Well, I had a not-so-well week in Mid-Ohio for the AMA Grand Nationals race. We got there late Wednesday night. Thursday was a practice day. I started a little bit off pase due to the time it took me to get use to the "refined" asphault. I also screwed up two more top-ends ,and found out whhy too. There happened to be a crack in the transfer port of my cylinder from the first top-end "malfunction". Friday, we had a practice and qualifying. When I went out for the 125 Qualifying, I set in a lap time good enuff for fourth starting position. It started raining real hard and they "rain-checked" the 250 qualifier for Saturday morning. So, Saturday morning comes around and its still raining buut the rain washed some of the slick stuf like wet laid-down rubber off. It was kind of slick if you stayed "on-line" though. We had one practice in the morning and the last four qualifiers before lunch. After a red flag due to excessive crashing in my practice, they sentus back out. After two laps, coming into the Caresale my bike starts shifting wrong, and then it acted as if it were stuck in neutral. I dropped a bearing (out-put bearing Ithink is what it was called) in the transmission. I coasted into the pits and waited for my dad to run over there to see what was going on. He pushed my bike up the hill and to my pits when he found that it wouldnt move. We bought the stuff we needed from RSC. The 250 qualifier rolls around though, and my dad is still having trouble putting the case on. I ended up missing the qualifier. We ended-up having to use a motor that Debra Kuick offered for the 125 race that was later that day. I started second row left side for it. I had a real good start falling in right behind Cameron Beaubier. Then my luck started showing--two turns after the back stretch the bike just dies. I fell back to around 15-20 place and realize that the bike had compression even with the clutch in. So I let go of the it and the bike bump-starts it self. I worked through traffic real hard and finished in 9th place. Sunday, we had my motor back in and working great. The track was still soaked and Im still on slicks. I made a lap and decided to give it one more before I came in (Miles was out there on slicks to and came in after that one lap--I wish I would have followed him in!). Entering turn one, not even that fast, the bike just escaped at first I thought HIGH-SIDE and then THIS IS GOING TO HURT. I decided to try and do everything I could to try and make that not happened, and if I was going down to make it a low-side. So I low-side my bike, get a ride back in the "crash-truck" and get to work. I had everything repaired by the second practice. The track dried up just enuff for almost everyone to change to slicks. It still had some wet spots which made for a real fun practice session. I spun it up alot with one in turn one that about put me on my head again! So the 250 race comes and Im starting 5th row due to not qualifying. I work up to 5th and had a good battle with of the 250s when he decides to turn it up a notch. He ended up beating me. In the Formula Lieght Weight race later that day, I started 17th row which was like 6th row for my class. I worked up to first by the third lap and battled with Miles a little. A mistake in turn one wpuld put me back to second which is where I ended up finishing. That race also earned me a "FASTEST LAP" reward. So it wasnt the worst week ever but just a lot of bad luck.

Heres a list of people I want to thank and why:
Debra Kuick for loaning me her spare motor,
Richard and Miles Thornton for hauling my bike back and forth,
My brother Robbie for picking my bike up at 2 in the morning,
Shawn for his help on the bike and advice,
And my parents for bringing me and letting me race!!!!!!!

a special thanks...

I want to thank my family for coming to watch me this past weekend at Nashville Super Speedway. I also want to thank Sharron and Evelyn (<---SP) for my Crazy Frog action figure. I really like it! And why Im at it, I want to thank Donald Parton for helping my dad fix my bike when it messed up this weekend and for making sure that I was OK when I fell and for calling my mom to tell her I was OK so she didnt pass out trying to run over there. THANKS TO ALL WHO HELP!!!!

