The Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association (CMRA) returned to Eagles Canyon Raceway (ECR) in Decatur, Texas, this past weekend, making its third stop at the venue for the season, the eighth event of the ten event 2010 race season. Racers found the weather to be quite decent for late August (by Texas standards, anyway), with the skies mostly clear, the humidity down, and temperatures reaching only around 95 degrees F on both Saturday and Sunday. After the incredibly oppressive heat and humidity experienced at the last CMRA round, many racers considered this weekend’s weather to be quite pleasant. The weekend drew a total of 453 entries, with 406 of those being Mini and Big Bike sprint entries, and the remaining 47 entries being Mini and Big Bike endurance teams.
The big winners on the weekend were Dustin Dominguez, who claimed five wins, Ty Howard, who claimed three wins (and remains perfect on the season in the classes he’s contesting in the CMRA series), and Darrell “DJ” Ricks, who broke through and topped Dominguez in three classes.
Saturday’s schedule was jam packed with racing, including a 5-hour Big Bike endurance race, a full slate of Mini sprint races, and a 2-hour Mini endurance race. The racing kicked off with the 5-hour Big Bike endurance race, and 24 teams gridded up to try their hand at the challenging 2.5 mile, 11 turn course. When the green flag dropped, it was Dicki McFarland’s Moto Ace (Dustin Dominguez, Jeremy Kidd, Joe Prussiano, Derek Wagnon, Dustin Meador), the pre-race favorites and mounted on a Suzuki GSX-R1000, rocket into the lead. However, making a return to the endurance grid after missing the last round was the KTM RC8 Ridesmart/RPM Cycle (Ty Howard, Bryan West, Ricky Jordan, Ricky Parker), and the team was primed to give Moto Ace all they could handle. But just six laps into the race, the red flag flew after a bike oiled over a lengthy part of the track. The clean-up took the better part of two hours, and after one aborted start, the race finally resumed for good. When the starter waved the green flag, Moto Ace took the point once again, but Ridesmart/RPM Cycle locked onto the Suzuki’s rear wheel. The battle to the checkers between the two teams never materialized, though, as the KTM would retire soon after the restart with a broken header pipe.
Ridesmart/RPM Cycle’s early exit left Moto Ace to romp and stomp away for the overall win, and first in Superbike A, in spite of having to change a chewed up rear tire at the one hour mark rather than later in the race as planned. Village Idiots (Chris Headley, John Orchard, Chad Tieszen, Brandon Cleland) put in a very solid ride to capture the second overall, and first in class, Superbike C on a Yamaha YZF-R6. Rounding out the overall podium was the GSX-R1000 of Mini Haters.
In the 2-hour Mini Bike endurance race, 23 entries took to the grid to do battle on ECR’s 1.7 mile, 9 turn course. Unlike the Big Bike endurance race earlier in the day, the Mini endurance went flag to flag without incident. At the end of the first hour, it was eurtoast! (Zeb Harris, James Erwin, Alan Phillips, Tim Barnes, Chase Barnes) on a Kawasaki Ninja 250R over the Kawasaki Ninja 250R of a strong running Howlie Boyz (Dean Thimjon, Jason Swan, Kurt Stock, John Orchard) team, and Team Gleam’s Honda RS85 ridden by Marcus Beedle, Connor Blevins, Bryan West and Ryan Andrews. The order, however, would shuffle before the end of the race, and Team Gleam would find themselves on top of the overall rostrum followed by Howlie Boyz and eurtoast!, who dropped to third place overall in the last few laps.
Sunday’s race schedule included 19 separate races with 23 total classes. The action was fast and furious in all classes, but Sunday’s racing was largely highlighted by stellar performances from Experts Dustin Dominguez, Ty Howard and Darrell “DJ” Ricks.
Dominguez, piloting both a Kawasaki ZX-6R and a Suzuki SV650 across eight different classes, won the most races, taking home wins in the LMSTrackdays.com Superbike B Expert, South Central Race Center Superstock C Expert, Lightweight Twins Expert and Island Racing Services Superbike C Expert classes, and captured second place in his other four classes. Dominguez faced his stiffest competition from Suzuki SV650 mounted Darrell “DJ” Ricks, coming up second best to Ricks on three occasions, the Exel Transportation Formula 2 Expert, SuperStock D Expert, and Superbike D Expert races.
After his victories, Ricks said, “Dustin led me for a while in the first race, and he was better than me in some places on the track, and I was better than him in some other places on the track. He’s so good everywhere, so I watched him and I learned from him. I saw what he was doing in turn 11, and I used it against him on the last lap, and I got a better drive off that corner onto the front straight than he did.”
Ricks also credited advice he received from Zac Chapman with helping him find some speed on the track. Chapman was a top CMRA racer when he suffered a life-threatening closed-head injury at a race at VIR in August of 2009 that left him in a coma for months. Chapman, who still has a long recovery process in front of him, was making a guest appearance at ECR. Ricks said, “Zac said he had some advice for me that could help me go faster. He said I needed to calm down before my races. He said I was too busy, needlessly running around and doing stuff in the pits before my races started. He told me I need to relax a little bit, so I did I and then went faster than I had ever gone before.”
Ty Howard enjoyed another successful day at the races, as well. After a disappointing Saturday that saw his endurance bike suffer a mechanical, Howard, riding his KTM RC8R, rebounded in Sunday sprints, running away from his competition in the three classes he contests, RaceworX Superstock A Expert, AVTEQ Superbike A Expert and Formula 1 Expert. With his wins, Howard continued his perfect season in these classes, and did so in dominating fashion. Howard has lowered the lap record at every track on the CMRA schedule this season, including ECR during the CMRA’s May race, and he was hoping to lower his own track record this time out, as well, but he came up short. “I don’t really know what happened to the track, but it was better on Saturday during the endurance race than it was on Sunday,” said Howard. “It [the track] was okay in the morning, but in my second race, the one I really try to push hard in, the track seemed a little slicker. But even though I didn’t get a lap record, my [lap time] pace was better than it’s been before.”
The CMRA returns to Motorsport Ranch (MSR) in Cresson, Texas, on September 24 – 26 for a schedule that includes a 3-hour Mini endurance race, a 4-hour Big Bike endurance race, and a full slate of Mini and Big Bike sprint races. For more information about the CMRA, its event schedule, or detailed race results, visit ~http://www.cmraracing.com~.
CMRA Round 8 – Eagles Canyon Raceway Race Results, August 28 and 29, 2010.