Komodo Sport News

My name is Craig Montgomery and I am an expert racer in the CMRA (Central Motorcycle Road Racing). It was round 5 of the CMRA series (Hallett Raceway) and because I changed bikes at the beginning of the season I’m starting from the back with no class points. I’ve been on a 1000 for last 3 years but wanted a change so I just picked up a Triumph 675. I love the way the bike handles and although slow compared to a liter bike its got decent speed and I like the torque. The one drawback is because it’s a British bike “hard parts” are very expensive. No worries, just don’t crash it, right

I ended up taking 2nd in the sprint race and was frustrated with my result. It was a great dice for the win and I didn’t come out on top unfortunately. I was a little bit angry on the cool down lap and decided to pull a frustration stand-up wheelie. I knew I had problems as soon as I dropped the clutch. I was in 3rd instead of 2nd but instead of accepting defeat I pulled up even harder on the bars. The anger I felt (which dulled my senses and judgment a bit) coupled with a headwind did me in. I then proceeded to loop the bike over backwards.

Unlike my bike I was not hurt. My Komodo leathers and race gloves protected me amazingly well considering how long I slid down the pavement. Most crashes are in a turn and you slide off the track very quickly. This one however was a on straight away and I was sliding with the direction of the track. You’ll notice the smoke coming off of my leathers. Thanks to Rene Vivion and Barry Nichols for the photos.

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Our first race was rained out but we will be running the div. 7 open this weekend and we just came off the NHRA test and tune with the stars

Of  full throttle.  the last race we ran was the UTI / MMI drags where I was motorcycle king of the track and runner up for the king of the

Track where if I broke out with a 9.55 run on a 9.59 dial

But my back story is I started riding when I was 3 years old on a Honda 50. Then when I turned 10 I got a cr 85 and then 125, I have had everykind of bike you can think of from gold wing 1200 interstate to Ducati 900 super sport and i started racing when i was 13 and have been ever.

Since in one form or another, I started Drag racing in June of 06 where I qualified for the finals and went to Bakersfield, ca and went a

Couple of rounds, and then in 2007 we changed home tracks from firebird to speed world where i was in the top 3 in 07 and 08 and last year

We ran both tracks and I was the track champ for the motorcycle class at both tracks. At the finals we ran both the race of champions

And the et finals. Out of the 100 + riders in the race of champions I made it all the way to the top 6. And in the finals I went all

The way to the top 9 out of 150+ riders. this year we are going all the way. I will be looking good doing it in my new komodo gear leathers.

I am also a full time student a MMI I’m taking Suzuki and Harley/Buell, 

Niko

I came into this weekend knowing that the competition was going to be tuff. I had Kane Lasky, Brian Hall, Jimmy Woods, Jeff Sterns to deal with. In short…this wasn’t going to be a cake walk.

Saturday…I should have gone without. Rain showers peppered the track and as anyone knows….main in the wet is probably the most dangerous track in the US. Fred Merkel almost lost his life here and it ended his career. I wasn’t willing to do that or risk injury.

Sat practice was probably the worst for me. It ruined my confidence in the tower turn. In Sat practice I lost the front end over the paint strips at least 90% of the time…no crap! I finished the day the fastest…but with shaken confidence and was later feeling that if I had just skipped practice I would have given it a 110% on the exit of the tower turn on Sunday.

Saturday was a waste of $160 bucks and was worthless to us in our setup.

Jimmy Wood didn’t hand me my ass (as reported)…Kane Lasky did in the Unlimited GP. I had been running over and over in my head what I was going to do on the starts….the only thing that I didn’t calculate was Kane jumping and wheeling over into me on the start. This left just enough for Jimmy Woods and Brian Hall to take the lead….Hall 1st and Woods 2nd.

Unshaken by Kanes near miss….I backed out of the throttle and gathered myself only to have Kane a few bikes in front of me. I knew that if I went on the outside that I could go around him. That I did….I went on the outside of Kane in T1 and found myself in 5th position (we started 10th).

Brian Hall and Woods made short work of the gap in front of the slower riders that were gridded by points instead of qualifying. These guys were running 3 to 5 seconds off the fastest lap and filling every hole in the one line track of main.

Once around the other riders Hall had about 40 bike lengths lead on me with Woods another 20 in front of him. I knew that I was faster than both of them but the gap was huge. I put my head down and and thought of what Aaron Clark had told me once…”never give up”.

