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Route 66 Raceway, Joliet IL (July 22 - 23, 2006)
Getting the luck we've been missing
Saturday, July 22, 2006 - by Kevyn Ashbay (crew)
First I would like to congratulate James and Amanda Visser, who got married last night in a ceremony down by the river. It was very nice and wish them the best of luck. I'd also like to congratulate Brina Splingaire who took home the Wally at the Route 66 Division 3 race last weekend in her Super Comp car. Its probably the most beautiful car I've ever seen and those kind of cars always seem to do better than the ugly ones. (which is how its supposed to be).
On to today, being that we don't to race on Saturday we got a start of about 6:30. Our only stop this trip was to Gas City for a small bill of only $293.01 in diesel. Back on the road, we got to our spot at Gate 11, we were surprised to see that the gate was open. Apparently there was a demolition race at the dirt oval and there were cars driving out the gate for most of the evening. It had rained a little so people were trickling out when they got fed up with the dirt and mud.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
After our two time trials, things were looking good. Our times were right where they should be, nothing was breaking and I even learned that Bob had fixed a head gasket before it had a chance to screw up our weekend. I guess testing does help! First round came up and we unlucky enough to have good friend of our in the other lane, Robert Sutterline, who has been on some extreme hard luck all year only posting a few round wins. His luck turned worse and our better when he redlighted sending us to the second round. Next we had a nice looking 'busa ridden by someone we were not familiar with (so sorry for not having a name). I guess things were just going our way because he missed a gear change after pinning a .004 reaction on Bob. So going into third round we hadn't had a full race on the day but as racers always say, as long as its fair, we will take 'em however we can get 'em." Donnie Banaski was in the other lane for our third round and that turned out to be our demise. Even though he broke his normal bike a couple weeks earlier, he took is borrowed bike all the way though the finals beating Tom Ewig to take the win. We were just in his victory path I guess. All in all, it was a great weekend. I will never complain when we make it to the semi finals. Although I wouldn't mind winning one of these sometime, it will definitely make it sweeter when we do because we know how hard it is to get there, especially with the season we've been having.
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Brainerd International Raceway, Brainerd MN (July 5 - 8, 2006)
Into the great North...
Wednesday, July 5, 2006 - by Bob Boruta (driver)
We pulled out of
our driveway at about noon and got no more than 10 miles from home and almost
got into a head on 
crash
on M-82. An oncoming car was passing another car and we did not have room to
veer toward the shoulder because there was a girl riding her bike on the edge of
the road. Uneventful trip otherwise. Stopped at Houghton Lake for fuel, Gaylord
for lunch, and for a mere $6.25, they let us cross The Bridge. We stopped at the
rest area near Seney to check how the 'Busa was riding in the trailer. The
"Canyon Dancer" strap (name brand of the strap to attach a tie-down to the
handlebars) was slipping - twisting on the grips - so we readjusted that.
Discussed some "customization" needed for the "Canyon Dancer" strap to stop the
slippage. We drove until about 10:00 PM and stopped at a small truck stop in
Covington,Mi, micro'd some spaghetti and garlic bread for supper then took our
showers and went to bed.
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Got up about 8:00
and took out the 'Busa for a ride to L'Anse for breakfast at the legendary
HILLTOP BAKERY (which of course buying one of their sweet rolls - that are about
the size of a loaf of bread). After breakfast, headed back to the trailer,
put the bike away, made
some custom alterations to the Canyon Dancer strap (which proved to be
successful for the rest of the trip), and headed toward BIR. Stopped to stretch
at a scenic lookout / rest area on the big hill in Duluth MN. Got off the
highway for the last part of the trip on a 2-lane to Brainerd, topped of the
fuel and turned the wrong way on the 2-lane, but got to see a really cool wide,
rocky, river in Covington, as well as the origin of Northern Pacific Railroad
before we found a place to turn around. Pulled into BIR at about 5:16 PM
(according to the sign at the entrance) - just as they opened the gates. Paid
our money, then went looking for a good spot to park for the weekend. While
parking, I spotted that the right rear tire on the trailer had a big bulge on
the tread, so..... dug out the trailer spare, borrowed a floor jack and got it
changed. Got the 'Busa out to go to dinner at Perkins for a salad bowl, also
made a stop at BestBuy for some camcorder tape. Back at the trailer, used the
showers on sight and got out the chairs and relaxed for a while before bed and
listened the "laughing" loons flying overhead.
Friday, July 7, 2006
Took the bike through tech and
waited for T&T to start at 10:00AM. We let a couple cars run down the track
before we went out hoping to let the strong crosswind let up a bit, no such
luck. It was steady at 14mph with gusts to 18 - 20mph. First run was ok 9.931
(right lane) but the clutch bumped on the 2-step. For run 2, slowed down the
2-step a bit and ran another 9.936
(left lane) - with stronger winds. Only problem was a lot of tire spin on both
lanes, so decided to slow down the engagement a-bit. While the clutch work was
being done, the water pump was on the bike to cool it off. When I was done with
the clutch I noticed that the pump wasn't running. Checked it out, and it had
power so I dug out one of the spare pumps, found out that neither of the 2
spares worked either. Was told that there is a boat store outside the gate, so I
hopped on the cub and ran out to try to find a new bilge pump. They had the same
one that I use so that took care of THAT problem, BUT........Shelly wondered why
the generator was not running anymore (was trying to
listen to a radio for
weather). Tried the switch, nothing. Went outside tried the switch, nothing.
