“Port Royal has pair of pro stock features - Sentinel” plus 3 more

Port Royal has pair of pro stock features - Sentinel
Racing to retreat: An island’s extremes ( LAT-WP) - Peninsula
Freddie Spencer to Teach Riding and Racing at VIR - Who Won
Treasure Valley racing spotlight: Nampa's Chris Ratterree - Idaho Statesman

Port Royal has pair of pro stock features - Sentinel

Posted: 07 Aug 2009 09:16 PM PDT

Port Royal has pair of pro stock features

Commentary

By CRAIG RUTHERFORD, Sentinel correspondent

Racing continues this evening at Port Royal Speedway with a pair of pro stock features. One is a make up from last week's Dream Race 3 which was rained out.

The sprint cars, late models, and powder puff cars are all in action as well with the powder puffs running in their final points race of the season. Long time supporters Dick and Nancy Aumiller host their annual owners, drivers and crew night in the pit area prior to racing. Crews are urged to attend early. Action gets under way at 7 p.m.

Speaking of last week's Dream race, Cody Darrah got the job done and collected $15,000 for his efforts. For Darrah it was his biggest pay day ever and he gave a lot of credit to his father, family and crew chief Steve Suchy.

Darrah should be at Knoxville, Iowa this evening where he will race in a regular show. The Knoxville Nationals start on Wednesday night. Also heading to Knoxville are drivers Fred Rahmer, Lance Dewease, Stevie Smith, Daryn Pittman, Greg Hodnett and Trevor Lewis.

Todd Shaffer's long time supporter, Village Square Plaza in Shermans Dale, will host a race car show in the parking lot on Aug.15 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Race cars driven by Shaffer, Scott Lupfer, and Steve Wilbur will be on display. There will also be a restored 1968 Chevy Camaro drag car.

Brooke Tatnell suffered a broken leg as a result of his drive line breaking in the No. 25 car during last Saturday's Dream race at Port Royal. Tatnell will be on the shelf for a while.

The Williams Grove Old Timers join the program at Selinsgrove Speedway tonight. Also in action are the 358 sprint cars, late models, pro stocks and roadrunners. Race time is 7 p.m.

Lincoln Speedway will run their make up late model speedweek race next Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

The Bedford Speedway is in the middle of a two-day monster truck show, being billed as a monster truck thrill show. There are motorcycle stunts, a jet truck, and more. There will be a monster truck giving fans rides through out the night. Bad Habit, Viper, Rap Attack and Storm Damage are some of the trucks that will perform and Transformer will be there.

Tow Mater from the movie Cars will also be on hand. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $20 for adults and $10 for kids ages 10-and-under. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is also affiliated with the event. Sunday night is a rain date if necessary.

The Kasey Kahne Foundation held its annual 360 sprint car and super late model race Wednesday night at Williams Grove Speedway. Brian Montieth won the 360 race while Kahne finished fourth. Fellow NASCAR driver Kyle Busch ran with the late models and finished second to Jason Covert.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup cars are at Watkins Glen this weekend. ESPN has TV coverage tomorrow starting at 2 p.m. Tony Stewart is the current points leader with just five races to go before the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup begins.

Last week I mentioned about some local racers who are making their mark in Pennsylvania racing. Another person was called to my attention this week.

Twelve-year-old Brandon Secrest of Longfellow, which is near McVeytown, won two heat races and feature events last week at Penns Creek go-kart track. Secrest is second in Rookie Blue points for the year. He won that class feature event as well as the Jr. restricted class in which he will race next season.

He has been racing for three years now and has shown the most improvement this past season. This young man is using his head and trying to race the right way, which is to say he doesn't make a habit of being overly aggressive and wrecking while trying to pass. Secrest is a second-generation driver. His father Mark raced four-cylinder stock and sprint cars along with 305 and 410 sprints and go-karts. Best wishes to all.

That's going to do it for another week. Until next time please drive safely!

