Ricks Rolls, Cleland Rocks at the CMRA’s 2011 Season Opener at Mercedes-Benz of Sugar Land Road Course
The Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association (CMRA) got its 2011 season off to a flying start at Mercedes-Benz of Sugar Land Road Course in Angleton, Texas, this past weekend. Visiting the Angleton, Texas, venue for the first time in over two years, the 2.38 mile, 17-turn track, located about 20 miles due south of downtown Houston, Texas, played host to plenty of hot race action. Typically the first race of the season draws a large entry count, and this race was no exception, garnering 626 sprint and endurance race entries. While temperatures were quite mild, staying right around the 70 degrees F mark, other weather factors still managed to throw race control — and the racers — a bit of a curve ball, as fog rolled in on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, delaying the start of each day’s activities. The fog eventually burned off and made way to overcast skies that later turned partly cloudy, and the racing went off mostly as planned.
Saturday’s racing featured Mini sprint races, a 2-hour Mini endurance race, and a 4-hour Big Bike endurance race. In Mini endurance action, it was RMJ Racing (Brandon Altmeyer, Ryan Max Johnson) on a Kawasaki Ninja 250 claiming a very close overall win in front of the Honda RS150R of Team Sidewinder (Derrick Pattman, Derek Thomas, Linz Leard) and the Ninja 250 of Scarey Racing (Greg Anderson, Sam Carey). After two hours of racing, all three teams finished on the same lap. In the Big Bike endurance race it was the KTM RC8 of Quadwealth/SCRC (Ty Howard, Jeremy Louder, Derek Wagnon) that was able to best the Yamaha YZF-R6 of Village Idiots (John Orchard, Chris Headley, Brandon Cleland, Blake Cochran) and the Kawasaki ZX-6R of Lone Star Track Days (Mark Neimi, Andy Galindo, Gabe McClendon) for the overall win.
Sunday’s sprint racing boasted 19 separate sprint races and entertained the sizable crowds (which included Colin Edwards, Sr.). Mandeville, Louisiana’s Darrell “DJ” Ricks was the biggest winner in the expert ranks, taking home wins in all four of his classes, Formula 2 Expert, Superstock D Expert, Lightweight Twins Expert, and Superbike D Expert, on his Suzuki SV650. Brandon Cleland was also a big winner on the day, taking home wins the South Central Race Center Superstock C Expert, Superbike B Expert, and Island Racing Services Superbike C Expert races. In the novice ranks, it was Ryan Max Johnson who needed to clear the most room in his trophy case when he got home, as the Abilene, Texas, resident claimed victories in the Road & Track Suspension Formula 2 Novice, OnRoad OffRoad Suspension Superstock D Novice, Ridesmart Motorcycle School Lightweight Twins Novice, Fastline Motorcycle School Superbike D Novice and Road & Track Suspension Formula 4 classes. Novice, Will Zamora, had a good day too, bagging wins in the Superstock A Novice, Superbike A Novice, and Formula 1 Novice races.
The CMRA would like to thank our 2011 Class Sponsors for their support of our racers: Fastline Motorcycle School, Island Racing Services, Lone Star Track Days, Moto Liberty, OnRoad OffRoad Suspension, RaceworX, RentMyNinja.com, RideSmart Motorcycle School, Road & Track Suspension, Shogun and South Central Race Center.
The CMRA returns to action at Texas World Speedway on the weekend of April 2-3.
For more information about the CMRA, including detailed race results from MBSRC, visit: www.cmraracing.com.
More, from a press release issued by South Central Race Center:
South Central Race Center riders had a great weekend at the first round of action with the CMRA at the MSR Houston facility. Mild weather was greeted every morning with a heavy fog, that was usually burned off by 9:30am.
SCRC riders won 27 classes.
Mini Sprints: Formula 4-Bridgestone Formula 5-Bridgestone Formula 6-Bridgestone Formula 7-Bridgestone
Mini Endurance: Formula 4-Bridgestone Formula 6-Bridgestone
Big Bike Endurance: Superbike A-Pirelli Classic Endurance-Bridgestone
Expert Sprints: A Superstock-Pirelli C Superstock-Pirelli A Superbike-Pirelli B Superbike-Pirelli C Superbike-Pirelli Heavyweight Twins-Pirelli Formula 1-Pirelli Formula 40 Heavyweight-Pirelli Unlimited Motard-Bridgestone Classic Unlimited-Bridgestone E Superstock-Bridgestone Rookie Expert-Pirelli Novice Sprints: D Superstock-Bridgestone D Superbike-Bridgestone Heavyweight Twins-Pirelli Lightweight Twins-Bridgestone Formula 2-Bridgestone Formula 40 Heavyweight-Pirelli Formula 40 Lightweight-Bridgestone
Ty Howard, Derek Wagnon, Bryan West & Jeremy Louder piloted a P1 Racing prepared KTM RC8R, on the Quadwealth/SCRC team, to the overall Endurance win on Saturday, on Pirelli Slicks. Team Lone Star Trackdays finished 3rd overall and 2nd in class on a Bridgestone slick shod ZX6r. John Hutchinson, Team Quadwealth/SCRC owner, was quoted as “We made some changes to the bike on Friday (practice); I think we can make it much better for the next round. The Pirelli tires and Ohlins suspension were certainly hooked up and the tires were wearing great!.”
On Sunday Brandon Cleland stood out riding a P1 Racing prepped R6, on Pirelli DOT’s to a best time of 1:35.888. Brandon won all but 1 race he entered, missing the call to grid, Brandon had to start the race from Hot Pit, which put him dead last coming out of the first turn. He ended the race in 7th position, with a reported 23 bikes on the grid. Ty Howard rode the stock, Pirelli shod, Endurance bike, for Sunday’s sprint action, netting him 2 wins, with a best lap of 1:34.433 and a 5th in Formula 1. Ty missed the call to grid, for the Formula 1 race and like Brandon Cleland had to start the race from Hot Pit. Only this time, it was a combined Expert/Novice grid of 23 bikes. He was still able to carefully work his way up to 5th place.
South Central Race Center is the regional Pirelli and Bridgestone race tire distributor. As well as tires they carry VP race fuel and Vesrah brakes. SCRC can be reached at (281) 259-5963 or by email at [email protected]
P1 Racing is a certified Ohlins service center, they can do anything from build a full on racebike to regular service on your everyday streetbike. They get the best out of your machine. P1 Racing is also the exclusive trackside distributor for Pilot leathers and Motul lubricants. They can be reached at (281) 255-6004 or email at [email protected]