Race Results 2005

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11/17/2005: Karen and I have just returned from the last race of the 2005 season, the JIMS Las Vegas Nationals in Las Vegas, NV. Karen competed in the Pro Gas class as well as the High Stakes Shootout. I competed in the ET Class, the Super Sport Class and the High Stakes Shootout. It was a very busy weekend!
Karen performed extremely well in the Pro Gas class and was the number 2 qualifier. We had some electrical trouble with the bike that prevented full passes in the first two qualifying rounds, but I was able to locate and repair the problem before the third round where Karen ran an 8.32 second pass.
Karen advanced in the elimination rounds to the finals where she was paired up with the number 1 qualifier. It was a back and forth battle while each had the lead for a short time until eventually the opponent went ahead for the win. Karen was the runner up for the event.
Her performance in this event raised her overall position to fifth in the National points and third in the Western Division.

Both of us competed in the High Stakes Shootout for a shot at the $12,000 prize. Karen won her first round, but unfortunately was eliminated in the second round. I won my first three rounds on Saturday to advance to the top 16. Unfortunately, I lost in the fourth round on Sunday.
I had some difficulty on the Sportster in the Super Sport class. I just couldn't get the rear tire to hook up on the launch. I had a lot of wheel spin on every pass and was unable to run the 10.30 index. I qualified 14th in a field of 25. I was however able to win my first two rounds before being eliminated in the third round. My performance at this event raised my position in the National points standings to 6th and I believe I was 3rd in the Western Division.
Unfortunately, I didn't perform very well in the ET class. I had been running very consistently on Saturday, but Sunday was another story. In the first round I boogered the shift between second and third gear. I had to repeat the shift a couple of times and was unable to run the dial-in that I selected. I was eliminated early.

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11/09/2005: We're getting geared up for the AHDRA season finale in Las Vegas this weekend. The bikes are ready to go! Please stop by and see us in the pits and say hi!

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10/17/05: Karen and I competed in the California Fun Bike Drags last weekend (October 15 and 16) in Sacramento. Karen did great on the Pro Gas bike and was the #1 qualifier in the Pro Gas class! On Sunday during eliminations, Karen advanced to the finals and took runner-up for the class. We found a few minor issues to fix on the Pro Gas bike, and the event was a great tune-up for the upcoming AHDRA finals. I competed in the bracket class on my Springer. On Sunday I won my first round, but lost in the second round on a break-out. Click here for some pics from the event. Looking forward to Las Vegas in November. Hope to see you there!

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10/17/05: I have added some pics from the Phoenix AHDRA race. Sorry there is no fancy interface or thumbnails for these pics. Click here for the Phoenix pics.

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09/06/05: Karen and I have just returned from competition at the Surdyke Mid West Nationals AHDRA race. Once again Karen competed in the Pro Gas class and I competed in the Super Sport and E.T. classes. Karen qualified 4th in a 5-bike field. Her best qualifying pass came in the second round when she ran an 8.30 second pass at 161 mph. The track was a little slick and she spun the tire the entire length of the track. During that round a bolt that secures a standoff tube for the clutch ball/ramp mechanism broke and we were not able to repair it for third round qualifying. I repaired the bike and we were ready for elimination round 1 against the #4 qualifier. Karen performed the burnout in preparation for the pass and the idle speed was higher than normal and would not settle down. I fiddled with the carb linkage and it seemed to come down. However, after I went to find a sticky spot on the starting line the idle speed increased and Karen shut it down. I haven't investigated the problem yet, but we should be able to fix it before the next event in Las Vegas. In Super Sport, I qualified 4th in a 12-bike field with a 10.35 second pass on the 10.30 index. In the first round of eliminations I was paired up with the #2 ranked racer. We both ran under the index for a break-out, but I was closer to the index and won the round. In the second round I ran a 10.37 on the 10.30 index with a .053 second reaction time, but lost to a slightly quicker 10.34 pass. It was a close race! In the E.T. class, I had some very consistent qualifying passes, 12.15, 12.15 and 12.14. In the first round of eliminations I was paired up with the National Champion and dialed a 12.15. We had near identical reaction times. I took the win by 0.04 seconds! Unfortunately, I lost in the second round when I broke out by 0.04 seconds. We are looking forward to the next race event which will be the season finale in Las Vegas in November. We are also looking forward to the Heart Ride in October. As always, thank you for your support!

