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Round 1, Carolina Motorsports Park, April 11-12

4/14/2015

The weather forecast cleared up and the sun was shining for the opening round of the CCS Atlantic Series, held at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC. Rich had never laid eyes on this track before the practice day on Friday.
However, he came out strong on Saturday and again on Sunday, taking a 2nd in the 25-minute GTU race, a 2nd and 3rd in Middleweight Formula 40, and a 7th and 9th in Middleweight Superbike! The 9th place finish was had even while a mechanical problem was developing, one that kept him from competing in the Rookie's Cup Challenge.
Rich's MDM-prepared, Pirelli-shod R6 proved that they're going to be formidable competition in 2015!

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The reveal!

4/9/2015

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It all finally came together, and the GrrR6 is ready for the track, and looks the part too! Rich's lead sponsor (and his better half ) is a big fan of tigers, and her vision was to have the paint and graphics resemble one. ATech Customs did a GREAT job of turning Nicole's vision into a reality!

Rich would like to again thank ATech for not only working on a tight timeline, but for the quality of their work, and the great racer logo!

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Blowing out the cobwebs..

4/1/2015

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As mentioned in the last blog, March 21st and 22nd was to be the first time out on the R6. Maher Motorsports managed to squeeze us in for a much-needed dyno-tune on the bike, and with the mis-matched bodywork in place, it was off to North Carolina for the shakedown run!

What could go wrong? Riding from the pits to tech was the furthest Rich had ridden the R6, it had been torn down and built back up over the winter, the Mille was standard shift, this is GP shift, and he hadn't ridden a motorcycle in what felt like an eternity (5+ months, thank you winter)!! However, we had a hot pair of new Pirelli slicks heated by the new Gen3 Woodcraft warmers, a top-notch suspension setup by Metric Devil Moto, and a half tank of VP racing fuel. With that, we set up our pits and got ready!

The 'new' R6 to the left of my trusty Aprilia Mille, NC Bike

The first session out didn't feel so great, but the second session was better. The third better than that, and so on, throughout the day! Sunday morning, Rich was fortunate enough to be able to book some 1-on-1 coaching with AMA racer, TPM coach, and all around great guy James Shepherd, who helped with some of the finer points of his riding, and helped drop more than 6 seconds per lap! As much as Rich would love to say that he's as fast as James now, James still has a *few* seconds on him. :)

Unfortunately, while putting the new teachings into practice in some traffic, Rich got pushed into a bad line before the last corner at speed, and ended up making a few mistakes, leading to me just tapping the rear tire of another rider, sending him off the bike. Fortunately, the other rider didn't go down, and the Hit-Air air vest did a great job of minimizing Rich's impact with the ground. Also, despite feeling his head hit, the Scorpion EXO-R2000 helmet prevented any concussion. The end result? A sprain of the left AC (shoulder joint for the laymen like Rich), a bruised hip, and bruised ego.

However, we're still cleared to race at Carolina Motorsports Park for the Atlantic series opener in less than 2 weeks!! The folks from Woodcraft and Scorpion have been great in getting the needed replacement parts, the leathers are up with Todd from HEROIC Racing Apparel for some touch-ups and a new pair of their excellent SP-R gloves, and the bodywork is in the capable hands of ATech Customs getting paint & graphics, which we can hardly wait to see & share!!

Thanks to everyone for their messages of support, and a special thanks to those who helped get everything loaded back in the trailer, especially John England, who got suckered into the heavy lifting!

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Round 1, Carolina Motorsports Park, April 11-12

The reveal!

Blowing out the cobwebs..

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