August 30-31

Finishing position 22nd & 24th 

I came into road Atlanta with high hopes finishing in the top 20.  With everything finally running 811acorrectly and the bike doing what I needed it to do I thought we would have a pretty good chance of being there.  But every year the competition gets a little bit stiffer and everybody seems to go that much faster.  I also knew Road Atlanta would be a challenge as I have never done very well at that track.  We did enter two races (formula extreme and super sport) in order to get more track time and have a better opportunity in the races.

I have learned over the years that nobody wins practice.  So I generally try to get up to a decent pace and increase the pace for qualifying and the race.  This works out well for keeping both myself and the bike off the ground, but the downside is that we do not really test the bike at higher limits.  And racing is not about being conservative!  So this is definitely a trade-off.  But I do think it's far more important to be in the race and be on the track as much as possible so everybody gets exposure.

Formula Extreme

This race was one of the most exciting races I have had in a long time.  I had so much fun in this race and it really helped me remember how exciting close racing can be.  In both races I started towards the back of the grid.  Which is fine with me because most of the time I get very good starts.  And in qualifying going an extra second quicker would really only put me in the next row or two in front of where I started anyway.  And I've seen plenty of people throw it down the track in qualifying just to get that extra spot.  The race was red flagged about three laps in, and that ended up really helping me.  Once we restarted the race I ended up in a group of about five riders.  This is what made the race so exciting.  I had my friend Eric just behind the lead guy and 3 other guys in between us that I had never beaten before.  As we continued to race one of the guys was trying really hard to get around the guy in front of him to catch the leader.  He ended up blowing turn 12, which was now reconfigured into a 90° right-hand corner, a total of three times.  I definitely had the best seat in the house, as we would come in to turn 12 he had the bikes rear tire locked up and the bike was all sideways as he was trying to get around the other rider.  Every time he did this he ended up losing the position to the rider he just passed.  He finally ended up running off the track close to the end of the race and essentially handing me the position.  And the other guy I passed on the back straight.  But one thing made this very interesting, the leader of that group we were chasing had an engine failure!  So my friend Eric who was directly behind him ended up with a face shield full of oil.  As if for our adrenaline wasn't high enough already, there's nothing like seeing smoke billowing out of somebody's bike and then seen the telltale signs of oil being spewed onto your windscreen.  Everybody in the group immediately checked up.  Thank goodness nobody crashed.  This did open up an opportunity for me.  Since I was about the third guy behind the leader I did not get hit with a whole bunch of oil.  So as we made it around the track for about half a lap I was able to size up the situation and determine whether it was safe to pass the guys that had slowed down.  Them slowing down just made it a little easier to pass them.  Which I was consistently doing anyway one guy at a time.  I came across the finish line with a significant lead over my next closest competitor.  22nd  place was good but still not as high as I wanted to be.

Supersport

Well this race wasn't nearly as exciting as the formula extreme race was.  But still good fun anyway.  One thing to know about road Atlanta is the “S” section just after turn one.  This is a rather exciting place to be at the beginning of the race.  You essentially have about 30 people that want to all go through this section at about the same time and using the same lines.  Needless to say, several people normally end up riding through the grass.  So you have to be very aggressive through this section on the opening lap until the field thins out and everybody starts running in line.  Towards the end of the race I ended up having a little off-track excursion myself.  It is very easy to get into this section going quite fast.  So you have to make a split-second decision as to whether or not you can make a very quick right -left -right -left set of turns.  Well my little mistake ended up costing me at the end of the race as the leaders came by from the next to last turn and put me a lap down.  I really ended up finishing the race 22nd again because two people had crashed on the last lap.  But since the leaders had put me a lap down just at the start finish line I was credited for 24th position.  The one benefit for everybody that's a sponsor is that on the cool down lap I was right next to the leader that had won the race and since we were riding close together I ended up being on speed TV for about a quarter of a lap.  And I was in a picture posted on Road Racer X’s web site.  One of the neat things that the AMA does is record the trap speeds at most of the tracks.  They normally do this at the fastest part of the track, and I was officially clocked with a radar gun at 159.6 mile an hour.  This put me about in the middle of the group for speeds.  Someone the factory 600s were posting speeds of around 167 miles an hour!

