Well, since the bike was working just fine (and something needed to go wrong leading up to the weekend) I got sick. I had a pretty good case of the sniffles come on during Saturday practice and was NOT looking forward to wrenching my bike around the physically demanding Mission Raceway Park the following day. read more>>
Here we are again. The first schmidty report of the year, and it’s a doosey. Typically I give a short intro and get right into the racing…..this situation proves to be quite different. The intro is the story, the racing is the conclusion. read more>>
Coming into the last day I had a pretzel in my head. For years you get used to putting your brain into ‘race winning’ mode coming into the day or before you take to the track. And then getting yourself prepped for a race that you need to take it easy and finish safely is a whole different deal. read more>>
At Mission Raceway Park this past weekend we had a double header – with a full program race day on both the Saturday and Sunday. Since before that we only had three race days, this weekend made up the last 2/3rds of the entire season points. I had a pretty good lead in all three classes going in ... read more>>
You’d think after such a dominating weekend my last time out at Portland International Raceway that I’d be at my keyboard typing up the details faster than ever. Well, I’ve been thrashing away at every facet of my life hard enough to keep me away – but you shall wait no more ….. read more>>
Well, the longest and probably most important race weekend of the OMRRA season was upon us. I was excited about the event, and determined to make the best of it. For me it was quite the up and down and back up again adventure. read more>>
Man, I tell you, racing can sometimes wear a guy out like almost nothing else. It’s a good thing that waking up at 4:30am, driving to the track, racing all day, driving home and not being showered and unloaded until 11:00pm is much easier to deal with when you have such a successful day. read more>>
I’m starting to think that the races in Portland should be run on Saturdays instead of Sundays. The weather just doesn’t want to cooperate with us on Sundays. After a nice little practice on Saturday morning, and a little rest time to get caught up on the bikes during the afternoon we had the forecast of hail and thunderstorms the next day to look forward to. Sweet. read more>>
It’s catch up time in the race report department for me. So for those of you ‘Jones’ing for a super saturated schmidtastic experience: get yourself sat down with your favourite form of relaxation and get ready for some fun of the wet and wild variation. read more>>
The Gallery section of the website has been updated with some awesome pictures from 2006 and 2007 as well as a new viewing style. Check it all out here
We were greeted with a dry, but cold track on Sunday morning for round 2 of the WMRC roadraces in Mission. I started getting my stuff all unpacked and prepped for the day of racing. It was looking to be a fairly well organized day. My help hadn’t shown up yet, but that’s OK, I’m used to taking care of myself a bit; or so I thought. read more>>
I’m pulling another one of my famously late race reports. In fact this time I’ve got three to catch up on, so if you’re in the mood – you can fill your boots with some serious updating.
I’ve got to back it up quite some time back to my PNWMA off-road race in Kamloops, B.C. It was the first one of the season as far as the series goes, as well as for me. I had been able to blow my cobwebs out on the roadrace bike, and doing some recreational off-roading, but this was my first green flag on the dirty bike. read more>>
Well, I’ve been on a few winning streaks during the course of my racing career, but I can’t say that I’ve started the season quite like this one until now. Eight main event starts and eight wins. It always feels good to start the year strong. I set the stage down in Portland the other weekend winning all four classes by decisive margins, but was pretty sure that I’d have my work cut out for me at Mission. read more>>
First off: Welcome back to schmidtastic.com. We’ve been down for a bit now, but back up and running now thanks to my trusted wrench – Andy Nelson - for donating some hosting services. Shake and Bake, Andy (Oh yeah, and CrystalTech hosting blows). It’s felt like a very long off-season this winter, and I’m happy to be back on the bikes. read more>>
We're back online .... finally. After experiencing a number of issues with our [old] host, we're now back online thanks to a former OMRRA racer, and fulltime schmidtastic.com fan and pit junkie, Andy Nelson. After such a long hibernation, the site is in need of some graphical tweaks and we hope to be rolling out some new features [or at least revise some of the existing features], so keep us bookmarked. We may even get back our listing on Google now that they've all dropped off. The season has just begun!!
