Gavin Elstad wins at Miller Nationals on borrowed bike!
This past weekend, July 26-27, at the WERA National at Miller Motorsports Park Gavin Elstad had a good start to the weekend by posting a lap time of 1.58.0, in the first round of practice. Then things took a turn for the worst when he clipped the curbing coming out of turn 10 (bad attitude) and tucked the front. While the crash was slow and Gavin was okay, the bike tumbled and broke the front left fork, also damaging many other parts of the bike. The team thought the weekend was over, but after some searching we met Kelie Auld who thankfully let Gavin borrow her 2006 Honda CBR 600. Although we knew a win on this bike would be nearly impossible due to the fact that it was completely stock (stock shock, stock exhaust, kick stand, etc) with just a set of race fairings and some almighty Pirelli Tires, he set out. Gavin rode this bike to it’s limit and managed a 10th place finish in the 600 Superstock race and a 6th place finish in the 750 Superstock with a fast lap of a 2.03.6.
Now, knowing he needed more points to get a good hold on the championship, the search began for another bike. This time thanks to Tommy Bednash who let Gavin borrow his 2007 R6. Greg Elstad (Gavin’s dad) stayed up until midnight installing the Nitron Shock, rear sets, changing the bikes geometry and, again, adding Pirelli Tires to make it suit Gavin’s riding style. First practice out Sunday morning Gavin was already beginning to feel at home turning times in the 2.01’s. Then race time came where Gavin lined up in the 4th position for the 600 superstock race, he got an amazing start and took the lead into turn 1. Even with some close battling he would retain 1st position until he crossed the finish line. He was able to turn consistent lap times around 1.59.0. The 750 superstock race is just another tale of dreams when starting from third position, Gavin again got the hole shot and was in a four bike battle for the lead. In the end, he once again came out victo rious. All of which was done on a borrowed bike.
Gavin now has a record of 14 wins, 4 seconds, a 6th and a 10th place finish out of 20 races. He leaves The penultimate round leading the 600 and 750 Superstock National Championships by a comfortable margin of 15 points. He’s also leading four other regional championships.
“I would like to thank all of my sponsors, Lenny Albin at Nitron USA for getting all the different motorcycles working the best they could, Kabuto Helmets, Zero Gravity, Vortex, James Bock and Pirelli Tires for getting my rubber all the way to the track for me, Impact Safe-t Armor, Woodcraft, KWS Motorsports, Motul, Motion Pro, Sidi Boots, Kelie Auld and Tommy Bednash for letting me race their bikes. I would also like to thank the Swensgard family and the Costilla family for being awesome garage mates and for supporting me through out my rough weekend. I would like to thank all of my east-coast fans for supporting me while I was out west. A special thanks to, Papa E, my family and my ‘Super Mechanic’ of a dad. This weekend was a tough and very emotional one. I couldn’t have done it with out all of the support. Thanks everybody, see you at the GNF!”
Also, Thanks to Steve Midgley Photography for the photo.
More, from a press release issued by Dean Dufrene for Camacho Racing:
CAMACHO STUNS COMPETITION WHILE TESTING NEW DUNLOP GP-A PRO TIRES
JC Camacho found himself on familiar grounds this past weekend – at the historical racetrack in College Station, Texas. During the seventh round of the Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association (CMRA) Series, Camacho had his work cut out for him. Starting from the back of the field, Camacho would have to overcome the struggles of not participating in previous rounds. In the CMRA series, starting positions are set by points, not qualifying and due to an ever constricting budget, Camacho and his team would have to start at the back of the grid. After an impressive, but not wholly fulfilling showing at Mid-Ohio last weekend, the young Texan’s goal was to get more seat time on the new, spectacular-performing, American-made Dunlop GP-A Pro tires in an effort to continue building his Raceworx USA/House of Paint Designs backed Yamaha R6. Camacho and Jim Cambora of Raceworx USA manage to find the magical combination needed to produce some of the fastest times on track; Camacho recorded a searing 1:44.960 lap time on the 2.9 mile, 15 turn road course.
The weekend started off with Camacho being asked to fill in for an injured rider on the NEXX Helmets Lightweight Endurance team, and he didn’t disappoint, setting the fastest time in his class with a smoking 2:06.130 lap time on the historic 2.9 mile long Texas World Speedway course on a Ninja 250. Camacho helped his team overcome a mechanical issue early on, regaining 15 positions to finish second in class and 6th overall. Almost immediately after his stint on the endurance bike, Camacho had to get ready for the Team 60 challenge.
