Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Daytona based Triumph Race Team

Some of you have met my friend Niles who used to work for the local Triumph dealership. He is now part owner of the below team. as an aside, he is looking for spare 675 wheels if anyone knows where to find.

JUSTIN FILICE TEAMS UP WITH R&B MOTORSPORTS
FOR THE 2009 DAYTONA 200 BY HONDA

Daytona Beach, FL, February 6, 2009 - When the bikes line up on the grid under the lights for the start of the Daytona 200 by Honda, America’s most prestigious and historical motorcycle event at Daytona International Speedway, well-known rider Justin Filice will be representing newly-formed R&B Motorsports, sponsored by Bud Light Lime.

Son of AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Jimmy Filice, Justin will compete for R&B Motorsports aboard their Triumph Daytona 675 built by co-owners Robbie Roberson & Niles Bailey. “We are thrilled to have Justin on our team,” says Roberson. “Having scored a victory in the 8 Hours at Daytona ST-class in October 2008, Niles and I are excited to see Justin do the same in the Daytona 200 by Honda.” Legendary road racer, Gene Romero, 1970 AMA Grand National Champion and 1975 Daytona 200 winner will act as the team’s Technical Consultant, sharing his vast expertise and experience with the R&B Motorsports Team.

Filice was raised around race tracks in Northern California watching his Hall-of-Fame Dad, Jimmy, compete. Justin’s road racing career began in 2005, after several years on the flat track circuit. With his win of the 8-Hours of Daytona last fall, Justin is poised to follow in his father’s footsteps, carrying on the family racing, and winning, tradition.

Was with Niles in the shop yesterday when some guy by the name of Gary Nixon called?

I think Gary has some experience with several race teams. Not sure he would have any Daytona 675 wheels, but then you just never know.

Tell Niles best of luck, and enjoy the ride.

Tom

Yep Ryan! Ol' Gary there tangled more than few times with that other fella Romero you mentoned above onboard their Triumphs! And back in the late '60s, I'd often enjoy watching that action at the old Ascott Raceway Half Mile in SoCal whenever the old Grand National Championship Series came through town.

Have fun there at Daytona, Ryan. And I know a lot of us around here will be following this team's exploits now that you've infomed us of this new venture!

(...I know I will!)

Thanks Dwight. I will pass along to the guys. I can tell you that things have taken a very positive turn for the better today.

Ride Safe everyone.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Justin-Filice/50896596546?ref=mf

Join Justin's Facebook page and keep up to speed with this new, 675 race team!

Nice pics there Ryan!

Though I have a couple of questions here...

I see that they're runnin' an underseat exhaust on that baby. Do you know:

(a)-If they've considered going with a shorter "GP-style" exhaust in order to shave weight off the machine?

and

(b)-If they did that, would it be a violation of the race-class rules the bike is entered in?

They could run that exhaust if it was homologated, but weight is not really an issue. They are 20lbs. under weight as it is, and the arrow titanium under seat exhaust they are running only weighs approx. 9lbs. I can pick-up the mid-pipe with two fingers.

RnB motorsports

R&B Motorsports Show Bike and Justin Filice Appearance during Bike Week.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Time:
5:00pm - 7:00pm
Location:
Tijuana Flats
Street:
1665 Dunlawton Ave
City/Town:
Port Orange, FL

I'll have some more pictures soon including a first video of race bike! They also have a race sponsorship available for the Fontana, CA race. Dwight, get on the phone with all of your corporate friends and get er dun!

Ride Safe Everyone.

Race Bike Comes to Life!

I will have this on youtube later.

R&B took took one of the bikes to the track for the first time this past Thursday. The purpose of the test was to see how the bike's handling was compromised (or not) with the weight that the guys were forced to add to the frame to get it into spec. Literally took four days or more to figure this out. Gotta love them rules. An early front-end chatter was quickly remedied, and like all Trumps, the 675 was near perfect. Anyway, they put a practice, non-race ready motor in the bike, and the thing was in Justin's words, "badass fast". Trump fans, this was the fastest bike on the track at the time that I was watching. However, the non-race motor gave way in the 3rd practice run. Back to the shop to install the race ready motor.

Other than the motor blowing, the only other downer for the day was that Jimmy Filice was unable to ride the bike due to illness.

What engine part/parts failed in the "non-race" motor, Ryan?

Looks like they broke 3rd gear off of a stock gear box. The practice setup was avg. speed of around 100.4. Need to get to around 105, Justin says, which should be no problem with improved suspension and the race motor. Back on track for those that are in Daytona tomorrow for practice. Should be around 12:30pm. Justin will also be at the Triumph demo truck to sign autographs tomorrow. I do not have the specific time (will check on this), but stop by the truck at any time to see the race show bike and Dwight's Tbird.

I have some pictures of last night's gathering at the Port Orange Tijuana Flats on my facebook page, and I will post them here later. It was great to have Gary Nixon, Jay Springsteen, and Jimmy Filice all in the same joint supporting the R&B team. I didn't want to get too intrusive with the pictures of the Hall of Famers, but I got a few shots in for everyone's enjoyment.

Yes! FYI, Justin will be at the demo truck from 4-5 tomorrow. He is bringing Gene Romero and his Dad, Jimmy Filice.

Good story from SpeedTV

Let me apologize for posting the wrong avg. speeds from Justin's first practice run. Apparently, I drink way too much. Who knew? Anyway, after several mishaps, including a crew member inadvertently knocking over the bike ten minutes before his qualifying run, Justin was able to qualify a respectable 29th out of approx. 85 bikes for tonight's race. The bike is still suffering slightly from a front-end chatter but is extremely fast in the straightaways. Justin topped 180mph during his last practice run Wednesday. The team feels that the lap times are only around 5 seconds off the lead pace, so we will see what happens tonight.

Good recap of what happened at the 2009 Daytona 200, ummm debacle.
The story of the Daytona 200, or how Justin Filice was f'ed by the AMA

Thanks for the link brother. Counting to ten never sounded so good!

Thanks for the link to that great writeup on the Daytona 200 by Mr. Stamp here, Ryan!

And so...let me get this straight here then. IF you're riding a 3-cylinder motorcycle at the Daytona Int'l Raceway, they make you ADD 30 friggin' pounds of dead weight to your bike in order to "keep it competitive with the 4's". AND, if you're driving a STOCK CAR at the same venue nowdays, they make you on put what is known as a "Restrictor Plate" on your car now TOO, huh?!

Yep!!! Don't you just "LOVE" the "politics of racing" nowdays???

(so...WHAT the heck ever happened to the simple little concept of: "LET 'EM RACE WHAT THEY BROUGHT", huh???)

"runwhatchabrung" only works on the street

I'll tell you what Newt, Jeff, George, and myself were at times completely lost as to what was going on with the race. The PA announcers at times instead of explaining what was going on, managed to confuse everyone even more.

I am just glad Justin is ok, and will be back racing soon.

Tom

yep, what Tom said !!!! i think if they work out the kinks, raceing the 200 at night will be a good thing.

I am planning on bringing the kids to Road Atlanta in a few weeks to cheer on Justin. It is tentative right now, but anyone in the area who wants to join us, we would love to have you!

Ride safe everyone.

Just a quick update. These are my boys. In the points lead with two races to go! augusta triumph crozier r@b motorsports 675 team