The first round of the MRA season and the first race of the year for Josh Galster was a success this last weekend at High Plains Raceway in Byers, CO. With Galster on new machinery, he was able to finish with 4 class wins, a 7th in Open Superbike, even after running off track, and a 4th overall in the Race of the Rockies Championship Series race, which combines the premier 600cc and 1000cc class for the overall Number #1 plate in the MRA. The new bike he is competing on is a 2010 EDR-built Yamaha R6 that is backed by Grandprix Motorsports and gpguns.com. With only a few sessions on the bike prior to the race weekend, Josh had some work to do to get comfortable on his new ride. Barry Wressell, Dave Ross, Scott Jensen, and Alyssa Warner played huge roles in setting-up the bike so that Josh was comfortable for the first race, Middleweight Supersport. In his first race of the year, Galster got a less then stellar start but was able to make it through Turn 1 in the lead and kept that position until the checkered flag to take his first win on the new bike. In the Heavyweight Supersport race, Josh still was not comfortable with launching the bike and came through Turn 1 in fifth. He was able to pick off the riders one by one and crossed the line in 1st after the opening lap, keeping his lead to the end. After putting the bike through a couple race pace conditions there were still changes that needed to be made to the chassis, suspension, and ergonomics of the bike for Sunday’s races. After talking with Barry Wressell at KFG Racing, and Dave Ross from STM Suspension, and Scott Jensen from Moto Garage, Josh and Alyssa changed out springs, re-positioned handlebars and rear sets, and made some changes to the suspension to get ready for Sunday’s races. Sunday was yet another day of many suspension changes with little time to test the new settings. They were able to get a setting that worked pretty well in the Middleweight Superbike Class because Galster ran a 1:47.954 which was only a couple tenths off the class lap record from last year. In the Middleweight Superbike class it was Galster and Shane Turpin, with Boulder Motorsports, battling back and forth throughout the race. Galster was not able to shake Turpin on his Ducati Superbike so it was a nose-to-tail race with several lead changes and drafting passes. When the checkered flag was waving at the finish line Galster had kept Turpin behind him for the win. In the Open Superbike race Josh battled with the 1000cc bikes on his 600cc R6. He was in fifth looking to make a pass for fourth and was setting up a pass on the outside of Turn 3 before the straight-away but used up all the track and then some and ran off into the dirt. He managed to get back on the track in 7th and finish in the same position. In the Race of the Rockies GTU class, Galster finished 1st in the class, but with Race of the Rockies GTU and the Race of the Rockies GTO classes combined together in the same race, Galster finished 4th overall in the race behind the likes of the Ducati 1098 Superbike, GSXR 1000, and BMW S1000RR. The overall finish of the race determines the Race of the Rockies Championship Series class and the MRA Number #1 plate at the end of the year. The race was pretty uneventful for Galster who was a considerable distance in front of the next 600cc bike and was a little ways behind the three 1000cc bikes in front of him. “This weekend was great to get on the bike and get some testing time in before heading to the AMA National race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA May 13-15. I’m excited to continue to improve on the bike and race again in the AMA Pro Racing Daytona Sportbike class.” Galster said at the end of the weekend. He also wanted to thank his mom and dad for all their help in the pits over the Mother’s Day weekend, Oscar Solis from Dunlop and his crew, and all his sponsors, Grandprix Motorsports, EDR Performance, California Superbike School, Slednecks, Dunlop, Bazzaz Performance, Arai, LeoVince, KFG Racing, gpguns.com, Scorpion Leathers, Attack Performance, EBC, Lockhart Phillips More, from a press release issued by CayloR-Made Motorsports: Opie Caylor and his CayloR-Made Motorsports Crew descended upon Barber Motorsports Park this past weekend for the WERA Sportsman event. All of the participants were greeted with warm temperatures and pleasant conditions following the tornadoes and bad weather that ravaged much of Alabama. On Saturday, Opie was quickly up to speed in practice on his Freewheeling Suzuki sponsored GSXR1000 and was into the 1:28’s in only the second session. Opie headed into the Heavyweight Solo 16 with plenty of confidence and a brand new set of Dunlop N-Tec dot’s. Determined to learn more about the new bike and take the win in the process, Opie launched hard off of the eighth row of the grid. By lap two, he had taken control of the lead and set off on a torrid pace. When the checkered flag dropped, Opie had 51 seconds on second place. On Sunday, the races got underway with A Superstock Expert up first. Opie got a great launch off of row four and charged aggressively through the pack. Leading across start/finish on the first lap, Opie lunged into the low 28’s and opened a manageable gap by mid-race. At the checkered flag, Opie had 20 seconds of breathing room and took his second win in as many races of the weekend. The third and final race of the weekend for Opie came in Formula One Expert. He had to dig deep knowing the toughest competition of the weekend would be in this race. Opie’s leap off of the line had him past the first two rows by turn one! He rolled around the outside of two more riders in turn two and was all the way up to second by turn five. He latched onto the back of last year’s WERA Superbike Champion and made a pass for the lead exiting the tunnel turn. Onto the front straight for the first lap, Opie put his head down and attempted to run away. He turned the fastest lap of any rider for the entire