Craig Rutherford writes about motorsports for The Sentinel. He is affiliated with Port Royal Speedway.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Racing to retreat: An island’s extremes ( LAT-WP) - Peninsula

Posted: 07 Aug 2009 03:18 PM PDT

Racing to retreat: An islands extremes (LAT-WP)

By Susan Carpenter
If I had been able to sleep on the 10-hour overnight flight, it might have been a good plan. But I didnt, which left me riding a motorcycle on the wrong side of the road in the rain while jet-lagged with no idea where I was going.
My destination was the Isle of Man, a tiny island in the middle of the Irish Sea off the northwest coast of England. Its best known for two things: its status as a tax haven and a 102-year-old motorcycle race called the TT, which is run on real roads by unsung racers who whiz, at speeds approaching 200mph, within inches of stone walls and spectators.
I planned to catch the tail end of the legendary TT, then enjoy the island in its natural state -- that is, not overrun by motorcycles. I just had to get here, which meant flying to London, renting a motorcycle, biking 250 miles across England and taking a 3 1/2-hour ferry ride to the port town of Douglas.
It was quite the slog but worth it.
The Isle of Man, a British crown possession, is a mythological place, especially for motorcyclists, who revere its embrace of mans need for speed and the talented risk-takers who live for it. Nowhere else does the government shut down 37.73 miles of its roads for two weeks to host a grueling race that probably will result in death; 224 racers have died on the course -- including one while I was here -- yet the race endures.
Its fans swarm the island every year in late May and early June, loading their sport bikes like pack mules to sprint around the island imitating their idols. When I arrived in Douglas in June, the island was in full TT swing. Cars were in the minority. The streets were a cacophony of up- and down-shifting motorcycles.
The parking spaces along the seaside promenade were jammed handlebar to handlebar with candy-coloured race-bike replicas, and the sidewalks were shoulder to shoulder with bikers, who hadnt bothered to change out of their full leathers and race boots as they strolled the cobblestones while eating ice cream -- one of the specialities on this largely agricultural island.
I felt among my tribe. But I was also exhausted. I squeezed my Honda ST1300 into one of the few remaining vacant parking spaces and checked in to the Admiral House, the first in a long line of inns along the citys main drag. This being the TT fortnight, I paid about $350 a night instead of the usual $175. Still, I felt grateful, having booked my trip eight weeks earlier. The best accommodations start to sell out 10 months before the TT.
My third-floor suite was smack in the center of the action. Looking out of my alcove window.
Manx is the name for the 81,000 people who inhabit this island nation. About half of the people who live here are from the Isle of Man; the rest are so-called comeovers from nearby England, Scotland and Ireland who, I was told, came here because it is safer than their native countries. Few people lock their house or car doors.
Rolling down to the Bushys tent after a short nap, I met a nonbiker from Scotland who lived on the island and worked in banking, the islands main industry. The second person I met was from Ireland.
Both conversations were cut short by the Red Arrows, a stunt show by the Royal Air Force Display Team, a pair of bi-wing planes topped with scantily clad women doing quasi-calisthenics over Douglas Bay.
Such displays arent the usual Wednesday night fare in Douglas, the islands capital, business center and only real city. It was part of the TT-week entertainment, along with performances by the band Whitesnake and Celtic-flavoured cover acts such as the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.
The entertainment pickings were less than slim, so I chose to stroll. At 8 on a weeknight any other time of year, all of the shops would be closed, but not during the TT. Walking along the Loch Promenade, I stopped for a whippy with a flake -- a towering, extra-creamy, vanilla soft serve ice cream with a candy bar shoved in its side -- at Davisons Manx Dairy Ice Cream Parlor, then wandered the islands main shopping district, where many of the windows of cell-phone shops, clothing boutiques, beauty salons and art galleries displayed motorcycles along with their usual merchandise.
In celebration of the TT, Sayle Gallery had an Ace Cafe mods and rockers exhibit as well as pieces from a local named Adam Berry. I bought three of his Summer of Love meets Isle of Man prints, which blend speeding motorcycles with come-hither vixens and TT racecourse checkpoints, such as Black Dub, Ramsey Hairpin and Glen Duff.
To nonrace fans, these names are charmingly Celtic although meaningless, but to the thousands of people who come to the TT each year, theyre the places where high-flying racers test their mettle -- and their bikes suspensions -- speeding through tight switchbacks and catching air.
