how they won the shootout

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Wood makes good in bracket win
Keith Wood's long trip from his dealership in Maine paid off this year, as he won the hotly contested bracket division at AmSnow's Shoot-Out at Brainerd International Raceway. Keith owns a full-line Yamaha dealership and Woody's Performance Shop in Thompson, Maine. He piloted a brand new Yamaha Apex in the bracket.

You don't make the long trip from Maine to Minnesota without knowing you can be competitive. Keith isn't a stranger to asphalt racing and has been an active racer for many years. In fact, he's one of the owners of Oxford Plains Dragway, a 1/8-mile track close to his business that offers great opportunities for summer sled racing fun, and gaining experience.

Oxford holds a points race every Friday night and a quick eight program every other Saturday. There is also another 1/8-mile track that's just a short jaunt away - Winterport Dragway in Bangor, Maine - with a Sunday snowmobile program. For full quarter mile runs, many racers head down to New England Dragway, Epping, N.H.

Turnout for Friday night races regularly hits 20 to 30 sleds, and 36 racers actually picked up points this year. These are money races, too. Each semifinal loser gets 10% of the total purse, while second place in the final nets 30% and the winner takes home 50%. With purses of more than $1,000, a Friday night win could land $500 in a racer's pocket. With this kind of competition on a weekly basis, Keith had plenty of experience to make a run at the AmSnow bracket title.

Keith first sat on his new '06 Yamaha Apex six weeks before the race and had about 30 runs on it in Friday night competition before heading to Brainerd. The only modification to the engine was a 3-degree advanced timing and the use of Ultimate 4 race fuel. The primary clutch was set-up with a two-speed Heel Clicker system and the secondary is a Heel-X modified by Terry Paine at Bender Racing. The Bender mods add a 6% lower ratio and a 9% overdrive to the Heel Clicker secondary. With this clutch set-up, gearing remained stock. The Yamaha Apex runs on a 10.625-inch track mounted on a Proline suspension, and produces runs in the mid-10 range.

He reports that the big challenge at Brainerd was to get off the cold starting line consistently without going up in track spin. Wood's crew dealt with this by lowering the engagement speed and doing two short dry burnouts to get heat in the track. To do well in bracket racing, especially on a Pro Tree, you need to have a good reaction time and Wood pulled some amazing .020 -.030-second times to take the win.

Consistency is also a major factor, and Keith's strategy is to get the machine sorted out early and then leave it alone so he can concentrate on the driving. He feels that constantly changing the machine breeds inconsistency.

Wood also works with Bender Racing on turbo sleds, and brought one to Brainerd. Unfortunately, they suffered the same fate as many high power sleds - inconsistent hook-up off the line. Best time of the season on the turbo sled was 8.41 seconds at 160 mph earlier in the year. Wood is sponsored by both Bender Racing and his business, Woody's Performance Shop. His shop is family-run with 12 employees, including his wife Florence, son Justin and son in-law Dan.

For more info on racing out East, check out www.oxforddragway.com or call Keith at 207-729-1177.