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In 2009 Fox Performance has been named as a sponsor and contracted to prepare all of the 1098R cranks used by Larry Pegram/Pegram Racing for his superbike motors for AMA American Superbike. Larry Pegram and the Foremost Ducati 1098 WINS Elkhart Lake Superbike race with a Fox Performance Engines Crankshaft Prepared by Ben Fox. I finally got to meet Larry in person at the World Superbike Race at Miller Motorsports in Utah. He's a great guy and been working pretty hard, so I could tell that a win was inevitable for him. There's more to come, I gurantee it. Pegram Racing Press Release on Elkhart win.....!!!<---click here Congratulations Larry!!!! UPDATE: 6/1/09 World Superbike Miller motorports park Utah. On friday the 29th I decided I wanted to go to the wsbk race. I checked online and found airfare roundtrip for $109...can't pass it up so the next morning I was on a flight out of DIA at 6:30am to SLC. Luckily it was an empty flight and I was able to sit where I wanted. So I sat all the way in the back by myself, because I've had more than my share of flights sitting next to someone coughing and sneezing all over me. Anyway I spent the weekend at the track with a friend of mine who used to be a Ohlins Technician for WSBK last year, so he had some friends still working for Ohlins this year and I got to see a little more of the inner workings of WSBK than the average schmo. On Saturday he was able to get me into the Ducati garage and watch the mechanics rebuild Haga's bike that he crashed in practice earlier. basically the only thing reused was the frame, forks, and swing arm. They replaced everything in about 2 hours. On my way out I saw Michael Czysz walking through the crowd and then duck into Fonzi Nieto's garage....Hmmmm....what's he up to? I waited a little bit for him to come out but then decided to head over to the Ohlins pit area where I got to hang out and see some pretty trick suspension pieces and talk to one of the guys about some suspension stuff. After watching the races on Sunday we got tipped on where the wsbk party was going to be. But before that we went out to dinner and when we got to the resturant Karl Muggeridge, his brother and trainer were there just starting with and invited us to sit with them. After about 42 rounds of beers(well maybe 4) we all then headed over to another pub across the street and I was standing there listening to this guy talking with a new zealand accent and telling a story about testing a 996R in europe years ago and staying in a castle while there. I couldn't place his face but his voice was strangely familiar, I asked who he was and he said Jeff Nash...ahhh Jeff it's Ben Fox...Oh ben I didn't recognize you...lol me either. So I bought him a his friends a round and got to catch up with him with about things that are happening in Ducati land. It'd been 5 years since the last time I saw him, talked on the phone with him many times so that's why the voice was ringing the bell. Well after a round or two or 5, we all piled in Muggeridge's rental car, a small mid size car like an impala, Seven guys total....luckily I got to sit next to the door, and drove down to another bar where the after party was at. Well there were a few popular racers there. Gary Mccoy, Michele Fabrizio, Nori Haga. It was a good time. I didn't get to sleep that night until 4am and I had a 7:30 flight out with a 20 min drive to the airport. When I got home I slept until tuesday morn......haha....must be getting old. UPDATE: 5/1/09 Larry Pegram to Flat track ducati's with crankshafts prepared by Ben Fox at Fox Performance<---click here Some crankshafts showed up at my shop from Larry that were from Ducati Sport's 1000cc....I was like WTF Larry you can't use these in the 1098R for AMA superbike, he laughed and said they were building Flattrackers for some dirt racing....LOL I'll get em back to you as fast as I can. UPDATE: 4/20/09 Recently I had someone email me and ask the capabilities of the MOTOCZYSZ dyno....huh....? why? I was wondering. Then they pointed me to a forum where the Czysz dyno was being questioned on its performance in regards to the new "E1" electric motorcycle. Ahhhhh, I now see why. Apparently the internet forum "know it all's" are bored and looking for something to pick apart and criticize. I recently watched a movie on "showtime" called "Heckler" a documentary about people who heckle performers and why they feel the need to cause havoc and wreak negativity. I am going to start putting Internet jockey's like those found on forum's Spewing drivel and misinformation for the shear sensationalism of the topic in the same category as hecklers such as the ones you'd find at show trying