WERA TGPR Weekend

The weekend went well. No major incidents; lots of fun was had by all.

Weather-wise, they dodged a bullet. Check out this image as hosted by www.weather.com:



More info later.

 

Yes indeed, a good time was had by all. Great racing guys and girls.

 

A bit of a rain scare mid-afternoon, but it blew on by, leaving nothing but great race weather. I had a blast, nothing beats a good race between riders of equal abbility. I'd like to say congratulations to all who had a fun time today, win or lose.

 

OK; more info.

Tracee got wood! I think he finished third in D Super. I hope he did; he had a good battle with a few other guys in his race. Brad Duncan came in second on his "cheater" SV bike. More importantly, he was happy about the race afterwards. The "fun" factor for him was back! And thanks for loaning me those FZR rotors, Brad!

Both Lee Acree and Tray Batey raced this weekend. They even had a "love tap" (or close to it) in the (I believe) B Superstock Expert race, the last one of the day. Lee fell down, but was A-OK, and rode back into the pits.

The ever popular BBS topic (T)ed Cobb was there. I had heard that he balled up his 600 pretty bad in Friday's practice. He raced his 750 today. And no, I have no results for any race ... that's too much trouble!

"Carpetbagger" Bill Cole and his homeboys came down from the Cold Tundra known as New Jersey to enter in a WERA race for the first time. Showing no ills from his get off at Road Atlanta last August, Bill put in two impressive rides on his Yamaha TZ125. Adding to the international aspect of the WERA races this weekend was Kevin Murray, who drove all the way from LA (no, not Lower Alabama - Los Angeles!) to race with the kinder, gentler, WERA org. Well, OK ... he also delivered a few bikes to boot.

Something VERY nice was seen in Kevin's van, to be transported back to the Area 51 Labs known at MCE Racing. Yes, that's right folks ... those of you at the track today could have seen a Gen-U-Ine Gee Pee bike ... as Kevin took delivery of a ROC chassis YZR500 Yamaha Grand Prix bike. I myself (being the "YamahaRick that I am) first saw the bike in a super-secret underground facility hidden in the hills of North Georgia last summer. The owner requested that Kevin go through and prep the engine. I wanna ride!!!

Rain drops fell only for a few seconds today. Thankfully, the weather remained good for racing the entire day. WERA completed 17 races in just over five hours. I think I counted only one red flag, which was nothing serious (thankfully).

"Opie #7" was seen in his new Pennzoil outfit as he strolled up and down the pits. No racing for him; just spectating. No one ever did see Opies #1-#6.

"Mongo" was there, as usual. Having received a recent upgrade from the old four wheeled "Mule" to a shiny new DR dual purpose Suzuki, he failed to show any skill whatsoever in operating said two wheeler. However, to his credit, he did have a very trick WERA hat that not only was DOT certified, but had a WERA Helmet Tech sticker as well. This boy has waaay too many toys. Not to mention the fact that he owes me 20 bucks! More on that later, if necessary.

Everybody May Love Raymond, but I'm sure Chuck and Charlotte (the starters) come a close second. As always, their execution of all starts were flawless. It is always good to see the two of them, allowing most riders to have more fun than humans should be allowed.

Chris Pyles won F2 on his new Honda RS250 GP bike. Blackmans Cycle also had Mike Himmelsbach and the afore-mentioned Batey on track today.

Jason Peters won the 125GP race. Yamahas of Bill Cole and Kevin Murray filled out the top three. Note: it took Jason less than two laps to overcome the Clubman Novice rider at the tail end of the pack. And yes, this is at TGRP.


Well, that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed it.

 

Rick, you da man.

 

Hey, no prob. It was a good weekend all around. From no waiting at the Waffle House this morning (the advantages of dining solo), to the great racing this afternoon, a smooth drive back, and a Chinese dinner at my favorite place (going on 13 years now), life was good to me today. Even made it home in time for my required work call to Asia.

It wasn't racing, but it was good nevertheless. Admit it ... WERA folks are pretty cool.

One other person to mention ... Wrenn was there too! No race bike yet, but soon! Good to see you today Wrenn.

Man, I know I'm forgetting others too ...

 

What did Batey ride,Aprilia?


[This message has been edited by EXPERT35 (edited 02-12-2001).]

 

That was a lot of wasted space, up there!

 

OOPS!!!

 

You can still fix it before you get lynched in the morning.

 

For those who are counting, yes.

 

Well I didn't get wood. I was in 3rd until the white flag lap but came upon a lapper. The dude behind me wanted more than I did so he stuffed us both to take 3rd. If they wouldn't have cut the race to 8 laps I might have a chance to get it back.

 

HUH?

 

I think Ceasar means is that he crashed this weekend.

 

No, it means that I forgot to list Ceasar under the list of BBS folks I saw this weekend. FWIW, I did not witness him crashing on Sunday; he did return to the pits in one piece in at least one of his races.

Sorry Ceasar; I didn't mean to forget!

 

From our admittedly not certified stopwatch, we timed Trey and the #64 Aprilia at a 58.4 sec lap during his second race on Sun. I guess the prep time spent between races really does make a big difference.

 

I guess the prep time spent between races really does make a big difference.[/B][/QUOTE]

It was all about the tape measure and stretching.

 

It was all about the tape measure and stretching.

[/B][/QUOTE]

Only if both are officialy Aprilia approved.

 

yes rick, thanks for the honorable mention...
anybody got a free bike

rick small correction...pyles was on a yammie tz250..and looking good. (well on the track anyway )

acree only rode a 600 but was turning in the :58-:59's consistantly.

tray rode the blackmons cycle mille-R for the fist time sunday. stock bike... still turned into the :58's. lee & tray are both cool about the 'tap' just close racing, lee felt something but not 100% sure what caused it. he still put in a great ride... not to dis himmelsbach, mikey was close to the minute mark too, in heavy twins. there's a little more to adjust to for him. he's use to the little two smokers, and learning to ride the big twin...good job guys.

lightening larry denning was there for his first ride since a knee injury crash at the wera national in august at VIR. he managed to win f1 on a r1 and 2nd in a-sprstock.

cobb rode very well with finishes between 4-10 (i think) with one very fast stop-n-go.

jason peters rode very well in the 125's.

harley super-bike rider Mike Smith was also there for some spectating.

and the other bbs legend fetsko (wera122) kept it on two wheels...but i never saw any grillin

all in all it was a great weekend chilly/cold and windy. no one was transported and most everyone that did fall escaped injury.

keith Hoogstad (sp? sorry keith) broke his shoulder, and will have to undergo surgery. best wishes for speedy recovery!!

and yes wera74 'splashed' somewhere off track...but was up immediately, no additional injury.

 

I stand corrected. I remember his posts on the 125 list on selling his 125, to upgrade to a 250. I had just assumed that it was going to be another RS.