Today marked the first round of the 2008 USGPRU road racing series where confidence was high in terms of having a solid weekend. Team Infinity and the Adopt A Kid Racer organization arrived at the track with not one, but 3 bikes, the team’s trailer, spares, and the Ferris motor home. We were well equipped to start our campaign for Team Infinity’s 3rd straight year as a championship team.

Under overcast and a bit cooler skies than anticipated, Kyle set out on the ’97 TZ-250 for morning practice on Saturday and declared the bike ready to be in good form. A quick gearing change and new tires and the rest of the day was spent improving lap times while the Phoenix weather improved. By noon, Kyle was on pace and setting the fast times and the sun was out and warming everything nicely.

During qualifying, Kyle went out and in about 4 laps managed to set the fastest time. He pulled into the pits and the although there was at least 20 minutes remaining in the session, nobody would end up besting his time. Pole position for the first race.

The team then set about cleaning and tweaking little things on the bike to ensure she was ready for Sunday.

All in all, this was probably the easiest practice day we have had.

Sunday morning dawned sunny but cool. However, the sun quickly set about warming things and overall the track and temperature of the day was probably at least 10 degrees warmer than Saturday. Kyle went through morning practice smoothly and then the team set about putting new tires on the bike for the race. Given some program delays, we were able to send Kyle out in the last practice session so he could scuff in the new tires. Then it was time to wait for the race. While waiting, the hosting organization’s regular races were run and I have to admit, there were some pretty good races that saw multiple lead changes and quite a bit of excitement.

Finally, it was time for Kyle’s race. Lining up on the outside of the track, unique to Firebird raceway because it is opposite most pole positions which see the rider/driver on the inside to the first turn, Kyle lowered his visor and set his eyes on the starter.

The green flag waves and both Vince and Kyle get a nearly identical start. However, by the time they are 20 yards passed the starter, a kid from Portland named Dylan passes them both…talk about a great start…he came from row two and was passed Vince & Kyle by 30 yards into the race. Kyle however, kept the power on and was safely in second place as they entered the first turn. Clearing turn two, Kyle set off in pursuit of Dylan and the two of them went into turn 3 (Carousel Turn) side by side with Kyle using a rather unique double apex line to pass Dylan. At the end of lap one, Kyle was in first place by about 20 yards with Dylan and Vince battling for 2nd.

Laps 2-5 saw Kyle holding a lead of about 1.5 to 2 seconds as he consistently turned lap after lap in the low 57 second range. Behind him however, Vince and Dylan were having a pretty good battle with Vince ultimately getting past Dylan around lap 5. At this point, Vince felt strong and started to close the gap to within about 2 bike lengths.

Kyle must have heard Vince’s bike because about midway through lap 7 he started to open the gap again. As they crossed the start/finish line and began lap 8, Kyle was once again out to about a 2 second lead. As they started lap nine, it seemed that Vince had settled for 2nd and the gap was probably about 2.5 seconds. However, in racing, it ain’t over to the checkered flag falls...

As Kyle came into the last corner, he leaned the bike in, turned, and saw the checkered flag. On exiting the turn he opened the throttle slightly stronger than he had previously and bam, the bike bit him. He high-sided as the back end-slid out and then caught throwing him at least a foot and a half out of the seat and slamming him back onto the tank. Fortunately, he was able to recover but not before running off the track. Vince saw his opportunity and got on the gas hard exiting the corner. A decent drag race ensued however at the checkered, Vince’s momentum carried him across the line in front.

Overall, it was a very good race with the top three in question the entire time. The forensics on what we could have done better as a team came down to tire choice. We took the advice of others and ran a soft front and soft rear despite knowing that both Ryan and Alex (previous rider-champion) ran soft fronts and medium rears. The track being warmer and the fact that lap times drop (speed increases) during the race also was a factor and we should have given him the medium. Overall, Kyle (and the grace of God) made a great save and rode well. The weekend on whole was probably one of the smoothest event weekends we have experienced as a team. From the time we set up until packout, bike maintenance consisted of two tire changes and one gearing change…awesome.

As an aside, Frank and I took the 125 out for a session each…I think Kyle truly enjoyed blowing past me at probably double my speed…but it was fun nonetheless.

The pics are of the start (Vince #224, Kyle #68), the checkered, and the trophy presentation.

If you desire to help support the team, please contact myself as all donations should be tax deductible and you can visit the AdoptAKidRacer.Org web site for more information.

Thanks for all the support.

Trent