FXR Racing Presents A Different Kind of Pit by Chris Elliott

I had no clue how cold it actually gets in Houston and that was one of my main take aways from the weekend of racing at the NRG Stadium…

The racing was good too and it was great having AJ Catanzaro put the #80 machine into the main after what he felt was a rough A1. While AJ’s qualification to the main was a highlight, we also had some challenges on the night.

It all started in the last 250A qualifying session of the (which ended up being faster than the first) day when Ryan Breece crashed on the second lap of that timed qualifier bending his bars to a point where they were un-ridable. Having had to ride back to the truck early, Breece was forced to take his first session time, which was only good enough for 32nd.

With Breece in 32nd and Lionnet only able to muster the 30th fastest time lap time on the tough Houston track, the two Rockwell teammates ended up to in the same heat. After lining up next to each other, which annoyed me, they both had starts outside of the top 10. Breece was able to work his way up to 10th when his bike started to smoke, after a couple laps of it getting worse…we made the call to pull him in. As he and his mechanic rode up the tunnel, a crash by Bracken Hall would have put Breece in a qualifying spot as the white flag came out. Lionnet came up just short as well, and with Catanzaro finishing 10th in his heat; we had all three guys heading to the LCQs.

The one thing you wouldn’t know by watching the race on TV is that the pits were a VERY far walk and/or ride from the entrance of the stadium which may not seem like a big deal, but it actually makes racer operations harder throughout the day. For example: when Breece bent his bars in the qualifier, we sent them up to try and get bars changed quick in an attempt to get back and try to get at least a lap in, when the session was red flagged and stopped…we actually had a chance to come back and get some laps in. But the distance from our pit to the stadium made it not happen, where the Anaheim pits probably would’ve have made the switch and returned because of the much shorter distance we’d have to travel. It also makes it hard to film and do video with guys in between session unless you have a dedicated film guy to each guy, which we do not. But nevertheless…we make what we can work.

I said I would be honest in my column, so here it is…

The 250 LCQ was disappointing, both guys got bad starts but we felt with a little more fight, there was a chance we could’ve got the guys in the main. But both guys are professionals and strive to improve everyday, so I look for both of them to bounce back big in Anaheim this weekend with solid efforts.

The 450 LCQ obviously went better, with AJ’s second place position; he punched his ticket to the main where he gutted out the long main event on the tough and technical Houston track crossing the checkers in 18th place.

Time to head back down the freeway to Angels Stadium for the first ever Triple Crown round…

So make sure you stop by the ROCKWELL RACING pits to say what’s up this weekend when the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross season returns to Anaheim, California this Saturday.

Follow our riders on Instagram: AJ Catanzaro (@ajcatanzaro), Ryan Breece (@ryanbreece92), and Bradley Lionnet (@bradlionnet321) for an inside look at the all new TRIPLE CROWN format we will take on Saturday.

You can check us out on Instagram and Twitter (@ROCKWELLRACING), and of course find them on Facebook.

For more information on ROCKWELL RACING and their sponsors, check out: http://www.rockwelltime.com/team/. You can also follow them on Instagram (@rockwellwatches), Twitter (@RockwellTime), and Facebook (@rockwelltime).