Waterford 2008

2008 Waterford HPRA Racing Pictures Races held June 21st & 22nd, 2008 at the Waterford, Michigan sportsman's park raceway. This was the 25th annual running of this event. Pictures and text by race director Mike Mowett. Edited by Warren Beauchamp. Waterford 2008 pictures by Jeff Hunn Waterford 2008 pictures by the Cortez's
	The first race on Saturday was the 1 hour faired and trike race. Chris Burkhardt in Garrie's Go One Velomobile rode 15 laps at 20.5 mph.
Warren leads Dennis and a trike coming around the turn off the back straightaway.
	Warren Beauchamp won the Hour race with a 32 mph average in his Cuda-W streamliner, just under Rick Gritters 32.5 track record.
Bruce Gordon and guy in red and Bob Krzewinski hang out at the scorers table looking at the results and incoming weather on the Internet.
	Terry Gerweck and Bill Frey manually counted laps in case the transponder batteries died out.
Luke Gilbert again manned the HPRA AMB timing system. Dr. Paul Pancella looks on.
	Next was the 1 hour unfaired race. Dennis Grelk won the Stock class with an impressive 27.4 mph average in the Hour, just under Frank Geyers 27.6 record.
Upright Mike Mowett averaged 21.6 mph on recumbent this year but 24.8 last year on his upright with bodysock. Maybe he needs to stop riding with those dang roadies so much? :)
	Julie Pitko averaged 19.2 mph on her Challenge Fujin to win the Womens Hour. Her dad had a carbon steering tube problem (bonding failure) and crashed.
Robert Palmer on his Volae Highracer rode 16 laps at 20.9 mph average.
	John Simon crashed and taco-ed his rear wheel early in the faired 1 hour race. The local bike store rebuilt his special narrow hub rear wheel in record time to allow him to race again.
The next race was the hill climb, coast down. Overall view of the hill. Its 28 feet up, about one eighth mile. The drop is 30 feet on the backside. Racers blast up the hill as fast as they can, then coast until they stop (or fall over...).
	Racers Lineup at base of Hill.
Lineup at the bottom of the hill for the Hill Climb. The view is from my Optima Baron over the crankset.
	Racers come in from the S curve bend just before the start of the Hill Climb course. Yes race fans, that's Russell Dwarsius, the fast M5 racer who we have not seen in 10 years due to conflicting HAM radio events. Yes, he's still fast.
In what must be a first, Tim Hicks WON the Hill Climb in 22.05 seconds on his TRIKE.
	Mary Grelk got applause from everyone as she made it up the hill even walking the last part before coasting down.
Luke Gilbert in middle on EasyRacer debates whether he should ride up the hill carrying his heavy camera.
	Jeff Hunn on trike, guy on NoCom and Marj Branch all took on the hill.
Thankfully Terry Gerweck remembered the chalk. Jane Hunn gets ready to climb on her trike. Garrie Hill's new timing system was used to time the event.
	Terry Gerweck holds Bill "The Cannon" Hannon on his NoCom at the start. A fraction of a second later Chris Cortez camera flash distracted them and Bill almost fell over.
John Simon, the long time coast down winner on his way past the start finish straight.
	Mike Eliasohn caught John on the last hill. Mike helped organize the first rally 26 years ago with Terry Gerweck. No one has made it coasting back to the base of the hill, but John comes very close.
Warren says "I missed it by this much!". Actually Warren was fourth behind John Dennis and Rich Myers, who all finish within the same 30 foot stretch.
	My feet mark John Simons finish. Warren is standing at his spot in 4th place. Dennis finished 2nd, and Rich Myers 3rd.
Tim Hicks holds Dennis up in his Barracuda, while Bill Frey and Terry Gerweck stand guard.
	During the hillclimb coastdown, Paul Pancella was running the Urban Transport Contest (UTC). The GoOne Velomobile competed in the UTC Urban Transportation Contest which tests Cargo Carrying ability, turn Radius, and stop Distance.
Dennis checks to see that they really didn't add rocks to his baggage on his Xtra cycle. Dennis carried all his regular tools for weight.
	Paul Pancella (left), a Physics professor, conducts the Annual UTC competition. This yearly contest is unique to the Waterford event.
For the last phase of the competition Dr Paul tells Dennis he has to jump his Xtra cycle over that tent over there and ride along the wall.
	Jeff Hunn on his Trike.
Waterford Course Map.
