Friday April 27th 2007, 7:37 pm
Filed under:
Enjoy MFG Team Solitaire/Kingdom/FLY Racing Honda Event Update
Ford Field – Detroit, MI
April 22, 2007
The 2007 AMA Supercross Series made its annual visit to Detroit, MI and
the newly constructed Ford Field. In stark contrast to last year’s
snowy and cold weather, this year was warm, sunny and quite pleasant.
The track inside the dome was tight and technical, so the racing was
sure to be exciting. Here is a look at the night’s action through the
eyes of myself and “Lites” rider Ricky Renner.
Ricky Renner:
“Lites” Heat: “I had a really good start, probably top three, but kind
of pin-balled off of everyone. I cleared the first turn in 5th or 6th,
but in the next two corners I got passed by Branden Jesseman and Ryan
Dungey. I rode a little conservatively, just wanting to make sure I
made it into the main event and not make a mistake. I was ninth on the
last lap when Jesseman went down, so I finshed 8th. I was happy to be
in the main, but knew I needed to ride a little more on the edge in the
main event.
“Lites” Main: I was gated on the far inside gate and had a great jump.
Coming into the first turn I had to back off as I was right next to
Alessi on the inside. Around the first turn I thought I was going to
come out top five, but I tangled with Alessi again and he went down and
I got tangled up with his bike. I was about 16th at that point, and
the first lap was hectic with a lot of guys rolling jumps. On the
third lap I really tried to get through the pack, but I kept getting
blocked on every line I would try. I calmed down and regrouped and
managed to start passing some riders. In the end, I finished
fifteenth.
Ryan Clark:
“Supercross” Heat One: The first corner was extremely tight, so being
inside worked out for me as I was able to do move up from a decent jump
by staying low in the first corner. Once the dust settled, I was
around eighth place. The first lap, as they always are, was quite
exciting as I battled with riders in every corner. I was mired in a
pack of four or five riders and it seemed like every corner I either
passed someone or got passed. I was battling with Gibson in the corner
before the whoops and got run a little higher than expected and lost
the front end. I got up, having lost several positions, and began to
charge again. At the checkered flag I was in 14th place and would have
to go on the LCQ.
“Supercross” LCQ: As usual, there were some fast guys having to go to
the Last Chance Qualifier. The start would be important, as the lap
times were closer than normal. I was about six from the inside, with a
good gate and a straight line to the first turn. I got a quick jump
and charged it in hard before easing up and tucking low in the first
corner. I came out fourth, but made a move to third in the second
turn. The back straightaway was a rhythm section that, if you went
outside, you could triple-triple-triple. Robbie Reynard was just ahead
so I opted to stay inside and double through the section. This left me
inside again in the next corner before the big triple. In order to
have enough speed and hold a tight enough line to jump the upcoming
triple, I had to double-single out of the rhythm. As I pivoted under
Reynard I felt a bike hit me from behind on my right arm, pushing me
into the handlebars, over them and on the ground. I was under the bike
and the entire field was whizzing by. That ended my LCQ, as my bike
was mangled badly in the incident and I was a little shaken up.
Summary: Ricky finished up the East Region “Lites” Supercross Series
in 18th position. We are all very pleased with his performance in his
very first year as a professional. He will now join the rest of the
team in Phoenix to resume outdoor testing in preparation for the opener
at Hangtown on May 20th. I emerged from the weekend with a bone bruise
on my right femur and some scrapes and bruises on my arm, back and
legs. All things considered, I was just happy to be able to walk out
of the stadium on my own. Unfortunately crashes are a part of racing,
albeit the part I hate.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support. Next weekend’s race
is in Seattle, Washington, so expect a story about my improved mud
riding skills. See you at the races!
Sincerely,
Ryan Clark
Thursday April 19th 2007, 9:30 am
Filed under:
Enjoy MFG Team Solitaire/Kingdom/FLY Racing Honda Event Update
WORCS Round Five
Honeylake, CA
Hello all. I hope everyone had a great Easter and was able to spend
time with your loved ones.
After 13 straight weekends of racing the AMA Supercross Series, we
finally had two weekends off. Easter weekend I spent with my family at
home, but the second weekend I decided to take Destry Abbott up on
hischallenge of riding a WORCS race. Since I became friends with the
talented Mr. Abbott four years ago, he has been trying to get me to
cross-over and do a little off-road. This was the first time things
fell into place and I was able to take him up on the offer.