I rented a bike for this trip to experience the course up close, although at distinctly lower speeds. I started my trip in Douglas because its home to the course starting gate, which was a mile from my hotel and, unnervingly, next to the town cemetery.
For an island that embraces motorcycling, its odd that motorcycles are not rented on the isle itself. Neither of the two motorcycle shops rents bikes because of high insurance rates. A bike isnt necessary, of course. The island has excellent public transportation, both bus and rail, or you can rent a car or a bicycle. But I wanted to experience the island on a motorcycle.
I was on the island for the last few days of the races, which I viewed from the grandstand, just above the pits where the racers were speeding ear-shatteringly and so blindingly fast I couldnt tell who was whom without the benefit of the announcer. There werent any big screens to show what was happening in real time, just Manx Radio, which was giving the play by play. To see the race, I had to watch the televised recap each night.
The races were over by the time I wheeled my bike around the island course. I didnt know where I was going, but the course is marked with enormous orange signs and arrows. Many hay bales and foam pads cushion potentially deadly roadside obstacles, such as lamp posts, stone fences and trees. Even if the course hadnt been marked, I wouldve been able to find my way. I just had to follow the steady stream of Ducatis, Gixxers and Ninjas.
It took me about an hour to ride the course during the day, when theres street traffic. The racers do the same thing in about 20 minutes. But at my pace, I could experience the scenery that makes this island special.
Clusters of charming stone cottages in Douglas gave way to fields of grazing sheep and cows in nearby Kirk Michael, then sweeping coastal vistas and twisty, mountainous chaparral coming out of Ramsey.
It was such a gorgeous ride that I decided to ride it again -- and again, which isnt hard to do. The island is just 32 miles long and 12 miles wide, or just a little smaller than Los Angeles proper but without the traffic, so getting around is quick. After three round trips of the track at gradually increasing speeds, I had had my fill.
My next stop was the Fairy Bridge just outside of Douglas. According to island lore, people who pass over the bridge must say hello to the fairies unless they want bad luck. I wanted to see if the locals actually did that, so I hopped on a London-style double-decker headed for Castletown. I also planned to check out the well-preserved medieval-era Castle Rushen, from which the town gets its name, and go to the local pub.
About halfway through the 20-minute ride, the bus riders waved and called out, Hello, fairies! as we passed over the short bridge and under a lush canopy of trees.
One of them was Gina. We chatted about her work as a banker, the fact that she had moved to the island from England because she felt it was safer for her kids, and my plans for the rest of my stay. When I told her I would be heading around the island clockwise by bike but didnt have accommodations outside Douglas, she called a friend about a homestay.
The next night, I was sleeping in her friends house in Port Erin, a sleepy coastal village in the southeast corner of the island with a stunning beach and kayak rentals. Homestays are one of the most common accommodations on the Isle of Man and offer an up-close view of island life. Sanctioned homestays cost about $40 a night, a relief given the exchange rate.
The Isle of Man is not part of the European Union. It is a self-governing crown dependency affiliated with Britain only for its defense and international trade representation. So its currency is in pounds.
Not that theres much to buy, other than motorcycle paraphernalia and trinkets paying tribute to the Manx cats (cats without tails). There is, however, quite a bit to do to experience the history.
The Norse occupied the isle in the seventh century, but its culture also was influenced by the Irish, Scottish and English, all of whom occupied the island for centuries at a time. It wasnt until the late 19th century that the island became autonomous, but its history of occupation by other peoples and its landscape-inspired trade is evident across the island.
My favourite place on the island was probably the Great Laxey Wheel in Laxey, said to be the largest working water wheel in the world, with a circumference of about 228 feet and once used to pump water from the islands lead and zinc mines. Its spectacular to see this giant red structure rising from the lush landscape.
And it was calm. It was three days since the races had ended, and the island felt like a different place. There was almost no traffic when I decided to circle the course one last time, encountering mostly trucks picking up the hay bales.
Arriving in Douglas for my last night before ferrying back to England, even this, the most cosmopolitan city on the island, felt dead. At 6pm, parking was easy to find, and everything but the pubs was closed, which made the Isle of Man seem very much like an island.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Freddie Spencer to Teach Riding and Racing at VIR - Who Won