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09/01/2005: Tri-Ryche Racing has just returned from the AHDRA race in Woodburn, OR. Karen qualified #2 in Pro Gas in a 6 bike field with an 8.144 second pass at 155 mph. We experienced some electrical problems in the waterbox and made just the one pass in qualifying. Fixed the electrical problems and ran an 8.28 in the first round of eliminations. It was a bye run and Karen advanced to the semi-finals. We felt like we were in a position to win this race. Unfortunately, there was a terrible accident that resulted in the fatality of the rider. The event was cancelled after the accident.

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07/06/2005: Man, its been quite a while since I've updated the web site. We've been busy! The good news is that Karen earned her Pro Gas license at the Seattle AHDRA race with an 8.315 second pass! That was a great pass and it stood up as the #2 qualifier for the event. Click here for some pics from the event. More updates soon.

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04/27/2005: Last weekend we competed in the AHDRA Lonestar Nationals near Dallas, TX. Jack had his first win in the Super Sport class! He started launching on the 2-stage during Saturday qualifying - results were not good. But on Sunday he was able to make some career best passes on the Tri-Ryche Sporty and win the class. Jack also did fairly well in the ET class, advancing to the semi-finals before being eliminated on a red-light foul.

Karen made repeated attempts on the Pro Gas bike to license and qualify. Unfortunately, mechanical issues forced her to shutdown the bike after the burnout on each of her attempts. We pulled the motor after the Saturday qualifying session and sent it with an experienced fabricator who will rework the intake manifold and resolve that issue. We hope to get the motor at the Atlanta race and install it at the track for that weekend of competition.



Photo courtesy of Matt Polito, www.DragBikePhotos.com

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02/01/05: We had an opportunity to take the new Pro Gas bike out to the local track for some shake-down runs. Here's a picture of Karen on the bike getting ready to make a pass. Click on the picture to go the the Pro Gas page.


Photo courtesy of J. Walker O'Neill

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01/28/05: Tri-Ryche Racing will be supporting the 2005 Heart Ride! Please take the time to visit their web site. It's for a great cause!

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01/18/05: I am proud to annouce that Bigg's Harley-Davidson is sponsoring Tri-Ryche Racing for the 2005 season! Check out their web site for racing news, events, sales and service specials. We are ecstatic to have Bigg's on board and look forward to building an exciting relationship.

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Organization: AHDRA
Event: S&S Cycle Thunder Valley Nationals
Location: Bristol TN.
Date:

Karen's Pro Gas Results
Jack's ET Results , SS results

Tri-Ryche Racing has returned from the S&S Cycle Thunder In the Valley Nationals in Bristol, TN. Karen gained more valuable seat time on the Pro Gas bike, qualifying 5th in a 7 bike field with a best time of 8.676 @ 153 mph. In the first round of eliminations Karen was paired up with the #4 qualifier, James Kelly and we were confident that she would give him a run for his money.

Unfortunately, an electrical gremlin surfaced on the starting line and Karen was not able to make the pass. So she was eliminated in the first round. The electrical problem was not major and steps have already been taken to remedy the problem.

With this performance, Karen has filtered into the top 10 points holders in the National standings!

Jack qualified 9th in the 18-bike Super Sport field. His reaction times during qualifying were very good and his 0.004 second reaction time in the 3rd qualifying round was the best of all Super Sport riders. With the 0.004 reaction time, he won the reaction time contest!

In the first round of eliminations Jack was paired up with the #10 qualifier. Unfortunately, he lost in the first round on a mental mistake. That was a very valuable lesson learned that will not be repeated!

