Schnitz Takes it to Second Round
Last
year, Ryan Schnitz won the NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway
near Denver, Colorado. As he walked through the Bandimere pits this weekend,
Ryan was startled to see so many fans that recognized him. "People would
say 'Great job last year. Good luck this weekend,'" reported Ryan. That
made it doubly disappointing when he went out in round 2 of Pro Stock Motorcycle
eliminations.
Eliminations round 1
(W) Ryan Schnitz .086 7.468 at 178.73 mph
G.T. Tonglet .057 7.652 at 157.87 mph
"GT told me that they broke a shifter linkage, similar to the problem we
had in the third round of qualifying," Ryan said about round 1.
Eliminations round 2
(W) Geno Scali .033 7.473 at 180.02 mph
Ryan Schnitz .039 7.487 at 177.93 mph
"The bike kind of got out of the groove a little bit in round 2. I had
to lean off the side to guide it back in, and that does scrub off some ET.
"The big thing is that we qualified in the top half of the field under
difficult conditions. But we lost another round to the points leader, and that's
what's important. We have to make that up.
"But the crew did a great job. The bike's performance was where it needed
to be, but it could have been closer to the number 1 qualifier.
"Sonoma's gonna be completely different than here, and that will be another
challenge. The advantage for us coming out west is that it's close to Muzzy's
in Oregon. They're gonna tear the bike apart, go through all the electronics
and the motor that we ran. But we need to test some things, including the new
rear wheel and tire that everybody's talking about."
Schnitz was able to run one motor all weekend in Denver, the one they call "Joey".
"He was a happy camper at this altitude and performed fairly well."
Maybe Joey will like the wine country, too.
Schnitz Improves to 5th
Ryan Schnitz jumped up to 5th in the qualifying order in the second
day of timed runs for the NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway
near Denver, Colorado. Ryan's first pass of the day was a pretty good one on
the Trim-Tex/Muzzy's Buell, and put the team in contention with the rest of
the frontrunners.
Qualifying round 3
5th Ryan Schnitz right lane 7.435 at 179.80 mph
In the final round, a bolt came out of the ram that connects to the air-shifter
lever and Ryan was out of the throttle early. "We checked out the transmission
and it all looks good," reported Schnitz.
Qualifying round 4
5th Ryan Schnitz left lane 7.937 at 134.11 mph
"We did our normal, routine, Saturday night maintenance and we're ready
for first round," continued Ryan, who faces G.T. Tonglet when racing starts
on Sunday. Ryan beat Tonglet once last year, but lost to him twice on redlights.
"There's really no reason why we can't run a .30 here. We still have room
for improvement in the front half of the track. I think we could use a better
clutch setup to gives us less initial spin and more wheel speed through first
gear."
Schnitz Mid-Pack in Denver
After one round of qualifying at the NHRA Mopar Mile-High Nationals, Ryan Schnitz
sits mid-pack on the Trim-Tex/Muzzy's Buell. Schnitz is looking to master the
thin atmosphere at Bandimere Raceway near Denver, Colorado, and gain ground
on his rivals.
Qualifying round 1
12th Ryan Schnitz right lane 7.545 at 178.76 mph
"Our first pass off the trailer was a 'Try to get some data' pass,"
said Ryan. "And we were able to make a small change and pick up a little
bit."
Qualifying round 2
8th Ryan Schnitz right lane 7.502 at 179.28 mph
"We're taking baby steps right now to try and get on this tune-up that
we need to get. We're about a tenth off from (number 2 qualifier Tom) Bradford
and Chip (Ellis, the number 1 qualifier), so we have some room to improve and
we need to do that. The bike seems to back-half with some of the top runners,
so I don't necessarily think it's a power issue. I just think we need to work
on our front half-our clutch, basically, and gearing.
"We have two motors with us this weekend, and they're both fresh from the
little break that we had. We're trying a few new small little things with the
bike in hopes that we'll get some better performance, but right now we're not
showing any of that, so we've gotta work a little harder.
Ryan thanked Trim-Tex Drywall Products,
Muzzy's, Schnitz Racing, Bates Leather and NGK.
Find out more about
Trim-Tex at www.trim-tex.com
Find out more about Muzzy’s at www.muzzys.com
Find out more about Schnitz Racing at www.schnitzracing.com
Find out more about Bates Leathers at www.batesleathers.com
Find out more about the NHRA at www.nhra.com
This team report
was prepared by Tim Hailey, www.eatmyink.com
Photo by Matt Polito, www.dragbikephotos.com
www.muzzys.com
