EDR Race Report: Season Openers

[Eric Dorn]

well i had this grand idea of a HUGE FU post basically because, well i have and my shop have been once again (what is this year 14 now?) bashed/bad mouthed/attacked over the winter by "other shops/tuners"..pushing us to "step it up" or "were gunnin for ya"

i wanted to SCREAM FU while holding up a middle finger cause when all the trash talking stopped and the flags dropped..only ONE SHOP DOMINATED AGAIN..........EDR Performance!


Ok.....sorry...im sure some of you tenderoni's will cry foul...but see if you can not only take the kind of heat i do (granted i dish out my fair share as well!) year after year after year...but yet we still continue to be the one other aim for and for good reason! My crew and myself pushed ourselves harder than ever this winter and it has really paid off!

OK short version for you ADD folks or Intel "gotta have a group tps meeting" types...


WMRRA Round 1-Seattle
Open SS: 1st and 4th
Formula Ultra: 2nd, 6th, 9th and 10th *we had 6 sec lead!!, but sully snagged shifter and bent it on last lap...could not downshift, got 2nd by .001" sucks
600SS: 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th
600SB: 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th
750SS: 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th (4,8,10th were on 600ss bikes!)
750SB: 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th (again, 4, 6, 9th on 600ss bikes!)
Open GP Twins: 2nd
HW GP: 1st



OMRRA Round 1-Portland
Open SS: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th*, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th. (*tony forgot to unplug QS, see below) Almost a CLEAN TOP 10 EDR SWEEP!
Formula Ultra: 1st, 4th, 6th, 9th, 10th (had 1-2 finish but sully had rare crash)
600SS: 1st, 4th
600SB: 6th, 7th, 9th (HAD both leads/leaders until crashes on lap 4 and last)
750SS: 2nd, 4th, 9th
750SB: 2nd, 4th, 7th (HAD the lead almost entire race, yellow flags and wrong rear tire cost us win)
US: 1st
TS: 1st
4P: 1st
6T: 2nd
OC: 3rd
MP: 7th
MS: 7th, 10th
MPN: 1st and 1st (git sum Jed!)
Open GP Twins: DNF (had HUGE lead until lapper crashed him out )



HOW ARE THOSE RESULTS FOR BACK TO BACK OPENERS IN TWO DIFFERENT STATES/RACE ORGANIZATIONS???


Long Winded version...

My crew and myself been working wayyy overtime! My crew making more $$$ than myself..but hey, they earned it! haha...we desperately need another full time tech but after having one or two guys lately that just are not what they claimed to be, im hesitant to hire someone new, my current crew of Gary, Chris, Nolan and Jay (PT) is really gelled in and working well together.

We put in massive hours over the last 6 weeks, myself over 100 hours a week back to back to back...it all paid off thou! Not only did we win a TON of races, but we once again showed our support of more NW racers than all the other shops combined! We also were at the track from Friday 7am till Sunday 6pm in WMRRA, and again Friday 6am till 6pm and Sat the same for our racers! We are there solely to continue our support and help of those that have chosen to be apart of this "unique" group....family called TEAM EDR PERFORMANCE! It really is a family and one that wins...a LOT!

I think the best compliment i got all weekend was from a top competitor and guy ive known for many years...at end of day talking he looks at me and says "dude you guys did good, your bikes are all really fast and reliable..its impressive...you guys clearly had the better bikes" to hear that from someone you aim to beat really made me smile (i don't do that enough i know) and go "thanks, your right, we basically killed ourselves this winter..the other shops once again challenged EDR and we stepped it up and once again came out on top"

April 2nd...we finally finished the last WMRRA race bike around 11pm at night...loaded up the trailer and i decided to head home around midnight to grab some food and a shower BEFORE heading to Seattle...I finally left my house around 1:30am....driving to Seattle is boring..but at 2-3am its REALLY boring...got my 3-4 VISO's in me (ONLY 1000mg caffeine), windows DOWN to stay up and sirius radio blaring some heavy old school rock (MC, Met, Danzig, etc) finally i arrived with 7 bikes at the KFG World HQ's around 4am...ahhh...walked into my usual "Garden View Suite" (aka the couch in living room) and passed out face down shoes still on (sorry April). Awoke after what seemed like 20 secs..at 6am..."aggg...im tooo old for this shxt" but once i hit the track, i start unloading bikes, the weather starts to clear and the smell of race gas hits me..."ohh yeah....daddy likes that" its go time!

