Well, everywhere I look I see dirty rotton snow! Who cares, we are still starting to get excited about the 2009 race season. We have some new team members and some of us are sporting new rides. Richard just picked up a smashed 2007 Honda CBR600rr, Ben is mulling the idea of moving down to a 600 from his 750 for this season, Curtis sold his bike to Joanne Leblanc who will be racing with us this year and he is saving his shekels to get himself into a new bike. Craig, who raced the SV650 in the last two rounds of last year, will also be riding a 2007 Honda CBR600rr. Lindsey Palawaga will also join us and ride a 2002 Suzuki GSXR600. Throughout the year we may have a guest rider or two that will pit with us just to mix things up. The team will be running new tires this year. The Bridgestone BT003’s which are reportedly a fantastic tire and should give Redline Racing a shot at the front – that is if we can stay out of the grass. We have a few bikes to build and repair so updates will come as they happen. Check back as the white stuff disappears and we get closer to round 1 in May.
Wow, did we have fun in rounds 1 and 2. I apologise for not posting an update sooner but we’ve been riding instead of writing – is that bad? First off, I am very impressed with how the team represents Redline, they are a great bunch!
Crashed in practice and injured her shoulder and could not do the pushups required to pass medical and race. I’m not sure it was the shoulder that was the problem, more likely the puny arms. Ha ha, we laugh now but She’ll be ready for round two!
The Munster is just riding like crazy and staying out of the grass.
Round two was entertaining to say the least. We all picked up our lap times a little and Joanne provided much entertainment without hurting herself.
Ya, that is me not paying attention – flag dropped a second later and I actually got a great start – one of my best!
Round 4 results
Craig- #60
- Heavyweight Sportbike AM – 6th – 1:25.81
- Middleweight AM – 4th – 1:24.98
- Middleweight Superbike – 10th – 1:24.62
Good showing for Craig this weekend. A slight headwind brought down the lap times a little but overall a great day of racing.
Eddie – #89
- Novice Race 1 – 1st – 1:28.90
- Novice Race 2 – 1st – 1:29.68
Eddie dominated the novice class and provided some exciting racing this weekend dicing it up with Mandy on the #8 bike.
I’ve heard a rumor that Eddie will be moving up to the AM class for rounds 5 and 6! Let see if he can pull off his signature pass in corner 4 on Richard.
Joanne – #5
- Novice Race 1 – 11th – 1:40.54
- Novice Race 2 – 9th – 1:38.52
Joanne ran another clean weekend and is chipping away at her lap times.
She provided some good racing entertainment when she fended off a pass or two and made a late race pass on another rider to take 9th. Look for her to challenge mid pack next race weekend.
Lindsey – #6
- Novice Race 1 – 4th – 1:31.94
- Novice Race 2 – 6th – 1:32.35
A great weekend for Lindsey! Some close racing and a couple of good finishes capped off a clean round. With lap times down and Eddie moving to AM, maybe a win is in the cards for rounds 5 and 6. It would be neat to see her dice it up with Mandy on #8 for top spot in Novice – maybe a move to AM in round 6?
Richard – #4
- Heavyweight AM – 12th – 1:28.20
- Middleweight AM – 13th – 1:29.05
I just had a ton of fun racing this past weekend. In the heavyweight race I chased Scott on the #40 bike for 8 laps finally slipping by him in corner 1 and holding on for the checkered flag. I also posted my fasted time to date.
In the middleweight race, there were 5 of us dicing it up all race. Lap times were a little slower with some near pileups in the bus-stop and chicane but that’s racing and it was fun! Scott evened things up for the weekend with a win over me this time. Can’t wait to add Eddie into the mix for round 5 and 6.
2009 Round 5
Round 5 results
Rounds 5 and 6 included some of the fastest riders in Western Canada as Calgary’s Race City was the final event of the Western Canada Championship circuit putting Redline Racing against the best from Mission (Vancouver), Edmonton and Calgary. The race fans were treated to some very exciting racing and numerous crashes. The heavyweight race, which included Ben, Craig and Richard saw 41 racers fly into corner #1 at the same time, was an absolute gong show that had to be stopped after 3 restarts and rescheduled to Sunday because of the carnage. The Redline crew all received DNS’s (did not start) after not running the make up race on Sunday which was scheduled after the Middleweight Superbike race on Sunday which would have been two back to back races.
Craig- #60
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Heavyweight AM -DNS
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Middleweight AM – 9th – 1:26.09
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Middleweight Superbike – 13th – 1:25.03
With 23 riders on the grid for the Middleweight AM race, Craig pulled off a great finish in 9th place and managed to post some great times. A tricky headwind slowed lap times a little but Craig still managed to keep pace with the leaders.
The Middleweight Superbike Race put Craig against the Pro class racers and he did well finishing 13th.
Eddie – #89
Eddie ran strong all race and executed his signature corner 4 pass on Richard and while he couldn’t make it stick, he did manage to take the lead on Richard with a pass later going into the “bus stop”. A great first Amateur race for Eddie.
