May 13/14, 2017 – Pacific Raceways
The steadfast, Northwest tribe of racers grouped together again this last weekend at Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA for Round 2 of the 2017 Legal Shield WMRRA Series. Racers hoped for much better weather than last round, however, mother nature ignored their prayers and delivered what some would call torturous; brief storms of rain followed by periods of sun breaks, all to be repeated again, and again, and yet again. This, in Pacific Northwest racing circles, is known as “the rain dance.” Your bike up on stands, wheels off, with a full setup of rain tires/wheels and another set of slicks tires/wheels ready to go at your beckon command, as you gaze up and make your best guess as to what the weather might do. Mother nature is a crappy dance partner in these situations, making some racers go crazy at guessing her bizarre dance habits.
To start off the weekend’s sketchy conditions, the showcase race for the club of the Triumph Seattle / SpeedDealer Motors purse race of Formula Ultra followed immediately after lunch. The track was damp from earlier showers and anticipation rose to see if tire choices would be a factor in this race. The clouds looked to be diminishing as racers prepped their bikes, putting the heat on for a proper tire choice. At Round 1, we saw similar conditions. SuperBike Underground’s Ryan Sutton made the right choice with a full rain setup and took a win in what was hoped to be a battle with 2Wheel Dynoworks rider Mitchell Pierce. Pierce gambled and went with a full slick setup, hoping the track would dry. It did dry, just not in time. So the stage was set for this race in Round 2 to see if the two would battle under similar conditions. As the final call was made for the Formula Ultra show down, riders came out on full rains, full slicks and several riders had a rain front a nd slick rear. Pierce rolled to grid on a rain front/slick rear, Sutton on full slicks. Talk about tension between all the riders on the grid. Out went the light and much to the surprise of many, Micah Kudo on his Burger Boss sponsored Yamaha R6 took the hole shot and jumped out to an early lead with a full wet setup, followed by Mitchell Pierce on his Honda CBR1000rr, Sam Verderico riding a Yamaha R1, Chase Glidden also on a Yamaha R1, and Ryan Sutton on a BMW S1000RR. SuperBike Underground’s Verderico stole 2nd position on lap two from Pierce, who would then grab it back on lap 4. Kudo on his R6 and full rain tires, had an early advantage while he lead the first four laps. Then by Lap 5, the track was beginning to develop a dry line, the 2Wheel Dynoworks rider Pierce, got him for 1st and began to take advantage of a wise mixed condition tire setup with his rain front and slick rear. Pierce began to gap Kudo as Micah gradually fell into the clutches of other riders. Th e Dunlop riding Kudo held onto 2nd through lap 10, when the veteran Verderico relegated him to 3rd. A lap later, the charging Chase Glidden grabbed 3rd from Kudo. During this time, the CBR mounted Pierce kept stretching his lead, riding very well and enjoying his “intermediate” tire setup. Sutton was having a woeful time in 5th as his full slick setup did not pay off. Nearly crashing every lap, Sutton was happy to bring the bike home in one piece in 5th. Mitchell Pierce would take home the win and $1,000 of Triumph Seattle/SpeedDealer purse money with his ingenious Pirelli setup. Sam Verderico took a solid 2nd on a full Dunlop rain setup, and Big Mamma Racing’s Chase Glidden on Pirelli rains took 3rd. During the Formula Ultra awards ceremony, Pierce was very happy and shared with everyone “I’m really excited to be back with my WMRRA family. I love racing and owe a big thanks to 2Wheel Dynoworks and Nels Byersdorf for sponsoring me with so much suppo rt. This purse money is awesome too! I also want to thank DJ and Cliff of Moto G Racing for the Pirelli’s. They rocked and the mixed setup was perfect!” Pierce holding his big, Publishers Clearinghouse style check, beamed from ear to ear for the photographers, relishing the moment as best he could. Later on Sunday’s races, Pierce and Sutton would trade wins, with Pierce winning the Moto Vixens Open SuperSport race for $200 in purse money and Sutton taking the win in the Hinshaw’s Motorcycle Store Open SuperBike heat for a $500 cash prize in purse monies. Each win over the other was by a similar margin, with innuendos of a full season of battles between the two.
The quiet, but productive contender of the weekend goes to Big Mamma Racing’s Chase Glidden, who posted very solid finishes in his classes resulting in him leading the overall points chase for the coveted #1 WMRRA plate after the weekend. Glidden won the I-90 Motorsports 600SS race, took 2nd in the KFG Racing sponsored 600SB heat, earned 3rd’s in both Triumph Seattle/SpeedDealer Motors Formula Ultra and Hinshaw’s Motorcycle Store OpenSB races, and finished with a 5th in MotoVixen’s OpenSS. Glidden, never one to take himself too seriously, joked when he was asked about being in the top spot for points, “I’m not gonna lie, it feels amazing! But with the competition, Ryan, Mitchell, Sam, Wes, and others, it’s probably not going to last for long. For the next few weeks I’m going to focus all my energy on convincing the WMRRA powers to be to cancel the remaining rounds! But strictly for rider comradery, let’s continue with the awards ba nquet!” What a character Glidden is, yet knowing that Mr. Glidden was once a ornery drill sergeant in the Army, one can’t help but wonder if this isn’t his tactical prowess coming out. I guess the jovial suspense will build for two weeks when WMRRA comes together again for the 3rd round of the Legal Shield WMRRA Series at the Ridge Motorsports Park on May 26/27/ with an 6hr endurance race to be held on Memorial Day, May 28th. In the mean time, Chase can enjoy his lead in the points with a total of 242, followed by Mitchell Pierce at 232, and Phillip Melnyk with 207.
WMRRA is a not-for-profit race organization founded in 1974 sanctioning races all over the Pacific Northwest. For more information or how to get into racing with WMRRA, please visit our website at www.wmrra.com