(@CMDRA2015 • @MissionRaceway • Ethan Barkley was more focused than ever coming into Mission Raceway Park for the CMDRA Pacific Coast Nationals on June 20-21. The previous two weeks were busy for Ethan as he had to replace the damaged engine that resulted from a broken cam chain at the previous race in Medicine Hat. A new motor was installed and the old engine was fully repaired in order to have on hand as a backup in case the inevitable happened again.
All that hard work paid off as Barkley’s opening pass in Saturday morning’s test session of 7.58/186 was outstanding! That run was by far his quickest opening run and picked up right where he left off at the last event.
The times just kept coming down throughout the afternoon, and by the time qualifying was over, Ethan was on top with a 7.41 at 192 MPH. The current CMDRA elapsed time record is 7.42, so this was one half of a potential record and 20 bonus points! A second run would have to be made within 1% to make it official. Ethan went back to the trailer that evening to review the data in order to make sure no stone was left unturned moving forward.
Sunday morning’s test session was equally impressive with a 7.42 at 190 MPH, but only runs made in qualifying and eliminations count towards the record, so it was nothing more than bragging rights. All the team needed to do was repeat the run and collect the record and likely move on to the finals as Ethan had a substantial advantage over his competition. Unfortunately that’s not how racing works, and he would struggle to make a clean pass in the scorching afternoon heat. It was obvious the track was becoming a bit greasy as everyone’s times were suffering and rear grip was hit and miss at best.
Ethan found himself against Rob Aston in the finals and, with the hopes of backing up the 7.41 record fading, the decision was made to set the bike up soft at the start and try to drive around Rob in the last half of the track. That plan worked to perfection as Ethan spun early and found himself trailing until about half track where Rob had clutch issues and Ethan sailed by using the superior horsepower of his turbocharged GSX-R1000 to take the win.
Even though the record couldn’t be reset, Ethan came away from Mission with his head held high. He proved that the new clutch and tuning setups could work, and produced amazing elapsed times right away with minimal power. He has worked tirelessly on efficiency of the entire bike and now the benefits are starting to show.
Stay tuned as Ethan heads to Castrol Raceway for the CMDRA Oil City Nationals July 25-26th.
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