EMRA round 5

Round 5 of the Edmonton Motorcycle Roadracing Association was a complete success. The racing day started with the Senior Open, a class that the team had previously dropped out of due to the incredibly stiff competition and the litre bikes that make it difficult to perform in with a '96 600.

The team squeaked out a 14th place finish with a time of 1:07:415 while only getting lapped in the dying seconds of the race. Lead rider Rick Newcombe made a grevious error when he pulled over to let the race leaders through, when at the same time arch rival Nigel Cook snuck through ahead of Pete DeGraff. It was a hard lesson learned that cost the team a position and a point. During this race the brake pads on the CBR got completely cooked off down to and in one case past the pads to the steel! The pads were replaced between races and the team owes a big thank you to Blair from SV Racing Parts for stocking pads for the '96 CBR600F3 and for being at the track to make them available. We all owe Blair a great deal of gratitude for him driving all the way from Vancouver for every round of the EMRA season!

Next up was the intermediate 600 supersport race in which the team placed 8th with a time of 1:12:710. This was a great finish as the race was challenged by intermittant rain. In fact, one end of the track was dry while the opposite end was wet. It took all the skill Rick could muster to keep the bike settled in these difficult conditions. The winner's best time was only 5 seconds faster than Rick's and 51racing managed to come in ahead of some much faster dry riders like David Kendall and Alexandria Cohen. The team picked up 8 points and was very happy with rider Rick Newcombe who explained "I only had one or two scary moments in some of the wet corners, when the little CBR stepped out in the rear".

The final race of the day was the Sportman race where the team placed 7th picking up 9 points with a best time of 1:08:350.