	25th annual Rally T-shirts are now available! Contact mikethebike at acd dot net.
Dr Paul Pancella, Chair of Physics at Western Mich. University attached some home-made low drag hubcaps to his Prius.
	Chris Burkhardt on Garrie's Greenspeed SLR.
To watch and participate in the races, Dennis' parents Dwayne and Mary Grelk drove in from Iowa via a circuitous route to avoid flood waters.
	The roving circus make that the HPRA tent city comes to town for this stop on the HPRA circuit.
Mike Eliasohn along with Terry Gerweck first started the Michigan Rally 26 years ago. This was the 25th year it was held.
	Brad Bosworth in front, Mike O'Donnell in back, watching the UTC competition on their trikes.
Upright Mike's much modified Optima Baron with laminated poster board wheel disks and crank-set cover.
	Jeff and Jane Hunn relax during lunch time.
Dora and Chris Cortez relax at lunch Chris iced his injured knee. Despite the pain he managed great results on the weekend.
	Chris and Nick Myers stand behind their 15 year old Trek upright bike that Nick raced.
Chris and Nick behind Chris M5 lowracer.
	Mary Grelk baked cinnamon sugar topped muffins that took a week to knead the dough. They were very very good.
Fred Parks parked with his Bachetta highracer.
	Team Marj Branch and Rich Myers take over this space.
Garrie Hill's very nice Go One Velomobile.
	Garrie's very nice Greenspeed SLR trike.
Garrie discusses the finer points of race timing.
	Two of four of Garrie's timers prepare to flash each other to get in sync.
Tim Hicks was very impressive on both his homebuilt lowracer and his trike during the weekend.
	Tim Hicks rear stays was a mountain bike fork that he spread evenly apart in a vice.
Tim Hicks lowracer had nice thin sturdy wheel disks in back, but the front fabric disk had to be removed during the 1 hour race when one side self-destructed.
	Dennis the Dominator enjoys a healthy fruit lunch while sitting on his Xtra cycle.
Tim Hicks burns some more watts on his homebuilt lowracer.
	Mike O'Donnell rides through the lot on his TerraTrike.
Rick Wianecki admires the GoOne velomobile. At Indy, Rick was seen inside a velomobile. What is his next building project? Yep Rick definitely wants one of these saying it was one of the coolest bikes he's ever seen.
	John Morciglio's very nice carbon NoCom clone.
Bob K and Chris Burkhardt circle the track in perhaps the two most practical HPVs to date.
	John Simon'snew rim and tire were built up by the local shop Kinetic Systems in Clarkston in record time.
Bill Hannon (age 63) told me it's not often that he gets to stand next to someone older. Rich Myers (age 72) on right.
	Doug Jacobs' very nice NoCom, one of only a handful in the US.
NoCom rider and customizer Don Smith (on right) talks with his dad.
	Warrens very nice Cuda-W streamliner and NoCom lowracer. Mike Mowett's lonely Norus is in back.
Lunchtime tales under the Cortez tent.
	Paul Pancella's very nice Volae highracer.
The last race on Saturday was the 1 kilo sprints. Rain dampened the ground during the races, but not enough to stop the acing action. I heard a rumor that Bruce Gordon had trouble with his chain so he just put his arm up and pedaled easy to the finish.
	Julie Pitko on her Challenge Fujin powers through the Kilo to win the Women's class.
Doug Jacobs is a blur on his new NoCom.
	Mike O'Donnell is a a blur on his trike during the Kilo as he rounds the bend.
Jeff Hunn powering his trike around the bend.
	The Cortez's in line for the Kilo.
Dennis prepares to launch in front of Chris Myers and Rich Myers (no relation).
	Kilo lineup. Nick Myers on upright, Ken Scott 400, then Rick Parks 340.
SuperStock 111 Tedd Wheeler with his added tailbox.
	Luke Gilbert at the front of the line for the Kilo sprint.
Canadian Jim "80 grit" Iwaskow on his Challenge Jester.
	The Kilo lineup. Long line!
Fred Parks on his Bacchetta during the Kilo.
	Ken Scott on his Optima Baron during the Kilo.
Garrie and Bill took shelter in Rick's car during the rain shower to prevent any mess-ups with the timing equipment, and to protect their delicate sensibilities.
	John Simon tries out the Norus streamliner
Jim Iwaskow rode the Norus saying it was the most fun he's ever had on a bike. It was his first time in a streamliner.
