Rock's Racing Services
The latest & greatest at RRS
June 29th, 2010
Wow what a second quarter it has been!
The bad news is I got betrayed by someone I jumpstarted their business and lost a fair amount of money in the process. Much worse than that is the emotional hit I took realizing
how few people are really trustworthy plus the opportunity cost of wasting months of my time for ZIP in return.
The good news is I am now back working with the Honda of Troy/Kibarger Racing team and my title is Media Relations/Technical Support. I am updating both the Troy Racing and eleven10mods websites plus am working as a technical advisor to the race team.
The great news is I am working with Dave Simon of Simon Smart Body and I remain on the cutting edge of EFI applicaitons but this time with someone that isn't a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Dave's revolutionary SSB throttle body has a slide instead of butterfly and the performance gain is unreal. This is a seven hundred dollar solution so this is not for the faint of heart but for the racer who wants the best for his
machine as welll as for race teams. Case in point the Honda of Troy race team is using the SSB and master tuner Chad Sanner is extremely impressed as is Michael Willard who has ridden with the SSB. We anticipate racing with the SSB at Millville. To date I have gone to Hangtown and Mt. Morris and can not believe how competitive the 250 class is this year.
Since my last update I have designed the eleven10mods website and have witnessed my good friend Phil Alderton's return at Team Manager at Honda of Troy. Congratulations Phil and I coudln't be happier for you.
March 1st, 2010
I believe in taking care of the people who take care of me. With this in mind I am really glad to report the Honda of Troy race team is back on the circuit. This came about as a result of me setting up a meeting in Dayton, Ohio at Troy Racing between Troy Racing President Scott Paul and Eleven 10 Mods owner Chad Sanner and Kilbarger Drilling owner Tony Kilbarger.
Background is Chad and I had been talking about putting together a race team since the Stealth Pro was finished. Tony Kilbarger in the fall of 2009 shared with Chad he was going to purchase a semi and trailer to take his son Levi to the 250 East races and all the Nationals. I knew the YoT rig was not being used and that all involved would benefit from working together.
It was a great feeling being at the Indy SX and seeing the team back! Thanks to Phil Alderton I was a long time HoT supporter and witnessed first hand the meteoric rise of the team followed by Yamaha of Troy.
Click here to fill out application to become a Troy Racing sponsored rider.
I believe in taking care of the people who take care of me. With this in mind I am really glad to report the Honda of Troy race team is back on the circuit. This came about as a result of me setting up a meeting in Dayton, Ohio at Troy Racing between Troy Racing President Scott Paul and Eleven 10 Mods owner Chad Sanner and Kilbarger Drilling owner Tony Kilbarger.
Background is Chad and I had been talking about putting together a race team since the Stealth Pro was finished. Tony Kilbarger in the fall of 2009 shared with Chad he was going to purchase a semi and trailer to take his son Levi to the 250 East races and all the Nationals. I knew the YoT rig was not being used and that all involved would benefit from working together.
It was a great feeling being at the Indy SX and seeing the team back! Thanks to Phil Alderton I was a long time HoT supporter and witnessed first hand the meteoric rise of the team followed by Yamaha of Troy.
Click here to fill out application to become a Troy Racing sponsored rider.
February 10, 2010
So far in 2010 I've been to every SX race and this run will continue through Indianapolis totaling seven races in a row. This breaks my previous record of six in a row set back in 1997 when I was doing the web page for Honda of Troy.
I provide a Behind The Scenes report for Motonews on the members only section of the website. Thanks to Jim "Hutch" Hutcherson for this opportunity. I enjoy taking pictures and writing about SX/MX so this is a great gig. www.motonews.com
What a season so far! It's a bummer Chad Reed and James Stewart are on the injured list but the racing certainly hasn't suffered from my perspective. I can't remember being this fired up this long into the SX series....usually the new has worn off by now and I am already looking forward to the Nationals starting.
Over the last two and a half years there's been changes and there's been constants here at Rock's Racing Services. The constants have been the support of Morgan Curtice at Bristol Core and Jeff Douglas at Nuetech. I spend the majority of my time pursuing muffler packing opportunities at leading exhaust manufacturers and it's been an honor and a pleasure getting to know Morgan. I've been to his HQ in upstate NY three times now and have learned more than I ever thought possible about muffler packing and related components.
At the races I show a lot of people Nuetech's Arm Pump Eliminators as I have a demo set up. Jeff's been great to work with and his TUbliss system has been on both of my MXA project bikes along with Bristol Core's packing in FMF's mufflers.
Speaking of FMF I am very pleased to moderate the forum on their site Sound Off MC. FMF's long been a supporter of the ride quiet program so working on Sound Off MC was a natural fit for me.
So far in 2010 I've been to every SX race and this run will continue through Indianapolis totaling seven races in a row. This breaks my previous record of six in a row set back in 1997 when I was doing the web page for Honda of Troy.