We have continued our trend of passing out Zola and decals.  4 more cases of ZOLA went out at this round also.  We have become quite popular in the paddock area when passing out the Zola.  And the decals at each track have been a huge success.  At most tracks the 200 or so decals we have in the box are gone on the first day.

The season is over for us and we are looking to next year.  We will be busy preparing a new motorcycle and getting everyone to re-up again for next year.  Bike is for sale!

Thanks to everyone!

Mike Morgan www.mikemorganracing.com New web site coming soon.

KENWOOD RIM Racing

August 15-17

Finishing position 21th

I would like first to thank Ashley for his help this last weekend.  He did a great job and helped take some of the pressure off me.  Just by doing little things like helping with tire changes and providing pit lane support.

VIR went much smoother than the previous races.  With the electrical problem finally figured out I was finally able to focus on riding more.  This was only our second time at VIR, and last year I had crashed during practice that injured my shoulder a little so it made it very difficult to race.  VIR is very demanding because of the elevation changes and all the corners.  VIR is a very short track but it has a total of 18 turns, so you are always moving around on the motorcycle.

Leading up to practice and qualifying on Friday we had some weather in the area.  Qualifying is split up into two groups, a slower group and a faster group so everyone has an opportunity to get a good faster lap with no interruptions.  It decided to rain just before qualifying and the faster group went out in the wet.  This made it a little easier for me because the weather conditions began to dry out, and group 2 had a mainly dry track.  It was pretty much guaranteed that everyone would be in the race because of the drastic weather changes between the two qualifying groups.  So I was able to go out and do a decent lap and not press to have to do a superfast qualifying lap.  As a privateer we do not get the luxury of using qualifying tires like the factory riders.

Because of the track conditions still being a little damp during qualifying I did not want to risk crashing, but at the same time it did put me a little further back on the starting grid.  But I’m generally good at starting so it wasn't a major concern.  At the start of the race I rocketed off my grid spot and gained several rows immediately, which put me in about 24th place.  Turn one at VIR is very tight!  So getting everybody through that turn at the beginning of the race can be a challenge.  I made it through quite well and had one guy try to come up the inside.  But I held my ground and as we entered turns two and three I was able to hold my position.  As we entered turn three I was able to ride around the outside of two riders and that set me up for the inside of turn five.  At the time I had one of our friends right behind me and I was able to hold him off for a few laps.  But he eventually got around me and I knew he was running a faster lap time than I was so I tried to stay with him for several laps.  I was able to maintain consistent lap times throughout the race and only had one major moment.  I was looking over my shoulder and between turns three and four which I should not have done.  I missed my brake marker and had to run off the track.  And that was as much excitement as I needed for one race.  I like to try to keep those to a minimum.

So after everything was all said and done, I ended up 21st out of 35 riders.  My hope is to be in the top 20 at the next race in Atlanta.  We will try some different engine specs for the next race that Yoshimura suggested.  So hopefully we have a little more oomph.

Thanks to everyone who sent decals.  At VIR the box was empty by early afternoon on Saturday. So thanks to Kenwood, Barnett, Zola, EBC, Vortex, Hotbodies.  I split up the decals that were given so we have some for each race.  I’m sure the remaining amount will be gone by Sunday in Atlanta.  We also passed out another 4 cases of ZOLA.  Some of the regular people at the track are now starting to ask us for some samples when they see us!  We have 4 more cases to pass out in Atlanta also.  Thanks Buddah!

Thanks to everyone!

Mike Morgan www.mikemorganracing.com

KENWOOD RIM Racing

August 2-3

Finishing position 25th

I could write a book about this weekend alone!  Here are just a few things we run into.  Still had the same electrical problem from the previous race, even after a few tests between the races, we thought everything was OK.  Very low horsepower compared to competition.  Blown over canopies.  And having to use all of qualifying on a motorcycle that had issues.  But things got better every day.

