2003 Archived News

Team Muzzy Pro Stock News from Maple Grove

Wednesday, October 8, 2003

The rain delayed NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals at Reading, PA was completed this past weekend, Oct. 3-5. The resumption of qualifying was further shortened to one run because of more rain. The Team Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-12R Pro Stock Bike continued the trend of improving with each race when Rider Ryan Schnitz turned in a 7.31 sec. run at 181.96 mph missing the qualifying field by only .013 sec.
Despite being the fastest pass to date for the bike, the run was far from pretty with quite a lot of wheel spin. One can only speculate that a clean run would have put the bike solidly in the field for the first time. Since the last outing at Indy, power has been increased by continued development with the exhaust system, cylinder head, and camshafts. Each development points to the possibility of further improvement, and The Team remains on track and confident for a place in the field before the season is finished.

Team Muzzy Proudly represents Muzzys Performance Products, Kawasaki Motors Corp., Schnitz Racing, and Matco Votech.

Team Muzzy Pro Stock News from Indianapolis

Monday, September 8, 2003

The rain delayed NHRA Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Indiana was
completed this past weekend Sept. 6, 7. This race brought The Team Muzzy
Kawasaki ZX-12R Pro Stock Bike closer to qualifying but, in the end, still
outside the 16 bike field. The bike continues to be consistent with qualifying times of 7.361 and 7.363 sec. at 180 mph, which are roughly one tenth of a second off the 7.26 bump spot. Of course, one tenth of a second in Drag Racing is a long time, but the times continue to come down and progress is always encouraging. R&D work at the team’s headquarters in Bend, Oregon has been on-going resulting in some improvements to the cylinder head and exhaust system. The team will sit out the Memphis round and the bike will be brought back to Bend for some mid-season testing. Team Muzzy Kawasaki continues to look forward to a success before the end of this first season.


Team Muzzy Proudly represents Muzzys Performance Products, Kawasaki Motors Corp., Schnitz Racing, and Matco Votech.

Exciting times at Indy

Wednesday, August 13, 2003

The Thunder Nationals provided an opportunity for Ryan Schnitz to ride the Team Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-12R Pro Stock bike to a new low E.T. for the bike and win two rounds. The bike continues to improve with virtually every run, reaching a new low E.T. of 7.34 sec. at 183.79 mph along the way. The Indy Prostar race provided a great test for the Pro Stock ZX-12R in actual competition on the way to this coming weekend’s NHRA race at Brainerd MN. We continue to look forward to our first NHRA qualification and round win.

Team Muzzy Proudly represents Muzzys Performance Products, Kawasaki Motors Corp., Schnitz Racing, and Matco Votech.

Team Muzzy Pro Stock News From Sonoma CA

Wednesday, August 6, 2003

The NHRA FRAM- Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway, held August 1-3 2003, provided another opportunity to showcase the Team Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-12R Pro Stock motorcycle, but unfortunately that opportunity ended short of qualifying. Performance continues to improve however, and in the face of the fastest Pro Stock Motorcycle field ever, the Team Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-12 moved closer to the milestone of qualifying for the 16 bike field. Teething problems with the new transmission caused the bike to pop out of gear on each run but in spite of that, rider Ryan Schnitz was able to turn in a respectable 7.442 sec. elapsed time at 182.7 mph. The “bump” spot, or slowest time of the qualified field was a 7.189 sec. The team is pleased with the better performance at each outing and we look forward to that first NHRA elimination run. Testing will continue with a weekend at the Prostar Pingle Thunder Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 9-10. The Next NHRA appearance will be at the Rugged Liner NHRA Nationals, at Brainerd, Minnesota Aug 14-17. See you there!

Team Muzzy Proudly represents Muzzys Performance Products, Kawasaki Motors Corp., Schnitz Racing, and Matco VoTech.

Denver News

Friday, June 22, 2003

The Mopar Mile High Nationals at Denver, Colorado proved tough for The Muzzy Kawasaki Pro Stock Team, as it does for everyone. Although The Team failed to qualify, the spread between The Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-12R and the qualified field did narrow slightly from past events. The Team is pleased that the handling of the Pro Stock ZX-12 is improved and the bike tracked straight and true. The weak point remains the transmission which still contained the stock ratios and gears. The thin air at “mile high” Denver requires a higher than normal launch RPM and the transmission gave up in the burnout box on the fourth qualifying attempt. The new custom Liberty transmission had not arrived for Denver but it is expected to be in place for Sonoma. We continue to learn at each event and have high expectations of qualifying at Infineon Raceway on August 1st. See you there!

Team Muzzy Proudly represents Muzzys Performance Products, Kawasaki Motors Corp., Schnitz Racing, and Matco Votech.

 Pro Stock Update

Friday, June 13, 2003

Team Muzzy has been very busy during this period of recovery from Ryan's mishap.  Ryan has healed nicely and rode his ZX-9R recently during some local test and tune nights.  Ryan says, "I'm nearly 100%, still a little thing skinned on my hand, but it doesn't interfere with my riding.  I can't wait to get back on the bike!"  In the mean time he'll be practicing on his 60" ZX-12.
We can't wait to get him back on the bike, either.  The rugged chassis is at Kosman's for repair, the damage required some minor straightening of the frame and replacement of the bolt-on components on the front end.
Engine development has continued apace with exciting result and a new transmission with more appropriate ratios is due in Bend on the 1st of July.
The team plans to make their next appearance in Denver on July 18th. 

