2013 In Slides

 

Las Vegas Gets Hit By The Cyclones!

On June 8th and 9th the temperatures were extremely hot in Las Vegas, and so were the Cyclones of The Ballistic Racers Flyball Team. With a First Place win on Saturday and another on Sunday, the Cyclones were floating on cloud nine at The Race n Go Flyball Tournament.  Vegas, Cody, Mochi, Indie, Molly, and Pooky had clean runs which put them in First Place. Bullet Dogs did well too, with a Second Place win on Saturday and a Third Place win on Sunday.

It was on outstanding weekend of racing for the Ballistic Racers, placing on both days with both teams in the Riviera Hotel and Casino. To make things even better, they had the best Flyball Fumble Recovery ever posted on YouTube. Be sure to watch it as Zippy makes his fantastic save by running through the spectators to retrieve his ball, and then finishes the race!

All in all, it was a great weekend of flyball racing with our teammates and “Man’s Best Friend”.

Go Ballistic!

Brian and Joanne Matsumoto

 

We Broke Our Record Again, This Time in Utah!

In Hurricane Utah on October 27th and 28th we had our best days ever. We came in 1st and 2nd place on that Saturday. Bullet Dogs came in first place with Zippy, Dylan, Herbie, Cody, Slash and Archer. Cyclones placed second with Vegas, Ryker, Chloe, Kirin, Molly and Pooky.

All the dogs got dressed up for the Halloween Costume Contest too. We had fun but didn’t win the contest this time. The winning dogs had some very elaborate and intricate costumes but our costumes weren’t bad for a last minute effort.

On Sunday, Bullet Dogs placed third. They were extremely close to second place, but were barely edged out. The most exciting fact though, was they broke our record again. Our previous 19.2 second record was broken with an 18.99 second run. It was the first time ever our team broke into the 18’s. Not only did we set a new record but we also had two perfect starts with Joanne and Mimi. Joanne had a perfect with Vegas and Mimi had a perfect start with Ryker.

We all had a great time, and realized the long drive was worth all our winning moments!

 

The Otay Ranch It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere Tournament

by Brian and Joanne Matsumoto

The Ballistic Racers Flyball Team got off to a slow start on Saturday, September 1st.  It was quite hot, and with a few things going wrong it was a challenging day. The bright spot was Max making his debut with his owner Mark. Max had several clean runs as the team and crowd cheered him on. After the teams had some ball dropping issues, false starts, and other problems, we quickly regained our focus and composure to get things under control. It was too late for us to place at the end of the day, but now we had our strategy for Sunday.
On Sunday, September 2nd, we were back to our normal status,  running clean races, winning and losing a few as usual. Sunday was much busier than Saturday though, since we were running three teams. The weather was much cooler however, with a nice cloud cover which hovered around throughout the day. Our Cyclone team kept running clean which really paid off for a second place win. Vegas, Cody, Mochi, Kirin, Indie, and Max brought home the second place win. Several times the Cyclones were behind, but because one of the dogs on the other team had to re-run, Cyclones came out ahead. It was great to have some fresh dogs on Sunday to liven up the mix and really get things moving along quickly. Archer made good gains and ran many clean races. Many dogs got new titles and Mochi ran her fastest race ever, a  5.6! As usual, we ate well and were exhausted by the end of the weekend but happy with ourselves and our great comeback.

All photos below, taken by Clark Kranz, Agile Dogs Photography

 

The Fun of Flyball at the Irvine Winter Games

by Brian and Joanne Matsumoto

Ballistic Racers Flyball Team had a banner weekend at Irvine this year. January 15th and 16th were much warmer than usual and turned out to be a stellar weekend for our team. We took a first place in our division with our team “Bullet Dogs” on Sunday. It was so exciting to take home first place knowing that all our hard work has been paying off. Our dogs Zippy, Molly, Blast, Cody, Meika, and Herbie had some of the best turns that our team has ever displayed. Zippy and Robin both had their best times ever at this tournament! Zippy broke into the 3’s with a 3.9 second run and Robin had a 4.7 second run on Saturday for his best time ever. Congratulations to Bullet Dogs on their First Place Win!

