WMRRA Round 7 Race Report and Season Recap from Phil Melnyk
Words: Phil Melnyk
Photos: Dane Anar
This past weekend, WMRRA held their final round of the 2018 season at Pacific Raceways in Kent Washington. Going into the weekend, the weather was decidedly indecisive, causing me much emotional distress… I was just ready to go racing, no matter the conditions, but as it turned out we had a dry track all weekend and we got to go fast! Well kinda fast. Chromie went fast.
Practice was rather uneventful. In qualifying for the Formula 2 race Ryan Sutton, Ryan Doherty, Barry Wressell and I all ran within a few 10ths of a second of each other, putting us all on the front row of the grid.
600SS Saturday
Heading out on track, I am more than ready to race, feeling a focus and aggression that I have not felt in a while. We line up, the light goes out, and I get a killer start, beating the field into T2 by a couple of bike lengths. I get the bike turned, get on the gas and feel the rear slide as I head out of T2 and down the hill into T3, YEEHAAW. Hard on the brakes, get the bike turned, and OH SHIZZZZZ! I tuck the front, save it, runoff in the dirt and tuck the front again, save it again, and now I am in LAST PLACE. CRAP. I get waved back onto the track and put my head down, determined to salvage what I can. I put in solid laps and manage to retake 4th place before the finish line. Race complete.
600SBK Saturday
After 600SS, I knew I had to be a little less aggressive entering T3. Again, I got a good start, first into T2 and I never looked back. I paid attention to my signals on Pit Wall, knowing that Chris Sabora was hot on my heels. He would close the gap then I would catch up to lap traffic and make a pass and the gap would widen again ever so slightly. I managed to stay out front the entire race and bring home a hard-fought win.
Formula 2 Sunday
This was the big one. Sixteen laps and twenty-five minutes of all-out 600cc war. I got a good start but Ryan Doherty beat me to T2. I lined up on the inside going down the hill into T3 and passed him. I managed to stay out in front for the first couple of laps, but starting Lap 3 Ryan Doherty passed me into T1. Then the next lap Ryan Sutton and Chris Sabora came by me and started to swarm Ryan Doherty. Going down the front straight, all 3 of them could have been covered by a blanket, and as Ryan Sutton passed Ryan Doherty entering the chute, Ryan Doherty clipped the edge of the track and shot gravel off of his back tire. Chris Sabora was directly behind him and the rocks took out his belly pan, causing him to retire from the race. Lucky for me, Chris took the brunt of the damage, leaving me with only a few holes in my windscreen. After this little bit of drama, the field settled down and We plugged away the rest of the laps in our positions, neither I nor Ryan having the pace to catch up to or overtake Ryan “Chromie” Sutton. I managed to bring home 3rd place and wrap up the season without a single DNF in any of my classes.
This season has been my most enjoyable and successful season to date. I learned a ton, gained both confidence and knowledge in my craft, and got to know my racing family better.
As far as the statistics for the season go, I raced in and finished every single race that I entered, improved on my lap times at all three tracks, and only had two minor crashes. This all adds up to two class championships and 4th overall in the WMRRA Club Championship! Due to my mistake in the 600SS race, and some excellent riding by Brian Pinkstaff, he managed to overtake me for 3rd overall. Good job dude! All in all, it was a really good, solid season of racing. Now its time to get to training…
A huge thank you to all of my sponsors:
• Garrett, James, and the team at Triumph of Seattle for the bodywork, gear, parts, and help in the pits.
• DJ and Cliff with Moto G Racing for the best Pirelli tires and unending sarcasm.
• Barry and April with KFG Motorsports for the continued support throughout the years, the suspension was perfect!
• Dave Lanigan with Speed Dealer for the awesome motor and for being a voice of reason.
• Don Beck with Superbike Underground for pushing me to try new things, the bike was fast!
• Mark with 2Fast for the seat time and environment to test my abilities in a safe manner.
• Trev Beckman with FlexiGlass for the best bodywork out there.
• Brandon Knowles with Brand X Customs for the awesome paint.
• Derick, Jaquelyn, Christine, and Aaron of the Premium Rush crew for always lending a helping hand.
• Greg Canright with Canright Construction for being an exceptionally understanding employer.
• A quick shout out goes out to Pat Farrand for being right, once in a while….
• I would also like to thank EBC Brakes, Silkolene, Vortex, Woodcraft CFM, and Skagit Powersports for their continued support.