The WORCS Series (World Off-Road Championship Series) blends Motocross
with Off-Road racing. Some of their events favor the motocross racers,
some the off-road specialists. This one was at the Honeylake Motocross
Park in Northern California. The race track was awesome, but the
off-road sections had me a littleapprehensive from the start. Here is
a quick breakdown of my first of many off-road experiences.
Practice/Unclassified: Saturday morning I signed up for the
“Unclassified” race which is basically a thirty-minute practice session
that they call a race. It was really cold outside and raining lightly
when we took off, but after a lap I was pretty warmed up feeling good.
The course on Saturday was different from our Sunday race, as it didn’t
have the very difficult “pro sections” added in. Still, the course was
tough and the lap times were over seven minutes in length. I left the
track feeling good but knowing I had to make a fewchassis changes for
my Pro Qualifier later that afternoon.
Pro Qualifier: This race was 30 minutes long and was basically for gate
position for Sunday’s main race. My start was good, as I was around
fifth exiting the first corner. By the end of the first lap I was into
third with Lance Smail all over my rear wheel. Bobby Garrison checked
out up front with Justin Soule in second and I was now comfortably in
third. I started getting arm pump on lap two, which is
veryuncharacteristic for me. I think that my nervescoupled with an
extremely demanding track got the best of me. I was able to settle
down pull out a comfortable margin to finish third, about ten seconds
back from Soule.
After the race on Saturday I walked all three pro sections to get a
glimpse of what Sunday’s event was going to be like. Wow! I would be
lying if I said I wasn’t freaking out a little bit. The rocks were
huge, there were massive uphill climbs and only one way through many of
the sections. When I walk a Supercross track, the obstacles look much
bigger and more difficult than when I actually ride over them. I was
hoping this would be much the same.
Pro Race: WORCS races are two hours, so unlike a Motocross or
Supercross race you have to pace yourself so that you don’t wear out
too early. My start was just outside the top ten, but I moved up a few
spots quickly and was ninth by the end of the second lap. I
successfully negotiated all three pro sections, so I was feeling pretty
good, as those were my areas of most worry. My first mistake came on
lap three, when I botched the entry to one of the pro sections and got
into some massive rocks. I hit the ground and the engine died. I
picked myself up and started the bike, but I would have to dismount and
walk my bike through about 50 feet of rocks to get back on course. At
that point I was back to 12th. Destry had just passed me so I thought
that having someone I am used to riding with just ahead would help
out. I did pick up my pace, but Destry was much faster through the
rocky sections so I had to really push on the motocross track to stay
anywhere near his pace. This caught up with me on lap four, when I had
a big crash around a sandy sweeper. I did the full body check when I
got up to make sure all was well, which it was with the exception of a
sore rear end. The bike was not as fortunate; the bars, levers and
handgaurds were damaged and the kill button ripped off in the crash.
Over a minute later I was again on the course, only now I was back
outside the top twenty. Fortunately, the second hour was much less
eventful as I managed to stay on the bike for the remainder of the
event. When the checkered flag flew at two hours and twelve minutes, I
was back up to 15th.
Summary: I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a blast. I really
enjoyed thechallenge of this race, and although the crashes sucked
(they all do!) I had a great time and learned so much. The off-road
specialists absolutely fly through those rocky sections and steep
climbs, and I would like to figure out how to pick my pace up through
there and try another event in the near future. I learned a ton about
my bike setup, my conditioning and line selection. I feel extremely
prepared heading into the outdoor nationals this season. I would like
to thank Destry for his help in preparing for this event. Also, all of
the WORCS racers who helped me out over the weekend (Nathan Woods,
Bobby Garrison, Lance Smail) and the WORCS staff for welcoming a “moto
guy” to their series. Aspecial thanks to IMS for getting my bike
outfitted with a tank and Dry Break system (we had a super-fast pit
stop). Lastly, JR Boyd stepped in for my usual mechanic, Jesse Black,
who was ill and could not attend. JRdid a fantastic job, as usual,
and we all made a lot of great memories over the weekend.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support and see you at the race
track!