Even though first place is great, the most exciting racing of the day was with our team “Cyclones”. It was Domino and Slash’s first time racing. Domino’s best time of the day was a 5.3 second run and Slash also had an excellent time with a 5.6 second run. The highlight of the weekend racing was Cyclone’s win by 5 hundredths of a second. Amber and Geneva figured out that if they switched spots we could shorten the passes and win more races. Their hunch paid off  superbly, and  we tied for third place. In the tiebreaker we lost, but we know we did extremely well for having two new dogs on the team. Congratulations to Dennis, Pooky, Kirin, Slash, Indie, and Domino on their great performance.

Ever since the Winter Games we have been reminiscing about our racing that weekend. We also made a great discovery at the tournament and found a “light tree” for sale. We recently purchased a set and now have our own start lights to use at practice. As usual we had great food, great fun with our dogs, and got really tired! Now we are rested up and ready for another round of racing at Ramona in March, so we can…

GO BALLISTIC!

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Ballistic Racers Christmas Holiday Slideshow 2009

The Ballistic Racers Christmas Dinner
Once again our annual Christmas dinner was a huge success. Twenty four of us enjoyed the food and show put on by the chefs at Miyabi Restaurant. Fire, flying utensils and tossed pieces of cooked food were all part of the show. Believe it or not, the food was as good as the show! Everyone participated in a gift exchange which was really fun. People were able to open a new gift or steal a gift from another member. Everyone ended up with a gift, most of which had a dog theme. We were able to celebrate three birthdays as well, with a beautiful chocolate cake and of course singing. Alice, Phyllis, and Shay received the Birthday greetings at this festive occasion. We topped off the night with a delightful CD slide show made and shown by Kelly and her husband Jim. Two hundred twenty nine pictures of the 2009 Ballistic Racers Flyball Team in action were projected on the wall for all to see. These shots included all the dogs and handlers of our entire team. What a year and what a great slide show! Special thanks to all the team members for their generosity in donating to this year’s recipient, Vizsla Rescue. We were able to donate a large crate and a full basket of dog toys, leashes, collars and supplies to a related organization.

Thanks to our team members, Kelly and Jim
for the slide show, Miyabi Restaurant, and
of course all our dogs for another very
successful year of Flyball racing,

Brian and Joanne
2009

 

U-FLI Flyball Tournament, Ramona 2009

On May 23rd and 24th, 2009, Ballistic Racers participated in the U-FLI flyball tournament held in Ramona. It was a very successful tournament with six dogs making their debuts.

On Saturday, Indie, Bailey, Dennis, Molly, Sasha, Chloe and Jessie all ran singles races. One of the best aspects of the U-FLI tournaments, is the singles racing. Singles allows new dogs that may not be quite ready for the team relay to still race. It’s a great way for novice dogs to get their feet wet without affecting or being affected by the pressure of team racing

On Sunday, Dennis ran with the team consisting of Zippy, Blast, Makaso, Rex, Herbie and Remy. Bailey and Indie ran pairs, while Molly, Jessie, Sasha, Chloe, and Jag ran singles.

It was fun and exciting to see so many new dogs doing so well.

 

NAFA FLYBY 2009 Tournament Highlights

On June 13th and 14th 2009, Ballistic Racers competed in the NAFA FLYBY 2009 Tournament, held in Bonita, California at Sweetwater Summit Park. It was a fun and successful tournament. On Saturday our Bullet Dogs team finished in first place. On Sunday, we tied for first with two other teams! Our fastest time of the day was used as the tie breaker, putting us in second place. Our team of new dogs, Rocket Racers, did very well too. Many of the dogs had never run on a team and had great first time successes. As always, our dogs had fun, we had fun, and we ate some great food at our barbecue!