Nov 042012
 

Mariah McGriff Racing Logo    The “Ride for Life” and “Laps for Life” Update

The 2012 “Laps for Life” and “Ride for Life” events helped raise more than $60,000 to help the families and patients fighting cancer.  Thanks to all of you who donated, participated and helped this year.  Our goal is to 1) fully fund the re-do of the Patient Family Room; 2) provide 1-2 year’s supplies for the Patient Family Room; and 3) provide the majority of the $24,000 needed for the Pediatric Oncology Clinic.  I can’t thank you enough for helping me raise money for these kids and families to brighten their day.  The past 5 years have brought me joy to help those less fortunate and I look forward to continuing these efforts.

Below is the news for each of the events.  We hope you enjoy.

 The 1st Annual “Ride for Life” Event

This year brought a new and exciting twist to help raise money for the UMC Foundation and Diamond Childrens Medical Center to help those battling their fight with cancer.  Our own local kart racer, Mariah McGriff, worked with Jake Holden and Geoff May – AMA Pro Superbike Rider’s – and prepared her 2nd visit to the Diamond Childrens Medical Center.  This year they took one of the Musselman Honda NSF100 Race Bikes and Rental Karts for the kids to see firsthand on Friday afternoon before the weekend’s events.

Saturday, November 3rd the riders’ meeting was held at Mussleman Honda Circuit and numbers were drawn by each team captain for the identically prepared NSF100’s.  Each team rider will run a maximum 30 minute session before a required pit stop, at which time riders can be changed. There was a limit of ten riders per team.

The green flag dropped on the 1st Annual “Ride for Life” 6 hour endurance race at 2:45 pm and Jake Holden (Team Jake) shot to an early lead.  Geoff May was called away to Las Vegas for an EBR Racing promotional stint which no doubt made it easier for all the teams.  Team Honeybadger was running second and also in the mix was Team Horseless Headsmen.  People from Georgia, Washington, California and Arizona came to support this great cause.

As the race went on, Team Jake enjoyed a five lap lead, with Jake Holden lowering the track record NINE times during his stints on the little NSF100. The other racers and spectators alike were awed by Holden sliding the front of the little 100cc bike clockwise around the full Mussleman circuit at 1:07.831 annihilating the track record set last year by 1.2 seconds.

On lap 199, “Team Jake” rider Shane Kampstra came in contact with another rider and crashed.  The Team Jake bike was thrashed-on in the pits by team manager Jim Storlie but had to be replaced by an untested back-up bike.  As the event wore-on, Team Jake finished on the lead lap, making up most of the laps lost to Team Honeybadger during their downtime, but came up short, with Team Horseless Headsmen just behind for the final podium spot.

We are looking forward to another great event next year and hope to bring in more Pro AMA Riders to support the cause……. Only time will tell.

Overall Results

1st – Team Honeybadger        284 laps

2nd – Team Jake                    284 laps

3rd – Horseless Headsman      278 laps

4th – Team Hope                   266 laps

5th – Team Apache                262 laps

 The 6th Annual “Laps for Life” Event

On Sunday, November 4th, 2012 the green flag dropped at 10:24 am for the 6th Annual “Laps for Life” event at the Musselman Honda Circuit in Tucson Arizona.  This year’s 6 hour endurance race was split into two classes, Pro and Amateur, and consisted of 4 lead changes during the event.

In the Pro class, Team Mariah (Mariah McGriff) took the lead at the green flag and led until lap 136 when Team Wanker (Augie Lerch) took the lead during the 4th pit stop.  Mariah set fast time of the day during lap 15 with teammate Ozskar Bajko breaking that time on lap 88 and again on lap 101.  Competitor Will Hunholz, on the Misfits team, wouldn’t stand for this so on lap 130 and 138 set the new fast time of the day.

Team Mariah drove back to the lead on lap 148, until the pull rope broke while starting the kart during the 5th pit stop on lap 162.  Team Wanker took over the lead, but it wasn’t long until Team Mariah regained the lead in a backup kart on lap 168.  The crew worked to repair the pull rope and Team Mariah changed back to their kart during the next pit stop.  From then on, Team Mariah led the event setting fast time five more times, between drivers Mariah McGriff and Oskar Bajko, and on Lap 394 Mariah, the only driver to break into the 43 second bracket for the day, ran 43.798 the quickest time of day.

The Amateur class had their battles for the lead as Caterpillar 1 and Caterpillar 2 battled with Vroom Engineering, but when Vroom Engineering got settled in, they took off and never looked back.  During the first pit stop, Team Norris Design lost 7 laps and struggled from then on, even with Stacey Weaks running the fast time of 45.156 for that class.  For most of the race, the battle for 2nd was between Cat 1 and Cat 2 but our own Peter Davis’s “Laps for Life” team drove their way from 4th to 2nd during the last 75 laps of the race.

We had a very special team “All in the Family” participate this year, ranging from 11 years old on up.  This team was comprised of family members of Derrek Boyll (DJ Boyll) who was treated at UMC to overcome his battle with cancer.  Little DJ and his family received “Gold Medals” themselves for supporting the cause and showing us all what true sportsmanship is all about.

In the end, Team Mariah completed 470 laps with a 4 lap margin of victory over Team Wanker in the Pro class.  Vroom Engineering’s efforts led them to a 7 lap margin of victory over “Laps for Life” to win the Amateur class.  Mariah McGriff still holds the track record of 42.051, ran clockwise on the ½ track during the 2011 event, so we will have to wait and see what next year brings!

Overall Results

     PRO CLASS                                                         AMATEUR CLASS

1st   – Team Mariah 470 laps 1st   – Vroom Engineering 447 laps
2nd   – Team Wanker 466 laps 2nd   – Laps for Life 440 laps
3rd   – The Misfits 463 laps 3rd   – Caterpillar 1 439 laps
4th   – Caterpillar 2 438 laps
5th   – Norris Design 433 laps
6th   – All in the Family 400 laps

 

There are many more people who came to support their family members, riders and drivers throughout the event.  Many people donated their time to prepare the Rental Karts and NSF100 Bikes and we can’t thank them enough for giving us safe units to ride and drive.  And of course, all of the people who helped with the food and everything else that goes on with making any event successful.

THANK YOU ALL !!