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2004
Archived News
Thursday,
November 18th, 2004
Rob Muzzy
Racing is pleased to announce the re-signing of Ryan Schnitz for the 2005
racing season. Ryan has ridden for RMR since 2002 and in that time has won
three AMA Prostar Drag Racing Championships, two in 600 Supersport and one
this year in the new 1000 Supersport class. Ryan has also been an
invaluable asset in the development of the Kawasaki ZX-12R NHRA Prostock
motorcycle. Unfortunately, Kawasaki Motors Corp. has not chosen to
continue their support of the ZX-12R Prostock Drag Racing program and
therefore a further change is in order.
Rob Muzzy Racing is also excited to be able to announce that, starting in
2005 Team Muzzy with Ryan Schnitz will run the full NHRA Pro Stock
Motorcycle series with an S&S V-twin powered Buell Pro Stock
Motorcycle. Rob Muzzy is no stranger to V-Twins, having been instrumental
in the development of the Honda 750 Dirt Track Twin that won three Grand
National Championships for Honda with Rickey Graham and Bubba Shobert
aboard in the 1980’s.
Testing for the new Pro Stock team will commence in January and the first
race for the team will be at the Mac Tools NHRA Gatornationals, in
Gainesville Florida, March 20, 2005.
Muzzys Performance Products will of course continue their thriving
performance products business with continuing emphasis on components for
Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha sport and cruiser motorcycles. Also,
Team Muzzy will continue to participate in selected drag racing events in
2005 with Ryan Schnitz aboard a Muzzy built turbocharged street bike.
Team
Kawasaki / Muzzy News from Indy
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Team Kawasaki / Muzzy
showed well in four classes at the Pingle Prostar Nationals on August 22,
2004 at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
By far the most hotly contested class for The Team is the exciting
Streetbike Shootout class. First round proved to be an easy one for Rickey
as his opponent broke and did not start. Second round found Rickey
advancing and the next round featured the always exciting matchup between
The Muzzy Kawasaki Turbo 12 and the Kent Stotz Turbo Honda. Rickey, as he
nearly always does, left first putting the hole shot on Kent and also
handily beating the Honda with a 7.38 to Stotz’ 7.509.
In round four, Gadson’s 7.407 run came up short to Barry Henson’s
7.351. The weekend’s performance was the best ever for the Kawasaki /
Muzzy Turbo 12R and the racing was the closest. The points chase closed up
with Gadson remaining in third, with the first to third spread standing at
53 points.
In Pro Stock, the Team Kawasaki / Muzzy ZX-12R Pro Stock bike, ridden by
team Rider Ryan Schnitz qualified third with a 7.259 / 181.37. This
continues the trend into the 7.20’s by the 1427cc bike and shows steady
progress in the program. However a broken oil pump drive was discovered
just before the first round and the bike could not safely be run. The
ZX-12R Pro Stock bike will compete next at the NHRA MAC Tools U.S.
Nationals at Indianapolis on Sept. 1-6.
The 1000 SS class allowed the Kawasaki ZX-10 to really shine with Ryan
Schnitz on the Team Muzzy ZX-10 qualifying on the pole spot with a 9.037 /
154.58 mph pass. The run of the meet for the class was Ryan’s stunning,
record setting 9.014 sec, 156.46mph pass during his first round single. An
eight second run cannot be far off for Ryan and the Team Muzzy Kawasaki
ZX-10! Round two found Ryan’s green 10 lined up against team mate Rickey
Gadson on his orange ZX-10. Rickey tried too hard and red lit, giving Ryan
the win. In the same round Chip beat Mike Slowe’s Suzuki. Ryan and Chip
both won their round 3 match-ups, putting them head to head in the final.
The two Muzzy equipped ZX-10’s faced off, Ryan got the hole shot and the
quickest E.T., winning over Ellis with a 9.044 to Ellis’ 9.136.
Congratulations to Ryan, Chip and Rickey for great efforts and a new
national record!
The Muzzy equipped bikes also dominated in the 600 SS class. The Adams
Performance bike qualified 1st, young Richard Gadson, 3rd, and Chad
Millholland 5th.
Ellis, on the Adams bike put out Millholland in the second round. The
final was Ellis against Gadson. Richard, like his uncle in the 1000 class
tried too hard and red lit, giving Ellis’ quicker time the win.
Indy always proves to be a great race and did not disappoint.
Congratulations to all the team members and competitors for a great race.
The next Prostar race for Team Kawasaki / Muzzy will be at Memphis, TN on
Oct 1, See you there!
Team Kawasaki / Muzzy proudly represents Kawasaki Motors Corp., Kawasaki
Genuine Parts, Kawasaki Authentic Accessories,. Motul Oil, Turbonetics,
and NGK Spark plugs. We thank them all for their continued support.
Team
Kawasaki/Muzzy ZX-12R Qualifies at Sonoma
Wednesday, August 4, 2004
Team Kawasaki / Muzzy ZX-12R
Qualifies at Sonoma
The Team Kawasaki / Muzzy Pro Stock ZX-12R qualified 13th in the 16 bike
field at the Fram Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, CA. In
doing so it became the first and only modern liquid cooled four valve
production based motorcycle to qualify for an NHRA national event.
