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Utah Sportbike Association Race Event 1 2020 Report

Discussion in 'Race Reports' started by Eshber, Jun 6, 2020.

  1. Eshber

    Eshber Well-Known Member

    The UtahSBA, a Utah Non-Profit Corporation, held the season-opening round of its Utah Motorcycle Law Masters of the Mountains Race Series on Saturday May 30th on the Utah Motorsports Campus West Track.


    The UtahSBA, a Utah Non-Profit Corporation, faced many difficulties getting the 2020 season started following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through tireless work the UtahSBA, a Utah Non-Profit Corporation, board of directors and key volunteers brought the Utah Motorcycle Law Masters of the Mountains Round 1 back from the dead and renamed it Round 2. Then with a much deepened level of support from the club's members and sponsors including new title sponsor Dustin Lance and his Utah Motorcycle Law, Round 2 moved forward into production and was very successful using a temporary single day racing format. (Maybe temporary? Maybe not? Stay tuned. Up.)


    On Friday prior to the round the UtahSBA, a Utah Non-Profit Corporation, hosted 17 New Racer Certification (NRC) students and 6 Advanced Racer Course (ARC) students for on-track learning and competition skills development. The classes were held in conjunction with Apex Trackdays utilizing one 20-minute session per hour on track, one session in the classroom, and one for prep. The classes went super well with accelerating lap times observed across both groups of students, and only one set of bars touching track surface through the day. Clearly this was a tremendous success considering the large sample size of students! Spirits were high and everyone was excited to be back on track.


    On Saturday morning conditions presented as decent, with moderate winds, high temps and a chance of “Popcorn showers emanating from some weathermakers!” in the Meteorologist Erica Martin forecast.


    With a one day schedule’s brisk pace the racing day moved into high gear after two (Two!) practice sessions in the morning. Riders in the Harrison Eurosports Formula 40 GTO/GTU classes lined up for the first race of 2020. Pleasingly present on the grid was OG Mike Bradshaw, returning after a 12 month long dirty-bike crash(es) induced rehab. Will he return to his old form? Do either of his shoulders even work anymore? As the red lights blanked, the 16 riders catapulted like F-18 Hornets (ONLY LOUDER) down the straight into turn one. The racing was furious and by the end of the first lap Bill Davis from Phoenix, AZ had afterburnered himself from 9th into 1st, followed closely by Erik “With a Fucking K” Grim and Michael “Don’t Worry” Bradshaw. Bradshaw rode patiently but hard and managed to overtake the bickering Davis and Grim simultaneously in the 5th lap. He successfully defended his lead for two more and took the very gratifying win with Davis 2nd and Grim 3rd.


    Racing continued with MotoStation and AZ Riding Academy King of the Mountain (KOM) Qualifying. Out of the gate all qualifiers laid down blistering times considering the green track and the barely tolerated yet familiar and increasing Tooele Valley Sustained Southerlies. Adam Robarts of Duvall, WA wound it up early on, dropping a 1:33.26, a time that would have secured him pole position. But undeterred by the windy tempest, Robarts and his BMW S1000RR with Pirelli WSBK #0 Slicks and a suspension complex built by Penske and GP Suspension shaved another nearly 1.5 seconds off to a 1:31.883. No souls had a chance to best that as the session ended early, red flagged due to possible oil on track.


    The KOM combined race kicked off with a dust-devil start and 17 racers banging for position for the entire opening lap of the 14 scheduled trips around. 2018 KOM Champion Mike Bradshaw was leading as the racers approached the final turn when Robarts made his move to overtake Bradshaw in the belly of the tighter hairpin. The two were close enough to kiss as they shimmy howled onto the front straight- with Robarts sticking the pass! Robarts switched on his BMW’s overdrive seen in qualifying and impolitely proceeded to gap the maybe rusty(?) achy(?) Bradshaw. As the laps ticked by, a real battle was playing out for 3rd with veteran 2019 KOM Champion Jerry Hicks on his MotoStation R6 out cornering youngster Genaro Lopez on his shiny German rocket and Bill Davis’ Beemer only to be caught on the straights through lap 4. The 3 stayed close, barely behaving themselves until the start of lap 6 when Lopez made a brave attempt to block pass Hicks into turn 1 but couldn’t stick it, going size 16 wide and Jerry scuba diving to back out front. Lopez and Davis rolled up on Hicks through the sweeping West course, and on the surrender flag lap the “Lopez Block” succeeded in turn 1 by making Hicks over slow and using some rwhp to get away. Lopez then set his sights on Old Man Mike Bradshaw, who had built up a respectable but not insurmountable gap courtesy of Lopez and Hicks’ shenanigans. Alas, mi Madre Natura had other plans and with the now crying infant-like maddening winds intensifying during lap 11, visibility suddenly decreased significantly as a new and improved dust devil kicked up and started kicking ass. The winds made short work of ending the race, sending men’s derbys, babies diapers, and brand newly donated airfence free of its tethers- all to Wizard of Oz soar into the sky. Spectacular to see and disheartening to understand, the race was immediately red flagged and correctly ruled complete at lap 11 by D.o.C. MarkyMark Barton of London, with upstart Robarts thoroughly spanking Bradshaw and the pesky Lopez by 9 and 9.3 seconds each.


    It is springtime in the high desert, and our smug storm quickly left us to destroy the sailboat marina at The Great Salt Lake. Motorcycle racing did persist happily throughout the afternoon without incident, and it was very successful racing all around. Notable finishes included sophomore racer James Kling winning both ee Racing Corps Open Twins and Blud Racing Lubricants Nov-O (but not really) on his patina’d 1198, Pontius Pilot Bill Davis taking Edge Powersports Deseret Dash Expert honours (D.o.C. MarkyMark), once Sleepy now Slinky Dave Purcell finally getting some over Bad Brad Moore in the Inspired Financial Prod 500 (and every other race they entered), and Jerry Hicks winning the MotoStation Middleweight Superbike test. Again. The Harrison Eurosports Formula 40 Baby Bike race winner was Jason “Tony Montana” Johnson, Toxic Moto Racing’s MWSS winner was Sr. Lopez on his new R6, and THE David Meyer upset class sponsor/usual winner/reining champion Kevin Dolan in The Mechanic MVO contest.


    After all was said and done, as the virus decreased numbers of racing enthusiasts rolled up their rugs and toolkits, the blustery excitement began building for the upcoming Utah Motorcycle Law Masters of the Mountains Classic Round 3. Scheduled for June 20th on UMC’s technical East Track, and the chase for points offered by any season.


    The Utah Sport Bike Association is a Utah Non-Profit Corporation dedicated to promoting education, safe riding and competition in the Intermountain West. You can find more information about the USBA, upcoming events, and schools at www.utahsba.com or find us on Facebook at www.utahsba.com

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