The crew did a fantastic job!  We chased every electrical solution we could think of.  Asking other teams, barrowing parts, and then waiting to see if the bike was going to run all the way through practice.  Then on Saturday night we had a major breakthrough.  I found some burned wires that lead to the voltage regulator.  The factory heat shielding had moved and exposed the wires and they were laying right on the top of the engine.  We were able to find the parts we needed and race on Sunday.  We did get very lucky during the race as someone forgot to hook back up the stator (an alternator for motorcycles).  So the bike ran on the battery the entire race!

The race was very none eventful.  After such a trying weekend leading up to the race, the race was the easiest part.  The bike was so down on power that I just rode the race and tried to stay out of trouble.  We did get some good air time on Speed as several of the leaders had made their way around me at the end of the race.  In the pits we had several spectators comment on the nice large KENWOOD logo on the bike and that they could actually see the logo on the bike while I was on the track.  Simple logos are easier to read.  Some of the other bikes are so busy with logos and lettering that you can’t see anything.

All considering 25th was not a bad position.  But I expect to do much better in the next couple of races.  The decals that were sent went over great with the fans.  And we passed out 4 cases of ZOLA.

We had fun and look forward to VIR next week.

Thanks to everyone!

Mike Morgan www.mikemorganracing.com

KENWOOD RIM Racing

Race report Road America

KENWOOD RIM Racing

For the second race in a row Kenwood RIM Racing ran into some problems.  And of course the problems arise at the most inconvenient times.  The weather for the weekend did not cooperate for anyone as there were high winds and strong storms in the area for most of the weekend.  But road America is considered a racetrack that is safe enough to race at in the rain.  So a steady supply of rain tires are generally mounted up for the sessions that require them.  The team however has come together quite well and worked very hard all weekend.  So my thanks go out to Troy, Lauren, and Jeff.

The motorcycle experienced an electrical problem early on Friday during practice.  So for most of practice I rode around the problem, which was a mild splutter around 10,000 rpm.  So upon returning to the pits after practice we proceeded to troubleshoot the issue.  After making several inquiries we estimated that it was the quick shifter that was going bad.  So we replaced the quick shifter with not much trouble and proceeded to wait and see what the weather was going to do for qualifying.

Well unfortunately the quick shifter was not the problem.  And during qualifying, of all times, the problem progressively got worse.  After coming in during qualifying to make a mild suspension change I headed back out but it was evident as I rolled through turn 2 that the problem had gotten much worse.  The bike would not accelerate and sputtered through the rpm range.  So I returned to the pits to see if we could quickly fixed the problem.  Unfortunately qualifying is only 30 minutes long, and each lap around the very long Road America  course is 4 miles and takes approximately 2 minutes.  So back out I went around again to see if we could see any error codes that the ECU might be generating.  As I came back into the pits and we read the ECU error codes it was clear that we would not have enough time or resources to fix the bike before qualifying ended.  Ah, but if we only would've had a backup motorcycle.

The problem ended up being a crank position sensor that was sending a false reading to the ECU.  This in turn cause to the ECU to cut the fuel injection system.  And this was the cause of the sputtering.  We were able to fix the bike but unfortunately it came to late.  We even discussed a provisional start with the racing organization but they turned us down.

Most frustrating thing about all this was the times from last year that I recorded would have put me in the top 20 during qualifying.  In looking at the final results my finishing position very well could have been 15th.  Which would have been quite an accomplishment for a small team like ours against much larger teams.

Even though the racing was not successful this weekend we always have a great time.  And once again we were able to do some great PR work for all of you (my sponsors).  One thing that I started at this race was handing out free decals.  This was immensely popular as we ran out of decals halfway through the day!  So I would highly recommend that everybody send some decals that can be handed out if you would like.

Like Zola we might be small in size, but are very big in spirit!  And one thing I would like everyone to remember is, when was the last time you saw a factory rider handing out decals and taking the time to sign autographs without being told to.  I very much appreciate everything that my sponsors do and want to make sure you receive the best exposure I can provide.  Because I do feel bad about the racing not going very well this year.  But we will be as strong as ever when the racing comes to Mid Ohio at the end of July!

Thank you for the support and understanding.

