Race Shark V2

[Emmaline]

Theshell is a Multi-Axial Fibre Structure (Class-Carbon-Aramid) and Shark Resin. In a size medium, the whole helmet only weighs 1,330 grams, or 2.93 pounds. That's quite impressive even if there are only two shell sizes across the lineup. While that may be a dealbreaker for some, at medium, the helmet is as trim as it can be for my head.

For this helmet, the shape is intermediate oval, which made me go up a size. However, the fit is still spot-on for a race-bred helmet. Before the Race-R Pro GP came out, this was the helmet that Shark fielded for its racers, and it was also recognized by the FIM even before the FIM Homologation came out.

Other than that, however, you have to consider that the visor is not Pinlock compatible. I do prefer Pinlocks on my helmets as a matter of choice. However, the anti-fog coating was good enough to keep the visor fog-free, although that coating did need a refresh after several rides.

Lastly, one feature that is totally absent from this helmet is the lack of an emergency quick release cheek pad system. While it is a feature that I hope to never use, it's something that is present on many modern helmets, and is absent from the Race-R Pro.

We've all heard the rumors and stories about how some of the coolest sleds have been destroyed, locked in a warehouse, stolen or mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again. One such rumor has persisted for many years in my neck of the woods: Those 1977 Kawasaki SnoPro sleds were buried, in tact, at some secret Kawasaki facility in Minnesota.

I didn't think much of the story until late in 2000 when I was having a discussion with Jim Beilke, Snowmobile Hall of Famer, current executive editor of Snowtech magazine, and the one man show that originally wrote, photographed, edited and published that entire stack of Race & Rally magazines you've got locked up in your safe.

One thing led to another and we started talking about those 1977 Kawasaki SnoPro sleds. Nasty, green, shark looking creatures driven by Jacques Villeneuve an Greg Channell for just one season. Jim reminded me of the story that when Kawasaki decided to get out of the snowmobile industry, they were afraid of liability issues from having those sleds around. He had heard that they went behind the shop one day, dug a deep trench, dropped them in and buried them.

"Where was this workshop?" I asked. "Shakopee." He replied. My left eyebrow lifted just a bit as I quickly realized that Shakopee is a sleepy little town just south and east of Minneapolis - and not far from my house.

The thought I couldn't get out of my mind is that they are just sitting there waiting for me. It's the good old American Dream we've all had of finding lost treasure. You know the story: so-and-so found a very rare such-and-such behind so-and-so's barn, bought it for $20, put a little work into it, won first place at every vintage show, then sold the damn thing for tens of thousands of dollars.

About this time, I had met Mike Decker who raced back in the day and was on the Ski-Doo factory race team for bit. He seemed a nice enough fellow and liked talking about the old sleds. During one conversation I had with him, I asked him point blank: "Do you know where exactly Kawasaki had it's shop in 1976?" I asked. Trying to be coy about why I wanted to know. "Mmm, that would have been Shakopee." He paused for just a bit. "I suppose you know the rumor then?" he said.

"I heard they buried those Kawasaki SnoPro sleds behind the shop. Ever hear about that?" "Uh, no, well, I heard something about that.... I stumbled. "I wouldn't doubt it." He said, then continued: "It was very common back then. Ski-Doo buried dozens of sleds that today would be worth a damned fortune!"

I asked anyone else I met who was involved back then with racing very carefully about the rumor, the Kawasaki Shakopee facility and the race team. None of these people worked at Kawasaki, but they did add more to the original rumors that started to make the actual story harder to guess at. One story said all the sleds were crushed and buried. Another said they used a backhoe and smashed them to bits, then buried them. Many insisted that all were crushed but one, and some thought the one sled was either hidden, stolen or being stored by Kawasaki Corporate headquarters in California for liability reasons.

Another thought kept driving me nuts. I couldn't have been the only one to have heard this rumor! Others must know about it, and someone, in all this time, must have hunted this facility down. For all I knew they could have already dug them up and had them in their garage for many years now. Still I had to press on. I had to find out for myself.

On my first trip to Shakopee, I looked in all the industrial sections of town. I was searching for a building that had bricks that were all perfectly lined up, as in the 1977 promo shot. This seemed to be a good approach, as most brick buildings in Minnesota have a staggered brick pattern. The other clue would have been the tree in the background of that promo shot. It's down in a hole, it has very definite cuts on some branches, and it's a very big tree. If time, fire, wind or man hadn't destroyed that tree, I knew it would be a good clue. After several hours of driving around, I never found a building with that brick pattern. I began to assume the building had been torn down, re-bricked or some how covered.

