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*tongue firmly placed in cheek*
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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FRAMINGHAM, MA (April 27th, 2009) - Aberrant Motorsports rider Alex Dunstan on the #434 Suzuki RMZ450 put in some solid performances this past weekend at Round 1 of the Loudon Roadracing Series (LRRS) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon NH. With abnormally warm weather gracing the paddock for this notoriously chilly round of the championship, Dunstan went into the weekend looking forward to getting back to where the 2008 season left off.
The Team ran into trouble early Friday afternoon while testing out some new components on the #434 Suzuki. The recently installed Adler slipper clutch, installed by Team Mechanic Jeff Wood, was giving Crew Chief Jennifer Ross fits as Dunstan reported the unit was slipping not only on downshifts, but also on upshifts! This left the RMZ woefully slow out of the turns forcing Dunstan focused his attention on helping fellow racers Seth Lolli, Richie Pittenger, and Dan Carr on dialing in the tricky Loudon circuit as opposed to dialing in his own race program. In addition to this the RMZ was experiencing overheating issues that left the 2005 Suzuki burning through coolant and running super hot. Late in the day Suspension Guru Mike Martire helped Team Aberrant shim out the Alder clutch and get the unit working properly, which was a huge improvement. The day ended with Dunstan picking the pace up during the last session with the help of Team Mechanic Jeff Wood who was out there on a Kawasaki motard and acting as a carrot for the #434 to chase.
The rest of the weekend would be ones of trials and tribulations for the Garage 10 Squad as the #434 RMZ450 continued to have overheating problems as one radiator wasn't circulating water at all. With one race on the docket, Ultralight Superbike, the Aberrant Motorsports team decided to continue on as it had on Friday and see how it went.
5th PLACE, SATURDAY RACE 9 - ULTRALIGHT SUPERBIKE - The first race of the 2009 Season for Aberrant Motorsports rider Alex Dunstan was the mixed-motorcycle class Ultralight Superbike. Featuring powerful Ducati 800's, nimble motards, and wily EX500's the grid was one of many unique motorcycles. Getting a routinely poor start, Dunstan had his work cut out for him as he slotted into 10th or so position heading into the first lap. Making his way through the field Dunstan was in turn quickly passed by the uber-powerful Ducati 800 of Jerry Clark on the front straight. Over the next 2 laps Clark built a sizable lead over the 52hp Leo Vince equipped RMZ450, one which Dunstan himself admitted he thought was insurmountable. Deciding to mount a charge over the last half of the race, Dunstan dropped his laptimes by almost a second instantly and gained steadily on the massive Ducati missle. Coming into the last lap Dunstan had closed up to the gap to Clark and made his moving coming into the braking chute in Turn 3. Dunstan slid into 5th place only to be repassed by the rocketship Ducati heading into the Bowl. Not settling for anything less than a Top 5 finish and trusting his Pirelli tyres implicitly, Dunstan held the throttle wide open into the infamous Turn 6 and retook P5 from Clark and held onto it through the finish line.
7th PLACE, SUNDAY RACE 2 - MOTARD - Sunday found the #434 RMZ450 gridded up in the incredibly competitive Motard race featuring some of the most cut-throat racing of the weekend. Doing a wonderful job of the start again, Dunstan found himself once-again in the less than incredible position of Way Back In The Field. Spending the first few laps sorting through the back half of the field Dunstan soon found himself alone in P7 with a huge gap to the P6 of Rick Breen. Deciding he'd had enough of farting around in the 22's Dunstan decided to get on the go stick and see what happened. Steadily dropping into the high 21's, then low 21's during the last 5 laps of the race, Dunstan closed the massive gap to Breen and found himself directly behind the #28 of Breen heading out of T12 going into the last lap. Hitting a false neutral during that critical moment however put Dunstan, once again, 20 bike lengths behind the overbuilt CRF450 of Breen. Over the course of the that last lap however the Pirelli-shod RMZ450 was able to close the gap fully coming into the final infield with a perfect setup developing to try and take Breen coming out of T12a. A lapped rider however, the #399 of Seth Lolli, came between the two riders heading into T12 and sealed the fate of Dunstan having him miss P6 by a mere .2 seconds at the line.