Things at the OMRRA races are shaping up just fine indeed. Every event since the first I’ve continued to win and win races, extending my lead in the overall championship at every race meet along the way. Going into the last race of the season this weekend I’ve got a substantial lead. read more>>
The weather was set to be good, the bikes have been working awesome all year, and I even had some new tires to use for the weekend (I forgot to grab some for the previous event and had to use take-off’s the whole day!). Aside from getting over a slight case of the sniffles, I was set to rip. read more>>
One of these days I’m going to get my paperwork and bike through tech in time to get my name in for when they’re making the qualifier grid at the WMRC races. Until then though, I guess I’m going to have to keep starting from the last row for the Q’s. read more>>
The day’s set to be hot, there’s no practice, and it’s “double points” day. I can’t say that I fully support the “double points” race concept in any way, but if I was going to assign the weekend to do it on, it wouldn’t be one without practice of any kind before hand. read more>>
I’m not used to waking up at my house, then racing that same day. I can say that it’s something that I could probably get used to, it would just be nice that if I wanted to do it, it wouldn’t have to be at 4:00am. read more>>
You know, it’s funny. You’d think that whenever I have a tremendously successful race weekend I’d be all over top of the report, getting it out the very next day even. Well, to prove that I’m a non-conformist – here I am – typing away more than a month after the fact. read more>>
Up until the July event at Mission the weather had been bad enough that I hadn’t even turned a wheel in anger yet there this year. Canada Day long weekend had stellar weather, and the racing proved to be quite similar. read more>>
With everything being as dramatic as it’s been all season I was really hoping for sanity. It really felt like I was going to get the weekend I was looking for all along, right up until the end of it.
I attended a Cascade Tracktime day the Thursday before the race to try to blow some of the cobwebs out and get some seat time before the event on Sunday. Truth be told, I actually had such a great time racing at Miller a couple weekends before that I just couldn’t wait to get back on the GSXR’s. read more>>
Miller Motorsports Park is the sort of place that the North American racing community can be very pleased to have access too. Not only is the racing surface top notch, but the run-off is more than excellent, and there’s been no spared expense in erecting the facility at all. It was really special to be a part of the first competitive event to be held at the track, and the piece of hardware they gave me to remember it by must have cost hundreds of dollars to make. read more>>
I’m finding the life of being a home-owner to be quite a bit more of a time commitment than I had originally intended. I’m not complaining, because my life has taken a lot of interesting turns and changes in the last year, and I feel as though I’ve come out in excellent shape – just with very little time to spare. Yes, it is my excuse for my tardy race reports, but as long as I keep winning races I seem to be forgiven… read more>>
Man, did it ever feel good to finally get to Portland to begin the real season of racing. The bikes were far from ready (the 600 bodywork, frame, motor, and wheels were all in different locations of the city as I rolled into town around 2am), but what do you expect? read more>>
The first race of the year is always such a scramble. No matter how good the components of a motorcycle are, and no matter how perfect and pretty it can look before it ever takes to the track, it’s always a pile of garbage the first session. You can stare at the bike and not find a single thing wrong with it in any way, not able to find a single thing that could possible be improved on, and when you come off the track be busy for an hour just to try to inch it closer to the way it’s supposed to be. read more>>
OK, so I’ve reached an all time low with regards to my delinquency on my race reports. My reasons are many, and I’m sure you’re not interested in them, so I’ll spare us both. I’ll make up for it now though, so grab a coffee ... In the end, what really matters is that I was out there giving it my all, my friends and family looked after me through the most challenging season I’ve ever gone through ... read more>>
You know, sometimes I think that my life used to be so much more simple. All that really mattered to me was my racing, and anything else in my life was so insignificant that it didn’t really matter what else happened. For you faithful readers, you’ll know that I went through quite a personal experience earlier this year. read more>>
