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May 29, 2007
Heartland Park Topeka - April 27-29 Review
TSR Rider Michael Simone is currently in 2nd Place in the ASRA National Rankings for the Factory Pro Sportbike Class after an amazing weekend at Heartland Park Topeka.
Team Simone Racing had a phenomenal weekend at HPT this weekend. Scoring all top 10 finishes, TSR had quite the opposite luck this weekend vs. last year when we blew one motor and lost our "A" bike this same time last year. Pulling from a great weekend at Daytona a few months ago, TSR is on the fast track to good finishes, and great success this year in the CCS/ASRA MW Classes we are competing in. TSR finished in the top 3 in two classes and walked away with a 4th, two 6th's and a 9th in our other classes. However, the pride of the weekend came in our 7th place finish in the ASRA National Race, after what was TSR's best qualifying effort to date, which landed us 10th on the grid.
The Factory Pro Sportbike ASRA Race was 18 Laps, quite a bit more than anything we have ever run before, but our training over the winter has paid off, as we were able to run the full length of the race, and finish with some of our fastest times of the weekend coming at the end of the race. An excellent battle with fellow Kansas City Rider Kurt Stock would be the highlight of the race. In a strategic move, I allowed Kurt to pass me, so I could follow him and let him set the pace, saving energy and tires. On the 3rd to the last lap, I re-passed Kurt and was able to hold him off for the 7th place position.
We had many other great battles over the weekend, with one of those being in the MWSB race on Saturday. We battled with two riders who we do not know (Riders #49 and I think #64 and one other EX rider) who gave TSR a great run for our money in the last lap, when a lapping AM would allow TSR to pass two of the Experts, but still lost position to #49. But, it was a great battle.
TSR would also like to give a great shout out to fellow rider Dan Blake. Dan had a great weekend on his monster R6, as he got valuable seat time, and dialed the bike in for him. As the weekend progressed Dan's times and finishes got better and better, and we a proud and happy for him.
TSR would like to thank its newest sponsor Steve Smithers from Smithers Customs for the awesome Dyno work last weekend in preparation for this weekend’s events. Steve really is the man when it comes to getting a bike to give you all its power and performance. I was able to pull down bikes which have more motor than I do, and run very fast times, all due to Steve's excellent tuning skills. Steve - you are the man!
TSR heads to Blackhawk Farms in two weeks for the 3rd round of racing in 2007. TSR would like to thank all its family and friends that came out and helped and cheered us on this weekend. And as always, to our Pit Crew - Couldn't do it without you all.
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May 4, 2007
Team Simone Racing has returned from an awesome weekend at Daytona International Speedway. TSR was able to race against some of the top competitors in the United States who also race AMA Pro Racing, and did very well. Gridded up next to AMA Pro Riders is something to experience and will make you a better and faster rider any day of the week.
TSR had an amazing finish in ASRA SportBike this weekend...After a dismal qualifying session which landed us in position 38 of 43, TSR was able to pull back and finish a remarkable 7th, and to top it all off, we did it during a Florida downpour, on our bone stock "B" Rain Bike.
Followed up with two more top 20 finishes in HeavyWeight and Middleweight Classes, TSR has an excellent return to the racing scene after a 6 month hiatus last year when we sat the last part of the season out due to Mike & Misty Simone's 1st home purchase.
Full results can been seen here and we look forward to our next event at our home track of Topeka next month. We will again be competing in all MiddleWeight Classes along with the premier class ASRA SportBike Class in hopes of getting some top 5 finishes and maybe even that next big Expert Win. Look for us in our Blue/White colors if you are in the Paddock at HPT next month. Thank you to all our family and friends who help and support us, as well as our Sponsors. TSR missed its Pit Crew this weekend at Daytona and can not wait to have them back in our corner at Topeka to help work on the bikes during the busy race weekend.
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February 15, 2007
Daytona Bike Week 2007
Team Simone Racing is heading out to Daytona Bike Week next week to participate in the season opening races with CCS/ASRA at Daytona International Raceway. TSR is attending the Thursday pratice day which is put on by Team Hammer, we hope this day will allow us to get up to speed as quickly as possible.
Team Simone Racing heads out Tuesday night after work for a long 17 hours drive from Kansas City to Daytona Beach, FL. Look for us on the Factory Blue and White Yamaha 2006 R6's along with our our close fried Trevor on his Factory Blue and White 2002 R1. Should be lots of fun and excitement.
Daytona Schedule of Events for TSR:
Thursday: Team Hammer Pratice Day
Friday: Race #3 - Akropovic GTU, ASRA SportBike Qualifing
Saturday: Race #1 - MiddleWeight SuperBike, Race #5 - HeavyWeight SuperBike, Race #7 - MiddleWeight GP, ASRA SportBike National
Sunday: Race #2 - MiddleWeight SuperSport
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June 30 - July 2, 2006
Mid-America Motorplex - Pacific Junction, IA
Team Simone Racing has just returned from Mid-America Motorplex, in which attended the 4th round of the TrackAddix GP Championships. The weekend started with Practice on Friday. The turn out for the weekend was a little on the light side, but there were some faster guys to play with, just not very large grids.
