Blais Racing Services Race Reports!

Hilltoppers MC Big 6 Grand Prix

Press Release

April 10th, 2013

Contact: Chris Blais

Blais Racing Services
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twentynine Palms, CA
April 6-7, 2013

By: Brendan Crow

Brendan Crow on his Blais Racing/ Fasstco KTM 250XC.  Photo by Mark Kariya

Going into the Hilltoppers Grand Prix at Twentynine Palms, CA, I was excited to
throw a change of pace into my racing.  I was unable to ride the first two rounds
of the series, and wanted to give the WCGP race a try.  After riding MAYBE half
a lap in the unclassified practice, I had a problem with my silencer and rendered
it unusable and was possibly going to end my day early.  Luckily, 3 Brothers had
their box van at the race and had an extra silencer they let me borrow.  After
prepping and getting ready within the long break before the 2:30 afternoon race,
I felt ready and was excited to get going.

I had a decent jump off the start, but was pushed wide and had to check up putting
me near the back.  For the first few laps I fought for positions while trying to
be smooth on the extremely rough course.  I knew that being loose and riding smooth
was going to be a major piece to finishing strong, so I settled into a good pace
and kept charging onward.  I was extremely pleased with the combination of my ESR
tuned Race Tech suspension and Flexx handlebars, because without it I am sure that
my hands would have been destroyed pounding through the countless bumps littered
throughout the hour and a half race.  I was having a blast hitting the fast sandy
corners, and was feeling great even through the finish.  I am happy with how I rode,
but wish I could have found a little more speed as I was less than a minute behind
having a podium ride in my class!  I had a great time and finished 12th overall
and 5th in the 250A class.

I have been making some changes so far this year and I am happy to start seeing
some progress with myself and my bike setup.  Thanks to everyone that is helping
me race this season: Blais Racing Services, ESR Suspension, Race Tech, Fasst Co,
Fastway, Dirt Tricks, IMS, TLD, Acerbis, KTM, Kenda, Xbrand goggles, NoToil, BRP,
FMF, Alpinestars, Samco, Bulletproof Designs, HBD Motographics, Rekluse.

By: Ben Meza

Ben Meza on his Blais Racing/Fasstco, ESR, Kenda, FMF KTM 200.  Photo by Mark Kariya

After talking with team manager, Chris Blais, and teammate, Brendan Crow, I decided
that I would head out to Twentynine Palms for Round 3 of the West Coast GP Series.
In 2012, this was the event that I broke my leg in, so I was going into the event
simply wanting a finish. My races on Saturday were the Unclassified at 7:00am and
then the Pro race at 2:30pm.

The unclassified race went really well and I was feeling good for the 1.5 hour long
Pro race to come later that day. After the unclassified race, I geared down and
just relaxed for a few hours before my next race. Two o'clock came around and I
headed down to the start line.  I was feeling really good and looked down the line
to see my competition. I noticed Factory Husky rider Jamie Lanza to my left and
realized he would be my main competition. Next thing I know we were off!  It was
a running start (live engine), and without having much experience on these, I didn't
get a great jump off the line.  Luckily, my Kenda Washougal's hooked up great and
I started making passes. I hopped in right behind Jamie and started trying to make
a pass stick! We did a couple laps and I went for a pass but washed out my front
end in a corner and had to let him go.  I hopped to my feet and picked up my bike.
The whole front end was tweaked but I just jumped on and held her wide!  It took
me a second to realize something wasn't right - every time I hit a square edge or
any bump for that matter, my bike would try to jump out from under me.  When I went
down, my forks had binded and were causing my bike to handle horrible.  The only
thing allowing me to keep charging were my Flexxbars and Fastway Footpegs that
kept my feet planted the whole race.

I kept charging and lap after lap, energy was being drained from my body. I kept
trying to push myself and eventually the white flag came out!  I was just about
done physically by this point and just really had to try and keep my momentum going.
I crossed the finish line and my body rejoiced!  I ended up getting 2nd Place 125
Expert and 15th overall Pro.  It was definitely a great training opportunity and
I'm really hoping to hit a few more rounds before the end of the season.

