The Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association (OMRRA) teamed up with the Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association (WMRRA) to open the 2023 season of racing in the Pacific Northwest. Rain loomed in the forecast all weekend, but racers and fans in attendance were treated to nearly perfect track conditions and sunshine all weekend long. The first race weekend of the year is almost like the first day of school, with racers showing off their new machines, livery, and leathers. There are also the “new kids,” of which OMRRA welcomed 12 to ranks as new Novice racers. Some racers even pulled straight-As with wins in all of their core race classes.
In the Money Well Lending Title Championship, local star Andy DiBrino took a weekend off from preparing an MV Agusta F3 RR for competition in MotoAmerica’s Supersport class to dust off his EDR-tuned Kawasaki ZX-10R and take wins in Formula Ultra, Open Supersport, and Open Superbike. Hot on his tail was the #1 bike of Kevin Pinkstaff on a Kawasaki ZX-10R prepared by Zlock Racing. David Kohlstaedt also showed impressive performance in these classes on a new-to-him BMW S 1000 RR.
OMRRA’s Clubman Championship, sponsored by MotoCorsa, pits “the rest of the club” against each other in the hunt for the #1c plate. The star of the Ultra Lightweight races was Austin McCabe on his Gray Area Racing KTM RC 390, followed closely by three other RC 390s from the same Eugene, Oregon-based builder Gray Area Racing. McCabe currently leads the Clubman Championship.
Fans were treated to another orange surprise with 2022 Northern Talent Cup winner and MotoAmerica Junior Cup racer Rossi Moor showing up to race at Portland International Raceway for his first time, piloting his 2018 KTM RC 390 R.
In the Middleweight races, Hannah Johnson, Nathan Aldrich, Adam Faussett, Joe Rocha, and Oliver Jervis were all race winners and all on different machinery. The Middleweight classes pit the widest variety of machines against each other, but made for the closest racing all weekend. The 600 races saw former champion Joe Pittman return with a new Kawasaki ZX-6R to take 4/4 race wins. Pittman was followed closely by Brian and Kinzer Naylor and Andy DiBrino riding a naked KTM 890 Duke R.
In the Lightweight Supersport class, Adam Faussett set a new PIR lap record of 1:18.807 aboard his Tiger Tail Racing 2023 Kawasaki Ninja 400.
Tim O’Mahony, Matthew Winter, and Ryan Shanahan are sitting in the top spots of the Langlitz Leathers Vintage Championship.
OMRRA’s next event takes place at Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon, June 9-11, 2023. A second June event follows the week after at Ridge Motorsports Park, in Shelton Washington, June 16-18, 2023.