I provide a Behind The Scenes report for Motonews on the members only section of the website. Thanks to Jim "Hutch" Hutcherson for this opportunity. I enjoy taking pictures and writing about SX/MX so this is a great gig. www.motonews.com
What a season so far! It's a bummer Chad Reed and James Stewart are on the injured list but the racing certainly hasn't suffered from my perspective. I can't remember being this fired up this long into the SX series....usually the new has worn off by now and I am already looking forward to the Nationals starting.
Over the last two and a half years there's been changes and there's been constants here at Rock's Racing Services. The constants have been the support of Morgan Curtice at Bristol Core and Jeff Douglas at Nuetech. I spend the majority of my time pursuing muffler packing opportunities at leading exhaust manufacturers and it's been an honor and a pleasure getting to know Morgan. I've been to his HQ in upstate NY three times now and have learned more than I ever thought possible about muffler packing and related components.
At the races I show a lot of people Nuetech's Arm Pump Eliminators as I have a demo set up. Jeff's been great to work with and his TUbliss system has been on both of my MXA project bikes along with Bristol Core's packing in FMF's mufflers.
Speaking of FMF I am very pleased to moderate the forum on their site Sound Off MC. FMF's long been a supporter of the ride quiet program so working on Sound Off MC was a natural fit for me.
10-18-09 A lot has happened in 8 months:
1) The Stealth Pro was in the August issue of MXA and the short version I feel a level of redemption after the Wrecking Crew raced and tested the Stealth Pro. It was interesting they used Rattray's 200K PC machine to compare the Stealth Pro. Mitch has a high dollar four stroke guy from the IRL and years of development on the KX250F. Over in the RRS corner you have me coming off the trials and tribulations of the Stealth bike making my first real big dollar race bike project.
http://www.motocrossactionmag.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=ECC44323E4E44763A28C0E4B7DECCF60vvvvvvvvv
2) I also no longer have any type of financial relationship with the great folks who make the db Dawg, Colleen Porter and Justin Moore, at Ignition Racing. It has nothing to do with the product or company but I simply got tired of some people saying the only reason I was a sound warrior was because I wanted to make money off lower sound limits. If you're interested in purchasing a db Dawg please contact DirtWerkz
2) I also no longer have any type of financial relationship with the great folks who make the db Dawg, Colleen Porter and Justin Moore, at Ignition Racing. It has nothing to do with the product or company but I simply got tired of some people saying the only reason I was a sound warrior was because I wanted to make money off lower sound limits. If you're interested in purchasing a db Dawg please contact DirtWerkz
3) There is a new website dedicated to sound issues Sound Off MC and I am proud to report I am the moderator of the forum there.
From purely an enthusiast standpoint I am a major proponent of chest protection and a back protector but no longer am selling the RXR for the same reasons I stopped working with the db Dawg folks. I want the sport to be safer and it would be a great start if racers had enough common sense to realize riding a motocross bike wearing only a jersey isn't the smartest thing to do.
4) What I had feared for over eight years finally happened at the last National of the season with Kyle Regal getting impaled by a wooden stake receiving an L-3 laceration in the process. The doctors said if Kyle wasn't in such good shape it would have been much worse. I sent samples of the foam stake protectors I researched back in 2002 to MX Sports but got an e mail back indicating the foam cube with a slot I supplied wasn't what they had in mind. I am looking forward to the start of the Nationals to see what MX Sports came up with.
This is the classic example of "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" and I just hope these wooden vampire stakes are covered before we lose a racer to t
2-18-09 The Stealth YZ450F makes its appearance in the March issue of MXA! Many heartfelt thanks to Jody Weisel and John Basher for hanging in there with me over the long year it took me to finish t this project.
Also a major shout out to Mike Painter with Canyon Racers for his efforts as this project simply would have not been possible without this help. If you are looking for a top notch shop with their own in house dyno Canyon Racers 909.825.7064 www.canyonracers.com is THE place to take your bike to.
There are a some issues I would like to address pertaining the Stealth bike review. From the onset I set out to build a bike for the non Pros specifically Vet and Senior riders. From the days of Kent Howerton on factory Suzuki they've been detuning open class machines so the Stealth bike was NEVER intended to be a fire breathing top horsepower maching.
MXA noted their non Pro test riders' finishes didn't change riding the "slower" Stealth bike while they noticed they didn't get as tired plus appreciated the lack of obnoxious noise while riding the bike. Music to my ears was reading MXA's comment "the absence of obnoxious sound was soothing to the test riders at speed."
At the moment the Stealth Pro bike is being finished. Like its Stealth brother this is a purpose built machine but this time the Pro rider is the target audience. This 2009 YZ250F has been provided my Tim Olson at Yamaha (thanks Tim!) and is running FMF exhaust (of course) Fox Racing Shox suspension, Hinson BTL slipper clutch, Renthal bars, chain and sprockets, DeCal Works graphics pre installed on UFO plastics, SDG seat, xTrig adjustable triple clamps, Boyesen water pump, Moto Master discs and drum roll please.........full race moto complements of Chad Sanner at Eleven 10 Mods 724.562.8877. To be clear this is a FULL race motor built to run on race gas using a 182 main and pump gas with a 178 main.