Posted: 31 Jul 2009 03:19 PM PDT

VIRginia International Raceway
Friday, July 31, 2009
Freddie Spencer to Teach Riding and Racing at VIR

by Crystal France

DANVILLE, Va. -- Three-time World Champion motorcycle racer Freddie Spencer brings his expertise to VIRginia International Raceway with Team Pro-Motion's motorcycle riding schools, August 1-3.

"Spencer's reputation as a rider is matched by his skills as a teacher, giving riders training in the skills needed to race successfully or ride safely on the streets," said VIR general manager Josh Lief. "'Fast Freddie' sits in the top twenty of AMA riders with a career 24 wins, 15 of them on Superbikes." Spencer began riding at age four and racing only one year later, moving on to victories at nearly every level and on nearly every kind of race course, from flat tracks to international road race circuits.

"My school is a combination of techniques that I developed and refined over my 29 years of amateur and professional racing," comments Spencer. "Those techniques and the basic fundamental process works today whether you are riding a Sport touring bike or a pure sport bike."

Winner of a 250cc and two 500cc world crowns, Spencer will be conducting a two-day Premier school on South Course Saturday and Sunday, then move to North Course for a Monday Extreme riding school. For more information on Team Pro-Motion and its riding schools, email them at sales@teampromotion.com, check their web site at www.teampromotion.com or call them at 215-675-6677.

VIR has back to back motorcycle racing weekends in August with the WERA Cycle Jam/Vintage Motorcycle Racing August 8-9 followed by the Suzuki Big Kahuna AMA Nationals August 14-16. The Big Kahuna Nationals promise more than racing for fans with multiple big-screen television monitors so guests won't miss any action; bigger and better vendor displays and fun and games with a special section for children in the infield; Vanishing Species endangered animal displays; live music, and more. Spectator tickets for the Big Kahuna are selling faster than ever so make sure you aren't disappointed and place your order online now at www.amabigkahuna.com or by calling (303) 377-3278.

VIRginia International Raceway is a multi-purpose road racing facility, located on the Dan River between Danville and South Boston, Virginia. VIR hosts a wide range of professional and amateur auto and motorcycle racing and track events, and is well established as "America's Motorsport Resort. For further information, call 434-822-7700 or visit our web site at www.virclub.com.v

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Treasure Valley racing spotlight: Nampa's Chris Ratterree - Idaho Statesman

Posted: 06 Aug 2009 11:12 PM PDT

Name: Chris Ratterree, 31

Hometown: Nampa

Family: Wife, Rachel

Day job: Mechanic

Type of racing: Winged Sprints

Car owner: Tom Hill

Crew chief: His dad, Ron Ratterree

Crew: Cory Wiles, Toni Ruby, Mike Bagley, Mark Bagley and Rick Reneau.

Home track: Sandhollow Raceway Park

Racing background: From the time he was little, Ratterree's family was involved in racing. He grew up watching his dad race Late Models in California and North and South Carolina, and his dad also worked as a body man and painter for Tri Star Motorsports driver Bobby Hamilton in the Sprint Cup series in the early 90s. By the time he was 10, Ratterree began racing BMX bikes. He has also raced motorcycles, go-karts, Outlaw Karts, Mini Sprints, Bombers, Modifieds and Late Models. He started racing a Winged Sprint mid-way through last season.

Accomplishments: Ratterree has won two races this season and is leading the Winged Sprint points standings at Meridian Speedway by 28 points over Cory Lockwood. In the last year, Ratterree has won races at Meridian in a Winged Sprint, Late Model and Modified. He is also the reigning Late Model champion at Meridian.

Notable: Ratterree and his parents run Sandhollow Raceway Park outside of Caldwell.

Why he races: "It's just always what I've done. It's what I do for fun. It's what I like to do," Ratterree said. "... My dad raced all the time when I was growing up so I've always been around it. My family has always been into it."

Racing aspirations: "I just started racing Sprintcars and that's kind of opened up a whole new world of stuff to do," he said. "I'd like to go run some USAC races and some different stuff with the Sprintcars outside of Meridian Speedway and see where it goes from there."

Favorite driver: Former NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip.

Sponsors: Engineered Structures Incorporated, X-Treme Outlaw Karts, Dillon Auto Craft, Printcraft, Dan Olson Racing Products and SpeedTechChassis.com.