Results and News

--- October, 2002 ---

We recently put an end to the 2002 race season. First of all, I want to thank all of the friends and family who have supported us this season. Just as important is a word of thanks to the companies who have helped up keep the program running. Royal Purple Oil, Jims Performance Products, Delkron, and Mr. Sudsy all provided much needed assistance. Without their help, racing would have been even tougher. I hope that those of you involved in motorcycles will continue to support these companies and their products. We use only the best in our bikes and these companies symbolize that commitment.

I also want to especially thank the folks at JARZ performance in Abbotsford BC and COMPETITION MOTORCYCLE in Boise, Idaho. Lee and Carl have provided invaluable help and encouragement in what has been, without doubt, our toughest year.

The final races of the season, at Sturgis South Dakota, Woodburn Oregon, Sacramento California, and Las Vegas Nevada showed some promise, but also demonstrated that we have more work cut out for us.

Sturgis was an interesting race. The race promoters had our nitro dragsters running against pro stock and pro gas bikes. We qualified 2nd, but ended up fracturing the motor cases, which put us out of the finals. As it turned out, the finals were rained out so we backed into a 2nd place finish.

The field at Woodburn was awesome and we needed a time at 8.1 seconds or below to qualify. We simply did not have the horsepower.

We made some changes for Sacramento and the bike ran its fastest mph and quickest time ever. Although we eventually lost in the eliminations, it was to the #1 qualifier and we were within a few hundredths of a second of catching him at the line. That left us very encouraged for the season final at Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the mechanical problems which have plagued us all year continued through the finals. We dropped a valve through a piston which caused enough damage to put us out of the finals.

We are excited about the prospects for next year. Hopefully, we have come closer to the end of the learning curve and can make the finals on a regular basis. We have completed work on a new engine and using this year's as a spare should allow us to make all of the races. We are also negotiating on the purchase of a pro gas bike for Becky to ride. Her plans for the prostock bike this season were at first delayed and eventually washed out by the theft of our prostock bike in August. While we were racing in Sturgis, someone broke into the shop and stole the race bike, street bike and all kinds of parts and pieces.

Although it was a trying year, we still had a great time and are looking forward to next year. We ended up in the top 10 in the western US, which, given the problems we had, is not as bad as it could have been.

Thank you all again for your support.

--- July, 2002 ---

Once again the CourtJesterRacing team has been reminded that 2002 is destined to be a year to remember. The Seattle stop of the AHDRA scheule was June 29 & 30. Since this is our home track, we were hoping to entertain our fans and sponsors as well as do well in competition.

The weekend was overcast, but dry. Friends and fans showed up from all over. Since this was the first time we had run the new Dragster at sea level, we guessed a bit on the tune up. Before now, we had run only at Calgary and Denver, both of which are at altitude.

The first round of qualifying showed us how much correction we needed. We had the bike running so lean that all four spark plugs were burned off at the end of the track. We were running basically like a diesel engine! But, we did manage a good reaction time, the best so far on this bike, plus ran solidly in the 8's, which put us in the 4th qualifying spot.

The second round was a bit worse. At about half track, we bent two pushrods, shut the engine down, and coasted through the lights. It appeared that we had corrected the lean condition though, so things were looking brighter for the last round.

The third and last qualifying session started in mid afternoon. The bike left hard from the line and looked like it was on its way to its best pass ever. Its funny, but you can feel when the bike is running right. Even with all the other things going on, you find yourself looking forward to getting a great time slip.

About 300 feet out from the start line trouble began. The engine exploded. I could feel the force of the concussion, although the engine restraint straps I designed and use kept the engine parts from coming up through the frame. At the same time, the throttle was jammed wide open, and even though the rear cylinder and piston were destroyed, the bike kept making power. I hit the kill switch but the engine kept running like a diesel again. As things go, it was at about that moment that the oil from the engine hit the rear tire and bike started sliding to the side.

To make a long story short, I ended up being shucked off the bike and as I fell, pulled the bike down on top of me. We tumbled and rolled a bit before coming to a stop. I remember thinking "Oh man...this is gonna hurt."

Actually, it wasn't bad. Not that I want to do it again, but I came out of it with just a bruised knee. A quick trip to the hospital and I was back at the track in my lounge chair, with a cool refreshment and a cigar by 6 o'clock.

The bike ended up a bit worse for the wear. That tends to happen when you tumble down the track at 90 mph. We're in the process of re-building the engine and fixing all the damage to the body work.

The good news is that we'll be ready for Sturgis in August. The bad news is that we're still debating what caused the mishap. Opinions from people I know and respect range from a bad battery, to just the bad luck of shearing off the engine studs, to having a tire break loose under power and causing the engine to overload. I've looked hard at the pieces and its just not possible to know for sure. We'll just make it a bit stronger and better the next time.

I want thank our sponsors in cluding Jim's Machine and Royal Purple Oil, as well as others for their continued support and assistance. Keeping a nitro powered dragster running is expensive and without their help, things would be much more difficult.

By the way. I've been asked to write a monthly column for Full Throttle Magazine, on drag racing. It should be fun. You can pick up copies at local motorcycle shops. Its free
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--- June, 2002 ---

The Denver Colorado stop of the AHDRA was this past weekend. Despite predictions of a thick smoke cover from the tremendous forest fires in the western part of the state, Bandimere Speedway was unaffected. Although we saw some haze in the distance, there was no smoke or even the hint of a smell of the fires.

