PORTLAND, OR

It was a dark and stormy forecast for Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association's season opener at Portland International Raceway. The weather turned out way better than expected, but racing started on a cold, damp track, and the first two races - Open Supersport, running a wave start with Open Twin Superbike, and then 250 Vintage - went well but not too fast, and the track seemed to be drying out. However, the third race, 600 Supersport, was red-flagged twice. The second restart got in enough laps for Mike Sullivan, Alan Schmidt and Christopher Ancien to prevail in the top three places, ahead of the largest field of the day, with 31 riders on the starting grid.

Many of the perennial favorites continued their successes of last year, but there were also some news faces on the podium. The absence of the Pinkstaff brothers, who had moved up from their Suzuki SV650s (Kevin to a Suzuki GSX-R750, and Brian to a Kawi GX6-R) left the 450 Superbike, 650 Twins and Middleweight Superbike classes open for some new podium dwellers. Cedric Smith, Dave Salmi, Dustin Ranck, Ken Botham, Keith Reams, Mark Bothe and David Moore all missed the Pinkstaffs - but not that much.

Kevin had some teething problems with his 750. For example, he was black-flagged on the first lap of practice for excessive noise. The Zlock brothers were ready for that but were still in the unaccustomed position of making last-minute fixes on body work.

"They're race parts - they never fit," said Dale Zlock. "Unless they're our race parts."

They got Kevin going well enough to finish third, behind Alan Schmidt and Jason Bluth, in both 750 Supersport and Superbike.

"I had some time on this bike from an endurance race last year, but it was bone stock," Kevin said. "I just never really got comfortable with it today. It has a lot of horsepower, especially compared to my trusty old SV."

Kane Lasky, in his first race at PIR (although he's raced just about everywhere else in the USA), showed his stuff with a win in 600 Superbike, just ahead of WMRRA number-one-plate holder Oliver Jervis, and Brian Pinkstaff in third.

Dan Wilson, now specializing in the Ultra classes, won the hotly contested Formula Ultra class on a 1000RR Honda, and then relaxed by riding a CRF450R (yes, that's a motocrosser) Honda to the win in Ultra Lightweight Superbike, with Travis Ohge (on a small Ninja) and Brian Schilt (on a really small Aprilia 125) sharing the podium.

Results

ULTRA L/W S/BK: 1. Dan Wilson (Hon), 2. Travis Ohge (Kaw), 3. Brian Schilt (Apr).

L/W S/BK: 1. Mark Leslie (Yam), 2. Simon-Pierre Smith (Yam), 3. Frank Berthold (MZ).

M/W S/BK: 1. Cedric Smith (Hon), 2. David Salmi (Suz), 3. Ken Botham (Suz).

450 S/BK: 1. Cedric Smith (Hon), 2. Dave Salmi (Suz), 3. Dustin Ranck (Suz).

600 S/BK: 1. Kane Lasky (Kaw), 2. Oliver Jervis (Kaw), 3. Brian Pinkstaff (Kaw).

650 TW S/BK: 1. Ken Botham (Suz), 2. Keith Reams (Suz), 3. David Moore (Kaw).

750 S/BK: 1. Alan Schmidt (Suz), 2. Jason Bluth (Suz), 3. Kevin Pinkstaff (Suz).

M/W S/SPT: 1. Dustin Ranck (Suz), 2. Dave Salmi (Suz), 3. Mark Bothe (Suz).

600 S/SPT: 1. Mike Sullivan (Kaw), 2. Alan Schmidt (Suz), 3. Chris Ancien (Yam).

600 S/SPT SR: 1. Sage Wilkinson (Hon), 2. Travis Ohge (Yam), 3. Urban Moore (Yam).

750 S/SPT: 1. Alan Schmidt (Suz), 2. Jason Bluth (Suz), 3. Kevin Pinkstaff (Suz).

F-2: 1. Devon McDonough (Hon), 2. Michael Caravetta (Hon), 3. Andy Moore (Yam).

F-ULTRA: 1. Dan Wilson (Hon), 2. Alan Schmidt (Suz), 3. Kane Lasky (Kaw).

250 VINT: 1. Dean Willoughby (Hon), 2. Cody Wood (Hon), 3. T.J. Hart (Hon).

500 VINT: 1. Dean Willoughby (Hon), 2. Cody Wood (Hon), 3. Arash Nadershahi (Hon).

450 CLUBMAN: 1. Dan Wilson (Hon), 2. Jason Harper (Yam), 3. Brian Schilt (Apr).