TEAM MUZZY SUFFERS TESTING MISHAP

Wednesday, May 14, 2003

Ryan Schnitz was slightly injured today during a test session on the Team Muzzy
NHRA ProStock Kawasaki ZX-12R motorcycle. Ryan was treated for superficial injuries and released from the hospital after the incident. Schnitz had just cleared the timing lights at slightly over 165 mph at the Darlington, South Carolina drag strip when, possibly due to a combination of crosswind and some track irregularities, the bike became unstable. The motorcycle was heavily damaged in the ensuing slide and collision with the track barrier. The Team will not be able to attend this weekend’s race at Englishtown NJ. and since The Team had previously decided not to attend the Chicago race, Team Muzzy intends to race next at the Pontiac Excitement Nationals, Columbus, Ohio June 12, 2003.

NHRA SUMMIT NATIONALS

Thursday, May 8, 2003

The Team Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-12R Pro Stock bike continued dealing with its teething problems at the NHRA Summit Southern Nationals, Commerce, Georgia.
Rider Ryan Schnitz improved over the first outing, completing two qualifying runs with a low E.T. of 7.719 sec at 173.78 mph. Of the four qualifying runs scheduled, one was rained out on Friday night and the bike bogged at the line in the second run on Saturday. The Team has determined at this point that a new transmission, one with different ratios more suited to the very specific needs of a Pro Stock Motorcycle, is needed. Due to the time needed to have a transmission manufactured the Team will sit out the Lucas Oil Nationals in Chicago, IL on May 29. However the Team will compete at The Englishtown, NJ K&N Filters Nationals on May 15, using that event to test other components and gain experience and track time for the Team and Ryan. Team Owner Rob Muzzy commented, “We knew this would take time, it is a development process and we are making steady improvements.”

On a brighter note, the Muzzys sponsored entries did quite well at the ProStar Spring Nationals in Richmond, VA. Ricky Gadson won the Streetbike Shootout class on the Kawasaki Muzzy Turbo equipped ZX-12R, Chip Ellis won the Formula Superbike class on the Muzzys equipped ZX-12R, and Chip was also runner up on the Muzzy exhaust equipped Vulcan Mean Streak. Chip Hunter was runner up on the Muzzy exhaust equipped ZX-6RR and Larry McBride ran a stunning 5.88 on his Muzzy exhaust equipped Top Fueler. Great Job guys!

TEAM MUZZY KAWASAKI ZX-12R PRO STOCK DEBUTS AT HOUSTON

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Team Muzzy brought their new Kawasaki ZX-12R Pro Stock motorcycle to the NHRA O’Reilly Nationals at Houston TX on April 11. Working tirelessly to fulfill the commitment to race at Houston, the crew worked through the previous weekend to put the finishing touches on the bike, actually “Fed Ex-ing” it overnight to Houston in time for Wednesday tech. The bike passed it’s initial rigorous NHRA tech inspection without any problems.
Friday’s first round of qualifying was actually the first time the bike had “turned a wheel” on the race track, but it was with a high degree of confidence that Team rider Ryan Schnitz took the green light on his first pass on this bike.
One small problem became immediately apparent as the bike moved off the groove and towards the centerline. Ryan corrected and completed the run with a low 8 second pass. A minor wheel alignment issue was found and will be corrected. On the second pass Ryan found nothing when he selected third gear, and short shifted to fourth. Examination determined that the transmission had failed, probably during the first run, ending the weekend for the Team.
Team Owner Rob Muzzy said, “Obviously this is not the way we like to start a season, but we knew there would be a learning curve here. We would have liked to do some testing of course, but just ran out of time. We will be testing before the next event at Atlanta”.

Team Muzzy proudly represents Kawasaki Motors Corp., Muzzys Performance Products, Schnitz Racing. We sincerely thank them all for their valued support.

ATLANTA RACE REPORT

Friday, April 11, 2003

The Team Muzzy Turbo Kawasaki ZX-12R Pro-Mod made an impressive debut at the Prostar Elmer Trett Nationals. The rain shortened Atlanta event was the initial race track outing for this exciting new bike and the Team could not have been more pleased and proud of the awesome performance. Without any records from previous running, it took some time to find a clutch setting to provide a good launch. Once that was determined, Rider Ryan Schnitz was able lay down a blistering 6.83 second 196.53 mph pass. The bike went down the center of the lane, tracking like a JDAM. This was Ryan’s fastest pass to date as well as the fastest pass for a Team Muzzy Drag Bike. It’s only the beginning for this bike, to be sure. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter the rains came and the meet was ended.

The Team Muzzy Pro Stock ZX-12R is next up to debut at Houston’s NHRA O’Reilly Nationals April 13th.

Team Muzzy proudly represents Kawasaki Motors Corp., Muzzys Performance Products, Schnitz Racing and Turbonetics. We sincerely thank them all for their valued support.

Archived News

2006 Race Season
2005 Race Season
2004 Race Season
2003 Race Season