Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association Championship Series Round 2 MotorSport Ranch Cresson, Texas March 19-20, 2005
Round two of the CMRA Championship Series saw a CMRA-record 680 sprint entries grace the grids on Sunday while 59 endurance teams and 38 Mini Endurance teams lined up on Saturday to do battle under gorgeous skies at MotorSport Ranch near Cresson, Texas.
Weatherford, Texas-resident Ty Howard added a few records of his own, bettering the previous record for the counter-clockwise direction in three different races, eventually setting a fastest time of 1:15.508 on the second lap of the Sum of All Parts A Superstock Expert race. The old record was a 1:16.33, set by Howard on May 2 of last year. With the new record, Howard claimed the Mr. Corder $150 Fast Lap award.
Howard rode Kawasakis at the first round of the series in Henderson, Texas, but entered the Cresson event on a collection of Suzuki and Yamaha machinery in order to make the most of the available contingency. Howard won every race he entered and by the end of the weekend, went home with nearly $11,000 in Yamaha, Suzuki and Michelin contingency and CMRA purse money.
There was plenty of pre-race hype going into Sunday’s sprint action as everyone speculated on the upcoming showdown between John Haner and Howard, but the battle never materialized as Haner cartwheeled violently down the fastest portion of the track, injuring his right wrist, as he attempted to move up from the back of the grid in the first money race of the day.
Howard claimed wins in the Racing Performance Services B Superstock Expert race, which paid a $150 purse, the C Superstock Expert race, which paid a $500 purse, the Pace American Trailers Formula 1 Expert race, which paid a $1000 purse, the Sum of All Parts A Superstock Expert race, which featured a $150 purse and the RaceworX C Superbike Expert race, which pays a $150 purse.
Dustin Dominguez was a multiple money-race winner, taking wins in the South Central Race Center D Superbike Expert race, which featured a $150 purse and the Lightweight Twins Expert race, which featured a $500 purse. Dominguez also added a win in the Formula CMRA Heavyweight Expert division.
Other money-race winners included Heath Small, who won the Motorcycles Unlimited A Superbike Expert race ($150 purse), Tyler McDonald, who won the 125 GP ($250 purse), Ronnie Lunsford, who won the AF1 Racing Heavyweight Twins Expert race ($100 purse plus an end of year payout), Eric Falt, who won the Super Motard class ($250), and Bryan West, who won the Komodo Racing B Superbike Expert race ($250).
Additional $50 Rookie Expert awards went to Randall Kienast, Formula 1, 6th place; Chris Romeo, C Superbike, 11th place; Randall Kienast, B Superstock, 6th place; Bill Drake, C Superstock, 9th place; Chris Romeo, D Superstock, 3rd place.
In the Novice ranks, Shea Fouchek turned in a perfect performance, taking wins in the A Superstock, A Superbike, C Superstock, C Superbike, D Superstock and B Superstock Novice divisions. Brandon Spradling also had a good weekend, claiming wins in the Lightweight Twins, D Superbike and Formula 2 Novice classes.
In Saturday’s endurance events, a few Big Bike team entries were actually turned away, as 59 teams were allowed to grid to start the opening round of the 2005 Shogun Motorsports Endurance Series. This year, each event will pay an $1100 purse, courtesy of Shogun Motorsports and defending overall series champion Northwest Honda Racing was the pre-race favorite to claim the loot at the opening 4-hour event. However, defending Medium Superbike Champions, Village Idiots, went the distance on one set of tires, compared to two changes for Northwest Honda Racing, and held off the hard-charging defending champs to claim the win by a mere 1.292 seconds – that’s after 4 hours of racing!
Desert-Rats.net finished third overall and first A Superstock team, while K&N Motorcycles was fifth and top C Superstock team. Faltless Racing claimed the Formula 2-class win with a ninth overall.
In Mini Endurance action, Team K&N built up a two-lap lead by the half-way mark, then cruised home with the easy victory while Team Sidewinder and RS Express rounded out the top three in the overall standings. Team Extreme Powersports finished first in the Formula 5 division, while STD Racing and Excel claimed the wins in the Formula 6 and Formula 7 divisions, respectively.
Tyler McDonald topped Zac Chapman and Nick Gruy in the Formula 4 race, during Saturday morning’s Mini Sprint racing. In the Formula 5 race, it was Derek Wagnon taking a close win over Anthony Smith and Richard Eads, while Kelly Tompkins, Shane Thorn and Richard Desmond finished first through third in the Formula 6 class.
In the Formula 7 race, Rob Rundell won over Dirk Anderson and Walker Keene.
The CMRA series moves to Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas on April 23-24 for a full slate of sprint racing plus an 8 hour CMRA endurance race.