Thank you to everyone for the continued support; Blais Racing Services, Fasst Company,
ESR Suspension, Race Tech, Muscle Milk, HBD Motographx, BRP, Fastway/Pro Moto billet,
Troy Lee Designs, KTM USA, Scotts, Kenda, Scott Performance, Dirt Tricks, Bullet
Proof Designs, Rekluse, Regina, FMF, E-line, HBMC, my parents, and just everyone
that helps out at the races!

By:  Patty Blais

Patty Blais on her Blais Racing TRX450R.  Photo by Mark Kariya

This would be my first race since early December.  Since I consider myself "semi-retired",
I get to pick and choose what races I think are fun and only participate in those.
My days of chasing points are over but that doesn't mean that I don't give each
race everything I have and do as well as I can against the guys (since there is
no women's class)!  The mental preparing is a little different the older you get
too.  It's a funny thing really, what goes on in your head before each race!

My husband Chris and I headed to Twentynine Palms late Friday afternoon and set
up our camp.  Some of our Blais team arrived later that night and we all hung out
together, had some dinner and some laughs.  We woke up early Saturday to watch Ben
and Brendan in their Unclassified race (practice).  We spent the day chatting with
old and new friends, riding around on the bicycles and Segway, and watched many
of the other races.  We would head to bed early Saturday night after watching Supercross
and a little pot luck dinner with our team.  My race was on Sunday 11:30am.

I felt great Sunday morning, totally hydrated from hydrating all week long, and
was ready to race against some friends I've been racing with for 15 years!  As always,
they would gather around my desert-savvy quad and laugh at my big, fat desert tires
and such on the start line.  They would tease and taunt me (as they always do) and
talk so much smack.  This course was more of a faster desert GP type course and
I had a good set up for sure.  I also knew in my heart that on this day, a few of
these guys would get beat by me!  :)

Live engine start and I was third off the start into the first turn, and then like
a pack of wolves, here they all come!  My first lap was scary as it was soooo dusty
and I had no clue where I was going.  I was just following dust and hoping not to
blow any turns or go off the edge.  I was chasing down a couple riders ahead of
me, which I eventually ended up passing by the second lap.  I felt great during
Lap 2 with my Flexx Bars helping me out, and kept charging hard and making another
pass on the #1 woman WORCS racer, Donna Ellsworth.  She would end up passing me
back later and pulling away, finishing one spot ahead of me.  Congrats to her! 
I also noticed that a few of the Vet guys that normally beat me, hadn't passed me
at this point and I was pretty excited about that (Val Harris, Scott Melville, Rudd
Miller, to name a few).

I kept charging during laps 3 and 4 and would was just trying to stay ahead of the
pack behind me.  During the last lap, my friend Scott Melville would pass me but
after the final ride through the mud hole, his quad was cutting out and he would
stall it on the very last turn before the checkered flag and I got him!

I ended up finishing 7th Open Expert and 12th Overall!  My quad handled perfectly
for this race and my husband always keeps it in tip-top shape.  I'm very lucky that
he is such a great mechanic and supporter!  Thank you to him and all my friends
for all the cheers around the course, all our team sponsors, and the Hilltoppers
MC for putting on a great event!  My next Grand Prix will be in June down at the
Ranch in Anza.  See you at the races!

Chris, Johnny, and Preston hanging out and talking shop!  Photo by Mark Kariya

Thanks to all our team sponsors for 2013:  Fasst Company, KTM, ESR Suspension, Race
Tech, Alpinestars, Kenda, Pro Moto Billet, Fastway, FMF, Rekluse, HBD MotoGrafx,
Regina, TLD, BRP, Bullet Proof Designs, DirtTricks, Eline, IMS, No Toil, Samco
Sport, Muscle Milk, Acerbis, & Bike Week Radio.

Atomik Barbwire 17in Brushless Electric RC Boat now in stock at Blais Racing Services

Check out our new line of Atomik/ Venom RC Products on our Website. Blais Racing
Services
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blais Racing Services offers engine rebuilding and online parts for all your Motorcycle,
ATV, & UTV needs.  Owned and operated by Chris Blais, former Factory KTM Dakar Rally
Racer. We specialize in KTM/ Honda, but can work on anything. I do all of the engine
work myself.   www.BlaisRacingServices.com [http://www.BlaisRacingServices.com]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be sure to visit our website and check out all our cool products.  FMF Exhausts,
Shorai Batteries, Samco Radiator Hoses, JD Tuners, JD 2-stroke Carburetors, Golan
10 micron Fuel Filters and much more!