The 2017 MRA race season started with its’ typical rescheduling of the first round due to weather.
The next race weekend, at Pikes Peak International Raceway, in Fountain, Colorado, had great weather conditions. The field was stacked with ten riders running within a second of each other’s lap times. One big change to Ricky’s program was the switch to Pirelli tires. Riding the Rocky Mountain Kawasaki ZX-10, Ricky had the bike dialed in and was happy to be at his favorite track. His confidence showed by winning F-40, Open Supersport, Open Superbike and finishing second in the Race of the Rockies. Three out of four wins made for a great start to the season.
Next round was at High Plains Raceway. Ricky won Open Supersport, got second in F-40, sixth in Open Superbike and fourth in ROR.
Back to HPR for round three and Ricky finished second in F-40 and Open Supersport, with a fourth in Open Superbike. ROR is where lady luck did not shine on Ricky. On the start, heading into turn two, he contacted another rider and went down hard at over eighty. Luckily he suffered only some minor road rash but the bike was a total write off.
Faced with the decision on how to continue his season, Ricky elected to ride his backup bike, the Rocky Mountain Kawasaki EX-650. Missing the next round and entering new classes with no points meant starting from the back of the grid. On a bike with no track time this would be challenging.
Round five took the riders back to PPIR and Ricky’s luck seemed to return. The first race was Light Weight Endurance and from the last row he put it on the podium with a second place finish. Light Weight GP, with another back row start, saw another podium third place finish. Super Twins had Ricky on the podium again in second. Last race of the weekend, Modern Vintage saw sixth place.
Round six had similar results with second place in Light Weight Endurance and Super twins. A third in Light Weight GP and fourth in Thunder bike capped off the weekend.
Last race of the season took the riders to Pueblo Motorsports Park with cold conditions in late October. Ricky continued to setup the bike to his liking and it showed with victories in both Light Weight Endurance and Super twins and a second in Light Weight GP. A fifth in the last race of the year Thunder bike closed the MRA season. Although not the dream season Ricky had hoped for he did earn two top five class championships in Light Weight Endurance and Super twins.
A trip to Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama to compete with AHRMA is always a highlight of his season. Starting from the last row with over forty riders had Ricky riding hard and making passes everywhere on the track to finish sixth. A nice end to a troublesome year.
Ricky would like to thank Rocky Mountain Kawasaki, Marv Rosencrans, Marshall Cook, Arai Helmets, EBC Brakes, Hindle Exhaust, Woodcraft, Pirelli Tires, Quikcycles, Racer Gloves USA, Kathy Montgomery and Pete Brandauer for their help. Ricky is looking forward to the 2018 MRA season and chasing more championships.