Wednesday April 18th 2007, 1:55 pm
Filed under:
Enjoy MFG Team Solitaire/Kingdom/FLY Racing Honda Event Update
Irving, TX
3/31/07
The rain fell and fell hard on the open roofed stadium housing round 13
of the 2007 AMA Supercross Series. Despite being covered by plastic
tarps, the water seeped through and saturated the soil below. Due to
this, practice was postponed and shortened, allowing only one session
before the start of the evening program. The sun beat down on the rain
soaked track Saturday morning, drying it out slightly and giving the
riders and teams a glimpse of hope that things would turn out okay for
a good night of racing.
Practice: One 12-minute session to determine gate pick was given to all
of the riders. The track was not nearly as bad as some of the bad mud
races of the past, but it was still slick and rutted. I had a great go
of things, ending up 12th fastest heading into the night show. Ricky
also had a great practice and equaled my timed qualification finish of
12th. The sun continued to shine and the track was getting better by
the lap.
“Lites” Heat Two: Ricky had a good start and came out around 7th at
the exit of the first turn. Over the triple jump, disaster struck as
he had to change lines at the last second to avoid landing on a rider
that opted not to jump the triple. He got a little sideways and
careened off the course, landing on a tuff-block and going down. He
was back on track fairly quickly, but with only nine riders advancing
from the heat the deficit would be to much to overcome. When the
checkers flew, Ricky crossed the line in 11th position.
“Supercross” Heat Two: I had a decent jump and stayed low in the first
corner. I was around 13th at the beginning of lap one, but made a few
passes into ninth by the end of the first circuit. I cross-rutted in
the turn before the finish double and was unable to jump it, getting
passed back by about four riders. Over the next few laps I worked back
up to 10th, but had to get by another rider to get the transfer. I
made a few attempts but fell just short and would have to go to the
LCQ.
“Lites” LCQ: This race ended before it even began for Ricky. Heading
into the first corner Ricky got caught up in a huge crash and was down
for about 25 seconds before getting back on track. At that point, he
rode out the four lap LCQ and caught all the way up to 13th. He rode
well all night, but just had some rotten luck.
“Supercross” LCQ: I had a good gate on the inside and was in it for the
holeshot going into the first corner. Eric Sorby barely edged me out,
but I stayed low and headed to the first obstacle hard. I slid in the
mud and cased the double, causing Jeff Gibson to graze my left arm with
his front wheel and get by me. I set off stalking the pair for the
next six laps. On the final lap I was about ½ second back on Gibson
for the final transfer and knew I would have to go all or nothing to
make it. Unfortunately, my bike had other ideas and began to cut out.
I backed down and opted not to jump any obstacles. I barely made it
across the finish line before it finally gave out completely. I lost
two positions and finished fifth in the LCQ, forcing me to retire for
the evening.
Summary: We have the next two weekend off from the Supercross Series,
and we will use this time to begin our preparations for the Outdoor
Nationals. It will also be nice to spend a weekend at home, as we have
been racing for the last thirteen straight without a break. Although
we have had a couple of weeks of frustrating results, we will continue
to work hard, regroup and finish out the Supercross Series strong.
Other notes:
My flight into Dallas was all ready to land as we approached the runway
at Love Field. The weather turned bad quickly so the pilot opted not
to touch down and instead flew us to Austin, where we sat for about
four hours. My flight finally arrived after midnight on Friday.
Meanwhile, Ricky had been stuck in Houston and our flights arrived at
roughly the same time. Needless to say, we were both a bit dreary-eyed
come Saturday morning.
Although the track started out extremely wet, Dirt Wurx did a good job
of working the soil and drying out some of the sections. The only
really muddy area was the start straight-away, which is just too big to
cover completely.
Ricky Renner, who was signed originally signed up with the team only to
contest the East Region Supercross Series, will continue with Team
Solitaire/Kingdom/FLY Racing Honda for the Outdoor National Series. We
are extremely pleased with Ricky’s performance thus far, and are
looking for great things from him this summer.
Jiri Dostal is finally back on his bike. After over two months on the
mend, he has been hitting the physical therapy hard and making great
progress. He will be ready to go at the first round of the National
Series at Hangtown in early May.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support!
Ryan Clark
Team Solitaire