Mike Morgan

KENWOOD RIM Racing

Barber Motorsport Park

After all the hard work over the winter it was finally time to return to the race track.  The first race a year for us was and Birmingham, Alabama.  Barber Motorsports Park is a stunning facility and one we always look forward to visiting.  Although leading up to this race was quite a challenge.  Even with all the preparation there were a few people that left me hanging on some very vital components.  By not being able to receive these components we were not able to get any preseason testing done.  Which eventually hurt us showing up at the first AMA national at Barber.

The weekend’s weather was absolutely perfect.  We were able to practice that Thursday before the race weekend began.  We used Thursday to sort through some problems that we were having.  Unfortunately these problems distracted us from concentrating on getting back into the rhythm.  We were making some good headway with the suspension, but that is one area where we got hung out to dry on.  And suspension is a pretty big deal.  But Lenny from Race Tech really helped out.  He was able to redo the front suspension but the rear shock we had did not fit the bike correctly, which forced us to run the same rear shock we had from last season.

We received several comments about the appearance of the pit area and the motorcycle.  Someone told me even with a smaller operation that they were very impressed with the professionalism and neatness of our area.  With the Kenwood flags flying high and the bike, trailer, and team shirts all done up it was nice to hear those comments from a bigger team.  Unfortunately we did not get any pictures, but we'll be sure to get some at the next round.

The main reason we did not get any pictures of everything was because during qualifying on Friday afternoon I high sided exiting turn five and both myself and the bike were damaged.  The bike was fixable but the rider was not.  I ended up with a minor hip injury that should heal before the next round in Wisconsin.

So on Saturday we ended up doing some PR work and just letting people look at the bike and talking.  We were able to get the bike repaired enough for this weekend and attend the “Big Wheel Bonanza” at the local high school.  The Big Wheel Bonanza was a local fundraiser for one of the schools in the area.

I'll work on getting some more pictures from the photographers down in Birmingham and also from the local fundraiser we just attended.

Thanks for everything!

Qualifying Incident At Barber Motorsport Park

Kenwood Rim Racings, Formula Xtreme rider Mike Morgan dislocated his left hip during qualifying for the race at Barber.  Morgan was out on a hot lap and highsided exiting turn 5.

Morgan was transferred to the University of Alabama Birmingham for initial treatment and there were no signs of anything broken.  Morgan will follow up with a specialist after returning home in Indiana.

Kenwood USA will be the title sponsor of RIM R&D racing for 2008.  Team name will now be Kenwood RIM Racing.  Kenwood USA has never before participated in the AMA Superbike Series.  RIM R&D racing would like to welcome Kenwood to this exciting sport.  People recognize Kenwood the world over.  They are a leader in consumer electronics for Home, Car, and Communication equipment.  Kenwood products can be found in specialty shops and large retailers from coast to coast in the USA and the world over. www.kenwoodusa.com

“I’m very excited to have Kenwood USA supporting RIM R&D racing this year!  Kenwood is one of the largest electronics companies in the world!  I encourage people to stop by the pit and say hi.  The Kenwood logo will be very visible on the bike, leathers, and canopy flags.” Stated Mike Morgan,  Owner / Rider.  Kenwood RIM Racing will start the season at round 2 when the AMA visits Barber Motorsports Park.

About Kenwood USA:

Founded in 1961, Kenwood USA Corporation is a leading developer and manufacturer of audio and video products for home, car, and personal use. Offering more than 250 products, Kenwood is one of the three largest selling brands of audio and video entertainment products in the United States and is recognized by consumers and the consumer electronics industry for providing superior quality, reliability and value.

Kenwood Communications, based in Suwanee, GA, established in 1983, maintains a leadership position in North and South America for mobile and portable two-way radios and custom systems.  Clients include prominent federal, state and local government agencies and first responders and private industry including manufacturing, contracting, security, hospitality and education.   Kenwood USA Corporation, based in Long Beach, Calif., is the largest subsidiary of Kenwood Corporation (Japan).