There are many milestones in racing and to qualify to compete in an NHRA
National event is one of them. To have a chance of winning you must first
“make the show”. It may take a team years to accomplish this, so to do
it after only 10 races gives Team Muzzy renewed pride, excitement and
confidence. The elapsed time spread between the fastest and slowest
qualifying times of the 16 qualified bikes was a scant .234 second, from
7.084 to 7.318 seconds with Team rider Ryan Schnitz checking in with a
7.234 second, 179.56 mph pass. The resulting round one match up between
Ryan and Michael Phillips was also something to be proud of despite The
Team’s loss. Ryan got the light with a quick .025 reaction time, led
from the hit and was only passed on the top end with a 7.284 / 181.69 to
Phillips’ winning 7.130 / 184.62
The performance of the Kawasaki / Muzzy Pro Stock ZX-12R, which won the
Best Engineering Award at the 2003 Las Vegas NHRA race, continues to
improve incrementally and the team remains confident that a round win is
in their future.
Team Kawasaki / Muzzy will sit out the Brainerd and Memphis events to
continue development and will appear next at the 50th annual Mac Tools
U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Sept. 1-6, 2004. See you
there!
Team Kawasaki / Muzzy proudly represents Kawasaki Motors Corp., Kawasaki
Genuine Parts, Kawasaki Authentic Accessories,. Motul Oil, Turbonetics,
and NGK Spark plugs. We thank them all for their continued support.
Shootout
Points Chase Heats Up at Norwalk
Thursday, July 1, 2004
Streetbike shootout action was hot and heavy at the Norris Motorsports
Cyclefest at Norwalk, Ohio on June 26-27.
Team Kawasaki/Muzzy rider Rickey Gadson moved 17 points closer to the
number one spot, narrowing the gap between his third place to Mike
Slowe’s first place to only 33 points. Kent Stozt sits in second place
in the championship chase.
Gadson qualified the Turbo ZX-12 Streetbike Shootout bike in third place
with a 7.697second, 188.81 mph run on Saturday. Top qualifier was Barry
Henson with a 7.571 / 193.35.
Eliminations on Sunday found Rickey along side Tim Oneil, with Rickey
advancing.
Second round was critical as Rickey lined up with points leader Mike Slowe.
Rickey put down a nice 7.566 run and Slowe had trouble. This run had a
significant impact on the potential points spread. In the third round
Gadson dispatched Bud Yoder on a fast 188.99mph pass. Unfortunately, the
Team’s “racin’ luck” ran out in round 4 when the ZX-12R failed to
start, putting us out for the day. Barry Henson went on to win with a very
quick single run. All in all, the Turbo ZX-12R ran well and Rickey’s
racing skill was impressive as usual.
The 1000 Supersport is shaping up to be a very hot class. Chip Ellis
qualified number one on his Muzzy equipped Kawasaki ZX-10, Ryan Schnitz
qualified second on his, and Rickey Gadson was sixth on his.
Round four pitted Ryan against Chip, with Chip advancing with a 9.188 /
152.07 to Ryan’s 9.209 ./ 152.49. Chip Won the event over Dustin
Clark’s Suzuki with a 9.176 to Clark’s 9.189. Also impressive was
Chips qualifying run which was a 9.066 / 154.07 scorcher. Ryan ran top
speed for the class with a 158.07mph blast. Great job, guys!
600 Supersport was also an all Kawasaki / Muzzy show. The top three
qualifiers were all Muzzy equipped ZX-6R’s; Chip Ellis, Chad Millholland,
and young Richard Gadson.
In the semi-final round three, Richard put Chad out and Chip won against
John Hall. The final was all Muzzy sponsored and equipped Kawasaki
ZX-6R’s with Chip Ellis facing Richard Gadson. Chip won with a quick
9.83 / 138.44. It was a great show!
There is a long break before the next race at Indy August, 21.
Indianapolis is always a great race, see you there!
Team Kawasaki / Muzzy proudly represents Kawasaki Motors Corp., Kawasaki
Genuine Parts, Kawasaki Authentic Accessories,. Motul Oil, Turbonetics,
and NGK Spark plugs. We thank them all for their continued support.
Gateway
Double Header
Thursday, June
10, 2004
The St. Louis “double
header” race weekend at Gateway International Raceway provided some
great results for Team Kawasaki/Muzzy Drag Racing. The final round for the
previously rained out Richmond Lucas Oil Spring Nationals was run on
Saturday afternoon after the qualifying rounds for the PR Factory Store
Nationals at St. Louis. Team Rider Rickey Gadson aboard the Kawasaki Turbo
ZX-12R faced off against Honda mounted Kent Stotz in the eagerly
anticipated race. Rickey beat Kent with a hole shot and a 7.549
sec./182.56 mph run to Kent’s 7.614.