The first race of the weekend was GTU. This Race would be the first win TSR would achieve as an Expert. Running a consistent 1:35's we not only were running 2 seconds faster than our last time here, we were doing it on our Stock "B" bike. An Epic battle between us an Jeff Purke would last all the way to the checkered flag, with the margin if victory being less than one second. It was an awesome race. Click here to keep reading...
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June 24-25, 2006
Heartland Park - Topeka, KS
Team Simone Racing has just returned from Heartland Park Topeka, in which attended the 2 day Sport Bike Track Time Track Day Weekend, ran by Lithium Motorsports. TSR Caravanned down Friday night with Dan & Trevor in preparation for the weekend events. Dan and I would be Control Riders again this weekend, so we had to be on our best behavior! LOL...
Running Tires with 7 Sprint Races, 4 Practice Sessions and a full Hallett Track Day, we were not expecting to run blazing times this weekend. Not worrying about going fast we didn't even bust out the tire warmers, we were out to just have some good old fun and get some good pics and video. We have over 90 minutes on On-Board footage that are in the Video Section of the site.
Just being a track day we didn't have anything but fun on our minds, and Dan ran the TSR "B" bike a few times, and even broke out the sparky knee puck sliders. The best session of the weekend was on Sunday afternoon when I ran with Kevin Mahoney at a semi-race pace which would be our fastest times of the entire weekend. I think we may have dipped into the 1:55's during that session, which is pretty slow compared to the 1:49's we were running last weekend.
TSR heads to Mid-America this weekend for the 4th round of the GP Championships. We will be running our "B" bike at MAM next weekend, as we do not have our motor back from 4&6 quite yet. Either way, we are looking forward to some more Racing action...
Until next time...
June 16-18, 2006
Heartland Park - Topeka, KS
Team Simone Racing has just returned from Heartland Park Topeka, in which attended the 3 day CCS/ASRA Event weekend. We arrived at the Track Wednesday night and had our pits setup by dark in preparation for Thursday practice. Weather conditions for the weekend were going to be hot, very hot, with possible rain on Saturday.
Practice on Thursday was pretty uneventful. This was our 2nd time on the HPT GP 2.5 Course Layout, and without knowing what the "fast" guys will be running this weekend, we took the day pretty easy. Out best times in Practice were in the 1:54 range, and we didn't have any idea if those times were good or bad.
Friday was the nicest day of the weekend for us with Temps in the low 90's, but we had 30+ MPH winds. We had one Race on Friday, GTU. By this time the "fast" guys had shown up and put down times in the 1:46-1:45 range, so now we had an idea of where we needed to be.
With new Michelin Tires mounted, the green flag flew for Expert GTU. Immediately our times went from 1:54 range to 1:49.1x range for the duration of the GTU Race. This was the first GT Race in which we were able to run consistent laps the entire race, without fatigue hitting us 3-4 laps from the finish like normal. Our continued endurance training had not only shaved 40lbs off, but also increased stamina and endurance for our racing. We would finish 5th and finally get our 1st Top 5 Expert finish in this race, something very exciting for us. Click here to keep reading...
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May 13, 2006
Heartland Park - Topeka, KS
Team Simone Racing has just returned from a Sport Bike Track Time (STT) Track Day (Ran by Lithium Motorsports) at Heartland Park Topeka, just outside of Kansas City, MO. Weather conditions were perfect for riding with Temps in the mid to lower 70’s and a clear sky. The afternoon would bring some wicked winds, but they wouldn’t last for more than a few hours.
Team Simone Racing rider Mike Simone was a Track Instructor for this event, so we would be required to act as an on-track police man, and also help new Riders learn the track and give advice to students. STT operates a 3 Session format (Novice, Intermediate and Advanced) so needless to say you will get tons of track time, and being an instructor, we would ride back to back sessions in both Intermediate and Advanced to log over 300 miles (142 Laps of HPT’s 2.1 Course) in just one day. Click here to keep reading...
May 6-7, 2006
Blackhawk Farms - Rockton, IL
Team Simone Racing just returned from Rockton, IL, the hometown of Blackhawk Farms Raceway, just south of the Wisconsin Border. This weekend is a Mid-West only event and not in our primary Great Plains region, so it is more for addition seat time, suspension setup and just to have some fun. The weekend would start great, and end rough with a failed TPS (Throttle Body Position Sensor) failing on Sunday, which would put the TSR R6 out of commission for our final 3 races on Sunday. We arrived at Blackhawk very early Saturday morning. We pulled in, flipped on the heat, generator, and slid the slide out and hit the bed. Saturday morning included standard Registration and Technical Inspections, and our only 2 practice session we would get before our 1st race. It has been over one year since our last BHF visit, and now in addition, we are on a totally new bike... Click here to keep reading...