We were blessed with amazing weather for the opener in Seattle, 70 degrees! YES SEVENTY DEGREES (in 2008 we had SNOW on first event!) The weather was great, the tire vendors all had the right tires, the wood had been chopped, i had put my lap top to almost every bike double and triple checking (ok, sullys bikes maybe 23 changes...but new bike) We had all the bikes surprising perfectly setup and FAST and READY! I think only issue we had all weekend was one of our 600's we put the shift lever on a bit too low...damn 99.9% perfection... lol. We struggled with Sully's new ZX6 all weekend...no one had rear sets yet, so we were dragging EVERYTHING...we finally made up a ghetto fabulous shift/peg mod (ill try to find a pic) and it worked! Sully dragged the brake pedal (almost 180degs!) and the shift lever twice...but the Ghetto mod worked and no more dragging...plus the new BPF (Big Piston Forks) the new Kawi comes wish were NOT EVEN CLOSE! FOlks, these forks were SOOO bad that for Sullivan to even do a 4 min lap time is impressive let alone get 2nd to a very fast Eli Edwards on his familiar 08 R6!

The races went great and like planned but for two "problems", both in FU class....the first was while Sullivan had a decent lead on 2nd/3rd battle, Degross was moon walking back..."wtf is wrong" (later found out his pit help accidentally forgot to set tire psi..rear was over 40psi after race!) and then on LAST LAP Sully came up out of T8 with @4-6 bike lead... "wtf..eli is closing gap" going into T9 i could see Sully boggled (sully NEVER boggles!) and again im confused...is the bike broke?? (He was riding his EDR Built GSXR1000 since our new ZX10 was not ready) then in the bus stop Sully clearly could not down shift and came out of it in 3rd gear..."AGGGG>....WTF!!"" eli who is great in bus stop anyways, gets an awesome drive and his super bike gets our super sport bike at the line by .001" if i recall the gap! Heartbreaking for sure... later in the pits..yep.. BENT SHIFT LEVER! Sully snagged in on last lap and thus could not down shift. Sucks, but hey that's racing.

Ended day well. All engines RIPPING FAST, ZERO mechanical issues, and i was on the road by 5pm! WHooo Hoooo.... good start to 2009!

[Eric Dorn]

Part Two


I make it home with 6 bikes on the trailer (1 new customer that gave up on his shop, and the others for us to change mapping of fuels, get ready for omrra, etc) in record time... 2hrs 10 mins not bad... i left the trailer and truck inside the shop...not wanting to keep gary any longer to unload it all..and it was still 65 outside!! I charged up my MV battery and put in some air and WHEELIED MY WAY HOME...THAT'S how you end a race weekend! Watched some F1, had a few Pacifico's and out like a baby by 9pm.

April 6th...alarm goes off at 5am like some kind of cruel bitch slap for wanting to sleep...i get up, kiss the kids (Haga/Fogarty) and my VERY PATIENT FOR RACE SEASON Fiance goodbye..back to the shop...no rest for those wanting to win! I spent all day 18+hours on Monday, Tues, Weds, Thurs either in the engine room or on the dyno. I had "only" 4 nose bleeds all week (the race gas REALLY does kill your nose...i need a respirator i know) and was now down to 189lbs from 202lbs on March 1st! The new "Race Tuners Diet" i suppose...not good...but hey, no sleep, no working out, no eating, nose bleeds, migraines, razor sharp mood swings.,,, all for the glory of the team/shop!

Weds/Thurs was a Cascade Track Time day. Tyson had offered out the olive branch and I gladly accepted it. Folks, we may talk a bunch of shit about each other, we may not even like each other, but hey, its race season, lets put the petty shit aside and just have fun at the track. We get along fine in person and i was shocked, but happy to see he felt same way. Thanks Tyson!

I went to my first CTT event in almost 2 years, to help out our AMA guy Josh Galster. Josh was up in town just to race/shake the cob webbs out (if you recall josh had a HORRIBLE crash at Road Atlanta and broke his neck badly!) We had just finished rebuilding his ZX6R for 2009 and it was a MISSILE! Man, we had FAST trap speeds and almost 100% reliability(clutch basket broke at Mid Ohio) at the AMA nationals, but the "new" setup on the engine worked even better!

