Willis Racing takes on NOPI

Willis Racings' Janie Palm and Charles Willis entered the bike class in the NOPI Race Wars, held at Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis the weekend of July 26th and 27th. This turned out to be a very good weekend for the team with Charles taking home the first place trophy and Janie bringing home a third place trophy.

The rivalry between Janie and Charles continued when they had to race each other in the Semi-Final round. Janie riding her 2000 Kawasaki ZX6R dialed 10.90 and Charles riding his 2002 Suzuki Hayabusa dialed 9.60. Both were a little slow on the tree but Janie got a slight advantage with a .105 to Charles' .137. Charles just passed Janie at the line running closer to his dial, 9.65, than Janie, 11.00. Charles is one up on Janie in competition this year with a record of 2-1.

"The heat really played a factor today in selecting a dial-in." Willis said. "Each round we would run just a little better so Janie and I both changed our dial-in before we raced and I just got a little closer than she did. I am sure she will attempt to take revenge on me the next time we line up in competition."

Charles went on to the final round with another local St. Louis racer who was riding a Suzuki GSXR750. He dialed a 10.40 and Charles again dialed a 9.60. He took a nap at the line with .337 light and was out of luck when Charles cut the tree down with a .064 light. Charles passed him at the 1/8th mile marker and went on to run a 9.63 to his 10.58.

"It was a great day of racing and this was our first exposure to NOPI and the Fast and Furious cars so it was an interesting day of racing." Willis said. "Thanks to NOPI and their sponsors for putting on a great race in St. Louis."

Willis Racing would like to thank their sponsors for all the support throughout the racing season: