WMRRA Round 6, Pacific Raceways Kent, WA Aug 14-15
After Marcel Irnie spent June and July battling hard for podiums on the Parts Canada Superbike Series, he was anxious to see how much his game had been raised. He travelled to Kent WA to rejoin the competitive WMRRA series; the series in which Irnie had toiled all spring. The Canadian series was triumphant in many ways as Irnie was on the podium for 3 out of 4 races and at times battled for wins. Irnie had gained much speed and confidence in Canada, but was happy to put his stormy summer behind him.
Mosport International Raceway (a contraction of Motor Sport) - Bowmanville, ONRounds 4-5 July 8-11, 2010
HD VIDEO Documentary Part One.
HD VIDEO Documentary Part TWO (NEW VIDEO August 6th, 2010)
Five days after earning second and third place honors at the Calgary rounds of the Parts Canada Superbike Series, Amateur Sportbike class contender Marcel Irnie embarked on the 5000 kilometer trek to the legendary Mosport race circuit for rounds 4 and 5. Calgary had been a tumultuous affair for Irnie as he enjoyed the highs of leading races and standing on the podium to the lows of being placed on probation two weeks later by series officials with no specific information as to the reason(s). Marcel used the Wednesday, July 7thtrack day to ride the track for the first time.
The Mosport track is legendary and many great racers have raced there. Halewood, Villeneuve, McLaren, Baldwin, Crevier, Szoke, and up-and-coming superstars Jodie Christie, Cody Matechuk, Steven Nickerson and Raphael Archambault. The venerable circuit has many elevation changes and blind corners, so learning the track and gaining confidence would be a daunting task.
Kelowna BC’s Marcel Irnie has been toiling in the ultra-competitive Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association (WMRRA) circuit all spring in preparation for this summer’s Parts Canada Superbike National. Irnie traveled to Pacific Raceways near Seattle to hone his skills and finalize bike adjustments before the Calgary National at the end of the month.
To start off the weekend, Irnie took part in half of the Friday track day. He used this time to put more miles on his Seattle Tool 2008 zx-6r. His trusty 2005 race bike has been used for the bulk of his races so far, so more testing was needed to determine which bike will be best for racing in the Calgary Natonal.
Saturday brought sunshine and the first warm weather racing of the season for IrnieRacing. Irnie’s intense physical conditioning program would pay dividends in today’s heat. The first race of the day would be the 750 Supersport race. Irnie opted to ride his 2008 600cc unit against the faster 750cc bikes. Starting from the second row, Irnie entered the first turn in fourth spot when disaster nearly struck. The rider to his right swooped into his racing line causing Irnie to lift off the throttle in heavy traffic. He missed the rider by millimeters, but the sudden deceleration caused two trailing riders to rear-end Marcel. Irnie recounted, “Kevin Klemmer and Andrew Brackett were coming up behind me and when I lifted off the throttle to avoid a collision, I was hit hard. Kevin hit my left handlebar, bending my clutch lever forward. His brake lever was bent upright. We both separated into head shakers. I managed to bring my bike back under control at an estimated 150kmph. Kevin was not as lucky. His handle bar was ripped from his right hand, and he was falling off his motorcycle to his left. He was right off the seat, only hanging on with his left hand and it looked like he was going to fall off, but then Brackett ran into Kevin. Brackett's shoulder pushed Klemmer back onto his motorcycle and they both went off track.”
Superbike racer Marcel Irnie of Kelowna enjoyed a productive, albeit abbreviated trip to Washington State for a May 30th race at Spokane Motorsports Park. Leading up to the weekend, weather forecasts predicted wet, stormy weather for the Saturday race, but pleasant conditions for Sunday. Irnie opted to skip the Saturday races and instead get set for Sunday. His decision paid off as Sunday turned out to be sunny and relatively pleasant. Irnie had considered saving his resources and skipping Spokane altogether, but felt that he needed to get more racing under his belt before the Calgary Superbike National in a month. As Marcel had not been to the Spokane track in over a year, he would have to relearn the nuances of the technical racecourse.