About RIM R&D racing:

RIM R&D racing is a privateer racing effort participating in the AMA Formula Xtreme series, # 811.  Kenwood RIM racing receives no support from motorcycle manufactures.  Visit www.mikemorganracing.com

Current sponsors also include Permatex, Zola Juice, Motul, Yoshimura R&D, Vortex, Lockhart Phillips, Fasttrax Media, Dunlop, Turn One Motorsports, Superior Body Works, EBC, Shark Helmets, Barnett Performance Products, Integrity Design, DID, Hotbodies, ACT Leathers, Impact safety armor, Chicken Hawk. 

- Kenwood RIM Racing

By Mike Morgan
RIM R&D
AMA Formula Xtreme racer #811

On behalf of RIM R&D racing I would like to welcome the addition of Permatex as a sponsor for the 2008 season.  Permatex is widely known in the automotive industry for its high quality products.  Many in the motorcycle industry might know Permatex as a company that makes liquid thread lockers and various types of gasket makers.  But Permatex offers a wide variety of products under many different names including Fast Orange® hand cleaner, NOS®, and No Touch® Tire Care.  Permatex products can be found at many automotive retailers across the United States. http://www.permatex.com/index.htm

“It is nice to have an outside of the industry sponsor come aboard for the 2008 season.  I hope we can show Permatex that AMA professional roadracing has a strong following and viewer base.  With this added support we will continue to improve our program and increase exposure of RIM racing.  I think a lot of people will find that Permatex makes a large number of products that apply to motorcycling.  And if you are not sure what to use they have a great on line video section that you can watch to help you choose.”  Stated Mike Morgan,  Owner / Rider.

About Permatex:

Permatex, Inc., is a leading manufacturer, distributor and marketer of premium chemical products to the automotive maintenance and repair markets. The Company, which sold its first product in 1909, is a recognized leader in the introduction of new products and services in the automotive aftermarket. Permatex markets and sells a variety of products under well-recognized brand names such as Permatex®, the Right Stuff®, and Fast Orange®.

Permatex currently operates in the United States, Canada, Mexico and throughout the world. Domestic operations include Permatex's headquarters located in Hartford, Connecticut, a state-of-the-art Manufacturing, Distribution and Technical Center located in Solon, Ohio and a Manufacturing Facility in Kansas City, Kansas.

Behind our products is the understanding that our customer's needs are our primary concern. Our resources and people are organized to satisfy those needs. It is this market-driven concern that makes Permatex a leading edge supplier of innovative products that meet the needs of automotive enthusiasts, professional technicians and industries alike.

Innovation through research and development is a Permatex hallmark. We continually enhance our capabilities at our laboratories and facilities to provide our customers with a constant flow of new and improved products.

In addition, Permatex is committed to conducting its business in a manner which protects the environment and the health and safety of employees, customers and the public, worldwide.

About RIM R&D racing:

RIM R&D racing is a true private racing effort participating in the AMA Formula Xtreme series, #811 with rider Mike Morgan.  We receive NO support from the motorcycle manufactures.  Current sponsors include Motul, Yoshimura R&D, Lockhart Phillips, Fasttrax Media Turn One Motorsports, Superior Body Works, Dunlop, Hyperpro, EBC, Shark Helmets, Barnett Performance Products, Integrity Design, DID, Hotbodies, Impact safety armor, Chicken Hawk.

By Mike Morgan
RIM R&D
AMA Formula Xtreme racer #811

Shark Helmets is one of the largest helmet manufactures in the world. They might not be as well known in the USA as some of the other manufactures, but they are the #1 helmet manufacture in Europe. Shark is making a big push to be the helmet of choice in the USA. Shark enlists several top riders in the USA and over seas. One rider to note in the USA is Honda rider Miguel Duhamel. 

When I first took the helmet out of the box, the first thing I noticed was the weight. The Shark RSR 2 weighs in at only 1400 grams or 3 lbs. The finish is top notch, I got the Fujiwara replica. All aspects of the helmet are well finished and the tolerances are tight.  And if there are any problems Shark provides a 5 year warranty.