Sunday morning brought The Team to eliminations for the Gateway Nationals
and a look at the qualifying list showed Ricky in the 4th spot, Ryan
Schnitz aboard the 1427 cc fuel injected Kawasaki ZX12R Pro Stocker in the
10th spot and also Ryan aboard the Kawasaki ZX-10R qualified 1st with a
9.059/153.47.
Ryan started his march through the field on the Prostocker finally facing
and losing to David Feazell’s Harley ending our day with the ZX-12R Pro
Stock Bike.
Rickey and The Team were working hard with wins over Sheirts, Trahan,
Kovacevich and, in the semi, Kent Stotz. The Muzzy Turbo 12 bested the
Honda and put Stotz out of play with a nice 7.494/189.73 mph run. In the
final it was Rickey against Barry Henson who has returned after an injury.
All eyes were on these two fierce competitors as they lined up. Rickey cut
a terrific light and got the hole shot. But just a little way out the bike
bogged just a bit and Barry regained the advantage. In spite of a terrific
charge to the lights, Rickey lost and became runner up in the SBS class.
These results bring the points chase to a point where the championship is
in play, with a 55 point spread between Gadson, Stotz and Slowe. The
remainder of the season will be exciting, to be sure.
The hotly contested 1000 Supersport class provided some great racing
throughout the weekend. Ryan faced ZX-10 mounted Chip Ellis in the final
round with Ryan coming out on top, winning the class. Ryan also faced Mike
Slowe’s Suzuki in Round 2. In a great race, Ryan put Mike’s GSX-R
“on the trailer”. Some terrific times were turned in, the best of them
being Ryan’s record setting 9.045 in that round two run. The Kawasaki
ZX-10R will surely be turning in a sub 8 second time before the season is
out. Ryan’s Muzzy exhaust equipped ZX-10R was torn down at the request
of the Prostar tech officials on Sunday night and of course nothing
illegal was found.
Special congratulations go to Richard Gadson, Rickey’s young nephew, who
won the 600 Supersport class on his Muzzy equipped Kawasaki 600 RR with a
9.801 over John Hall’s Yamaha, giving Richard his first event win.
Team Kawasaki/Muzzy proudly represents Kawasaki Motors Corp., Kawasaki
Genuine Parts, Kawasaki Authentic Accessories. Motul Oil, Turbonetics, and
NGK Spark plugs. We thank them all for their support.
Team
Report: Team Kawasaki / Muzzy Racing
Friday, May 7,
2004
The Lucas Oil Spring
Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park were cut short by a rain storm just
before what was likely a very exciting final round for Team Kawasaki /
Muzzy Racing.
The final round for the
hotly contested Streetbike Shootout class would pit Rickey Gadson aboard
The Team Kawasaki / Muzzy Turbo ZX-12R against Kent Stotz on the Turbo
Honda Blackbird, but we'll have to wait until Friday, June 4, at St. Louis
to find out who wins that one. On the way to the final, Ricky qualified
the Turbo 12 number one with a 7.61 second, 186.98 mph run.
Things began to get more
interesting though, in eliminations when in Stotz' first round run, Kent
ran a 7.487 / 191.76. Rickey's round one run was a win over Mike Claycomb
with a 7.60. In elimination round two, Gadson put Chad Trahan on the
trailer with 7.879. In Stotz's round two run, Kent put down an impressive
7.429 sec. pass.
Elimination round three put
Mike Slowe's Hayabusa against Stotz and Rickey against Mike Cunningham.
Rickey ran a 7.563 against Cunningham's 7.562, winning with an impressive
holeshot. Stotz won his race against Mike Slowe and will face Rickey St.
Louis. The Team is anxiously awaiting the duel!
Ryan Schnitz stayed in the
hunt on the Team Kawasaki / Muzzy ZX-12R Pro Stock bike until round two of
eliminations when Ryan was just a little too anxious and triggered a red
light against Steve Johnson. The ZX-12 Pro Stocker turned in some
respectable times and will next appear at the NHRA race in Atlanta on May,
14.
As usual, the Super Sport
classes provided some exceptional racing and impressive times. In the new
1000 SS class, Team Muzzy rider Ryan Schnitz, riding his Muzzy equipped
Kawasaki ZX-10R, got everyone's attention with a 9.13 sec, 154 mph run
while testing. During the race in elimination round one Ryan showed that
the time was not a fluke by running a 9.146 / 150.35.
Round Three found Ryan
winning over Chip Ellis' ZX-10R with a 9.175. The final will be another
exciting one with Ryan facing Keith Dennis' Suzuki GSX-R1000. In 600 SS
Richard Gadson , Rickey's talented young nephew, is still in the race with
a 9.921 on his Muzzy equipped Kawasaki ZX-6R as is Chip Ellis on his
similarly equipped ZX-6R.
Team Kawasaki / Muzzy
proudly represents Kawasaki Motors Corp., Kawasaki Genuine Parts, Kawasaki
Authentic Accessories. Motul Oil, and NGK Spark plugs and thanks them for
their support.
Archived News
2006 Race Season
2005 Race Season
2004 Race Season
2003 Race Season
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