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Another Strong
Outing Places Calmes Motorsports in the Top-Ten
By: Jack Korpela
After a strong performance
at the NHRA O'Reilly Spring Nationals, Calmes Motorsports-backed
rider, Fred Camarena is solidly inside the top-ten of the POWERade
Points Series, and just a mere three points back of the number-eight
spot.
Camarena's bike displayed
incredible consistency in qualifying as he recorded elapsed-times
of 7.24, 7.23, 7.24, and 7.24.
"It was a bracket
bike in qualifying," joked Camarena. "I think we found the set-up
we were looking for through trial and error. The track is a
little bumpy so it got a little hairy at times, but overall
I was very pleased with our consistency."
Camarena's qualifying
efforts landed him in the number-11 spot, and paired him up
against the George Bryce-tuned motorcycle of Reggie Showers
in the first round. Camarena was first off the line by four-hundredths
of a second, but could not reproduce his qualifying numbers,
and slowed to a 7.34. Showers was able to overcome the starting
deficit by the 330-foot mark, and held on for the win.
"I made a bad tuning
call," Camarena said. "I changed the bike trying to go quicker
and we spun way too much in the bottom-half. I turned up the
launce RPM and we 60-footed a 1.16. We were getting 1.11 60-foot
times in qualifying. We had a good light and a good back half
but his 1.09 60-foot time reeled me in."
Camarena's crew chief,
Kevin "Big Bear" Fryar said, "We are finally starting to get
the little things figured out. It's really working for us and
we should find some more consistency in the next races."
Unfortunately Camarena's
teammate, Michael Phillips did not enjoy the same success as
he just missed the record-setting bump spot of 7.26 by just
two-hundreths of a second.
"The bike just wouldn't
come off the starting line," Phillips said. "We were running
pretty good back-halfs but we couldn't get it to leave the line."
It seemed as if Phillips
could not catch a break this weekend. He felt as he was making
progress, and made tuning changes for the forth session, only
to blow up his motor.
"I went out and totally
grenaded the motor," Phillips said "It damaged the front-end
and tore the body up."
Despite not making
the field, Phillips maintained a positive attitude and is already
looking forward to the next race, where he may ride his new
bike. "I understand this is drag racing and I can't expect to
make the field every time," Phillips said. "You can't win em
all. I'll be ready for Atlanta, and if my new GSRX 1100 is done,
I'll be on that."
Team owner, Kevin
Calmes said, "Fred did well, we just ran out of cards on Mike's
bike this weekend. I didn't have any Aces, Kings, or Queens.
I think all I had were twos and threes this weekend," joked
Calmes. "We made a bad jetting call and blew a motor, but we
will be ready for Atlanta."
Camarena is looking
forward to the next race, as he will attempt to further improve
his ranking in the NHRA POWERade Points Series
"I am really confident
going into Atlanta," Camarena said. "I feel like we have a really
good set-up, we just need to work on our race day set-up."
Calmes is also optimistic
about the next race and said, "We are getting Joe from Vance
& Hines to freshen up our motor, so we will be ready to go."
Team Calmes Motorsports
extended a special thanks to all of its sponsors that helped
make this season possible - Embee Performance Coatings, Laundryparts.com,
Bob Peters Fire Protection, Roosen Trucking, and Joe fromVance
& Hines Motorsports.
Make sure to check
out the Calmes Motorsports Team at the next stop on the NHRA
schedule, May 1st-4th, at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, GA, for
the Summit Racing Southern Nationals.
Jack Korpela can be
contacted at Lumberjack@dragbike.com
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