For those not familiar with drag racing, a large part of the battle in getting down the track quickly is figuring out the atmospheric conditions and tuning your bike accordingly. You can measure the thickness or density of air, and translate that into proper jetting for carburetors and proper fuel mixture. The thinner the air, the more fuel you need to take away from the motor. With nitro methane, you can compensate to a degree by adding a higher percentage of nitro to your fuel mix. Nitro methane is essential 30% oxygen, so the more you add, the more oxygen you add. There is a bit of science, a bit of art, and a bit of luck in getting it all right. Even with all that, bikes can be expected to run about one half second slower in Denver then they will in Seattle.

Qualifying Saturday started at about 11:00 a.m. We made the first pass on the nitro bike and at about 1000 feet down the track (out of a total run of 1320 feet, or a quarter mile), the fire went out in one cylinder. Since we only have two cylinders to begin with, that's bad. Essentially we had too rich a mixture of fuel. We went through the lights about 130 mph in just under 10 seconds, which is a poor run, even in Denver.

During the next qualifying run, we did better, but still lost fire just before the finish line. Ended up at about the same speed but ran 9.2 seconds. Even so, we were still qualified 8th, which is the last qualifying spot. It is called being on the "bump." Its not where you want to be, especially because on Sunday, you have to run the #1 qualifier, Scott Truett, busy running a 7.8 second pass.

In the third or last round of qualifying, although we still lost fire right before the end, we picked up to about 138 mph and ran 8.8 seconds. That moved us up to the 5th qualifying spot.

The finals on Sunday brought us even warmer weather. Being new to this bike, I tried tuning the mixture for the weather, and went backwards. Although we never lost fire, I took so much fuel away from the motor that we ran only a 9.0 pass. However we did run over 150 mph. Bad news was we lost to Rich Casas from Texas in the first round and went back to the trailer. All in all, we were happy with the weekend. It was the first full weekend of racing; we did not break anything; we ran our fastest mph on the bike; and our quickest time.

Since getting back, we've disassembled the engine and checked to make sure there is no damage. We also increased the compression ratio to try and get a bit more horse power. Seattle comes up on June 29 and 30, so stay tuned and we'll see if it goes any better.

--- May 25, 2002 ---

June 4, 2002 We've just returned from Calgary, Alberta and the new Pro Dragster has finally made its debut. Thanks to Royal Purple Oil, Jarz Performance, Competition Motorcycles, Mr. Sudsy and others for their support. The weather was iffy, so there was a lot of rush trying to get three rounds of qualifying in on Saturday, despite not starting until 3 p.m. With just Becky Roberts and I working on the bike, things were hectic to say the least. A special word of thanks goes out to Canadian racer Al Miles and his crew chief Jerry. They lent a hand and helped us with some broken ignition parts.

Given the harsh history we've had with this bike, we decided to make some easy passes to see how things went. The plan was for partial runs down the track with a mild tuneup on Saturday, then hit it hard in Sunday's finals. The first two rounds of qualifying went well, a half track pass at 10.1 seconds, followed by a 3/4 pass at 9.1. Unfortunately, our plans were put on hold after that. An ignition problem forced us to miss the call for round three qualifying. We were fixed and ready to go by Sunday morning, only to wake to 50 degrees and raining. The race was quickly cancelled and we were on our way home. For anyone in the Northwest who has never made the trip from Calgary, I would highly recommend the drive. Coming South from Banff towards Spokane Washington, we saw a mother bear and cubs, herds of elk, several deer, and a moose walking through the park where we stopped to spend the night. That plus beautiful roads and scenery and a couple hours at the Radium Hot Springs made the tension of the track melt away.

With the new bike up and running well, we are looking forward to a great remainder of the season. Next event is Denver, Colorado.

--- May 25, 2002 ---

The race at Mission BC has come and gone, and although things went a bit better, it was still disappointing. The weather was awsome, in the mid 80's which is record breaking for that area in May. However, we again blew up the motor in the new nitro bike, although not as bad as in Bremerton. However, we were still unable to qualify for the race. At least we had the forsight to bring the Pro Stock bike to Canada and managed to finish the race in the runner up spot behind Lee Uhrich. It was still very bittersweet because of not being able to make a pass on the new bike, but at least we were there and racing. On to Calgary.

--- April 10, 2002 ---

Funny how the best laid plans occasionally don't seem to work out. The CourtJesterRacing team started the season hoping to debut Becky Roberts on the Pro Stock bike and Toni Froehling on the new 2002 nitro burning Pro Dragster, both at Phoenix and Roswell. Unfortunately, neither happened. Becky was involved in an accident on her street bike in December, which caused rotator cuff surgery and has put her out for most, if not all of this season. With any luck, she may make it back for Sacramento and Las Vegas in October.

The new nitro bike was up and ready to go. However, the weekend before we were to leave, we took it to Bremerton Raceway for some testing and blew up the motor. It was a catastrophic failure which caused an entire rebuild. That put us out of the Phoenix and Roswell race. We're hoping to be back up and running for the Mission BC race in May.

--- February 24, 2002 ---

We're excited to have Jims Machining as a sponsor for our race effort this year. As anyone who follows Harley Davidson motorcycling knows, Jims manufactures quality parts and tools for both the street and the strip. We appreciate the help.

We attended the annual ABATE of Washington Spring Swap meet in Monroe Washingon today. Its the annual kick off for everyone here in the cold northwest to start getting ready for riding season. We had a great time, showcasing the prostock bike and answering questions. We gave away lots of promotional material and hopefully, drew more fans to the sport. Everyone was very supportive and enthusiastic about Becky riding for us this year and about the new pro dragster.

Speaking of the pro dragster, we fit the engine in the chassis on Friday. Took some engineering, but its in and looks great. All that's left is some plumbing, wiring and paint. Keep checking back. We should have pictures up soon.