4th PLACE, SUNDAY RACE 5 - LIGHTWEIGHT SPORTSMAN - The final race of the weekend for the #434 team was the Lightweight Sportsman class, featuring multiple LRRS class champions. Starting from the last row Dunstan had his work once again cut out for him. Once again doing a awesome job of starting Dunstan came into Turn 1 behind everyone, including a few EX500's. The #434 pilot didn't let this embarrassing situation get to him however and put his head down and get to work. Consistently picking off riders lap after lap, Dunstan soon found himself in P4 with the lead group having checked out. Determined to continue his Sunday-streak of increasing the pace, Dunstan kept his head down throughout the middle part of the race and clicked off consistent laps in the low 21-range, less than a second off his race-averages from the 2008 season. Fatigue from grueling heat did begin to set in however during the last 2 laps of the race and Dunstan wisely backed off the throttle and brought his Suzuki RMZ home in P4, his highest finish of the weekend.
Alexander Dunstan, Aberrant Motorsports Expert No. 434
"Well we are happy to get out of Round 1 with some good laps under out belts and a pair of Top 5 finishes" said Dunstan. "After Saturday's race there was a lot of head-scratching in Garage 10 wondering where 2 seconds had gone from last season. We came into Sunday however with renewed focus and the realization we just had to start riding more and worrying less. It felt real good to drop over a second in the first race Sunday and reel Rick in, thought it would have been far better if we had passed him! We did more of the same in Race 2 but fatigue set in hard and at that point it was more about protecting the position than tossing the bike chasing some laptime. I know we'll be back in the 20's next weekend and I don't think the 19's are far behind that."
"I can't give enough thanks to my Crew Chief Jennifer Ross and Lead Technician Sidney Dunstan. Both of them were huge all weekend helping keep everything together in the #434 pits and I couldn't have done it without them. Also I have to give a huge thank you to Derek, Dennis, Scott, and Quentin over at Boston Moto for the massive support they gave me. I felt great sliding into Turn 3 every lap and made most of my passes there and I couldn't have tossed it up the inside that much without utmost faith in my Pirelli tyres, so hats off to them. Also thanks to the Penguin School, Lead Mechanic Jeff Wood, and Suspension Guru Mike Martire of GMD Computrack for helping get my RMZ sorted during the weekend. Lastly props to the guys at Leo Vince for all the support and a uber YOU ROCK to Luke Dobie of LD Designs for dropping off my helmet late Friday night. Luke hadn't slept in 2 days and drove all the way to the track so I could have my helmet in time for the races and he really outdid himself with my 2009 paintjob, it's better than I ever expected and absolutely stunning."
The Aberrant Motorsports team next races at Loudon NH on May 9th and 10th for Round 2 of the LRRS Championship. Be sure to stop by Garage 10 and say hello to the team. Thanks to all of the fans who came out to support motorcycle racing and we'll see you at the races!
About Aberrant Motorsports: Aberrant Motorsports is a fictitious name created for the sole purpose of making a silly press release on NESR. The team consists of Owner/Rider Alexander Dunstan, Crew Chief Jennifer Ross, and Lead Technician Sidney Dunstan. The team is based out of Framingham MA and races outdated dirtbikes with street wheels.
Aberrant Motorsports is proud to Partner with: Boston Moto, Pirelli tyres, Penguin Roadracing School, Leo Vince Exhaust and Electronics and LD Designs.
#434 Alexander Dunstan on the gas at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
The #434 of Alexander Dunstan slides past the #59 of Travis Beaudoin in Sunday's Race #5
Aberrant Motorsports Alexander Dunstan accelerating out of T10 at NHMS
Power is Nothing Without Control
#434 Alexander Dunstan with primary sponsor Boston Moto
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END RELEASE
PS: Can you tell I'm writing a PR for MJM right now?
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Originally Posted by Pookie
As for what that is, I think it's a alien.
