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RACE REPORT
RACE REPORT 2005
Well, this year to date has seen us with some highs, some lows, and lots of travelling! With the sidecar school Jean- Guy was teaching at and test sessions behind us, we were looking forward to the new race season.
Round 2, AMA sanctioned event, at Road America, WI., USA was on us in no time, so on the first weekend in June we were off to Wisconsin. Along with our two CSR teams, we trailered the F2 #3 Team of Rigby/Laundrie with us. Lot's of people to share the 22 hour trip with! At Road America, the weather turned out to be unpredictable and severe storm warnings played havoc with the schedule so we always seemed to have to keep one eye on it as it was changing as fast as the weather! Saturday morning practise went well and team CSR pit area was a busy place preparing for the next days heat race. As a result of in coming storms, Saturday afternoon racing was cancelled for everyone, and the SRA heat race was postponed until Sunday morning. So, on Sunday morning, with no practise session, the flag dropped for the heat race. In dry/damp conditions, Jean-Guy played it cool, saving his outfit for the race, and placed 2nd overall. I finished as well and we were all set for the afternoon final. The weather co-operated for the SRA feature race on Sunday. When the flag dropped though, Jean-Guy's outfit made a terrible noise, and immediately, Jean-Guy pulled into the hot pit to investigate the problem, while the rest of us continued on into turn 1. Apparently, due to ? possible metal fatigue and enormous stress placed on the swing arm over the past two season, it cracked and twisted, displacing the sprocked and leaving the drive chain to hang, almost comletely ineffective under power.(The Road America gremlin is alive and well for CSR). Staying on the sidelines, watching the race was out of the question for Jean-Guy and Steve. Knowing he had to be really easy on the throttle to keep the chain on the sprocket and finish the race, they went back out and managed to blow by 19 outfits (mine included), unlap himself and still placed 5th overall! Well, there's always next year right? Diane and I had an
exciting race, mixing it in a bit with some other outfits and had a great
time! We even got interviewed by Elkhart Lake promotional staff who peppered us
with questions about sidecars in general. I think I could now score well in a
"Sidecar Trivia" contest!! (I think they were 'testing' us because we're
'girls'...grin)...... For Team CSR, Round 3 on the SRA East schedule was to be forfeited, in order to attend the second race in the National round, and inaugural 'SUPERSIDE AMERICA' round, at Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif., to be run along with the NASCAR/NEXTEL CUP. We left home the week before the race weekend to give ourselves some extra time for sightseeing along the way. Once again, Ol' Betsy (our 25 yr old RV) was prepped, Jean-Guy's outfit was loaded, and two F2 outfits (Rigby/Laundrie) and off we went. We stopped along the way in Wyoming to visit 'Boot Hill" (no, not the saloon) cemetary (see pic) and the highlight of the trip above all was walking along the infamous Bonneville Salt Flat Speedway in Utah. (pic) The temp was 93F, and we were surrounded by brilliant white salt (reminded me of snow)!! We arrived at Rick and Nida Murray's home in Sacramento, on Wednesday afternoon. Ol Betsy only showed her age once, in Laramie, Wyoming when the heat got to the gaslines, and they had to be replaced. There is always an auto parts store wherever you go in the USA, so this was an 'autopartsstore parkinglot fix". Same thing on our way home when her 'valve spring' broke in Santa Rosa, New Mexica. No trouble finding an auto parts store here either, and with Diane giving up a shoelace, a couple of hours later, Betsy was herself again and took us home without any further problems, even stopping by to 'stand on the corner, in Winslow Arizona', and take in Route 66!!!
Please see accompanying Superside article for the Infineon Race Report. Click here to see the article on the win at Infineon Raceway June '05
AUGUST 13/14 2004 BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, USA When we heard that our SRA colleagues in the WEST were having one of their points round at the newest and most premier track in North America, we could'nt pass up the chance!
GETTING THERE
Departure: Tues., AUGUST 10th, 4pm, from home 7:30pm - Quick stop in Whitby to pick up Steve. AUGUST 11th, 5am - 35Mi north of Cincinnati near Lebanon, Ohio - NO BRAKES on our tow vehicle, YIKES!! Send a sleepy Steve out on bicycle to locate repair shop. He found one, located at the bottom of a steep hill. 7:30am - Towtruck located, vehicle towed dowhill to nearby Lebanon. (thanks CAA)!
11:00am - Both brakes lines replaced quickly and at minimum cost, thanks to .......garage!! 5:00pm, Rush hour in Louisville, Kentucky - we blow a trailer tire on the expressway ..... OH NO!! ..... JG and Steve show how to change a tire in record time! Quite impressive really, they put NASCAR pit crews to shame!
ARRIVE in Nashville, Tennesse with no further incidents; great 'Cajun' cuisine dinner with family and friends and a quick 'nightcap' in downtown Nashville. AUGUST 12th - 10:00 am Depart for Barber (3 hour drive from Nashville). Breakfast at the 'Crack (Cracker Barrel Restaurants) with the best biscuits in the South, right Steve?? Half way to the track we spot Jack Daniels Distillery historical site, so off the Interstate we go. One hour later and still no distillery (jeez), but we did see U.S. Rocket Research centre in Huntsville! 3PM - Arrive at Barber Motorsports Park, in Alabama. The track is but 10 minutes from the airport, restaurants, and hotels yet appears to be nestled in the middle of nowhere in forest covered hills. First think you see upon entry to the grounds is the imposing, five story high Barber Vinage Motorcycle museum. Going past the bronze scultures, colorful flower beds and manicured lawns for about 1 mile, we come across the tiered pit area. We were greeted by most of the west coast teams who had alread arrived. Weather forecast was excellent, due mostly to the hurricane that swept Florida, causing a 'cold' spell in the Alabama area. As a result, instead of the expected 100 degree temps, we enjoyed sunny days with temps in the 75-80degree range all weekend! Perfect! Friday rolled around with sidecars having lots of practise. The 80 foot elevation changes and 16 tricky corners on this 2.5mi, track were challenging and the chicane was one of the tightest ones I've seen!
AUGUST 13TH RACE #1
No heat race and/or qualifying here - the teams are gridded according to registration (as per CCS - talk about lucky!!) Jean-Guy/Steve are on front row for the first race of this double header. The flag drops and Jean-Guy puts down some rubber and heads the group into corner 1. Frank Riolo/Denis passed JG/Steve a lap later and they continue to exchange places untill Frank made the last pass and crossed the finish line first, with JG/Steve a couple of bikes lengths behind!! A very exciting race! Champagne in the pits for everyone after that one! There was a pit 'incident' though, when Frank 'popped' the champagne cork off, sending it flying across the pit lane only to make contact with some pit tootsie's forehead....almost split a gut, we laughed so hard!!
AUGUST 14TH RACE #2 Front row, next to Frank ..... we got a real good start and lead into turn 1, when a lap later, Frank passes me going into one and gets waaay out of shape! I managed to get up next to him at the bottom of turn 1 and we slid around next to each other for the next two turns. Frank pulled me, getting away from me for a lap or two, when out of the blue, 'Mr.Bill' goes by me and I figured I'd better 'get the lead out'!! We passed him back in the next turn and maintained this untill the finish line about 3 seconds behind Frank. Very good clean racing. We had alot of fun racing with the west coast teams these past 2 races and we'll make a big effort to race together again during next years' calendar. MOSPORT RACE REPORT (click here)
We would like to thank the latest member of Team CSR, Bryan Rigby, for all your help and enthusiastic ways, Long Graphics for their outstanding work, Landshark Music Services, and K&R Petroleum Services! |