Joanne – #5
She was involved in some pretty tight racing and kept her cool to finish 11th in a field of 15 posting her best time of the year.
Lindsey – #6
She now has all winter to heal up and get ready for next year.
Ben – #28
So Ben comes out of retirement, rides a proper bike and posts some crazy fast times finishing 12th. Who would have guessed that? He kept the shinny side up during the nutty Heavyweight race and diced it up mid pack in the Middleweight race with riders that have run all year. Nice “cheeseburger” bike, great race!
Richard – #4
It’s too bad that with all the restarts they called the race and rescheduled for Sunday because we did manage to finish 6 laps of a 10 lap race. The Middleweight Amateur race was also very fun with racing very tight and lots of position changes. I had allot of fun racing with Eddie and was glad I beat Ben into corner 1 forcing him to pass me or I wouldn’t have seen him all race as he was putting some great times in. 17th in a field of 23, that’s a finish I can work on.
2009 Round 6
Round 6 results
Rounds 5 and 6 included some of the fastest riders in Western Canada as Calgary’s Race City was the final event of the Western Canada Championship circuit putting Redline Racing against the best from Mission (Vancouver), Edmonton and Calgary. The race fans were treated to some very exciting racing and numerous crashes.
Craig- #60
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Middleweight AM – DNF (crash)
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Middleweight Superbike – DNF (crash)
A most unlucky day for Craig started with a crash in the carousel when another rider tucked the front and had his bike slide into Craig’s path taking Craig out and breaking his rearset mounts. It looked as if Craig’s day was finished but with a couple races to go, Curtis Lindenbach of HardNox racing offered his #12 bike to Craig for the remainder of the day.
Craig’s fortune had changed in an instant of generosity but the day was not over yet. A crazy series of events let to the destruction of two HardNox bikes – both ridden by Redline racers – and Craig in the weeds once again after running into an oil slick going into corner 1 at high speed. In the end we must be happy with the outcome, Craig was unhurt and the bikes can be fixed, there’s always next year! (see Ben’s write-up for the cause of the oil slick)
Eddie – #89
Eddie is adjusting well to the faster pack and has demonstrated that he is not afraid to pass – anywhere. With a great 11th place finish, Eddie completed his first Amateur weekend of racing. Look for Eddie to challenge the mid front runners next year.
Joanne – #5
Lindsey – #6
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Novice Race – DNS (collarbone fracture)
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Out with a collarbone fracture, Lindsey cheered on her teammates.
Ben – #28
Well the day started out great, and normally. Ben, twists the throttle to an 11th place finish in the middleweight race, that’s awesome. He’s going fast and having some good fun, or is the fun just starting?
What happened in the Middleweight Superbike race is just unfortunate, lucky and generous all rolled up into one race. Here’s what happened…… It’s lap 4, Ben is flying into corner 1 on a borrowed HardNox Cheeseburger bike graciously provided by Colin Foster of HardNox Racing. He starts braking, slams his bike down a gear and bang, a hole in the front of the engine at 200 + kph. With oil spewing out and his back tire locked, the bike is getting way out of shape and he’s fighting to keep it upright as he starts running out of track. Well, a long story short, his rear tire is covered with oil so it doesn’t blow, he makes it off the track upright and keeps it that way until coming to a stop in the grass run off. That’s when Craig and 3 other riders come along and try to turn into corner 1 only to find that the race line is covered in oil. They all go down and end up in the weeds beside Ben. The race is red flagged and the meat wagon comes out to collect the two orange and platinum HardNox bikes. Craig is out of the race having broken Curtis’s bike and Ben is out having cratered Colin’s bike, but wait, Ben is offered another bike to finish the race on. Joanne Leblanc offers Ben the old “fatty cracker” (which after a season of having a girl ride it, it now looks like a girls race bike and is no longer called the fatty cracker by anyone but me).
After clearing it with race officials, Ben heads out to grid up for the restart. Now that’s teamwork! A 14th place finish in a grid of 25 after destroying a bike and borrowing another he’d never ridden before is quite a feat. That’s racing Redline style!
Richard – #4
I have successfully completed a race season without throwing my bike down on the ground! Yeah, I could have gone faster or made some crazier passes, but what the heck, I can always do that next year and after my first year, I think I needed a year off of rolling around on the ground. I finished 14 out of 22 in the Middleweight Amateur race and 17th out of 25 in the Middleweight Superbike race. I’m happy with that for this year as I achieved my goal to get into the 1:28’s. It was really fun racing this year and the team was just great.
A big thanks to HardNox Racing and BGPR Racing for all their help this year and for making our paddock fun with their nut-bar antics. Also thanks for the loaner bikes after we broke ours. Overall a great year of racing!
Final Team Results
Best Times for the Year
Novice – no points class
Middleweight Amateur
Middleweight Superbike
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Craig Hubley 16th of 39
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Ben Wheeler 24th of 39
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Richard Brown 28th of 39
Heavyweight Amateur
Formula II class
