Raffa Racing obtient son 1er top dix dans le Parts Canada Pro 600

[Anny]

For immediate release: July 24th, 2008


Team release: Raffa Racing earns it’s 1st top ten finish in a Pro 600 national event


Bowmanville, On July 20, 2008
The Ste-Marthe, Quebec based Raffa Racing team went to the Mosport’s double header with high expectations, even tough we hadn’t raced there in at least 5 years, unlike all of the other competitors in this class.

The week was spent taking advantage of the Pro 6 Cycle trackdays on the Tuesday & Wednesday prior to the event, which turned out to be a great heads up for the weekend. All of the suspension issues were sorted out during those two days.

In the Friday morning Pro 600 practice sessions Louie came down to the bottom of the back straight hit a false neutral by mistake, started heading towards the wall, tried to put it back in gear, unable he decided to put it down to try to minimize the damage. Smart decision, hardly any damage. They got the bike all fixed up in time for the Pro 600 qualifying which was scheduled right after lunch. I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be, seeing he had just had a pretty important fall but he actually managed to go faster, which put him in 12th position for both rounds of the weekend.

Saturday morning’s practices went perfectly, the bike & it’s rider were tuned in. As race time got closer the weather got more & more unsettled, which for me is a huge headache but whatever it would throw at us we had the manpower to pull through.

We proceeded for the usual National Yoshimura Pro 600 roll-out. The light goes green, away they go. The front runners come around the start/finish line, the leader goes down, they pull out a red flag, the race stops.

Following a short delay, the riders are back on the starting grid for a 2nd restart, the lights go green again, off they go. They get to the back of the track on the straightaway, where a wall of rain awaits them, a couple of riders go down, they red flag the race again. Louie comes in, the bike is lifted, warmers on, he takes off his helmet to tell me that the 2 starts burned the clutch, he can’t run the bike. I immediately go into panic mode, I run & find John Sharrard to see if he thinks there’s something that can be done. We madly scramble to get all of the parts that John needs, he works quickly through the intense heat & humidity, luckily the delay between races gives us just enough time to get it done.

A 3rd restart is given, no roll out, just a sighting lap, the riders get into position, lights go green again. This time no red flags, no incidents. Louie leads a pack of three other riders for almost 10 of the 14 laps scheduled. On lap 10 he makes a small mistake which cost him a couple of positions but by then he’s also exhausted from all of the starts, let alone the clutch issues, he finishes the race in 11th place.

Sunday morning we awoke to see that mother nature wasn’t going to let up with it’s unsettling weather, it was pouring. With the invaluable help of Accelerated Technologies suspension wizard John Sharrard we set up the rain bike for the Pro 600 practice session that was scheduled for 9am. Louie went out to get a feel for the track, the Pirelli rain tires as well as the overall setup of the bike. The whole package felt great, Louie was high spirited & was looking forward to the race.

The race was under wet conditions. The usual roll-out was made, helmet went on, away they went for the sighting lap. The grid soon came back around to line up on the start/finish line for the official start of the Pro 600 race, which was scheduled for 14 laps. The lights went to green, away they went.

” As the group was coming back around, I stood there at the computer system where I take the timing & scoring from, one by one they went by, so I usually start the head count, thrilled beyond words Louie was 8th closing in on 7th. Within a couple of laps he had made such a gap between himself & the group behind him that I decided to get the crew to signal him so he would know how much of a lead he had in order to not to have to push & risk falling, which he saw loud & clear. He finished the race in 8th place, which he was thrilled about, as was the rest of the team.” explains team owner Anny Raffa.

“We had gone into this event with goals & expectations and we’re very satisfied with the outcome.”said Louie Raffa.

The team worked really hard throughout the week but there are a few people without whom this wouldn’t have possible. I’d like to personally thank Accelerated Technologies John Sharrard for his quick thinking & even quicker workmanship, as well as your suspension wizardry for the rain race on Sunday, which earned Louie his 1st top ten national Pro 600 finish, very much appreciated, hats off to you! John Bayliss who again has been an invaluable asset to the team making sure we had the resources needed in order to have the “B” bike ready in time, thanks again, as always we’re proud to represent Yamaha Canada. Also a big thanks as well as a welcome to our newest crew members of the Raffa Racing team; Eric Fortin (Quebec-Trackdays) & Micheal Garneau, you guys worked very hard throughout the weekend, Louie felt he had to do good in order to repay you for all the hard work.

For more information on the team visit the Raffa Racing - Home

Raffa racing is sponsored by: Yamaha Canada, Picotte Performance, Litho Select, Accelerated Technologies, EBC Brakes, NEXO leathers, PhotoActiv, Vortex, Pro 6 Cycle, Dunlop, Yoyodyne, Mimic Industries, Images in Motion, Bickle Racing, Quebec Track-days.com, Shoei.

From a press release issued by Raffa Racing Team

[isago]

Good job Team Raffa!

[Mike123]

Niceeee, good job à vous !

[esse0esse]

Way to go guys.........

[ASHMEU]

Félicitations !!!!