Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association
(OMRRA) Finale / BLOG
by Andy DiBrino
Action shots by 360 Photography
This past weekend was an incredible end to the road racing season in the Pacific Northwest.
September marks the end of both the Washington and Oregon motorcycle road racing series.
A couple weeks back, I visited Pacific Raceways for the WMRRA finale. I had only ridden the track once over 10 years ago, so it was a fun challenge for me to go back and race there on my EDR Performance - built and Oregon Motorcycle Attorney -backed Kawasaki ZX-10R.
With less than 25 laps of practice under my belt (we had some inclement weather the practice day prior) I was still able to go out and win both Formula Ultra and Open Supersport on Saturday and get within a second of the lap record! It was a lot of fun racing the track in the dry conditions, and I liked the track a lot. Sunday was wet and I nearly won the WMRRA #1 plate. I came up 4 points shy! It was crazy to come that close, especially since I missed a full round earlier in the summer and a couple individual class races because of some Super Hooligan commitments. But I did wrap up the Formula Ultra Championship and Open Supersport class championship there which was still an amazing feat.
I was really excited for the OMRRA finale because the forecast was perfect, and the weather we got was even better! I pretty much had the overall championship #1 plate wrapped up since I had already secured the Formula Ultra Championship early, but my friend and OMRRA track rival Kevin Pinkstaff was still very much in contention to win both Open Supersport and Open Superbike championships. There was still some battling to be done!
Saturday I comfortably won both Formula Ultra and Open Supersport. Kevin kept the pressure on me early, but I was able to put some breathing room on him in the second half of the races. Sunday's Formula Ultra race was a barnburner though! Kevin and I weren't racing for points, but it's the last race day of the year and we both wanted to win.
Kevin was able to pass me early on and control the first half of the race as I assessed the situation. I went out on a nice used tire that in hindsight, was the wrong compound choice for this time of the day. I was sliding the rear everywhere, working as hard as I could to stay with Kevin. By the second half of the race, I had figured out how to adjust my riding style, and I was able to turn the fastest lap of the race with a 1:06.5 and pass Kevin. But a dogfight ensued with multiple passes, nearly one or more every lap, and it came down to the final lap! I was able to draft Kevin into turn 1 and fend his attack in turn 4 off. I gave it everything to get a good drive and keep him at bay into T7 after the back straight. It was a close one, but I beat him at the line for another victory!
