2006 K&N Filters NHRA SuperNationals

Schnitz A Solid Seventh

Englishtown, Friday: Ryan Schnitz, who won last weekend's NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle race in Chicago on the Trim-Tex/Muzzy's Buell, sits a solid seventh after day 1 of qualifying at the K&N Filters SuperNationals at Englishtown , New Jersey .
 
The Buell broke a tooth off the crank sprocket in round 1, causing the S&S motor to miss all the way down the track. The miss slowed the bike to a 7.111 and left little bits of metal inside the primary case. "Never had that happen before," said Ryan, as the team attacked the case and cover with can after can of brake cleaner.
 
qualifying round 1:  7.111 at 183.00 mph
 
The team made some mapping changes, a slight clutch change, and "crowned the tooth" for round 2
 
qualifying round 2: 7.076 at 187.55 mph
 
"It felt good," Schnitz said about the pass. "Our 60 foot was good (1.074-best of the round), but it shook the tire when we shifted into second so it scrubbed a little off our ET. The chain (a 630) was really worn when we got back from that pass, so that may have hindered our MPH."
 
The team was busy putting in a new motor for Saturday. "We took out 'Joey' and put in ' Milton ,'" said Schnitz. " Milton is motor #10 (S&S serial number), and (former Muzzy rider) Doug Chandler's number was 10 and his nickname was Milton , so Rob calls that motor Milton ." Now 'Joey' is #27, and we bought it after we got sponsored by Trim-Tex, so we named it after Joe Koenig. It's kind of our thing that if one motor has run fairly well on Friday and has a race or two on it, we'll put another motor in. Milton 's fresher, but it's got a number of laps on it." The team's other motor is #13, named 'Friday.'

Schnitz Tenth

Englishtown, Saturday: Chicago NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle winner Ryan Schnitz dropped a little to tenth in the second day of qualifying for the K&N Filters SuperNationals at Englishtown , New Jersey . An overnight engine swap failed to give the Trim-Tex/Muzzy's Buell the lift the team was looking for, and the bike ran the third round with a noticeable miss. "Started right at the top of first gear," reported Ryan's dad Dave Schnitz. "We're not really sure what it is."
 
qualifying round 3: 7.204 at 179.49 mph
 
"When we changed motors last night, we had a hard time getting the timing right, and it should have been the same as the other motors," said Ryan. "It could be the trigger pick-up or the cam sync pick-up. We'll see. The other possibility is that when we changed motors we could have pinched a wire or shorted a wire in the process."
 
The miss seemed to go away in round 4, but the bike failed to run a better number.
 
qualifying round 4: 7.192 at 184.57 mph

"Joey's going back in," Dave said about the motor named after Trim-Tex president Joe Koenig. " Milton (the motor that went in Friday night, named after former Muzzy rider Doug Chandler) has issues." The Muzzy team rebuilds their own S&S motors. "The first one we won with back in Columbus last year, Rob and I rebuilt in the trailer," added Dave.
 
"I don't know why we went slower," said Ryan. "It may be the motor, but it shook the tire in first and second and stretched the chain a lot, so that might have something to do with it. But to be safe, we're gonna change the motor."
 
Ryan faces a tall order in champion Andrew Hines in round 1 of eliminations, but Hines redlit against Schnitz in the semis last week in Chicago .

Schnitz Advances to Second Round

Ryan Schnitz and the the Trim-Tex/Muzzy's team would love to have followed their Chicago NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle win with another in Englishtown, but they lost to eventual runner-up Karen Stoffer in round 2.

The highlight of the day for Schnitz was when he again beat champion Andrew Hines in the opening round. Ryan also beat Hines in the semis last week.

Stoffer was quicker at the tree, but fell behind by the 60 feet block and stayed behind 'til the last 320. "The motor kind of laid over a little bit," said Schnitz. "That was probably worth about a hundredth and maybe the win. But there's nothing we can really do about it now. We got our asses handed to us."

"Like I said yesterday, 'If we raced 60 feet we'd be bad ass,'" said crewman Kurt Matte.

"We were winning 'til we lost," joked Rob Muzzy.

"There was room for me to cut a better light, even with our .15 to her .14," said Ryan. "It was a small mistake on my part, but we also had some fueling issues on the top end. But we kind of have an idea now what this motor likes in hot air versus cool air. It's the same motor we ran in Chicago when it was cool, and here it's really hot. So we just learned more data, more information."

Schnitz went back to eating the steaks that were being served in the Muzzy trailer. "You should see what we eat when we win," added Muzzy.

Ryan thanked Trim-Tex Drywall Products, Muzzy's, Schnitz Racing, Bates Leathers, and NGK.

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