weekend, a 1:27.732, and started to open a gap over second place. The lead would grow to almost ten seconds before Opie nabbed the checkered flag for the third time in the same weekend. Afterwards, Caylor said “What a weekend! Thermosman has my GSXR1000 working so well! Honestly, that might be the best bike I have ever ridden, And the crazy thing is that the engine is stock! All that bike has is an M4 exhaust system, an EM Pro, a BMC air filter and the Ohlins suspension – other than the Sharkskinz bodywork and a set of Galfer brake lines, that bike is stock! I even ran it on pump gas!” Other CayloR-Made Motorsports supported riders enjoyed being on the box too. Barbers 4 Real sponsored Kevin Mills and Matt Dalke battled for the win in the Novice Heavyweight Solo 16. Mills had to settle for second while Dalke went on to win that race and finished second in Novice A Superstock, A Superbike and Formula One, on Sunday. John Risconsin won the Novice C Superstock race which had three waves. He also finished 2nd in Mediumweight Solo 16 and C Superbike and took third in B Superbike. CCF Office Solutions Fred Turner and Derek Mugge battled for the win in Senior Superbike Novice with Turner prevailing and getting his first ever win! Mugge also battled to second place in the Clubman class aboard his Aprilla 550. Ian Coleman took wins in both B Superstock and B Superbike Novice while Nikk Rogers finished third on three different occasions in Novice A Superstock, A Superbike and Formula One. When the dust settled, CayloR-Made Motorsports supported riders amassed a whopping 20 podium finishes including eight race wins! We couldn’t have done it without the help we received in the “CayloR-Made Motorsports Compound” Wayne and Debbie Degourney, Dave and Lexi Krier, Dan Neves, Dani Mugge and family, and all the parents, children, and friends that helped with fuel, tire warmers, grid positions etc.! The CayloR-Made Crew returns to action at Road Atlanta on June 25-26. Come out and show your support! More, from a press release issued by Damian Cudlin’s publicist: Damian Cudlin steered his Alpha Technik Van Zon Kraftwerk BMW to a pair of strong results at the second round of the IDM series at Oschersleben on the weekend, including a podium finish; the first for Cudlin in the SBK category. Suffering from set up issues on Friday’s free practice, Cudlin and his crew made huge progress in Saturday’s qualifying sessions allowing the Aussie to secure 8th position on the grid in the highly competitive field which saw less than a second cover the top 10 riders. Confident that his race pace was stronger than that of some of his rivals, Cudlin anticipated more progress in Sunday’s two Superbike races. After topping the morning’s warm up session, Cudlin and his team made the final preparations to his BMW and lined up for race one in good shape. As the lights went out to signal the start, Cudlin launched off the line but got boxed in at Oschersleben’s first turn and lost vital ground on the leading group. Cudlin moved to 10th at the end of the first lap and continued to gain positions early in the race. Cudlin soon found himself in 8th position but with some work to do to reconnect with the 6 rider group up ahead. Reducing the gap significantly each lap, Cudlin made up ground on the leading riders however a crash involving Ducati’s Dario Gussipeti and KTM’s Stefen Nebel brought out the red flag, forcing a two-part race. Unable to join the restart from injuries sustained in the crash, Gussipeti and Nebel were forced to watch from the medical centre as the second leg got underway. This time Cudlin blasted from the line and moved into 4th position behind pole sitter Smrz, championship leader Bauer and arch rival Ranseder. The four set a hot pace from the start before Cudlin launched an attack on Ranseder, moving into 3rd. Suddenly Bauer fell victim to engine problems and Cudlin, Ranseder and reigning champion Muggeridge fought over 2nd place. Unable to catch Smrz ahead, Cudlin held his rivals at bay and crossed the line in 2nd position, giving him a 3rd placed finish on combined time. “That was an action packed race” Cudlin explained in the press area. “The first leg cost me a lot of time but at least I was able to line up for the restart unlike Dario and Stefen. The crash was awful and I really hope those guys will be ok. I put my head down at the restart and hung onto the front guys for as long as I could and thankfully it was enough to secure a podium finish.” In the afternoon’s second race, Cudlin made another clean start but clashed with Team Yamaha’s Sacha Hommel in turn one, costing the Aussie more valuable time. This time Cudlin aggressively carved his way to 4th and began chase on the leading trio of Smrz, Muggeridge and Teuchert. Lapping faster than the leaders for the first half of the race, Cudlin soon passed Teuchert and got within striking distance of Muggeridge and Smrz, setting up for an intense battle in the last part of the race. Unfortunately the charge to the front cost Cudlin’s rear tyre, and the BMW man lost vital time as he visibly battled with his sliding machine. Unable to counter Bauer’s attacks, Cudlin dropped to 4th but held his healthy advantage over Ranseder in 5th. Smrz went on to take the double victory ahead of Muggeridge, Bauer and Cudlin. “Although we didn’t finish on the rostrum this time, I felt we were stronger and were able to challenge for the win at one point. We are just losing out in the final stages of the race when the tyres drop off. Once we get on top of this problem I expect to be on that podium a lot more often.” Cudlin said. “Overall though I’m satisfied with our progress and I really want to thank my crew for the great work they put in this weekend. We are getting stronger every time and I hope that we can celebrate our first win in SBK sometime soon.” Cudlin and the Alpha Technik Van Zon Kraftwerk BMW Team will race at the next round in Nurburgring on the 21/22nd of May.