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redelk

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posted April 11, 2006 07:07 AM

Edited By: redelk on 11 Apr 2006 08:18

Return of Backmarker Racing... in a

A Recap of the season opener

From CMRA's February online newsletter:

SHOGUN MOTORSPORTS MINI ENDURANCE SERIES: ROUND 1
OAK HILL RACEWAY - HENDERSON, TX
FEB. 18, 2006

Despite cold and damp conditions, Team K&N took over where they left off last year in Mini Endurance racing by winning the opening round of the Shogun Motorsports Mini Endurance Series held at Oak Hill raceway. Team K&N, which won every round of the series last year, finished the 4-hour race with a one-lap margin over second place finishers Mini Backmarker Racing, despite crashing three times.

The Honda RS85-mounted team, which includes new members Ryan O'Donnell and Kent Moffitt, in addition to returning member Tyler McDonald, also topped the Formula 4 division and leads the standings in both categories with six rounds remaining on the schedule.

Mini Backmarker Racing (Pierson Callahan, Tony Wang, Zac Chapman) claimed the overall runner up spot and second in the Formula 4 class on a Yamaha TZ85.

From Road Racing World's website report on the weekend's races:

The Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association kicked off its 2006 campaign with round one of its 10-round series at Oak Hill Raceway near Henderson, Texas, this past weekend. Despite temperatures that dipped into the lower 20s, 520 sprint entries and 29 mini endurance teams braved the cold to compete in the opening round.

Action got underway on Saturday with the first round of the Shogun Motorsports Mini Endurance Series, which pays a $500 purse. The 4-hour race was won by Team K&N. The Honda RS85-mounted team also topped the Formula 4 division. Mini Backmarker Racing claimed the overall runner up spot and second in the Formula 4 class on a Yamaha TZ85.

From CMRA's April online newsletter:

SHOGUN MOTORSPORTS MINI ENDURANCE SERIES: ROUND 2
MOTORSPORT RANCH - CRESSON, TX
MARCH 25, 2006

Mini Backmarker Racing broke the stranglehold that Team K&N has held on CMRA Mini Endurance Racing by becoming the first team other than Team K&N to win a CMRA Formula Mini Endurance round in over a year. Mini Backmarker Racing, with Tony Wang and Zac Chapman sharing the riding duties on a Yamaha TZ85, came from behind, passing Team K&N with two laps to go in the two-hour race to win the second round of the series, held at Motorsport Ranch, in Cresson, Texas.

Team K&N (Ryan O'Donnell, Kent Moffitt, Tyler McDonald) took the early lead in the race on their Honda RS85 and held it until Chapman got back on board for Mini Backmarker Racing and ran down Moffitt to take the win. "We were almost a lap down on K&N when I went back out," Chapman said. "I just put my head down and I caught Kent Moffitt and passed him on the second-to-last lap. It was really close."

Mini Backmarker Racing and Team K&N also finished first and second in the Formula 4 division.

The CMRA Formula Mini Endurance Series takes a two month break before continuing with round three of the series at Motorsport Ranch on June 9-11. The event is scheduled as a two-hour race.

From Road Racing World's website report on the weekend's races:

In the Formula CMRA Mini Endurance race, Mini Backmarker Racing came from behind to beat Team K&N by only six seconds after two hours of racing. Moose Racing rounded out the podium and the Formula 4 division scoring, while Excel Racing grabbed the top position in the Formula 5 class with a ninth overall finish.

A quote from a post I put up at Sportbikes.com:

"This is BMR's trophy from the Mini Endurance race at Cresson, TX. There are four classes that run in this event that range fro 50cc minis to Kawasaki EX250s. Our bike is a '92 Honda RS125 chassis with a '05 Yamaha YZ85 motor stuffed in it. Laugh if you wish, but that little mini had the same average lap speed as our '99/'00 Yamaha R6 did in the 4 hour big bike endurance race. It's all about corner speed, baby!

The team we beat for the overall championship of this event has not been beaten for quite some time. As a matter of fact, over the last four seasons, they have twenty-one 1st place finishes, two 2nd and 4th place and one each of 3rd and 5th place. Nothing lower.

They have at least three overall season championships and one of the fastest riders in the CMRA circuit. Not to mention that this same rider qualified 18th at the recent Daytona 200 and 11 in the Supersport class. Did I mention that their super fast rider was just 16 years old? He is and has been in the CMRA expert class since he was 11.

Their team is sponsored and ran by one of the biggest Honda/Yamaha dealers in OK and his family has a long history of racing both here in the U.S. and internationally. It has been rumored that their mini endurance bike has close to $10,000 sunk into it... if not more. Their pit stops look like some straight from the Daytona 200 and for good reason. It is the same pit crew. They can do a two tire change and refuel their R6 big bike endurance machine in less than 17 seconds. They are even faster on their mini. For us, it would be more like five minutes.

Still, with all their equipment and experience, it was Tony and Zack that handed them their first defeat in quite some time."

Though this is about our Mini Endurance efforts, our big bike sprints and endurance racing has had little to "write home" about so far. Many of what we call "guest riders" on our endurance teams are not directly part of the BMR sprint racing efforts, thus I don't include thier outstanding sprint results over the past two events. Let's just say that some have done well and others have not done as well.

Our last event at Cresson was also the season opener for the big bike endurance season. In the 4 hour event, we finished 5th in class (about a half lap away from our first class podium in "BBE") and 21st out of 47 teams.
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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway