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Indianapolis: Ryan Schnitz Saturday summary

Schnitz Jumps to 5th at Indy Ryan Schnitz may have lost in the first round of the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, but he advanced his position in the four day war that is the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis. Schnitz clocked a smooth 7.06 on ...

Edited: Dec 11, 2006, 4:14 AM

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Schnitz Jumps to 5th at Indy

Ryan Schnitz may have lost in the first round of the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, but he advanced his position in the four day war that is the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis. Schnitz clocked a smooth 7.06 on the Trim-Tex/Muzzy's Buell, but lost to Matt Smith's blistering 6.99.

"We did a good job on the first pass," said Ryan. "We made a bunch of changes to the bike and helped recover from yesterday. We cut a good light and made a really good pass, it just wasn't fast enough to beat a 6.99. I'm just happy we went that fast. Everybody at the end of the track was upset that we'd got beat. When they said Matt ran a .99, I knew we hadn't got beat by much, so I figured he must've cut a bad light. But when they told me I ran an .06, I was like I'd just won first round. I was happy."

Starting the day 28th in the order and only mustering a 7.21 on a test pass, Schnitz and the Muzzy team decided it was time to make wholesale changes to the bike. A different rim and tire, a fuel setting change, wheelie bar change, new valvesprings, and clutch changes were all part of the laundry list.

Even on the good pass, the Buell bent its second axle of the weekend and caused the bike to drift towards center of the track. "That's never happened to us on a normal pass, so we're concerned about what's causing that," said Ryan. "We took the one out last night that got really bent, and Earl DeGlopper straightened it out for us at his house. So we're gonna use that. Now we'll go back out and see if we can improve."

Q3 was not exactly an improvement for the team, but they lost only a hundredth in a round that saw many teams lose a tenth. They were second best of the second round, behind only eventual Gloves Battle winner Andrew Hines.

"I think they (Hines's team) has just got a handle on stuff, and so do we- lucklily. We made small changes that round. We changed the clutch a little bit, the fuel a little bit, and a tire pressure change. We were just looking to repeat the .06. It was getting a little cooler with the sun going behind the clouds. We didn't improve, but other teams lost as much as a tenth.

"Now we're having a lot of fun tonight goofing around. We're going out to get a good dinner tonight, and come back tomorrow and have a good day. I would assume tomorrow morning will be really good weather. If that's the case, we're gonna make small changes and try to improve. I don't see 3:00 tomorrow afternoon being better conditions, so we might try breaking in a tire or something like that then."

-credit: sr

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