The liner is easily removable for washing. It helps if you follow the directions provided. If you don’t like reading, try the Shark web site www.shark-helmets.com Something very neat that I have not seen before is, on the Shark web site you can view a video on how to attach shields and remove the liner for all helmets Shark makes. And changing the shield is super simple. Just push on the middle of the circle where the shield attaches to the helmet, and the shield releases. You can even adjust how much tension the shield has when you move it. I like mine on the tighter side so I can take a peak at who is behind me during a race.  And the normally occurs on the straights at higher speeds. I have had lesser helmet’s shields open!  And that is not a good thing when you are trying to race.

Safety is a top priority for most helmet manufactures. Shark has some innovative safety features designed into their helmets. They are the only manufacture that uses a “crumple zone” type retention system. So instead of just having a solid outer shell and soft liner, Shark employs several unique safety designs. First Shark uses multi axle fibers of Carbon and Kevlar to create the shell. This design diffuses the energy better than convention designs. The neatest part of the helmet that I like is the “Shark Fin Shocks”. These fins are vertical supports that make up the iner shell. It’s hard to describe so visit the site to see what I’m talking about.  All this technology is designed to do one thing, dissipate energy and keep your brain from slamming against your skull.

So the helmet looks nice, weighs next to nothing, but how does it perform?

The Shark RSR2 is the first helmet that I have not modified in ANY way to wear on the race track. And trust me, at speeds in excess of 150mph, you need a helmet that fits well and performs!  According to the Shark specialist, the RSR2 is designed to push down on your head as speed increases because of its aerodynamic design. And I have, unfortunately, tested the RSR2 in a crash.  Exiting turn 1 at Road Atlanta and transitioning into turn 2 I pushed the front and crashed. This occurred at about 80mph. I was able to get up immediately and move out of the way of other riders. The RSR2 did a great job of protecting me.  The usual paint chips and skid marks did appear.  But nothing penetrated the shell, see picture above.  So I will retire that helmet and use the next Shark RSR2 helmet in my arsenal. But the Shark RSR2 did its job perfectly!

So as the saying goes, if you have a $5 head wear a $5 helmet.  I think I will stick with my Shark RSR2.

The pool was a big hit. And with the 100 degree temps, more than one person was envious!

August 18-19

Finishing position 26th out of 33.

VIR was a new track for us this year in our effort to increase the number of national rounds we attend.  I’m very confident in my ability to learn tracks quickly and I study every track to improve each year.  So one goal was to qualify for this ever growing class and all the very fast riders in it.  But that was a small goal, because after driving all that way I was not about to not qualify.

Getting to the track is half the battle and we had a few problems going down.  Virginia has quite the mountain range.  After coming down the mountain we had a brake failure from the steep grade.  So that took most of Wednesday afternoon to get fixed.  I had to finish fixing the RV at the track after some parts arrived at the local Advance Auto Parts.

I had a little trouble just before qualifying which is not the time to have issues.  In morning practice I had a little low side in turn one.  It was completely my fault, just trying to stay on the brakes to long.  My Komodo leathers, boots, and gloves did a great job!  Unfortunately they are now scuffed up now but nothing failed on the suit or gloves.  It barely did anything to the bike, but I took a hit to the shoulder.  I had no time to worry about my shoulder and it didn’t really hurt then.  Rachel had to help me change the tires and as the afternoon wore on my shoulder started to hurt more.  Out for qualifying I went.  After a few laps I came in and looked at the monitors and I had done a 1:35.  That was to close to the cut off time so it sucked up the pain and went back out.  I was able to manage a 1:34 that was good enough for 31st on the starting grid.  I sat out Saturday morning practice to try and help save my shoulder and tires.  Dunlop gave me a great set of tires, as usual, that seemed to do well in qualifying.  I wish I could have really put them to the test in the race.  During the race I was unable to push very hard.  VIR has a lot of direction changes and it takes a lot to muscle the bike around.  It was disappointing to see the people I beat in Mid Ohio motor away in the opening laps of the race.  I was confident I could have done much better without the injury, but we will get them next year.  I was unable to transition on the bike the way I needed to.  I did the best I could and was able to finish the race in 26th.  Along the way I inherited several positions just by finishing.  It was hard and now I’m resting up to try and will be ready for Atlanta.

Thanks to everyone!

Mike Morgan

RIM Racing & Engineering

August 3-5

Finishing position 26th  out of 45, 66th in points.