Man, it just seems like I can’t quite get things to run smoothly for me whenever I go racing at Mission. I can’t say that it’s my favourite track I’ve ever raced on, but I’m sure I’d feel a lot better about it if I could just put it all together for a weekend. read more>>
So often this year it seems that we’ve had wet weather (or at least the threat of) off and on for our race weekends. It was nice to have a race day where the rain tires could stay in the trailer – even if the trade off was stinking hot weather. read more>>
I’ve had some fairly bad luck in years past at the Calgary track. I’m not sure what it is with me and Alberta. We don’t really get along that well. Montana’s sort of the same way with me. Being the eternal optimist, I’m always expecting every year to be the one where it turns around for me. Is this the year? Hummmmm? read more>>
It was pretty nice having about 5 weeks off. Very strange of me to have that long of a break in the middle of the racing season, but if it was ever going to happen, the timing of it was almost perfect. During my time off I’ve almost re-formatted the hard drive of my life. I've got a new job, working in a completely new field with completely new people, in a new town. I’m moving into a new place with a new friend. I’ve got a new girl, and a new truck, I’m working with new people for my racing this year on new bikes in a new series…..I’ve pretty much started from scratch. read more>>
We've added some new pictures to the 2005 gallery from Infineon and from Calgary
Check out Alan's first Superbike Privateer article for MotorcycleUSA. Lots of overhaulin' down at Infineon. Article Link
I had a pretty good weekend at Mission, B.C. a couple weeks ago. It was nice to have a couple days to spend with my family before the weekend, and after the previous weekend at Infineon, I needed a little bit of down time. read more>>
My first instinct when I look back on my 2005 Infineon Superbike experience is to say that it would be a good weekend to forget about. But that's not true, 'cause then I wouldn't learn anything from it. Well, it's a good one to put behind me, but what doesn't kill me makes me stronger, and it came fairly close. read more>>
As my life has been swirling around in the never ending circle of travel, racing, and life lessons, I've been delinquent in my race reports. Catch up time I guess. read more>>
All those that know me, and were at the track this past weekend, know that I wasn't my usual self. In fact, it's debatable whether or not I even should have been there. I've been going through emotional distress for the past 3 weeks. I've lost 12 pounds because I have no appetite, I sleep approx. 3 to 5 hours per night, have anxiety attacks, the doctor ordered me away from work for 2 weeks, I'm on meds, and my heart is broken. I thought that going to the races would be an outlet, or therapy. read more>>
I’ve been strapped for time before race weekends lots of times. In fact, almost every time it seems. This was something else though. I won’t bother starting up listing my tasks, as that would take the whole report, but let’s just say I had two bikes that had never been run before. One was just a frame and wheels, the other was the same plus a motor. read more>>
Here's a link to some early season press from one of my local area newspapers. Article Link
I've officially launched into my next season of racing. Everything is new, but nothing has changed. I still scramble to be ready in time for the race weekend. I still don't get enough sleep the night before, and I'm still waiting for parts and support beyond the last minute. It also wouldn't be proper to start an AMA season at Daytona without running off the track, and blowing up a motor. read more>>
Welcome to the new and improved Schmidtastic.com website. We thought it was about time we refreshed the look and feel of the site, but things are still under development, so check back often for all the latest updates.
A lot of the sections are still being worked on, so don't be alarmed if certain pieces aren't operational yet (like the web form).
Writing these reports has been getting more and more enjoyable through the season. If you were to take a look back on some of my early 2004 experiences, bad luck was sort of having its way with me. I kept soldiering on though, knowing that it wasn't my riding that was dragging me down, and that I'd be dealt some good cards eventually. Last weekend I won the OMRRA championship for the #1 plate. read more>>
I've been bugged by a number of people trying to get me to race at Mission for quite a while now. I've had to answer all the questions of 'why not?' in many different ways. I was almost running out of reasons. After my bike blew up a couple races ago at Portland, Marbod from M-Speed Performance in Vancouver lent me one of his bikes to do a practice/track day they had there. read more>>