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April 24, 2006
Road America - Elkhart Lake, WI
Team Simone Racing just returned from Elkhart Lake, WI from a 4 Day Race Weekend Event. We arrived at Road America Wednesday afternoon and had the pits setup that evening. We were pre-entered for Thursday practice which was hosted by NESBA.Road America weather in April is known for being wet, cold and un-predicable, however this weekend would work in our favor and provide pretty nice racing conditions, considering we were in Wisconsin, at the end of April...
The weekend started with testing and setup on Thursday. This is only our 2nd time on the new R6 so we are still getting a base setup, and Gearing Selection for Road America is pretty important, as there are quite a few long straights, but still some tight areas where you still need good mid-range. By the end of the weekend we had out grown our gearing, but due to supplies, we elected to ride around our issues as best we could, and just stick with what we had, and it still allowed us to run in the consistent 2:32.3x range all day on Saturday, which is a good time for a 600 around Road America's 4+ Mile course.As stated before, conditions on Thursday were excellent with sunshine and temps in the mid 70's all day. The course has been re-paved in most corners since last year, which helps to lower lap times as new, smooth pavement is a good thing...Thursday was a very successful practice day and we had a very good setup on the R6, ready for race duty this weekend. We took the TSR R1 out for the final practice session, but didn't make any changes to this bike for the weekend. After this session, we decided to run the R1 in one race, and then substitute the R6 for the R1 in the other Unlimited Race we had entered for this weekend.
Friday was the 1st day of races for the weekend, and we had two races with the 600 this day. Middleweight SuperBike and GTU. Both races were very intense as they were our 1st Expert Races since last year, and we also had very large grids, 30+ riders into turn 1 is a new experience for us. But overall we did excellent, considering our competition. We pulled off a 15th Place finish in MWSB and an 11th in GTU. Saturday was a whole new day with 3 MW Races, and a new thing for us, ASRA Qualifying, which would determine our grid position for Sunday's ASRA SuperBike Race. We had to qualify in the Rain on Saturday morning so, laptimes were pretty slow, overall. We qualified on the 4th row of the grid with a laptime of over 3:00 minutes, so needless to say, we were running pretty slow that morning.
On the schedule for Saturday was MiddleWeight SuperBike, MiddleWeight GP and MiddleWeight SuperSport. The new TSR R6 would be the tested and tuned on Saturday to eventually allow us to run in the low 2:32.3x laptimes during our Middleweight SuperSport Race after a long and hard battle with Ryan Hall for 12th place we traded positions for nearly 2 laps before I was able to finally seal the deal, but at that point LM Rider Mark Schnettler was just to far out of reach to pull in and have a go at, resulting in a 12th place finish. MWSB and MWGP Results would be 23rd and 15th respectfully. We ran off on the 1st lap of the MWSB entering turn 5 as the field went about 5 wide into the turn, which forced us to move onto the rumble strip as we pull the bike down from over 150MPH it was to dangerous to brake on the strip, so we ran down off into the concrete then pulled back on as the field passed us up and over the hill; things looked grim, however we were able to put down some excellent times and put down 12 bikes even after running off and getting back on in last place...
Sunday was the final day of races which included the ASRA National SuperBike race. This would be our first race of this caliber and it was very fun to say the least. It is a 10 lap race which gives you plenty of time get your racing done. We had a fairly good start and were running with the very fast experts for about the first three laps. Once everything settled down, they started to pull away and we were not able to pull the pace they were running high 2:29's. At about lap 6 our rear tire started to give out on us and then a false neutral into turn 5 sealed our fate for this race. We finished in 18th which again, we are very pleased with, considering our competition. The rest of Sunday would finish out with respectable finishes in MWGP in 11th place, MWSS in 24th Place, and even running the R6 in Unlimited SuperSport yielded us a finish of 11th, which is very good considering the advantage 1000's have over 600's at a Track like Road America...
Overall the different between racing as an Expert and as an Amateur is like night and day. As an Expert you actually have "battles" with other racers as times are much closer and strategizing and planning comes into play setting up passes etc...Many times we would pass entering a corner to hot to make the pass, run wide and the passer gets the inside line and re-takes the position, just like you see on TV. This type of racing is VERY exciting and really makes you a better rider....
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April 13, 2006
Heartland Park - Topeka, KS
Team Simone Racing just returned from the 2nd Track Day of 2006, which was hosted at Heartland Park Topeka. HPT has been repaved and re-designed for 2006 with all new pavement and a new (old) section after turn one, which includes a high speed Carousel.
This Track Day was the inaugural debut for the 06 R6 TSR Race Bike. Everything about this bike is new and as a result most of the day was spent getting simple things like Rear Sets and Clip-Ons in their correct positions, brake pads a rotors bedded in, and of course a test bed for the new 4&6 Racing motor we had installed.
Once we had basic Ergonomics Setup on the bike we were able to put our heads down and really put down some decent times around the Track. With the smooth power delivery of the R6 we were able to get onto the power much sooner in the turn than we ever could on our Monster R1 Race bike. The R6 is lighter, more nimble and more stable than the R1 in sweeping corners, tight chicanes and has less drag at high speeds than it's big brother..
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