CRA August 2012

CRA August 2012

Friday

The weekend started out with Friday practice on the competition course at Brainerd International raceway. I was running good lap times and was having a lot of fun! In turn 8 I was even dragging my elbow. Friday practice was a Blast! Mason was up to speed and was almost at his fastest laptimes on the short course at BIR.

MTB

After practice Rob Pretts decided he wanted to be a kid again. So we went for a little MTB ride. We did a lot of wheelies and had a great time. Rob went over the bars on his bike doing endos down a hil. So we decided to see who could wheelie all the way over the bridge. I had done it five times and Rob and Mason still haven’t done it once. We decided to go race around the Go Kart track. We did a warm up lap. Mason went to make a pit stop and It was time for Rob and I to plan how the race was going to play out. Our plan was to draft Mason till the last straight then it would be a sprint to the finish line. The race starts and we all sprint to Turn 1 (going about 10mph) we fly around Turn 1 and Mason is starting to gap Rob and I. So I reel him in. Then he cuts me off. Makings me slam on the brakes almost high siding. Meanwhile Rob almost T-bones me! But we had to put that behind us because the race was on and the last sprint was approaching. I would have to take the lead and hold Rob off till the finish line. That is exactly what I did and with a big wheelie across the finish line. I would be Victorious. Well Rob, Mason and I had tons of fun and maybe that could be a new tradition for Friday nights at Brainerd? After that we went to bed Because a big day was on the horizon. The 3-hour endurance was Saturday.

Saturday Sprints

Saturday morning I got up and went for a run. Stretched out and prepared for my day while my dad unloaded the bikes from the trailer. I have to give him a huge Thank You for everything he does for my racing. My first race was Middleweight supersport Expert. I got a great jump and was in second place but not for long. I would come pass Scott Stall on the brakes going into turn 3. I was clear of Scott and charging on. Before the exit of turn three Scott hit my rear wheel and I was down. I had to go to the infirery to get checked out. When they brought me back to the pit. John Anderson, Robert Pretts, My Grandpa and my dad were all working to get my bike ready for the next race. There was only one race in between. I changed leather, Gloves and Helmet. Rob ran and got a tech guy and I was heading out for the Heavyweight supersport race. I got another great start and ended up putting the crash behind me. I fought hard and finished in 2nd place. Next race after lunch was Unlimited Supersport and I ended up taking 4th.

Mason

Mason only had one race on Saturday Ultra light race 1. He made the best of it. Mason got the hole shot and was pulling away. He was beating all of the experts also. It was so fun to watch. Mason held them all off to take First overall. Awesome Job Mason.

3 Hour Endurance

Our endurance team ( World Wide Welding and Machining ) would be the only team that would be competing all on the same bike. John Anderson had built a bike just for endurance racing. He had increased the compasity of the gas tank and built a fresh motor for this race. We would have Shane Fletchers bike as a back up.

I did the first stint and rode till the fuel light came on. I made it 1 hour and 15 minutes. We were leading the entire race and our class this far. For the other teams had pitted around the 45 to 50 minute mark. Next it was Drew See’s turn to run some laps. He ran 50 minutes and we brought him in to put a new rear tire on and have Shane finish. When Drew came in we had some difficulty with the rear quick change. The rear caliper had hung up in the slot so the axle would not tighten. John made a quick desision to have Shane jump on his own bike and go out. The team fixed the rear quick change and had the sign out for Shane to pit after he had only completed one lap. The way the race was set up is you had to fill one bike completely before you could send the second bike out. Shanes bike did not have a quick fill so the least amount of laps he would do would minimize the last pit stop. For Johns bike would have enough fuel to finish but Shanes bike would not. Shane desided he was not coming in. Team World Wide Welding and Machining was still leading for the overall with Tony Kasper chasing him down. Shane was on an Yamaha R6 and Tony was on a Suzuki GSXR 1000. The race ended up being RED FLAGGED and we were the winners according to LIVE TIMING. Shane had made the right desision to stay out. After they accounted for the laps lost from pitstops we ended up first in class and 2nd overall. The endurance race was tons of fun and a Huge thank you to John Anderson for letting Shane, Drew, and I race your bike.

Sunday

Mason and I started the day off with a run to warm up. Did our streching and geared up. The first race of the day was MWSB. It was one of the Greatest battles I have had in a long time. I was battling Jake Zemke. I rode a really nervous race just because I knew a Daytona 200 winner was right behind me. We battled back and forth. He ended up stuffing me going into turn 4 on the second to last lap and I ran wide. I had to close the gap again and passed him on the brakes going into turn 3. Holding Jake off the rest of the lap. This was one of the greatest races of my life. I ended up with the last podium spot. The rest of Sunday was really good I got a 2nd in HWSB, 3rd in UNLSB, 3rd in MWGP, 2nd in HWGP.

Mason had two races on Sunday. The first race of UL Mason again beat all the experts with a first overall. In the second UL race of the day. Mason battled with another Novice racer for first. I could not believe how smart Mason was riding against the larger 450cc motorcyle. I was one pass after another. All comming down to the last corner. Mason was in first amd they bumped coming out of the last corner. This was just enough for the 450 to beat Mason to the line. He finished second but rode an unbelievable race. Great Job Mason.

The last race of the day UNLGP was another great race! I started off in third place and I as chasing down Shane Keavney on his CBR 1000. Every single lap on the back straight he would gain 20-30 bike lengths on me and I would have to make it up on the brakes going into turn 3. On the last lap I just told myself stay as close as you can to him going down the back straight because I knew if he got too big of a gap I couldn’t pass him. So I just left the throttle wide open going though Turn 1 and 2 every lap I could feel my rear tire sliding its way around Turn 2. So at this point I am in desperation to keep up to Shanes 1000. My back end was sliding around Turn 2 at 160 mph and I said “maybe now I Crash” in my head like Valentino Rossi in Fastest (thought it might help). The Dunlop tire is an awesome tire. I was right on him coming down into Turn 3 deep on the brakes. I knew if I pass him to early he would counter attack so I followed him around till turn 6 and held it wide open coming into turn 6 right up the inside. This is where I knew I would run into trouble, the run down into 7 and 8 I knew that 1000 horsepower could come right up the inside down into 7 and it almost did. I seen Shane’s front fairing coming up the inside into turn 7 but I worked way too hard to have it end like that. So I held a super tight line with my knee in the grass and would take 2nd place in Unlimited GP. I know there were not any wins this weekend but there were plenty of lessons learned and great memorys that I will take with me into my future.

Kaleb De Keyrel #51

RESULTS

MWSS DNF

HWSS 2nd

UNLSS 4th

MWSB 3rd

HWSB 2nd

UNLSB 3rd

MWGP 3rd

HWGP 2nd

UNLGP 2nd

Mason

ULSS 1st

ULSB 1st

ULGP 2nd