I was able to put down the lap times to put me within 6 bike lengths of Hall coming into T1. I had all weekend been going deeper and carrying more corner speed that anyone and decided on a outside line. Sure enough Brian let off and I was able to go on the outside of him and shut the door into T1.

Next ahead was Jimmy….

Both Woods and I made our fastest lap on lap 10 of 12. There was no doubt that Woods was putting in his best (I know that I was). I bested Woods on lap 10 by over a half of a second and posted a time of 1:05.4 and Woods did a best of 1:06. I closed the gap within 8 bike lengths by races end and placed 2nd in the Unlimited GP.

When I ended the race I was happy with my riding…but knew we had left some on the race bench. We were experiencing chatter when I trailed deep into the apex. I had literally hit a wall and since I had not run that fast this weekend due to rain had now idea on how the bike would react when pushed.

Second race came up and I knew that we had what it would take to beat Scott Jensens lap record of 1:05.1. We left so much on the table in T1 with the front end chatter and a few other turns that I knew that if we were able to set the frontend right that I could be in the 04′s. It just wasn’t to be…I went out and went slower. I may have won the race…but Jeff Stern ran a faster lap time. The tires had given me their best in the Unlimited GP race and had nothing left for me. I knew that when we went out on the warm up lap that it wasn’t to be. Touché Jeff! LOL

The above said…I cant thank enough Trey Schultz my Crewchief and friend. Without Trey….none of this would have been possible. I have said many times that we have been leaving speed on the bench and costing us valuable time on the track. We (Trey and myself) have navigated our way thru the setup with the Honda and on this weekend, on this bike and on Dunlop tires we were the fastest.

Both Trey and myself have grown a lot this year. We have been thru various stages together learning. Thru hard work, determination and just not giving a crap what all the other nay-sayer had to say…we have hit the next barrier.

And with all that said….”The Wrist is back” LOL

Thanks to Jim Cox….you are truly the best at Dunlop and have the best tires.

Thanks to Lee at Komodo Gear….the best race suit that a racer could ask for.

Thanks to Arai helmets….thanks for the best fit and the most air for me to breath.

Thanks to Galpher…the rotors and the pads are the best that I have ever experienced.

Thanks to HRC and Corona for the support, answering all my questions and being there for me when I needed parts. And I must say…”you meet the nicest people on Honda’s”.

Thanks to Lenny at Race Tech…not only a good friend, but a loyal supporter when most turned me out.

Thanks to Ken Hill…for the little things ya told me to work on…their working Wink

Thanks to Chris Ulrich for telling me that I am a pussy and need to go faster.

Thanks to Josh Hayes for helping me on my mid turn exit.

Thanks to David Anthony for the support and helping me out with numerous things on the track.

Thanks to Robin Schultz II…You were the biggest part of my year and the family will never forget you for as long as we live. Godspeed Robin…we love ya.

Thanks to CCS and John Jewett for having me back this year. John…ya truly made the come back worth it.

Thanks to everyone that came to the AMA rounds and sought me out just to say hello. Truly a wonderful feeling to know so many people from around the US.

And I also wanna give Dean the credit for the bitchen shot!!! Thanks!

This is a pretty good quiz:  http://komodogear.blogspot.com/2009/11/motorcycle-quiz-how-much-do-you-know.html

Komodo Gear now offers its customers to add their Custom name and number to their Motorcycle  leathers Suits.

Custom Name = $100

Custom Number = $50

As more people discover and ride motorcycles, the focus on safety gear and riding apparel becomes a highly searched topic. Komodo Gear has been at the forefront of innovation for the past several years to address the needs to today’s riders and racers. If you’re a veteran rider, then you’ll find this article even more interesting as Komodo takes the time to educate riders and consumers on how we’re different from the competition.

Komodo’s K-FX motorcycle race glove has been available to the public for the past two years. This motorcycle glove is a true proprietary race glove design that uses over a dozen different hi-tech materials including advanced lightweight composites interwoven together to produce a unique, one of a kind glove. It’s not just the combination of advanced materials; it’s how they are combined resulting in an application that allows full anatomical movement creating a glove that truly functions while under stress without the rider ever knowing it. The advanced design pattern allows generous amounts of Kevlar in critical impact areas and include the right combination of materials/composites to offer an extremely comfortable, lightweight and protective glove.

What is even more unique about the K-FX glove is that they are “off the rack” and truly deliver an exceptional fit and feel.