to steal the spotlight from someone who's worked hard to put on a performance and put effort and time and money into it. Unfortunately I see this often in internet forums and because of this I've completely shyed away from most forums, even the ones that are most important to me like the ducati forums. When I see even some professionals spitting misleading information it causes me to stay even further away. There was a quote in the movie I mentioned above from Craig Fergusson(late night talk show host) He said, "If your doing what you love, your fucking bulletproof"..From this quote I took this away: if the work your doing is good and being confirmed good by others by the fact that you are still sought out by them, then it doesn't matter what one fool says because if your getting his attention to the point he wants to try and tear you down then that means he's jealous that he can't do what your doing as well as you. When I worked for Czysz It was on the C1 project, Gas engine, original concept that put Czysz on the map. It was one of the best times of my life as far as worldly experiences go. I got to work side by side with some of the brightest engineers from COSWORTH and TRD you'll ever run into, everyday I learned something, some new technique, some new bit of information whether it be about engine design and theory or metallurgical properties and CNC machining techniques etc.... I neatly stored all this info away in my mental tool box. There were plenty of ups and downs, and I wouldn't trade the time in Portland Oregon at Czysz for anything. During that time I also made some good friends at MOTO Corsa the local Portland Ducati dealership. I can tell you that it's one of the best Ducati dealerships I've ever walked into. Daytona Update: 3/7/09 Larry Pegram finished 4th in American Superbike with a crankshaft prepared by Ben Fox of Fox Performance Engines. Larry reported that he had traction control issues....and "still" finished 4th... :O ....at Daytona!.... and this just the first race of the season and he also set a fast MPH of 199.9 during practice. I can't wait for Larry and Ducati's next race at Fontana, this is going to be Ducati's year in superbike now that the playing field has been leveled a little more between bikes and manufactures with the new rules. Larry called me up before the first Daytona tire tests in December and asked if I could get a crank ready for his 1098R. At the test he set the second fastest lap time, he was happy enough with the results that he wanted me to do the rest of his cranks for all the 1098R engines he'd be racing this season. After preparing a few more cranks for him he then went to the Fontana test and again set the second fastest time. I've been a Pegram fan for years, along with old ducati posters of him in my shop from years ago, I even have a few posters from his Yoshimura days. I'm hoping this is a kickass season for Larry and Ducati both! I've added some new equipment to my shop recently, it is a new Rottler SG7 valve seat and guide machine that I can use to perform valve seat cutting, valve seat repair and installation, and valve guide repair and installation. Check out the "valvejob" page to see the equipment and its capabilitys. Crankshaft balancing hasn't changed, were still using the best crankshaft balancing equipment for the job and providing some of the best crankwork you'll find! Larry Pegram went 199.9mph with one of our cranks this should speak volumes to the quality and accuracy of the crankwork I do. I've been doing ducati cranks since 1999 and have done more than a "just a few" ducati cranks, to say "I know them well" is an understatement at best. There's other places you could have your crank balanced but is the person doing the work an actual ducati racer/rider/enthusist? I Personally do every crank myself and I wouldn't give out anything that I wouldn't race on or ride on the street in my own engines. We've added a few new Ducati shops to our clientele that we do crankwork for, most recently a big name shop in california sent us a crank to see how we'd do for them. I can tell you this much, when the service manager received the crank back from me after the SPS treatment and mirror polishing his exact quote on the phone was "wow!"! 2008 was my best year for racing in the MRA, but the time has come for me to slow down, I'm not retiring fully but my days of burning circles on a track between the green and checkered are going to be alot less. I've been very fortunate over the last 12 years of racing and realized at the last race of season in 2008 that my kids were getting pretty big and "their" time coming real soon for their own racing adventures.
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