The blistering heat, where temperatures approached triple digits on both days, combined with a bumpy, tar-snake laden track that had been too recently treated with sealer, made for a serious lack of grip in some corners, hindering finding a suitable race set-up. The “C-n-C” combination of Camacho and Cambora were up to the challenge, though, finely tuning Camacho’s Raceworx Yamaha R6, and making it able to carve up the fast, twisty Texas road course. This was apparent during the Team 60 challenge when Camacho opted out of the Lemans style start [after a restart due to a red flag] and started from the back of the grid after all particpating riders had made it down the long straight into turn 1 and still catching up most of the field. After debriefing Saturday night, the team came up with a game plan to make some changes for the meat grinder classes – C Superstock and C Superbike – the following day.
The plan seemed to be working as the Sunday morning warm-up showed Camacho had indeed found some speed, but the team wasn’t finished yet. In order to gain some more data, the team opted to sign up for the B Superstock class (750cc) to shakedown the bike and to make a few more changes because Camacho knew that his GP-A Pro tires were capable of going much faster. In this class, Camacho opted to save his fresh tires and went out on race take offs. He crossed the line in 5th place, but more importantly, he came back with valuable data and made some changes. The new rubber was then mounted for the next race.
The C Superstock race saw a strong performance from Camacho, but he had to work for it. The young Texan blasted off the line, but with a mid-pack starting position he was boxed in and had to settle in going into Turn 1. This wouldn’t deter the youngster, however, and he put his head down in hot pursuit of the leaders. Camacho commenced to picking off several of the riders in front of him and set chase for the point man. He was making ground on the leader, but with 6 lap sprint races the margin was just too much to make up in such a short amount of time. Camacho would have to settle for a 2nd place finish. He would say of the new GP-A Pro tire after coming in, “The tires are incredible. It took me a couple laps to really believe what it could do; I could lean it all the way over and get on the gas as hard as I wanted. Dunlop has a great sprint tire with this one [the GP-A Pro].”
Two races down on the day, but it would be a long wait before the next one. The track temperatures continued rising, however, and got to over 140 degrees F, but once again Camacho and Dunlop appeared to be up to the challenge. A best starting position of the day in the C Superbike race meant JC would set chase from Row 4 on the grid. With Yamaha Extended Service / Monster Energy / Graves / Yamaha rider Garrett Gerloff in attendance watching, Camacho made this one of the closest races of the day returning the visitation favor to the AMA Pro DSB rider. Camacho was one of four riders to dip into the 1:44’s this weekend, and he did it on a tire that had never been to this race track before. Camacho was also one of only two riders to get into the 1:44 lap time range on a 600cc bike. Once again Camacho rode away from most of the field while pursuing the leader who had the advantage of starting from pole on the grid. Camacho would then finish in the second position. Although Camacho missed the top of the box, he did turn several lap times that were quicker than the leader recorded.
With the bike packed away for the day, Camacho said of the weekend, “The tires were phenomenal. The rear edge grip is substantially better and the front gives a lot more feedback.” Camacho, deeply humbled, stated “I cannot thank Steve Daughhetee and the Dunlop guys enough for their help this weekend – their knowledge of the tires helped me gain the confidence to keep pushing, and Jim Cambora has my bike on rails. Considering this is the first weekend that the new tires were ever raced here and with the worsening track conditions and we ran in the 44’s, I would say Dunlop’s new tire is the sprint tire to have.” Camacho flashed a wiry grin when asked about the bond he and Cambora are building race by race, “And I think we can go faster.” The results seem to parallel that sentiment. View a video recap of this round on Camacho’s Facebook fan page by visiting https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=320744384755929&set=vb.256768511153517&type=2&theater
Camacho never rides the highs too high or the lows too low, and continues to impress and improve each session on the bike. He was, however, humbled by the news of his fellow racer and friend passing during a race in Mexico, and would like to offer his condolences to Erick Yahir Sanchez and his family. R.I.P. #64
For the 2014 season, JC Camacho is proudly sponsored by Raceworx USA, House of Paint Designs, Nexx Helmets, Axo, Race Engine Services, Traxxion Dynamics, K&N Filters, Vortex, Spy Optics, Penske Shocks, Powerstands Racing and Speedfreakdecals.com. Camacho is seeking additional support to compete in the final round of AMA Pro, as well as the final three rounds of the CMRA schedule. If you are interested in helping young gun JC Camacho achieve his professional racing goals, please visithttp://www.gofundme.com/camachoracing or contact Camacho directly via email at www.facebook.com/jc.camacho.54