Once again Ricky was without Marvin’s help, but did get an extra day of practice to help dial in the Rocky Mountain Kawasaki ZX-10. Sunday morning brought cooler temperatures and thoughts of rain, but the track did stay dry for the day. The open supersport class had Ricky on the second row, and a good start saw him slot into third place on the first lap. He would hold this position ‘til the white flag lap when another rider got past on the brakes. Ricky fought back but could not get the spot back, finishing in fourth. Race of the Rockies was on the gird for the last time of the year and Ricky had seemed to finally get the start down. The first few laps he was running in fifth place, at the halfway point he got passed but was not going to let this one get away. He put his head down and reeled the rider back in and then made the pass to regain fifth place.

The 2006 race season was certainly a challenging year with bike setup being very sensitive to different tires and tracks. Staying focused and persistent, Ricky finished the year fourth in the open supersport class and fifth in the premier class Race of the Rockies

Fridays practice went smooth, with some more small adjustments to the Rocky Mountain Kawasaki ZX-10, the bike was working excellent. Saturdays practice was a wash with rain all day. Sunday greeted the racers with a damp track but no rain.

At the time of the start of the open supersport race the track was still damp. The question was what tire to run. Ricky’s choice was a Dunlop 209 front and a intermediate rear. With a nice start he was running with the leaders in fourth. As the race went on and a dry line began to form, it was evident the tire choice was not the best. The front pact began to disappear and Ricky finished in fourth place. The day continued to dry and Marv had the ZX-10 set up with fresh Dunlop slicks awaiting the start of the Race of the Rockies. Ten minutes before the start, the sky’s open up. As the rains continued there was only one choice for tires, full Dunlop rains. The crew quickly changed tires and sent Ricky out for the start. The rain was coming down hard as the light went green. A good start had Ricky in fourth into the first turn. He past one rider exiting turn two and began to work on second place. A few laps later he was in second only to be pasted by another rider. Ricky then took the position back and began to chase down the leader. Closing within a couple of seconds he ran out of laps finishing on the podium in second, a season best.

With some minor adjustments on the Rocky Mountain Kawasaki ZX-10 the team was hopeful for better results. Practice proved that the bike was working well. Ricky’s start for Open supersport was decent, on the first lap he was in fifth, hounding the rider in front. As the race wore on Ricky tried repeatedly to pass, finally getting it done on lap five. At that point the third place rider was out of reach, and Ricky ended up in fourth place. With new confidence in the bike, he was looking forward to the Race of the Rockies. A terrible start had him in twelfth on the first lap. As he worked his way through the pack and the laps wore down, Ricky had pushed his way up to sixth at the checker flag. Disappointed with the start, but happy about the new found confidence in the bike Ricky is looking forward to the next round.

After the last race the team was optimistic about the set up on the Rocky Mountain Kawasaki ZX-10. The bike was working well with the supersport tires and Marvin was making minor adjustments. After new tires and a second row start for the open supersport race, Ricky was looking for a podium finish. As the pack entered turn one, Ricky was in fourth place. Two laps later, he was on the ground after losing the front end in the fast turn ten. With damage limited to the bike, Marv started on the task of repairing the bike.

With new slicks mounted up and the ZX-10 ready, Race of the Rockies was up. Another good start saw Ricky in fifth. He immediately found that the handling gremlins were back. As the bike was fighting Ricky, he lost a couple of positions. Battling with the eighth place rider, they went back and forth. At the checker flag eighth place was his final position.

As the team prepares for the next round, hopefully they will make some headway.

The weekend started with Friday practice the extra track time allowed the team the set up time desperately needed. With the Rocky Mountain Kawasaki ZX-10 in the proverb able box as far as handling goes, the fine tuning will come.

Open Supersport was the first race of Saturday morning; a good start saw Ricky running in fourth place. As he was chasing the point’s leader of the class, Ricky continued to apply pressure. Getting a great drive out of turn five he got a wheel on him entering turn five making the pass. Not being able to make any time on second place Ricky was happy with the first podium finish of the year. Race of the Rockies was up next, and poor start had Ricky in seventh place. Getting passed a few riders saw him closing up on fourth place. As the laps wore on Ricky got within striking distance and then made a pass. This would not end this easily, as the rider passed back. This would go on for the last five laps of the race, as they swapped positions. As much fun as this was Ricky was disappointed with not getting the best of the duel, with his fifth place finish.

Sunday morning and Open Supersport was up again. A fair start saw Ricky running with the point’s leader in fourth place. As the race continued Ricky could not make any headway resulting in a fourth place finish. Last race of the weekend was Race of the Rockies.With a great start he was slotted into fifth place. He lost a couple of spots as the race continued. As things settled down, Ricky set his sites on the fifth place rider, closing on him significantly. Ricky was trying everything to get by but could not get it done, resulting in a sixth place finish.

With many changes to the Rocky Mountain Kawasaki ZX-10, Ricky was optimistic that the bike would be working better than at the last Pueblo round.

Open supersport was called to the grid and Ricky did not have a great start. The first lap had him in eight place. He put his head down trying to make up for his start. Lap after lap he continued passing toward the front of the pack. With only eight laps he had moved up to fourth, on the heels of third, As the checker flag was shown fourth was were he would finish.

Race of the Rockies was later in the day, as the temperature got even hotter. A better start had him in sixth place. Midway through the race he was passed down the straight. Trying desperately to get back past, he could not get the position back finishing in seventh.

With improvements in the ZX-10, Ricky is getting more comfortable on the bike and results are better, but there is still work to be done.

The new Rocky Mountain Kawasaki ZX-10RR was not quite ready but Ricky looked at the weekend as a practice round. The team did not have any testing done on the bike and with parts still in production they went with what they had. With no points in class from last year, starting on the back row was the pattern for the day. Open supersport was the first race. A decent start had Ricky running in sixth place, hounding fifth place. Without finding a way past, the last lap saw the rider behind Ricky pull an aggressive pass pushing him back to a seventh place finish. Race of the Rockies was the next class up. A few laps into the race, Ricky was in a freight train of riders fighting for fifth place. Just past the halfway point he had got past a lapped rider when the waving debris flag was show, forcing Ricky to allow the rider back past. Unfortunaly the situation allowed the riders in front to gap Ricky ending the race in eight place.

Not the finishing positions Ricky cared to be in, but with a month till the next round, the team is hopeful that the ZX-10 will be dialed in for La Junta.

Without being on the bike since October of last year the plan was to get back in the groove on day one and finding the speed on day two. By the time qualifying was up Ricky had found two seconds from last year and was fastest in session one. Staying on top of the list, Ricky had temporary ownership of the Rolex, for fastest qualifier. Unfortunately by the end of session two Ricky had dropped to twenty-fourth on the grid resulting in a sixth row starting spot, one of his best.

Race day brought unusually warm weather , welcome by all in attendance. The team was set and ready as the light went green. The first few laps Ricky was running in twenty-first spot. As the laps wore down, the team executed flawless pit stops and Ricky was in the groove clicking off consistent laps. Without any bad luck or miscues Ricky brought home the Fier/RMK ZX-6RR in fourteenth place, another great Daytona performance.