The grids are getting much bigger these days and the competition more fierce.  There were 47 entries into the FX race at Mid Ohio with 45 making the cut off and starting the race.  But half the battle of racing is just getting everything ready and making to the track.  While we trying to leave town the brake caliper froze and we had to stop and fix it before we could continue.  Then the bike started shutting off after it would get warm during Thursday’s promoter practice.  So the actual race is a small portion of the pie.  I was able to barrow a part from team Hooters Suzuki to get the bike running for the rest of the weekend so I owe some thanks to them!

Leading up to the race most things were going well.  I went faster in every session than I did in last years race when I finished 18th.  Practice on Saturday morning almost ended badly.  Coming onto the front straight the rear end stepped out big time.  I ran off the track, through the gravel trap and down the front straight in the grass.  It was so violent that I broke the windscreen with my helmet, knocked the wind out of myself, and hit my leg against the bike so hard that I got a huge knot on my shin.  Some how with a little luck, someone watching over me, and hopefully some skill somewhere in there, I managed to keep everything up right.

I finally got a good start in the race.  The opening laps were good and I ran as high as 23rd but a couple people got by me and I could not match their pace.  Then one of the Hooters Suzuki riders got by me and I stuck right on him.  We got about 3 laps of TV coverage with our little battle.  I was not aware but there were 5 bikes behind me.  I was just focused on him and knew I could pass him back.  He started looking over his shoulder when we would come onto the back straight.  He did this for several laps in a row and I knew I had him.  He started to make mistakes and I just waited until I could slip by.  After I got by I just kept the pace I had been doing and it was good enough to not let anyone else by.  My hardest part of the race was with my weak / bruised left leg.  It started to get tired about half way through the race and I was having a hard time down shifting and transferring my weight.  But we made it!

On paper the weekend went well.  Faster lap times, better start, and a good race.  I just wish the results showed it.  I would have been in the top 15 last year with this performance.

We had fun and look forward to VIR next week.

Thanks to everyone!

Mike Morgan

RIM Racing & Engineering

June 2-3

Finishing position 29th out of 42.

Road America has not been nice to me the last couple of years. Crashes, broken bikes and bodies have been the norm for me there. So I went about this race weekend a little differently. We arrived on Tuesday to take part in a track day before the AMA weekend. It was nice to get some time on the bike and ramp up to the weekend a little slower. With 2 full days of riding before racing, getting around the track was easier. That was really nice, you just get so comfortable on the bike and what it’s going to do. And the lap times showed it.

I was 2 people away from being in the faster group for qualifying on Friday. The AMA splits the field into 2 groups. The first 50% are in the fast group and the other 50% are in a slower group. They base this on lap times. If I would have done the same time I did in the race or for qualifying I would have been in the faster group! But I don’t really push to hard during practice on Friday morning. So it was exciting to be that close without trying to hard. Plus I end up being near the top of the other group and get talked about during qualifying.

The weekend’s weather did not coroperate very well. It was raining on and off. So that makes for more stress when you don’t have an endless supply of rims, tires, and money. But as usual the guys at Dunlop really came trough! Those guys have such a hard job and not much thanks. But, are one of the single biggest factors in racing. Another factor for me is pit crew. Trying to do everything by yourself at a race is hard. So I have got to give a special thanks to the guys from Smartdot! As seen in the pictures. Everyone did a great job and helped out a lot.

After qualifying 29th and being as high as 24th during qualifying I was happy with the weekend. The race went well. I did make a few mistakes that allowed a group of 4 guys to get far enough away that I could not get back in the draft. And 3 of the guys I out qualified. But RA is such a high speed track that if you get out of the draft it is hard to keep up. I was catching the group but ran out of laps. I did turn a faster lap time than everyone in that group. And for this track that I have struggled so much at I’m happy with my performance. I lowered my lap time by 4 seconds! And was consistently going faster by 2-3 seconds than I did last year.

We have a long break since we are not doing any west coast rounds. So I’ll try to get in a few track days before mid-ohio.

Thanks to everyone!

Mike Morgan

RIM Racing & Engineering