After taking the month of June off, the Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association (CMRA) returned to racing action at Motorsport Ranch in Cresson, Texas, this past weekend. Heavy and constant rains plagued the region in the week preceding the race, and had many racers worried and continually checking the weather for updates; forecasters called for a good chance of the wet stuff over the weekend. However, the weather did an about-face and, instead of raining, the skies gradually cleared up, going from cloudy and heavily overcast on Saturday morning, to clear, sunny and typically hot and humid by the time Sunday’s sprint races rolled around. The suspect weather apparently did little to scare off racers, with weekend drawing over 530 race entries.
The race weekend kicked-off on Saturday morning with the Mini sprint races. No rain was falling, but the track was damp and slick in many spots. Winners in the Mini sprints races included Hunter Morgan, who dominated the Road & Track Suspension Formula 4 race to take home a large portion of the Jon Broom / Zac Chapman Road to Recovery contingency money. Roger Albert claimed the OnRoadOffRoad Suspension Formula 6 race, while Bill Syfan won the OnRoad OffRoad Suspension Formula 5 race and Wyatt Sperry claimed victory in the Formula 7 class. The RentMyNinja.com E Superstock win went to Ryan Max Johnson.
By the time the Mini races were done racing and the Big Bikes were taking to the course for the 6-hour endurance race, the track had dried almost completely. 27 teams filled out the grid, but a notable absence was the Ridesmart / RPM Cycle KTM RC8 entry, a previous endurance race winner this season. The team withdrew before the event due to an injury to team captain, Ty Howard. From the first lap of the race, the Suzuki GSX-R1000 of Moto Ace (Derek Wagnon, Jeremy Kidd, Joe Prussiano, Dustin Dominguez, Dustin Meador) asserted themselves as the team to beat, running a torrid pace, sometimes as much as three seconds a lap quicker than the next best team. Six hours later, Moto Ace would cross the stripe first overall and first in class, Superbike A, having hardly put a wheel wrong all day. With 266 laps, Moto Ace were 8 laps up on the second place team, Village Idiots (John Orchard, Chris Headley, Chad Tieszen, Brandon Cleland), who were first in their respective class, Superbike C riding a Yamaha YZF-R6. Three laps down to the Idiots, was the third place team, Mini Haters (William Shupak, Marv Esterly, Jack Vigneau, Pete Martins), riding a Suzuki GSX-R1000. After the race, Moto Ace’s team owner, Dicki McFarland said, “My guys rode hard, but well within their limits. No big mistakes, it was a good day.” Other endurance class winners were Team Kamikaze LSTD (Ulug Bayramoglu, Frank Shacklee, Ronnie Hay, Darrell Ricks) in Formula 2 Endurance and riding a Suzuki SV650, and Hypercycle (Gilbert Lee Epperson, David Wilson, Michael Humphries, Karl Hansen, Chris Vinson) in Classic Endurance, riding a Honda CBR600F3.
Sunday greeted the racers with almost picture perfect July weather, and played host to 19 separate sprint races and 23 total classes. It was Novice Nemo Cockrell who would take home the most wins, seven in all, claiming the top spot in the Lone Star Track Days – Superstock B Novice, Moto Liberty – Superstock C Novice, Road & Track Suspension – Superstock A Novice, Superbike B Novice, Ridesmart – Superbike C Novice, AVTEQ – Superbike A Novice and Road & Track Suspension – Formula 1 Novice races. Cockrell and his Yamaha YZF-R6 were untouchable all day, with his performances being especially impressive because the race schedule put several of his races back-to-back.
Cockrell’s perfect day was almost matched by Dustin Dominguez, who entered eight classes, winning six of them and finishing in second in the other two. One of the most exciting races of the day was the first one, the Exel Transportation – Formula 2 Expert race, which saw an epic battle between Oklahoma’s Dominguez, and Louisiana’s Darrel Ricks, both riders on Suzuki SV650s. Dominguez would lead much of the race, but Ricks always right there with him. Lap after lap Ricks would show a wheel to Dominguez in many of the corners, but Dominguez was able to keep Ricks at bay. On the sixth lap of the race, though, Ricks made a move on Dominguez as the pair came upon a lapper. Ricks squirted ahead, and left Dominguez to pursue. Dominguez rode hard, but came up a scant .089 seconds behind Ricks at the finish line. Dominguez said, “Ricks was fast today, no doubt. He put pressure on me and he got around the lapper. That’s racing.” Dominguez would get his revenge on Ricks later in the day, however, as the pair would meet three more times, with each time Dominguez getting the better of Ricks.
Dominguez was pulling double duty, and riding his Kawasaki ZX-6R in addition to his Suzuki SV650. Once again he dominated all but one of his races on the green bike, coming up second best only to Derek Wagnon in the SASuperbike.com – Superbike B Expert race. By day’s end, Dominguez had claimed wins in the LMSTrackdays.com – Superstock B Expert, South Central Race Center – Superstock C Expert, Lightweight Twins Expert, Island Racing Services – Superbike C Expert, Superstock D Expert and Superbike D Expert races.
Ty Howard’s hot streak continued at MSR, and he claimed wins in each of the three sprint classes he has been contesting this season, RaceworX – Superstock A Expert, AVTEQ – Superbike A Expert, and Formula 1 Expert. Howard and his KTM RC8 have never been bested during the season on sprint Sunday, but there was some speculation about whether or not that would continue at this event due to a recent knee injury Howard sustained while testing a KTM 350 dirt bike. Howard, who suffered some meniscus damage that will require surgery later this week, said, “I had to make some adjustments [to the bike], and I was compensating everywhere on the track because the knee doesn’t work like it’s supposed to without a little pain.” Howard and his RC8 have lowered the track records at all the other venues the CMRA has made stops at this season, but he wasn’t able to best his own track record this time out. Of that he said, “Even with the bad knee it [a track record] might have been possible. The track was better in the morning than it was in the afternoon, though. It was slicker in the afternoon, dustier. That affected grip. I usually go faster in the afternoon, and I did, but it wasn’t enough.”
Other multiple sprint race winners on the day included Jim Whitten, who claimed victories in the Road & Track Suspension – Superbike D Novice, Ridesmart – Lightweight Twins Novice and Formula 40 Lightweight Novice classes on a Suzuki SV650, and Jordan Scott, who rode his Suzuki SV650 to wins in the OnRoad OffRoad Suspension – Superstock D Novice and Road & Track Suspension – Formula 2 Novice classes.
Not all the cool stuff took place on the track, though. Off track highlights featured a silent auction and sales of 50/50 raffle tickets and merchandise to benefit injured CMRA racer, Jon Broom. The silent auction featured items donated from Colin Edwards, Josh Hayes, Melissa Paris, Elena Myers among others, and brought in more than $1000. Dustin Sperry, who bid on and won an autographed Josh Hayes helmet in the silent auction, also won the 50/50 raffle ticket drawing, and donated his winnings back to Jon Broom.
The CMRA returns to action on August 6-8 at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in Hallett, Oklahoma, for a full slate of road race action, including a 2-hour Mini Endurance race, a 5-hour Big Bike Endurance race, and both Mini and Big Bike sprint races.
For full race results and information regarding schedule and upcoming events, visit ~http://www.cmraracing.com~.