Racers Report... the lighter side
2004
Madhouse Racing... Where Are You???
2004
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12/09/02
Well, I fell behind on the updates this year. So, I'll
just wrap it up for Christmas. Web page updates have started. Hopefully,
I won't screw up the whole thing... But hey, who really cares! It's all
about the fun...
10/19/02
* TEAM 300
06/01/02
2nd Gran Prix race of the year was at Lake Isabella,
CA. The weather was definitely a factor in both outcome and performance.
30 mph winds kept everyone honest. Due to some unknown reason, the infamous
5mph scoring shoot was re-introduced. I don't think anyone was injured
due to this, but a few boats were dinged up. Just like old times, eh? Roughly
20 riders (not sure) racers braved the rough water, and high wind gust.
Air temps were in the 70's, as well as water temps. Surprisingly, few boats
broke. Maybe 5 went down early. I imagine the high altitude and soup like
conditions kept the failures low. Rider performance was most notably brought
into the action. More than a few racers got tossed. I dragged one individual
back to his ski on the last lap! I had a good VET race day, but the results
won't show it. My pit times are still incredibly high, due to the stock
filler nozzle. I ran 1 hour and then pitted. The ski took almost 15 gallons.
I finished on fumes! Oh, and my fuel gauge decided to start working again.
Tracy ran a flawless race in Am Stock, but his ski is becoming outdated,
and is falling behind the current crop of stock ski's. His pit was less
than 3 minutes. He ran over an 75 minutes before his first pit, avg. 10
gph. When it was all said and done, Mike Folllmer was OA winner. Randy
Ross, and Tracy Milan were in the top 5. All of R.P.M.'s boats did real
well. None broke. The stars and stripes GPR was leading the race for sometime.
In fact it appeared to have won the race. BP RACING says otherwise... However,
since BP refused to give out lap times, I'll let you be the judge.
04/27/02
First Team 200 race of the year was at Lake Perris, CA.
The race was well run. The pits were rather shallow, and over 20 ft long.
It made for tough pitting. The parking was on the beach. The lake was glass.
The weather was overcast, and in the high 60's. Water temps were around
the low 60's. The race was very smooth, and a Pro GPR was able to beat
out the ever-fast Tracy Malan for the overall. Mr. Malan was sporting his
new STX1200r Pro boat. It was fast, but not as fast as his Ultra. It was
certainly a day of carnage. After the first pits, many boats were dropping
like flies... blown couplers, twisted cranks, seized pistons. You name
it! Rob Johns and myself teamed up to race Vet class. We had a great race,
but still need to get a quick dump to be competitive. Our pits lasted over
5 min a piece. That's almost 1 lap per pit!!! The ski did good. It still
has some porpoising problems, but did an average of over 50 mph, including
pits. We did good with the pit "timing", running the gas tank almost dry
every time. The oil tank was run down to the bare minimum as well.
03/16/02
First Long Course of the year was at Lake Havasu, at
the Crazy Horse Campgrounds. Weather was cold, drizzly and windy. Very
nasty. The water was very choppy, with wind blown waves, and very little
flat water. The course was laid out CCW with double buoy doglegs and a
few 90's. Not bad. The start was LeMans. The first race was everybody except
Pros/Experts. This was my first outing on the Yamaha GP1200R. It did okay,
however, was a handful in the rough water. It stayed trimmed down most
of the day, just to keep it running. The only Madhouse racer was myself.
Krista was kind enough to be the "Pit Beatch" again. She did great getting
the pits accomplished. One stop was more than enough. There was one brave
soul on a bone stock Kawi STXR. He was really fighting hard to stay on
in the rough water. It appeared to bounce worse than the GPR. I lapped
him 3 times... or more.
It appeared allot of the local Pro's raced in their respective amateur class, due to the factory Kawi teams showing up. The water was just as rough as with the first race. A few brave souls went head to head with the factory boats. As expected it was a Pro- Kawi run away.
02/16/02
First Endurance Race of the year was at Lake Elsinore,
CA. Great venue. Roughly 28 racers in the "Gran Prix 1". For most of the
morning fog covered the lake. Thankfully around 11:30 ish, it lifted enough
to race. The lake was glass smooth. The start was a real drag race (as
was allot of the day), in no small part to the "rolling start" format.
The course layout looked similar to an old flag style course. Kind of like
Crank Works banner.
Size was approximately 5.7 miles per my gps. Katie Jenkins of Lawrence
Equipment won the overall. The only Madhouse racer in the GP was myself.
Krista went along for the race, but was still healing a broken arm. She
did great in the pits. I even surprised her with a second pit stop due
to not getting enough gas the first time. I also found a way to launch
myself off of my ski, and rip a perfectly good wet suit to shreds!!! No
blood, no foul.
Roughly 21 racers in the newly formed "Sprint" series. 4 brave souls raced standups in the Sprint. The race was the same format HOWEVER, the winds picked up to around 30 mph, and really made things interesting. A few of the racers from the first race had enough, and called it quits early. I can't say I blame them. It was nice and nasty out there.
Drove home that night, sore, tired and happy. Can't wait
till Havasu on March 16th. Possible new ski in the garage (I'm gonna need
more room). Hopefully, more will join in this year.
01/08/02
Well, a new year is here. The weather in Arizona is great
for the outdoors. The lakes are a little cold, but very empty. A racer
from BP endurance series contacted me last night, and wanted to know if
the web site was "dead". It might as well be, but I keep it running...
Maybe some racing this year?
Status of the team for this year is still undetermined. Myself, am willing to do some endurance races with my old rusty, crusty, trusty Polaris. Rob has just ordered a replacement pipe for one of his 3 dead ski's. Tracy is still around, and his ski needs one spark plug (joke). Krista has broken her arm at Glamis, but has a 2000 Polaris ski rarin' to go. Dorin still has his Pro 785, but I doubt he is interested in any races. Daron has sold all his equipment. He likes to ride his horse now. Bryan is MIA. Not sure what his plans are. Jason is still in Mexico, on his mission. He will be gone for the year.
I know the standup folks, like JR. and friends are still lurking about, but have not heard from them since Christmas. Dan Kelly, who races a Crank Works sponsored BRIGHT RED GPR, raced Pro at Long Beach Team 300, and did rather well. Congratulations to him and his partner. That ski rocks!!! Have had some contacts from various new racers showing interest in the sport. Please feel free to contact us. We would love to share any knowledge with you.
mark c.
Madhouse Racing... Where Are You???
The Team:
The Plan:
Keep in touch.
Mark C.
2000
Long Beach to Catalina... FOR
REAL!
I'm pretty sure this was the race everyone wanted to do the first time. It was choppy, technical and FUN. The weather was overcast, with some clouds. Visibility was about 10-12 miles. No fog. Billy Womack was the Overall Winner. I think Mark Dobson was 2nd.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
2000
Long Beach to Catalina...
TAKE 1
It was kind of like a bad scripted "B" movie. Bad plot, bad actors, with a never-ending finish. As with most bad movies, it was not allot of fun... HOWEVER, BPMS has another race scheduled for Sept. 30th for LB to Cat. Results posted afterwards.
HIGHLIGHTS/LOW LIGHTS
2000
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