Framecrafters Racing - 2014

 Another season of racing has come and gone, and 2014 has proven to be a milestone for Team FC and rider Karsten Illg. While heading into our 25th year of building and racing motorcycles, Team FC is looking forward to many more.  Finishing this year we won another national podium finish with our FC-framed Yamaha-powered F450rr, returned to one of Canada's finest venues and raced in front of 70,000 enthusiasts at the AHRMA-Barber event. The team is looking forward to doing even more in 2015. 


Sporting a new paint job on the FC-framed Yamaha F450rr for the AHRMA Barber Vintage Festival as we sailed to a win at the largest motorcycle venue in America with nearly 70,000 motorcycle enthusiasts attending. 

2014 AHRMA National Road Race Series - Final Standings

3rd place Sound of Singles 2 National Championship Series
1st place Sound of Singles 2 Masters of Midwest Regional Series
11th place Formula 500 National Championship Series
13th Sound of Singles 1 National Championship Series

2014 Canada VRRA Race Results

Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (Mosport) August 2014
1st place Period 3 Lightweight
2nd place Period 4 Lightweight


One of the most challenging and satisfying races of the year battling with Canadian Superbike pilots, Dan Henri (271) and Louie Raffa (176) at the Mosport Vintage Festival. Running our pre-'72 spec Yamaha RD400 against pre-'92 Lightweight Superbikes tested the machine and our racing ability every lap. The above picture is just how we finished in the VRRA P4-Lightweight final this past August.

 


Trading places almost every lap in the Canadian-VRRA P4-Lightweight class.

Thank-You 2014 Team Sponsors and Supporters

Framecrafters Inc.
Cycle-Craft Yamaha

AGV Helmets
Dainese & Chicago D-Store
Barnett Clutches & Cables
R/D Valve Springs - Quality Isn’ Expensive, it’s priceless!
Yoyo Dyne

Apex Manufacturing

Scitsu Tachometers
WEBCAM Racing Camshafts

Syd's Cycles

 Steinjager
"TDR" Tony Doukas Racing
Etech Photo 
Babe Demay Racing 

International Mining Services & John Magyar International Mining Services

Baily Enterprises 
Nick Blasel 
Wagner Brothers Racing 
Bill and Kim Muhr
Carlson's Customs 
Roland and Lana Noel
MS6 Racing
Bob and Jennifer Burns & Chivin Moto 


Dragging knee on the FC-framed Yamaha F450rr at the AHRMA-Barber Vintage Festival.

At the end of 2013 Team FC contemplated many machine options and "special builds" for 2014. After much consideration we opted to explore a Triumph 675R machine. While looking at various options we found Apex Manufacturing to be a great fit for our program and needs.  A leader in AMA Pro-racing while specializing in Triumph 675's it was an easy choice to work with Richard Harris and Teddy Donahey of Apex Mfg.  A joint effort has been formed for 2015 to contest AHRMA's new middleweight superbike class, Sound of Thunder Formula 2, aboard the 2013 APEX Triumph 675R and piloted by Karsten Illg. 


A special thanks to the Apex crew for not only hand delivering the Apex 675R but allowing us to get a head start on 2015 by racing it at the AHRMA-Barber Vintage Festival this past October.  Pictured left to right: Karsten Illg, Apex owner Richard Harris, Apex manager Teddy Donahey and Framecrafters owner Randy Illg. 


Racing the Apex 675R was quite a rush at the AHRMA-Barber Vintage Festival. With a grid of nearly 35 riders and roughly half of them current or past professional racers, we were very happy with our 16th and 18th (day 2) place finishes while setting a new personal best lap time.


Karsten Illg trying to find the limits on the new Apex 675R.

2015 Tentative Race Schedule

March 27th-29th NOLA Motorsports Park -AHRMA
April -----TBD
May------TBD, Grattan Raceway - WERA
June 5th-7th Road America - AHRMA
June 12th-14th Grattan Raceway - AHRMA
July 10th-12th New Jersey Motorsports Park - AHRMA
August----TBD, CTMP (Mosport) - VRRA
September----TBD
October 8th-11th Barber Vintage Festival - AHRMA


Our FC-framed Yamaha-RD400 only made it out to one AHRMA road race this past year but we shook things up in the Formula 500 class winning both days in front of the 70,000 motorcycle enthusiasts, racers and industry leaders at Barber.

2014 also marked another venture for Team FC as we sponsored two additional riders, Nick Blasel and Rex Wagner. Nick Blasel and our Moto3 program was a success, with Nick placing third nationally in Sound of Singles 3 (Moto3/125gp). Our highly competitive Yamaha YZ450F Motard was raced by Rex Wagner to yet another third place national finish in the Motard spec class. Team FC was happy to support these two guys and be a part of their success this past season.



Rex Wagner, #608 and Nick Blasel #633 racing their respective FC machinery this past season.

2015 will be full of new challenges carrying an extensive national schedule. As the Apex Triumph 675R will be our primary focus we will also continue with our vintage racing program aboard a variety of machinery. As always we appreciate our sponsor's and supporter's commitment over this past season. We look forward to furthering our work together and sharing more success in 2015.

2013 Racing Summary

2012 Racing Summary

Photo Credit: Etech Photos, Steve Jackson, Craig Chawla and Linda Willis.