WSMC Round 5 May 21, 2006 At the fifth round of Southern Californias’ WSMC roadrace series at Willow Springs, San Diego resident and current WSMC #1 plateholder Kenny Kopecky had a day of mixed results. Kopecky led all three of his races on the day but the final results were a 3rd (750 Superbike), a 2nd (Formula Twins Heavyweight), and a 1st (BOTT Heavyweight). Kopecky holeshot the first race of the day, 750 Superbike, from the third row and led for a lap until being overtaken by class points leader Karl Lowry, Jr. at the end of the front straight. Shortly thereafter Dale Keifer powered past on the back straight, and the finishing order was set though Keifer challenged and briefly led Lowry before settling for a strong 2nd at the end of the 8 lap sprint race. Running back-to-back races, Kopecky immediatly returned for Formula Twins Heavyweight…where he again led for a lap and was quickly demoted to 2nd position by former class champion Claudio Szyszkowski (Duc 999R) on the first run down the front straight. This race saw several of the top Willow Springs twins class competitors crash out, including 2006 WSMC race winners Ademar Nunes and Norman Roy in separate accidents. Kopecky rode at a reduced pace and encountered a charging from behind Marlon Ibarra (Duc 749R) on the final two laps. Kenny responded with his fastest two laps of this sprint to narrowly take 2nd from Ibarra by 0.412 of a second. Szyszkowski dominated the race, winning by 18.5 seconds. After making some changes to the Moto Forza prepped 999R-05, Kopecky returned for his final race late in the day, where the third holeshot of the day turned into a dominant performance by the #1 overall rider at Willow Springs from 2005. In two successive laps Kopecky broke his own class lap record, running as much as 3 to 5 seconds a lap faster then the riders who challenged and beat him early in the day. The final margin of victory was 21.8 seconds over class point leader Szyszkowski, who in turn beat Ibarra on his middleweight bike by another 4 seconds. At the end of the day Kenny said, “Well, it’s always a learning process and we left our 2005 set-up and tried a couple different settings for those first two combined races. We were able to put in a couple of 1:24’s early in 750 Superbike, but as soon as Karl and Dale dipped into 23’s we knew we weren’t going with them. Being well clear of the rest of the field was comforting as we were concerned about the race immediatly after, and wow big surprise! Being comfortable on the bike is very important to me, and this second race was, in a word, un-comfortable! We ran our slowest race laps ever on the 999R in Formula Twins and after 20 miles of gritting our teeth ended up less then half a second ahead of third. Our hats off to Claudio, he was dialed in on his 999R and rode really well…it only took about half a lap after he passed us to realize this was his race and we just wanted to get through this one so we could re-group and challenge later in the Ducati contingency event. We sure hope the guys who fell will be okay! The last we heard there was nothing too serious and Ademar and Norman should be back out racing soon. We send our best wishes for a quick and speedy recovery to all the riders who fell over this weekend.” Kenny and his family changed some front end settings, as well as mounting a new rear Dunlop slick for the final event of the day. He added “The final race was what we enjoy doing the most, which is riding fast on the Ducati on the racetrack! The setting changes worked, the new Dunlop was great and we carved around the place really well. The wind was up a little, and of course we wish we could have run so strong early in the day. We’ve learned yet again, and we’ll give it another try at the next race. Thanks to Ducati North America for their contingency support again this season…we’re very pleased to have won another race in their program! A big thanks also to TrackDaz, as we’ve reached 100% booking with our coaching program with them and are looking forward to continuing this into the future.” The next WSMC race is June 16-18, 2006 and will feature double points for the competitors. More, from a press release issued by CMRA: Tyler McDonald and Bryan West each scored upset victories over defending series champion Ty Howard at round four of the CMRA Championship Series held at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in Hallett, Oklahoma, but in the end it was the veteran Howard who went home with the most wins and the most cash. After finishing 10th in the Formula Xtreme race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, on Saturday, Howard hopped a red eye flight to Oklahoma City and then drove to Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in northeastern Oklahoma to compete in Sunday’s sprint race action. Running on just a couple of hours of sleep, Howard started off the day by topping McDonald in the Racing Performance Services B Superstock Expert race, a race that pays a $150 purse. However, McDonald came back strong in the Komodo Racing C Superstock Expert race, which pays a $250 purse, passing Howard on the second lap before pulling away to a four second margin of victory. The 16-year-old McDonald was pleased with the win, especially since he was making his first start since breaking his wrist just three weeks before at California Speedway. West got into the mix by beating Larry Denning in the RaceworX A Superbike Expert race to pick up a lion’s share of the $150 purse paid in that class. However, West’s biggest coup of the day was when he passed Howard to win the Pace American Trailers Formula 1 race. Besides claiming a big chunk of the $1000 purse paid for the class, West also collected $150 for winning the Island Racing Fast Lap of the Weekend award for posting a 1:17.467 during the race. But Howard was not to be outdone and came back later in the day to beat West in the Sum of all Parts A Superstock Expert, which pays a $150 purse, and then topped McDonald in the Motorcycles Unlimited C Superbike Expert race, which pays a $150 purse. In all, Howard’s finishes were good for over $7000 in CMRA cash and Kawasaki contingency money, while McDonald and West collected slightly less. Among the other money winners was Suzuki SV650-mounted Dane Westby who claimed top prize in the Roadracingworld.com Formula 2 Expert race. This race pays $150 purse to the top five finishers in the class and Westby dominated the event, finishing 15 seconds ahead of Zac Chapman in second. Other money winners included Clayton Schutz, who topped the Action Kawasaki of Mesquite Clubman race which pays a $100 purse, and Dustin Dominguez, who won the South Central Race Center D Superbike Expert race, which pays a $150 purse. In the Northwest Honda 125 GP race, which pays a $150 purse, Alex Welsh waited until the final turn of the eight lap race to pass Derek Wagnon and take the victory, while Eric Falt led the Formula 40 Lightweight Expert class from flag to flag to take the winner’s share of the $150 purse paid by Avteq. In the Novice divisions, Danny Kelsey turned in a five-win performance which included victories in the WINN Racing Formula 1 Novice and the Moto Liberty C Superstock Novice races. In Saturday’s six hour endurance race, Northwest Honda Racing came out on top of a battle with Desert-Rats.net and Junk Yard Dog to win round three of the Shogun Motorsports CMRA Endurance Series, which pays $1125 purse. In the end, Northwest Honda Racing came home two laps ahead of Junk Yard Dog, while Desert-Rats.net dropped to third overall with after suffering radiator problems. 2Wheelz.com finished fourth overall and first in the C Superstock division, while Faltless Racing won the Formula 2 division in seventh overall. Lone Gunmen won the C Superbike class in ninth overall. In Saturday’s mini sprint action, Kent Moffitt won the Formula 4 race, Dustin Dominguez won the Formula 6 class, Derek Wagnon took the win in the Formula 5 division and Jason Keene topped all entries in the Formula 7 class. The Junior Motard race was won by Chris Haesemeyer. The CMRA returns to action on June 10-11 with a full slate of sprint racing, plus a six hour big bike endurance race and a two hour mini endurance race at MotorSport Ranch near Cresson, TX.