Checked out anything I could but found nothing wrong. We talked it over for
about 2 minutes and decided to pack it in and head home because without a
generator, there was no way to cool the bike between runs. (We were fine for
"living necessities" because we still had the battery and propane to run the
fridge and water heater.)
I did not want to even start the bike for one more run. The track manager was
great about refunding the money for the rest of the weekend to us and we packed
up and were on the road toward home by about 3.30. Went as far as Superior, WI
before we stopped at a rest area to grill burgers for dinner. Oh ya, by the way,
while grabbing the chairs out of the trailer to sit on to eat dinner, I threw
out my back! Drove on until about 11:30pm that got us to Bessemer, MI and found
another small truck stop to pull into. Took showers and went to bed. Light rain
overnight.
Saturday, July 8, 2006
Got up about 7:00 and hit the road again. Made a stop along Lake Superior near Munising to stretch but were driven back into the truck by the biting Black Flies. Stopped at the Seney Wildlife Refuge to check out the animals. Did not walk around very much because my back was not feeling very good but saw an Osprey nest and some swans with babies from the observation deck. Found a good spot along US 2 along Lake Michigan for lunch. Watched a bald eagle being chased off the beach by some gulls. Another $6.25 and we were back in the lower peninsula. Pulled off at a rest area on I-75 to rest. Climbed into the bed for a quick nap but got up about 3 hours later. Guess we needed the sleep. Made a quick stop for fuel in Houghton Lake and pulled in our driveway at about 9:30.
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US131 Motorsports Park, Martin MI (July 1, 2006)
More flat tires, more round wins
Saturday, July 1, 2006 - by Kevyn Ashbay (crew)
We to the truck back and it looks better than it did before (Thanks State Farm Insurance). But even all the new parts couldn't stop it from having another flat tire. This time it was one of the back dualies and it was after we stopped. I thought to myself, "I know that sound"
As for the bike, it was still not running as it should even when we fiddled with the converter. So we got more drastic and delved into the clutch and it helped quite a bit. Still kind of erratic, but it seems that we got the setup for the hot weather we are having lately. Today was supposed to be a test session for this coming weekends Brainerd races but it turned into a "going rounds" day. Making it into the third round was really exciting since the bike has been running like crap the last couple weeks. The bye run in the second round really helped because the bike took off on the 2step again so we got one more round to change things. And if it wasn't for the "fine" track prep work by the "fine" US131 Motorsports Park employees, we might be into the semi's. Apparently turning to the right isn't good in drag racing, only in NeckCAR!
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Route 66 Raceway, Joliet IL (June 16 - 17, 2006)
Oh, what a weekend!!!
Friday, June 16, 2006 - by Kevyn Ashbay (crew)
Max's Cadillac =
Broken
Truck Back-up Lights = Broken
Saturday, June 17, 2006 - by Kevyn Ashbay (crew)
Cub #1 = Broken
Dragbike = Broken
Refrigerator = Always broken
Truck tire = Shattered (Broken)
Truck tire #2 = Broken
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Route 66 Raceway, Joliet IL (May 19 - 21, 2006)
+ or - .004's in our sleep
Friday, May 19, 2006 - by Kevyn Ashbay (crew)
Not much happening tonight. We got a little late of a start but that’s why we get here the night before. After last race’s carbon monoxide mishap, we didn’t run the heater all night and it was cold! Although I’m sure Bob and Shelly would say it wasn’t but they don’t sleep 2 feet off the floor where all the cold air settles.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
What a nice day. The sun is out and it
is not too hot and not too cold. I cant make up my mind on weather to change
into shorts. If you stand in the sun it gets hot and if you stand in the shade
it gets kinda cold with the wind. So far time trials went good. The first was a
bit slow off the line that we are contributing to the new chain needing to be
broke in so it was a good thing we got the first round bye and basically got a
third time trial out of it. We have to keep up with everyone in front of us in
points because I know 2 of the 3 in front of us are still in. (with exception of
Donnie who had Floery in the 1st) I will be back after a few rounds…
Well, a few rounds turned into one. The bike made a turn to the wall and by the time Bob got it back in the grove we
lost a tenth and ran a .74 on our .65 dial. That ends our day early.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
The thing I like about double weekends
is after a good day on Saturday that ended early its only a matter of hours
until we can get back at it. That is the idea anyways, they were having some
trouble with the timing system and that pushed the start of time trials back a
hour or so. After the wait we went in for our one and only trial run before
having to
dial for first round. I guess that's another good thing about the two
day events, we had plenty of data to go off of. Unlike yesterday when we got a
bye into the second round, we had to earn our way into the next round and did so
at the expense of Robert Sutterline. If you've never been to the track and
seen him, he quite unbelievable. He comes every week by himself, is one of the
only guys to drive his bike through the pit area, is a self starter and STILL
runs deep into the 8's. If that's not a hard core racer, I don't know what is!
Like yesterday, our day ended in the second round. Bob took too big of a chunk off the tree and red lit by a mere .004. He had been on his game for the past few weeks and it was a matter of time before the "Big Red Bonker" came out. You never complain when your .004 on the green side so no one can complain when your on the other. I did do some checking and the only two red-lights this year were -.004 so I'm think I will talk Bob into adding .005 into the delay box for next race.
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