Ricks Rolls, Cleland Rocks at the CMRA’s 2011 Season Opener at Mercedes-Benz of Sugar Land Road Course
The Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association (CMRA) got its 2011 season off to a flying start at Mercedes-Benz of Sugar Land Road Course in Angleton, Texas, this past weekend. Visiting the Angleton, Texas, venue for the first time in over two years, the 2.38 mile, 17-turn track, located about 20 miles due south of downtown Houston, Texas, played host to plenty of hot race action. Typically the first race of the season draws a large entry count, and this race was no exception, garnering 626 sprint and endurance race entries. While temperatures were quite mild, staying right around the 70 degrees F mark, other weather factors still managed to throw race control — and the racers — a bit of a curve ball, as fog rolled in on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, delaying the start of each day’s activities. The fog eventually burned off and made way to overcast skies that later turned partly cloudy, and the racing went off mostly as planned.
Saturday’s racing featured Mini sprint races, a 2-hour Mini endurance race, and a 4-hour Big Bike endurance race. In Mini endurance action, it was RMJ Racing (Brandon Altmeyer, Ryan Max Johnson) on a Kawasaki Ninja 250 claiming a very close overall win in front of the Honda RS150R of Team Sidewinder (Derrick Pattman, Derek Thomas, Linz Leard) and the Ninja 250 of Scarey Racing (Greg Anderson, Sam Carey). After two hours of racing, all three teams finished on the same lap. In the Big Bike endurance race it was the
KTM RC8 of Quadwealth/SCRC (Ty Howard, Jeremy Louder, Derek Wagnon) that was able to best the Yamaha YZF-R6 of Village Idiots (John Orchard, Chris Headley, Brandon Cleland, Blake Cochran) and the Kawasaki ZX-6R of Lone Star Track Days (Mark Neimi, Andy Galindo, Gabe McClendon) for the overall win.
Sunday’s sprint racing boasted 19 separate sprint races and entertained the sizable crowds (which included Colin Edwards, Sr.). Mandeville, Louisiana’s Darrell “DJ” Ricks was the biggest winner in the expert ranks, taking home wins in all four of his classes, Formula 2 Expert, Superstock D Expert, Lightweight Twins Expert, and Superbike D Expert, on his Suzuki SV650. Brandon Cleland was also a big winner on the day, taking home wins the South Central Race Center Superstock C Expert, Superbike B Expert, and Island Racing Services Superbike C Expert races. In the novice ranks, it was Ryan Max Johnson who needed to clear the most room in his trophy case when he got home, as the Abilene, Texas, resident claimed victories in the Road & Track Suspension Formula 2 Novice, OnRoad OffRoad Suspension Superstock D Novice, Ridesmart Motorcycle School Lightweight Twins Novice, Fastline Motorcycle School Superbike D Novice and Road & Track Suspension Formula 4 classes. Novice, Will Zamora, had a good day too, bagging wins in the Superstock A Novice, Superbike A Novice, and Formula 1 Novice races.
The CMRA would like to thank our 2011 Class Sponsors for their support of our racers: Fastline Motorcycle School, Island Racing Services, Lone Star Track Days, Moto Liberty, OnRoad OffRoad Suspension, RaceworX, RentMyNinja.com, RideSmart Motorcycle School, Road & Track Suspension, Shogun and South Central Race Center.
The CMRA returns to action at Texas World Speedway on the weekend of April 2-3.
For more information about the CMRA, including detailed race results from MBSRC, visit: www.cmraracing.com.