In the Elapsed Time (ET) class, Jack did fairly well. He had some consistent runs during qualifying and was happy with the bike's performance. He won my first 2 elimination rounds, but lost in the 3rd round on a break-out run. Jack ran a 12.50 on a 12.55 second dial-in. He missed his dial-in by 0.05 seconds.

That's all for now. We are gearing up for the AHDRA race in Woodburn, OR August 27-28. As always, thanks for supporting the Tri-Ryche Racing team!

Jack and Karen Wagner
Tri-Ryche Racing

Organization AHDRA
Lonestar Nationals
DALLAS, TEXAS
APRIL 23-24, 2005

Karen's Pro Gas Results
Jack's ET Results , SS results

04/27/2005: Last weekend we competed in the AHDRA Lonestar Nationals near Dallas, TX.
Jack had his first win in the Super Sport class! He started launching on the 2-stage
during qualifying on Saturday- results were not good. But on Sunday he was able to make
some career best passes on the Tri-Ryche Sporty and win the event. Though there were
obstacles to overcome, like a broken (splined) shifter shaft (the one that come out of
the primary). Karen, with the help of some fellow racers, was able to make the repairs
& keep the Sporty in competition. Jack also did fairly well in the ET class, advancing to the semi-finals before being eliminated on a red-light foul.

Karen made repeated attempts to license and qualify on the Pro Gas bike.
Unfortunately, mechanical issues forced her to shutdown the bike after the burnout
on each of her attempts. After an unsuccessful day of trying to make it down the track,
we made the decision to pull the motor and send it home with an experienced fabricator
who will re-work the intake manifold and hopefully will resolve that issue. We hope to
get the motor back for the Atlanta, GA race. If everything goes-according-to-plan, we
will be back on the track for that weekend of competition.

Our next race will be in our home state of California. The Bakersfield race will
be held on the weekend of May 14-15.

Organization AHDRA
AHDRA Arizona Bike Week Nationals
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
APRIL 2-3, 2005

 

We've returned from the AHDRA Arizona Bike Week Nationals, which was held in Phoenix, Arizona. It was an exhausting weekend running in three classes of competition.
To compete in the Pro Gas class, Karen was required to make three licensing passes to obtain her racing license. On the first two attempts, Karen performed the burnout, then we noticed an elevated idle speed. We discovered that the carburetors were coming loose due to vibration and causing an excessive intake leak. We attempted to correct the problem between rounds. On the second attempt to fix the carbs, we fabricated and installed a gasket. On her third attempt, she did the burnout. The carbs seemed secure so Karen staged and launched. The bike stumbled badly off the starting line and most of the way down the track. It didn't cleared out until about the 1000' mark. So the bottom line is that she was not able to obtain her license, consequently was not able to compete in the program on Sunday.
In addition to the carburetor problems, we found that we have burned up the clutch. In fact we burned up two clutches over the weekend. So we have a couple of issues to sort out, but nothing unusual for having a brand new bike out at the track.

In the Super Sport class, Jack had problems with the Sportster shifting through the gears under load. His best qualifying pass was in the first round, which resulted in qualifying 20th out of 21. Not very good. He did manage to win the first round in eliminations, however. But in the second round he deep staged, which is not allowed in any of the Sportsman classes,
so he lost. Again, the bike would not shift under load. So we'll need to address the shifting issue before the next race.

In the ET class, Jack was very consistent during the qualifying runs. For round one of eliminations, he chose a conservative 12.30 for his dial-in, which he knew he could easily run. Jack won that round and moved on to round two. A decision was made to keep the same 12.30 dial-in for round two, and he ran a 12.36 on the brakes. That's pretty good, but his reaction time was not very good and he lost.

So we have a few issues to work out with the Pro Gas bike and Sportster. We are confident that we can resolve these issues and look forward to our next AHDRA race which will be in Dallas, TX on April 23-24.

 


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