CMR Racing Products Inc.

CMR Racing Products Inc.

Sunday 23 September 2018

CMR Racing Products Down Under

 January 2018, Australia. Phillip Island Racing Circuit. The 25th Anniversary running of the International Classic  Motorcycle Road Racing Challenge Races. The teams competing: Team USA, Team UK, Team New Zealand and the home team - Team Australia.

The photo at left shows Team USA members on their bikes. On the front row from left to right: Number 17, Dave Crussell, Team USA Captain on his CMR-framed Yamaha TZ750. Next to him, Number 98, is Jake Zemke, riding Dave's CMR-framed Yamaha F1-FJ1250. Next to Jake, is Number 5, Colin Edwards on Carey Andrew's CMR-framed Yamaha F1_FJ1250. And next to him, Number 43, Jason Pridmore on Ralph Hudson's CMR-framed Yamaha F1-FJ1250. On the back row, left to right: Number 29 is Barrett Long, on Dave Crussell's #2 CMR-framed Yamaha TZ750. And next to him, Number 72 is Eirik Nielson on his own CMR-framed Yamaha F1-FJ1250.

The next photo shows Denis Curtis of CMR Racing talking with Colin Edwards about his chassis set-up. Paul Schaeffer, Denis' sponsor for the event, is in the background.

To the right is Colin Edwards showing his enthusiasm for the new set-up. Denis couldn't be happier.


 Here's Colin trackside basking in the 41 degree Celsius temperatures for the race weekend.

Here's Colin in action, with his knee down and going for it!



Ralph Hudson, owner of the bike in the foreground of this photo, sent us this article from a local motorcycle racing magazine on his Facebook post. Ralph's bike was ridden by Jason Pridmore who did very well at Phillip Island. Behind Jason is Barrett Long. These are second generation road racers! Jason's father is the famous Reg Pridmore, and Barrett's father is John Long.


 We were invited, as part of Team USA, to the 2018 Phillip Island International Classic event, and what a great time we had! Thanks to Dave Crussell, Team Captain, and a special thanks to Paul Schaeffer, one of the original sponsors of the International Challenge race effort for Team USA as far back as 10 years ago. Paul provided us with air fare and accommodation for the 25th Anniversary event.

L to R: Denis, Dave Crussell, Lorraine Crussell, unknown,
Bruce Lind, Mike Studzinski
 Seeing the photo posted by Ralph Hudson, got me thinking about PI 2018, all the people I wanted to thank and all the stories of great riders and their efforts, that I've been wanting to tell. It's amazing how popular classic motorcycle racing has become.  The Australian Phillip Island Classic Motorcycle Road Racing International Challenge Races is held in January each year: Classic motorcycle racing has been gathering lots of interest recently around the world, from spectators and former road racers alike.

Phillip Island Classic International Challenge brings in comparable numbers of spectators to the World Superbike rounds held at the same circuit.
photo credit Roger Colvin

For 2018, Team USA was fortunate to have some very fast former world champion road racers join the team, as well as a  former USA AMA and Daytona #1 plate holder, also.
Colin Edwards is a former two-time World Superbike Champion.
Jason Pridmore is a former two-time World 24 Hour Endurance Road Racing Champion.
Jake Zemke is a former Daytona winner and AMA National Champion.
Team USA faired very well in qualifying. Colin Edwards, who knows the track well, qualified 6th fastest. Jason Pridmore, who has never raced at this track before, finished 7th fastest, only .001 seconds behind  Colin. Jake Zemke finished 11th fastest, only .5 seconds behind Jason.
The overall results from the four-race series was that Team USA finished THIRD, however there were some very fast times run by Team USA: 
Jason Pridmore finished 4th in Races #1 and #2 but retired on the last lap but one, in third position, with a broken engine in Race #3.  He was unable to compete in Race #4.
Colin Edwards finished thirteenth in Race #1, fifth in Race #2, tenth in Race #3, and twelfth in Race #4 with ongoing clutch issues.
Jake Zemke finished eighth in Races #1 and #2, twelfth in Race #3 but could not start in Race #4 because of engine problems.

Jason Pridmore was very fast during the three races he competed in, and thanked CMR's Denis Curtis after the races for a fine-handling race bike. He said "this is the best-handling race bike I've ever ridden." Jason has been instrumental in bringing the team back in 2019 to challenge the podium.

Jeremy McWilliams spoke with CMR's Denis Curtis after Race #2 and told him that Jason Pridmore will be very hard to beat in 2019, if his engine has more power. Jeremy said he could not stay with Jason in two of the technical corners of PI. After the races, Jeremy brought his Team UK boss, Roger Winfield, over to meet Denis. Roger spent 40 minutes with Denis, reviewing what made CMR frames handle better than his Harris frames. To be continued...

For more information about Team USA's  objectives for PI 2019, check out Team Mojo-Yamaha 2019 Phillip Island Classic International Challenge here!