins and Formula 40 Heavyweight Classes.
Novice Riders
RPS assisted Brad Kelly was positioned to capture championships in the A, B, and C Superstock classes, but a new job offer has had Brad focused on items off the racetrack and he missed the MSR round. Although this will ruin his chances for championships, Brad can still capture top 3 class honors for the season if he is able to break away from work and make it to the races.
RPS customer Nate Weber will also be able to capture top 3 championship honors in the A & B Superstock Classes. He also has an opportunity for the A and B superbike class championships if he can catch the right breaks.
RPS assisted Steve McNamara also has the opportunity for top 3 championship honors in the Formula 1 and A superbike Classes.
RPS assisted Will Shupak is another rider that has the opportunity for the top 3 championship honors in the Formula 1 and A superbike Classes if he is able to ride after being cutoff this last race weekend that resulted in a crash.
Endurance
RPS customer NW Honda has the Overall and Class lead going into the final round. Four hours of racing separate NW Honda from another overall and class champinship.
RPS sponsored Lone Star Track Days is positioned to capture the Mediumweight Superstock Class with a good lead going into the final round of action. LSTD ALSO can move into a top 5 overall spot if they continue to win big at the final round.
RPS customer 2wheelz.com is also positioned to take the UGP 3rd in class position with another strong finish by the team.
RPS sponsored Team Penetration and Big Air Racing will fight it out for the 3rd place position in the Meduimweight Superstock classes. With just a little over 100 points separating the two, it is still anyone's race to win.
RPS customer Team O'Donnell looks to have the 2nd place in class (M/W Superbike) sewn up.
RPS sponsored Lone Gunmen did a fantastic job this season and have all but locked up 3rd place in the M/W Superbike class.
RPS customer Heavy D and the boys are only 72 points behind Faltless racing for the LWSB crown.
RPS thanks each customer and sponsored rider for demonstrating the effective of RPS suspension solutions.