It was a nice Sunday afternoon, so I stopped in to the only store that was open; the local hunting shop. After standing around for several minutes while the store owner helped the large number of hunters with the animals they had brought in, I finally managed to ask him about the facility.

"I know this is a strange question, but do you have any idea where the old Kawasaki facility used to be?" The room went silent. All eyes turned towards me. I became very aware of the amount of fire power in the room, of which I had none.

We continued to talk for a bit and between this guy and the shop owner. They told me stories about the testing of the sleds that went on at a near by lake. They told me about all the noise complaints. These were some very nice people, all very happy to help a complete stranger. God I love Minnesota. A crude map was formed. I thanked them all profusely and tried not to act too excited as I raced out the door to my car. Damn this was exciting. I found it just by asking, didn't get shot, and didn't get involved in a scene from Deliverance.

The Shark SUPs Quick Fit fin System is a fast and easy fin system to secure your fin to your board without the need for screws, nuts or tools. Compatible with the SHARK SUPs US Quick Fix Foldable Fin Box, this is SHARK innovation at its best!

Shark Fusion Technology (SFT) is our inflatable SUP construction technology. SFT creates the optimum balance of performance and durability to ensure you have the best performing product that will last you the longest time.

Our Shark Kick Tail (SKT) gives you the rider the best possible feedback from your board to enable your board handling progression to be fast and enjoyable. The SKT includes an EVA foam kick pad for positive feedback to the rider when on the tail of the board, as well a different colour deckpad on the board tail acting as a clear visual indication of your position on the board.

Optimising our race SUPs for the very best performance the WCN allows our race boards to pierce through the water more efficiently than the traditional inflatable nose. The WCN has been tried, tested and reviewed, and the results are outstanding!

The Atlantic Weasel Shark is also known as the Little Tiger Shark. This small and slender shark is grey-bronze in colour with striking yellow stripes. Underneath they are white. They belong to a group of sharks known as the Ground Sharks (Carcharhiniformes). This is the largest and most diverse order of sharks, containing at least 291 species and 8 families.

Twenty-five hundred miles in seven days, through blinding torrential rains and face melting sun, through the darkest of darks along the loneliest of highways, rapidly weaving through endless reserves of the greenest of lush, the relaxing view through my race helmet was ever changing, never to be repeated twice. From LA to British Columbia and back, this epic journey amongst friends was one for the ages. Food for the ever hungry soul, if you will.

So what have we learned here? All in all, I really dig this helmet and urge anyone in the market for a high end option to head to your nearest Shark dealer and try one on. If it fits you right, buy it. The Race-R Pro should provide you with thousands of protectively quiet miles. Offering premium materials and design implementation, skinny aerodynamics, a large viewport with exceptional clarity, huge air flow, a Sharp 5 star rating and class leading noise suppression makes ce casque francaise a first reach grab for any trek or track!

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I agree, Meaty. I don't even drink that stuff. However, as a journalistic beggar, I can't be terribly choosy. With that said, the helmet is so good, I'll gladly wear it regardless of what's printed on the sides. :)

Thanks for the informative review. I was aware of Shark, but did not know they are considered a top-tier vendor. Do they make a "fancy modular touring confliption" version? I really like the flip-open feature.

After a good experience with the old Shark RSR2, and and an okay experience with Shark Speed-R, I had to give up on a Shark Spartan because their definition of intermediate oval gave me a hot spot on my forehead. Shark makes a good product, but I can't keep chasing their changing headshape fit. YMMV

The fifth annual Shark Bite Half Marathon and 5K weekend took place on January 18 and 19, 2020. It was my second time participating; I ran the Shark Bite 5K in 2019. This fun and popular event happens in the shark bite capital of the world: New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Organizers added a challenge with a new late afternoon 5K the day before the main event. Participants could run the Feeding Frenzy 5K on Saturday and then either the Shark Bite Half Marathon or 5K the following morning to complete the challenge and pick up an extra medal. The races benefit the charity Girls on the Run Volusia County.

Training & Goals

Following a month in a walking boot and another month of PT I am cleared to run, but I need to ease back in as I lost a lot of fitness and gained a lot of weight in the last year. While my Achilles is on the mend, my knees have started to bother me. Ugh.

My plan for this weekend was to push myself during Feeding Frenzy and then take it easy for Shark Bite on Sunday morning. I have been trying a 45:30 run:walk interval and that is pretty comfortable right now.

Feeding Frenzy 5K

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