	Mike Mowett on his Optima Baron.JPG
As part of the 25th year celebration, the racers went to the Oakland County Sportsmen Club adjacent to the track for a cook-out. A mighty big grill cooked steaks for everybody.
	Luke Gilbert checks to see that his steak is done.
Warren practices his flipping steak skills. Everyone took turns passing around tongs to flip their steaks. That's John Simon in one of his signature printed shirts in the background.
	Sunday dawned sunny and pleasant. The first race of the day was the 200 foot sprint. This race starts at the top of the hill, then goes around a tight corner and up a straightaway before the timing traps. Scott Forthofer on his VK2 Scott competed the weekend before in a triathlon.
Bill Hannon the Cannon.
	Dora Cortez on a Rick Gritters built ultra lowracer.
Jeff Hunn on the Warren Beauchamp and George Reynolds built Titanium Ti-Cuda.
	Luke Gilbert on Garrie's Easy Racer.
Brad Bosworth with his trike.
	Warren Beauchamp went nearly 37 mph on his NoCom.
Jane Hunn went a bit faster on her upright versus her trike in the Sprints.
	Dennis Grelk beat John Simon by only two hundredths of a second with a 43.7 mph run.
Rich Myers in the Moby tied with Dennis Grelk's time in Stock for the fourth fastest performances of the day at 38.3 mph.
	Tim Hicks put in a smoking performance on his trike
Ken Scott on his Optima Baron lowracer. Ken put a nice Velokraft carbon fork on his bike.
	Chris Cortez was the second fastest trike at 31 mph. He did 35.7 on his lowracer.
Mike O'Donnell on his Wizwheel trike.
	Tim Hicks prepares to launch John Simon.
Dennis Grelk comes towards the line at 43.7 mph for the fastest speed of the day.
	Chris Burkhardt in the GoOne. The GoOne has a really neat rear swingarm suspension.
Local Waterford resident John Morciglio with his beautifully crafted NoCom carbon clone.
	im Iwaskow with Frank's old Challenge Jester, now reworked.
Doug Jacobs with his new NoCom.
	Julie Pitko with her red Challenge Fujin.
Paul Pancella on his Volae highracer.
	The next race was the trike 15 lap race. Racers line-up: Chris Cortez in front, Tim Hicks then Marj Branch.
Trikers mill about before the race. A tent was set up and the HPRA timing equipment was used for the race. Warren conducted the timing.
	Racers line up for race There was an immediate Left turn past the start finish tape.JPG
Racers voted to move the last up down branch over to the left. Original course by Garrie Hill with help of Google earth.
	Terry Gerweck and Paul Pancella see that racers are lined up.
Start of trike race was an immediate left turn into the infield parking lot. Mike O'Donnell hit the wall on the first lap.
	Marj Branch starting off.
Going along back stretch. Hey, it looks like snow on that shed. Just kidding, that's how unpredictable Mich. weather can be.
	Chris Burkhardt traded in the GoOne velomobile trike for the Greenspeed SLR trike for this race.
Racers round the Curve 2.
	Last curve before hairpin turn. Exiting the lot is Brad Bosworth.
Ken Scott looks for the best line before entering the hairpin past the yellow columns. Ken hit the wall on the second lap.
	Marj Branch rounds the hairpin. Riders tried many lines to get through the hairpin This was the pass through in the wall used during the road race as well.
Jeff Hunn accelerating hard once through the hairpin.
	Marj Branch accelerating hard once past the hairpin.
Jann Hunn accelerating hard once past the hairpin.
	Whoa Wee this turn is tight. Chris Burkhardt eventually finished second with the Greenspeed SLR.
Chris Cortez showed no fear in taking on the corner with bad knee and all.
	Jane Hunn tracks around the hairpin. Jane finished first in women's class.
Eventual winner Tim Hicks on the Hairpin.
	Chris Burkhardt goes through hairpin. The tires were moved to this position so riders couldn't hit a wall behind them.
The infield lot before people are preparing to go.
	Terry Gerweck had the Myers daughter draw the winning ticket for the prize donation. Scott Forthoffer (pictured) won the jersey offered by Len Ashby and Judi Bachmann of Reverse Gear in Toronto.
Participants mingle under the overhang. Notice that Mike Mowett is not crunching numbers at the computer but instead taking this picture.
	Warren enjoys a piece of Watermelon.
Bill Frey takes a drink while Dennis and look on.
	Participants look over some of the results. Unfortunately race director Mike had to send everyone home without results being done so no prizes yet.