CayloR-Made Compound and the 2011 GNF – The Culmination of CayloR-Made!

The 39th Annual WERA Grand National Finals has already come and gone but some of the memories from this years’ event are likely to last forever! CayloR-Made Motorsports’ now-infamous “Compound” came out to do battle for the top awards in each of their respective classes.

Following an entire day of practice on Thursday, racing got under way with the final round of the 2011 WERA National Endurance Series on Friday. CayloR-Made Motorsports supported CCF Office Solutions Racing fought tooth and nail and for the third consecutive time took top honors in the Trophy Class with the hat trick aboard their Steel Horse Law Sponsored Dunlop-shod Suzuki GSXR600. The winning riders who were able to muster 45 minute stints each were “Fast” Fred Turner, Dave Krier, Derek Mugge, Kevin Mills, and John Risconsin.

Sprint races were up next with a make-up round of the WERA National Challenge Series Superbike class that was postponed from the previous race at Barber Motorsports in September. CayloR-Made Motorsports owner Opie Caylor rolled his Dunlop-shod 2011 GSXR1000 out onto the second row of the grid in search of another victory. Looking to extend his undefeated season of 14 wins from 14 starts, Opie knew a great start was mandatory. Unfortunately, at the drop of the green flag, his start was deemed too good and Opie would have to come in for a stop and go penalty! Certainly the streak was over now! Opie put in two blistering fast laps and opened up a large gap. Opie then entered the pits on the third lap and ripped down pit road barely making it to a stop for the WERA officials. Opie received the signal to return to the track and was off again! He re-entered the track all the way down in fifth place but had the fourth place rider in his sights. Opie caught and passed him and then set off for the lead trio. Opie increased his pace and began to reel in the other riders. Rain began to fall as Opie dug deeper. The leaders were coming back to Opie quickly. On lap five of eight, Opie had closed the gap and caught them. He drafted past one rider on the back straight and was into third. By lap six, Opie had moved up to second place! Opie knew the streak was at stake. Could the hopes for an undefeated season remain intact? A lap later, Opie pushed his way into the lead! With only half a lap left, Opie did all he could to maintain the lead. Going into turn 12 for the final time, Opie drove the bike right down the middle of the racetrack in hopes of blocking any kind of inside attack. The early apex caused Opie to run a little wide and onto the paint at the exit. The slippery, wet paint caused Opie’s bike to spin up ever so slightly and when the bike hooked back up, it snapped into a wheelie! The second place rider squared off the corner perfectly and motored right up beside Opie at the finish line! It was so close neither rider knew for sure who had actually won. Upon their return to the pits, confirmation of the results showed that Opie was edged out by .001 of a second! After the race, Opie said “I am so mad at myself right now! I knew I had the pace to run at the front. I knew if I could get out front and do the lap times I had a good shot at winning the race and continuing my streak. Thermosman has my chassis and suspension totally dialed in but my bike’s engine is completely stock. I’ve been able to get away with that because most of the tracks are pretty tight and sometimes more horsepower only complicates things. Regardless, it was me that lost the race not the engine. I just gave myself too big of a deficit to begin with!”

Additionally on Friday, the winner-takes-all Sportsman Series National Championships took place, with CayloR-Made sponsored riders representing in both the Clubman class as well as E Superstock. Derek Mugge took third place honors in the Clubman Novice event, while Dave Krier earned a National Championship with his win in E Superstock Novice after finishing fourth overall among Experts and Novices, and a nine second gap back to second place. Krier finished the year with multiple first and second place finishes in both E Superstock as well as Senior Superbike. A special thanks to Opie Caylor for providing the race-prepped Ninja 250 all year, and his hard work on Wednesday before the race weekend in fixing the bike after Dave crashed it in the parking lot at CayloR-Made! Additional thanks to Thermosman for rebuilding the rear shock of the Ninja trackside on Thursday night, putting the bike on rails for Friday’s event!

On Saturday, and with the stress of maintaining an undefeated season off his shoulders, Opie went on to take the winner-takes-all Sportsman Series National Championship in A Superstock Expert. Opie turned a 1:28.2, the fastest lap of any rider for the entire event, in Formula One Expert but was edged out at the line again by .001 of a second. On Sunday, Opie closed out 2011 by taking convincing wins in Open Superstock and WERA Superbike. Those two wins catapulted Opie into the top three in points for both classes for the year, despite competing at only half of the rounds. Opie completes the season with 17 wins from 19 starts and the 2011 A Superstock Sportsman Series National Championship.

CayloR-Made’s Nikk Rogers – what an incredible year! Nikk’s first shot over the bow was in Friday’s A Superbike make-up race from Barber, where Nikk took a hard fought win! On Saturday, Nikk repeated his winning ways, securing the winner-takes-all Sportsman Series National Championships in A Superstock, A Superbike, and Formula 1! Nikk iced the cake on Sunday with a win in Open Superstock, securing him the National Championship! Nikk would additionally like to thank Thermosman for his infinite suspension tuning and building wisdom, Huff and HFD1 for his superior tuning abilities, and of course his always supportive family and friends!

Mathew Dalke aka DONK had a great Final’s weekend as well, with third place finishes in Formula 1 and A Superbike, and a second place finish in Open Superstock. Derek Mugge took second place in the Senior Superbike final, while Ron Gaither finished second in the B Superstock National on Sunday.
One member of the Compound who is serving our country overseas, Ian Coleman, was unable to make the event, and still finished third Nationally in the B Superbike Novice class. We miss him, and appreciate his service. Look out for Ian on the gas next year!

When all was said and done with the GNF, the CayloR-Made Compound amassed six national titles and multiple regional championships in their inaugural year! The Compound doesn’t click without everyone’s support – Eric Douglas, Fred and Gayle Turner, Wayne and Debbie Degourney, Dan Neves, Dani Mugge and family, Kevin Robinson, and all the parents, children, and friends that helped with fuel, tire warmers, grid positions, etc.!

See ya’ll next year!

 

take a few laps with Opie - onboard off the back of his GSXR 1000

take a few laps with Opie - onboard off the back of his GSXR 1000

http://vimeo.com/31527663

 

GREAT JOB you guys!!! :up: :up: