RACE REPORT: MID OHIO JULY 23 - 24

This past Wed and Thursday the AMA held their Grand Championship road race event. I usually race with WERA, but the AMA and WERA got together and put this race on. It is a race for all the marbles, winner take all. I had been registered for over two months. 5 weeks ago I went to Mid Ohio for a 2 day practice session to reacquaint myself with the track and prepare for the BIG EVENT. On the second day of practice I was making my way through the KEYHOLE turn 4 when the front tire had been pushed to the limit and decided to let go. This is usually a very easy 'lowside' type of crash. Instead, this time my shoulder was the first thing to hit the track and was dislocated while stretching everything that holds my arm to my body. It was some of the worst pain I have ever felt. I waited a few days to see a doctor hoping it would take care of itself, but the pain was unbearable and I could not raise my are 2 inches from my side. They x-rayed it and said nothing was broken and gave me electro therapy a couple times a week. 10 days later I was duct-taping my shoulder and racing at Nelson Ledges.

Anyway, back to the story.

I went back to Mid Ohio with some crash demons in my head. Since the crash, I had raced at Nelson Ledges and at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham AL. I was not able to get my corner speed back up due to the crash. I was not my usual self in practice at Mid Ohio and let some of the regulars pull away from me exiting the Keyhole and the Carousel. Both turns exit onto a straight away and I was not able to make myself throttle up early enough to get the drive off the corner. The fear of the front pushing and letting go was affecting me. I went through both practice sessions not happy with my lap times but prepared for my first race.

Lwt solo 12 was a 12 lap race that saw me lead into turn one but fade away to a 5th place finish by the end. The usual guys I run with left and pulled away.

Light Weight X-treme was my next race. It was a 6 lap race. I had a decent start and felt pretty good. Bob Breedon passed early and I followed in second for most of the race. I would look over my shoulder and see Mark Biletnikof on my tail and it made me push harder. I was finally starting to get my groove back and wicked up the pace some. The bike felt good except for some front end chatter going through turn one. Turn one is one of the fastest turns on this course so the front end sliding was making me nervous. Mark passed me out of the esses but I got him back at the end of the straight under hard braking. We go approximately 145+ mph at the end of the straight, down shift three gears and toss it to the right. It was a very exciting pass. I ran in second place until the last corner. I went into the carousel and made my usual downshift but caught a 'false neutral'. This made me stand the bike up some and Mark went under me and beat me to the checkers. I finished third. I was still happy. I gave them a hard fight.

Wednesday evening there was a suspension vendor working late so I walked into his pit and was telling him about how the front was sliding. He had me go get the bike and worked his magic on dialing in my suspension. The fluids and springs were cold so he told me to run my first practice Thursday morning and stop back when things were hot. When I went back after practice he changed a few more settings in compression and rebound and the bike felt GREAT in the second practice.

Light Weight Twins is my main class which was scheduled for Thursday. I started on the outside of the front row and led into turn one. The bike was feeling good and the motor was running strong. This was a 6 lap race and I really expected to see someone show me a wheel going into a turn on the first lap. I have a bad habit of looking back on the straights. I didn't do it this time. As I was crossing the line for the completion of the first lap, teammate Joe Ball signaled to me that I was pulling away a little. I kept my head down and pushed harder. The next two laps the gap grew wider. Then on the fourth lap Joe showed me someone was gaining on me. Bob and Mark are the only two I could think of but I still did not look back. As I took the white flag, signaling the last lap, Joe showed me the signal someone was on my tail. I wanted this win and pushed it to the limits. Entering the Keyhole turn (where I crashed) I felt the front start to massively slide. I had my knee on the ground and tried to be smooth. The front tire finally caught traction and I made it through. Down the back straight I kept my head under the windscreen and didn't start to brake until I saw GOD. The back tire was coming off the ground and skipping. I made it through another turn. Only a few more turns left. Entering the Carousel I started to brake and downshifted at the same time. The rear tire was at its limit and stepped sideways. I caught it and exited the carousel under full power. Not knowing Bob Breedon was on my tail still, I drifted to the outside edge of the track. He was trying to make an outside pass and got up on the concrete curbing, onto the grass, hit an orange cone and came back on the track. He wanted the win as bad as I did. He did not have it this time and I won the race. Winner Take All - 2003 AMA National Champion!!!!!!!!!!!

This was my biggest win yet.

I still have 3 more WERA races. Aug. 9 we are at Putnam Park. If I can leave that race with the same points lead I currently have in LWT and HWT Twins I will be guaranteed two season championships. I still have to fight a little more for Formula 2. In F2 I have a 38 Point lead with 121 points. There are a maximum of 80 points to receive for the season so that class may go to the wire.

I hope you can make it to the track.