I am looking forward to handing over this bike to MXA....and not taking a year to do so. It is such a difference working on a brand new machine instead of the hammered 2007 Yamaha YZ450F that was t the platform for the Stealth bike. The doggone thing nearly got the better of me on more than one occasion but the best thing was getting to know the Gould family who owned the bike. Anthony Gould is a 450 Intermediate and his father Rick had an extreme level of patience throughout the long arduous project. Thanks guys for hanging in there with me and I hope you enjoyed seeing your bike in the March issue of MXA as much as I did!
9-20-08 November issue of MXA speaks to the shortcomings associated with the new sound level. The AMA did a good thing by lowering the sound level but they changed the sound testing to FIM s s standards which is performed at lower RPMs than the AMA had been using. As a result the new sound level won't really be a five decibel drop due to this lower RPM testing.
My prediction is we will eventually see ride by sound testing. At the French GP this summer 2nd gear rev limiter testing was conducted for the first time.
My prediction is we will eventually see ride by sound testing. At the French GP this summer 2nd gear rev limiter testing was conducted for the first time.
8-15-08 Lo and behold 94 decibels has been approved as the sound level for AMA SX/MX for the 2009 season! Amateur level will remain at 99 decibels but come 2010 94 decibels will be in force for all AMA racing. A big thanks to Davey Coombs, Todd Jendro, and Ryan Holliday for doing something about sound.
This is a major step forward......next on the agenda is to change the way sound testing is performed to really get the sound down at racing RPMs.
This is a major step forward......next on the agenda is to change the way sound testing is performed to really get the sound down at racing RPMs.
7-7-08 Be sure to visit www.canyonracers.com for information on a full service two and four stroke performance shop in the Inland Empire. Canyon Racers has their own in house dyno and offers contingencies for their sponsored riders. Thanks go out to Anthony Gould #25 for introducing me to Mike Painter and his crew.
5-8-08 Check out my Guest Column in issue 19 of Cycle News titled Sounding Off. I am calling for a much more aggressive sound policy for SX & MX professional events. Pick up a copy of Cycle News at your local dealer or e mail me for the article.
5-8-08 Check out my Guest Column in issue 19 of Cycle News titled Sounding Off. I am calling for a much more aggressive sound policy for SX & MX professional events. Pick up a copy of Cycle News at your local dealer or e mail me for the article.
5-1-08 May issue of Dirt Wheels has an article on muffler repacking that I participated in. Thanks to the Editor of Dirt Wheels, Dennis Cox, for including me and a special thanks to Dennis McAdam with Max Power for the introduction to Dennis Cox.
If you are interested in purchasing Bristol Core Spec 30 you can order online.
2-28-08 RRS gets mentioned in Cycle News #9 in the Kawasaki KX250F test and is referenced as a Quiet Exhaust specialist. Thank you to Jean Turner for this press!
2-15-08 David Vuillemin posts on Motonews:
"Just want to thank The Rock for introducing me to the Ice Wave Pain Patches. I've used them on my thumb and my knee and got great pain relief and better range of motion from them. They are really easy to use too!" You're most welcome Cobra and thank you very much for this post.
Visit the Health Links tab for more information.
If you are interested in purchasing Bristol Core Spec 30 you can order online.
2-28-08 RRS gets mentioned in Cycle News #9 in the Kawasaki KX250F test and is referenced as a Quiet Exhaust specialist. Thank you to Jean Turner for this press!
2-15-08 David Vuillemin posts on Motonews:
"Just want to thank The Rock for introducing me to the Ice Wave Pain Patches. I've used them on my thumb and my knee and got great pain relief and better range of motion from them. They are really easy to use too!" You're most welcome Cobra and thank you very much for this post.
Visit the Health Links tab for more information.
1-25-08 I received an e mail today from one of the true heroes of American MX, Chuck Sun. I was on the distribution list of an e mail Chuck sent to a large cross section of industry folks and was deeply flattered to read:
"By the way...if you're looking for someone to create awareness on your products in So. Cal, check out Michael Rigdon's www.rocksracingservices.com The Rock first put me in touch with the guys at Nuetech on the Tubliss and bar ends...Michael is at tracks on practice & race days showing riders first hand cool new products." Thanks Chuck for the compliment!
1-15-08 Rock's Racing Services T shirt is Motocross Action's T Shirt of the Month
October 17, 2007
The year is passing quickly and the next big event on the horizon is the White Brothers' Vet World Championships at Glen Helen the first weekend in November. We will be on site starting Thursday October 31st offering track support for all of our product lines.
2007 Glen Helen National
Site of our first booth display May at the Glen Helen National. Heartfelt thanks to my buddy Nat Holt (R) who helped me pull this off and a major thank you to Sean Dullio for hooking me up with booth display, graphics, and table. Photo by Paul Dean who also designed our new logo visible on the EZ Up.