Josh got up to speed FAST! 1st time EVER seeing PIR, 1st time EVER on Dunlop Ntech (USED from 2008 take offs even!) a VERY slick track and even on Pump gas was down into the 1:10's by day 2 on Friday!! The kid is a STUD and would have been battling for lead IMO on Saturday!

I say would have, cause late Friday he felt something in the clutch funny when he shifted and then it stopped. We got back to the shop that night and god damn it....clutch broke! This time thou, it broke so badly it went thru engine...even a new basket would not fix this mess. I felt really bad for him...he was up to speed, back to strength, the bike was really fast and yet another goddamn clutch failure..this time bad. I told Josh "we are gonna put in a recluse auto clutch for you" I felt bad cause i love this guy, if you meet him you'll know why, he is one of the coolest guys you'll ever get to meet!

Back home by 11pm....to the EDR World Youth Hostile HQ's i think we had like 10 people at my house this last weekend..good times thou! Fun to hang out with your racers, drink a beer, eat and watch World Superbike's Euro SStock 1000 and 600 races..WOW.

Sat back up at 5 am...nerves are a MESS! You guys/gals think YOUR NERVOUS on race day..i got almost 100 people, 50+ engines to worry about! Its always the same, i walk/talk/joke like its just another Tuesday but in my head its going 25,000rpm with "did we check this, did that get changed, will the new cam timing work, wonder if , etc, etc" its pretty nerve racking.

The races start and all is smooth.....especially when we open with Open Super Sport....GOOD GOD..EDR almost CLEAN SWEEPS the entire class! Getting 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th...damn maybe i should sponsor that chubby fella that got 8th to make it perfection? ROFL jk.. HOT DAMN THATS HOW YOU START A RACE WEEKEND!

600SS was AWESOME too...a great battle with EDR's Sullivan and Rower battling with the very fast Schmidt and Ancien. Unfortunetly our buddy J-Lo got ran off in lap one, then while trying to make up time, got bumped from behind....heal up buddy! and the race was redflagged. HUGEEEEE PROPS to Maurice and Brian of OMRRA...you guys were simply amazing at your follow up and follow thru! Its REALLY NICE TO SEE!

750SS was bad for Bluth in that he had to start DFL due to the "Chicken S Rule" we now all in the pits refer to as the "DS-DB Rule #1" haha...he got good start but got stuck behind traffic..by time got free..Schmidt was too far out...2nd place no shame in that.

750SB was much better, Bluth up on front row where he belonged and now it was heads up racing with the two..i was anxious to show EVERYONE that even with TWO CB's (we put an additional one under his seat for fun) his EDR Built 4 year old 750 could not only still hang with Alan's SDS built 750, but would be faster with our bigger rider....and Bluth didnt let me down! The guy rode amazing..he clung to Alan like a hotel security guard at an omrra banquet...the two had a GREAT race...Al is still the king of T4 and T9 exits but Bluth had motor on him and was going to pass him back into T1..but just as he pulled along side to go by, he saw waving yellow...damn...gotta wait...the last lap was epic with both swapping spots...bluth knew he only had to be near him out of T9 to get the drive/motor for the win at the line....they came out of T9 both HARD on gas and Bluths' rear tire said 'no more" for a split sec...i saw Bluth up on the pegs and thats all Al needed for a break to the win...great racing by BOTH them!

600SB was another heart breaker. I knew Sully's EDR ZX6 was an absolute rocket and Sully is just an amazing rider! I also knew that Rower FINALLY had his gearing set right and that our winter rebuild was working really good. From the start the race you could see was going to be a 3 way battle with Sully, Rower, and Ancien..once again thou, damn gremlins...T4 bit Sully (RARE!) and then Ancien in same spot (grease sweep??) and then Rower who had a good size lead let up on a mis read of a flag (see his report) and that allowed the out of town Kane (sp?) to catch up...last lap Rowers tire was still working good, but Kane was going for it....i have heard 3 different stories about the crash/hit/pass/whatever. Personally thats racing. Shit happens. I felt bad because Jake WON that race! he was right up there the whole time and rode amazing...and it was DRY too...haha.

Rest of day was typical....Bluth writing himself poems in his intel approved tps meeting notebook.....dpw complaining about lack of top speed....quiley looking more nervous than a kid on prom night...reams asking more questions than larry king....belly wrinkles yelling at me cause he is grouchy....having to constantly pet butters to keep him calm and focused..asking Poo to do this, do that, grab these parts.....combing lippis's chest hair for good luck....trying to give verderico a wheat thin for food....calming that crazy canuk down after he got screwed for a QS....checking in on the Sully program..making sure Beck and i on same page....laughing at suitor sweating BEFORE the FU race...etc..etc...

