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July 23-25, 2011: Sizzling AMRA Chopper Fest 5 Nationals |
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Friday was a hot and humid mess, and we decided to forgo testing and save our energies for Saturday and Sunday.
It rained off and on all Friday night and into Saturday morning. We were concerned, to say the least, that we would have trouble fitting the event in between the rain drops. The sun prevailed, and we were able to race. We were apprehensive, too, because we weren’t going to be following the regular format: there’d be no Time Trials prior to qualifying. |
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Chip Sutinen launching on one of his round wins in Martin, Michigan |
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On Friday, we were visited by this little fella. He stuck around our pit area for about 15 minutes. |
Awesome sighting: World War II motorcycle |
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Saturday morning was very wet and very muggy. The air was so thick we almost didn’t need to use the kick stand for the motorcycle! Okay, not really, but still.
Our first round was to be qualifying for the “E” class, and we ran a slow 11.6664. We bogged at the launch. The track was very sticky. We raised our launch RPM. For our first qualifier in SE (11.50), we did a little better – an 11.6122 – but we still bogged. The next qualifying round was for PE (10.90), so not only did we up the launch one more time, we, of course, upped our shift points. We ran a slow (for this class) 11.4275. Sigh.
Our next two runs – 1st for “E” and then for SE were 11.5162 and 11.5225 respectively – GREAT! Exactly what we were looking for. Unfortunately, the next four runs we were fighting the 100 degree heat (with heat index), a too hot and slippery track, and our own inability to cool it down. We were, however, looking very forward to race day.
We were also quite proud – Chip qualified #2 in SE (11.50) and #10 in PE (10.90) !! Way to go, Chip!
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Jeff Workman visits in the staging lanes |
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Jane Nelson of Shoestring Racing talks with Chip in the staging lanes. |
Chip (left lane) and Erik Nelson of Shoestring Racing (right lane) prepare to launch |
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Sunday morning greeted us with cloud cover. We were again not to have Time Trials in the morning. We SO did not plan for this! We really felt we needed those extra passes. That’s racin’ – it doesn’t always go as planned.
The first round of eliminations was in PE. We knew we didn’t have the power at all for this weather and our combination, so we used the pass to dial in our numbers for SE. It worked, too – we ran an 11.4670. Just enough to let us know we had break-out power. We were ready for SE.
We won our first round of SE against Kimberley DeShields. Chip had a pretty bad light against DeShields, so he stretched a couple of shifts and then got ahead of her and kept just in front for the win.
Our first round of “E” eliminations had the same result – another win for Team Half Fast. That first “E” round was followed closely by our second “E” round of eliminations and Chip was not able to eke out the win on that one. That left us with just SE (11.50) to compete in.
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Chip having a conversation with David Stanley of Grey Ghost Racing while Zena waits patiently. |
Race Day Sunday – Chip launching for the win against the formidable Kimberly DeShields (far lane) |
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Chip inspecting the bike between rounds. |
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Ready, set, gone! |
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Chip launching for the win against Jeremy Abbott |
Jane and Erik Nelson (far left) of Shoestring Racing cheering us on |
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Pit side. |
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The second round of eliminations in SE was a BYE because Chip was the number 2 qualifier. We’ll take it ;).
The third round was the semi finals and we were able to eke out the win against Jeremy Abbott, even though he was fighting shifting problems the whole way down the quarter mile. We’re going to the finals!!
This was an exiting race. Chip made it to the finals for the first time in the AMRA (he had been there 3 or 4 times in AHDRA). We were not able to get the win on that one, the win went to Bill Grove who ran an 11.7434 at 106.85 miles per hour to our 11.7103 at 113.38. Yes, we lost on a hole shot!
This weekend was phenomenal. And we’re pleased as punch to announce that Chip is #4 in the nation in SE (11.50), #9 in PE (10.90), and #14 in “E”!! We have a chance at the #1 spot for the season, too, in SE. There are only 60 points separating Chip from the #1 spot. It’s a very tight top-5 field!
See you soon at the Fall Nationals Season Finale in Bowling Green, KY, in September!
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Look for more updates on our Main Gallery Page. |
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