We did an awesome JOB! All my riders were STUPID FAST! I mean NO ONE can argue at the speed of DPW, Sully, Degross's EDR Built 1000's? Or how about Sully and Rowers EDR Built 600's?? Anyone else see Bluth go AROUND Schmidt in 750SS on the straights making up 2-3 bike lengths like he was a 600? How about Suitor on his SS built 600 (has sb brakes) AND being bigger guy hanging with other guys 600 Superbikes?

EDR STEPPED UP TO THE CHALLENGES THESE TWO WEEKENDS. PERIOD! You can call it cocky or whatever, but we are RACING MOTORCYCLES not playing chess! It gets old year after year being attacked but hey, i ask for it...so i can respond how i feel. If my reports were all nicey and mellow...you'd all cry foul or something is wrong..i wanna make them real, from me like only i know how to be and for all, FUN TO READ!

[Eric Dorn]

I wanna REALLY thank my guys Gary, Chris, Nolan and Sarah for putting up with "Pre Season Eric" its NOT easy! for those 6-8 weeks before race season im not always the nicest/tactfull guy! I demand perfection from myself and wont ever let my personal life, or personal needs get in way of my businesses and racers success. I worked them HARD this pre season and they just flat out delivered! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU GUYS!

Also, huge thanks to those that stepped in to lend hand. Jay Kallberg, my best bud going on 10 years now and working 40hrs at his other job, coming in on his only days off to work 10-14hrs at EDR to help with all the engine installs we had this winter. Ben Waller as well. Both these guys worked with EDR for many years and still come back to help with stuff when we need another pair of hands!

Thanks to Barry Wressell of KFG for all the complaining..i mean support and help with all our riders chassis/suspensions! Thanks to Dave Hodges at GP Suspension for not only making the best suspension parts but having one of the ugliest female laundry folders around! (inside joke). Huge props/thanks to my BUTTER BEAN! The kid is 300 lbs...250lbs is heart! the Kid drove back and forth to Seattle/Portland/California for EDR more times than i recall! I gotta get him a gift card from Pikes Market!!

Huge thanks to Franc Lyons of Lyons Technical...Franc been working with me since mid 90's and now everyone else wants to use him..haha...thanks Franc, your the best! We did 43 (FORTY THREE) engines these past 6 months and still have another 8 to go...yet Franc always delivers my machine work for me like a champ! Thanks to Amanda for putting up with me the last 6 weeks of NEVER being home, never being able to take her out to dinner/movie/anything, being grouchy/exhausted, and having to eat dinner with me in the engine room way too many a nights..she is tougher than she looks.

Also thanks to the clubs! I know im a HUGE PIA..but if i didn't care about something so passionately i would not be like this! Huge thanks to the volunteers in the corners, the office, the crash trucks, tech, etc...you guys all rock!

Lastly i wanna thank all you guys and gals that put up with me, my long hours, rough personality at times, and basically those racers that went out and gave 110% this month. You guys all really did me and my shop proud! This is EDR's 10th year anniversary for the "official" EDR Shop, opened in 1999...from the little 1,800 sqft, 1 man shop... (prior 6 were out of my garage and D&S)...to now we have over 6,500 sqft in one of the coolest shops in the country, 4 full time employees, 2 part time, over 100 racers we support and even in these very tough times, are still growing and hope to do so for all you.

Without all you guys i really would not know what to do....maybe that bar "Ed Who's?" down in Costa Rica..but you all know I'd be bored and have 21hp scooters down there...ha..

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU everyone!

See you next round....back to wood chopping tomorrow...more speed, reliability and results coming in round 2!

[Keith Reams]

Great Work Eric and EDR! Your support and services rock!

[Eric Dorn]

Great Work Eric and EDR! Your support and services rock!

you mean my mellow demeanor and flowing hair are not why you choose us?


haha, thanks man! You did great...lets get your clutch working and go for the wins next round!

now, fix your sponsors name in your sig

[Danny Lippis]

Congratulations Eric, what a payoff for you and your crew's hardwork!!! We're so lucky to have someone so dedicated to this sport right in our backyard. It's amazing what you and your crew accomplished this weekend. Looking forward to round 2!

ps...use a human comb next time, that doggy comb hurts