I got back from Nashville Superspeedway last night kind of late. I had an on and off weekend. Saturday went real well. We got there early as usual and went straight to registration. In practice Saturday, I was real fast setting some of the fastest laptimes in the light weights. Saturday afternoon I raced in the light weight solo. A 20 lap race which is like a mini endurance at some tracks. I started tenth row and by the end of the third lap I was leading! So, I kind of dominated in my class in that race giving that my only competition were the lappers and experts that I was catching. I had fun working through them all though. Nathaniel got second in the mini race after a red flag ended the race ( the cause of the red flag was the kid behind him trying to run him down and crashed). Sunday didn't go as well for me. In practice Nathaniel and I decided to switch bikes in the first round. He rode my RS125 in the light weight practice and I rode his KX85 with the EX500 front ferring on it in the minis. For the second round my bike broke a ring on the first lap! So I got no practice on my bike on Sunday. So, we got the top end fixed on my bike and got ready. I was the first race (excluding the Minis that is accually 1A). I was racing in heavy weight twins against 1000's and real fast bikes like that on a 125. I started next to last row inside. I was running down the leader on the third lap and got pushed off going into turn 2 by an Aprilia RSV 1000 that went to deep with me--leaving my only option to be to run down the apron and come back on in turn 5. I finished first but was scored last because of this incident. I also pinched a ring in that race when coming in. So, after another top end put in, I went out for the 125GP race. I went out on worn out tires and had trouble keeping it straight coming off the turns. I also had Miles on my back the whole time pushing me through the clubman lappers a few times. After a mistake in the last turn, he made an inside move in the last turn for a last attempt. So we're coming on the banking at about a hundred a few inches away with cones under my right foot and a tail section poking my fairing ( or the other way around). I started to drift down on him not realizing it and kind of rubbed on him a little. Well, enough for him to let of atleast! But a real good race as always. I love riding with him. Well, right as my day started to turn around, I went out for the Formula 2 race, the last one of the day. I went out for the warm-up lap last like always so my bike doesn't over heat on the grid waiting for the rest of the riders to show up. Going into the first turn, though, was scary. I got on the throttle real hard and the bike died. I thought I messed the bike up again. So, I coasted through two, across the grass on the outside of two, pushed the bike across the track in between three and four.and sat there thinking for a while. I lifted the gas tank nad saw the gas hadnt been turned on. So I turned it on with relief that I didn't break for a third time that day. After making the rest of the warm-up lap, I pulled into the pits for the start. Since the problem held me up so much, I had to start from the back of the grid. But by the end of the third lap, I was leading. I set in some real good lap times from the addition of a new rear tire and a different, used, yet better front, and from the secret line gone into turn two, which little did I know was about to get me in trouble and end my day. Lap Four comes around and I spot the last of the expert riders still in front of me. A little inspiration can also get your hurt if your not careful. I decide to carry a little extra speed into two in an attempt to catch these last few riders that weren't even in my class. Not only did I go in deeper, but got on the throttle sooner and whenthe power kicked in, I was on my way to a few Aleve pain killers, a bag of ice, a head ache, and a soar ankle that still hurts real bad. Yea, that's right, I had my first high-side. Apparently the little extra speed made the back end step out and spit me off. I crawled off unhurt but the minor leather rashes, a couple soar ankles and a soar shoulder. Im good today. My ankles still soar but its just a little limp. And I cant wait to go to Mid-Ohio to start all this over again ( except no bike problems or the crashes/just the wins!)

Valencia, Spain

Well, I just got back from the RedBull Rookie Cup Selection a few weeks ago and everything went real well. We had a hard time getting around but over all was deffintly worth it. We flew into Madrid and got there at around 8:00 a.m. their time. We tried to rent a car and they wouldnt let us (dont know why), so we had to get a train from there to Valencia. The train ride was kind of cool. Theres alot to see in the desert! When we got there we had to find our motel (side note: make sure you have the right street name! Our motel was on Valle de Aoyora and the road on Map Quest was Calle de Aoyora, which is on the other side of town in the deep ghettos!!!) So after looking for the 4 star motel in Ghettoville, Valencia, we finally got a cab to take us there, which is hard also because they dont understand English. The motel area was alot nicer and had some real cool stuff there. There was a huge statue of a head known as, by the Americans, "The Mickey Mouse". So we checked into our motel, the one on the bottom left of the building, got a shower in the weirdest bathrooms ever(one with a butt washer by the toilet), rode the underground metro to a McDonalds by the train station we started at and went back to go to sleep. The next morning, we thought we would take a train to the stop thats right beside the track. Another big mistake in our long list, yea i got a list. Noone told us that the train didnt stop there until after we had paid for a ticket and got on the it. So we get off at the stop before thinking it wont be that long of a walk to the track which was another big mistake(I told you I had a list!!) So after an about 5 mile walk of wondering if the road even went to the track, we ended up making it there, FINALLY!!!! We showed up right at the beginning of the second group. We watched all day, routing on the "Americanos" and left. We got a ride with Tyler Odem who was from California and was staying in the sme building but different motel (his was on top of ours). So we got up the next morning ready to go. We met Tyler and his mom outside so they could give us a ride to the track. Yea, theres no way we were trying the train again! We decided to stop and eat on the way there. Eggs, bacon, and orange juice. The eggs just plain sucked, the bacon was uncooked, but the orange juice rocked! It was accually orange juice with the seeds and all. So after the veryodd breakfast, we go to the track. With the Americans pretty much all in the same group, Cameron, JD and me must have shined the most because we were the three who made it to the afternoon session. We all three made it to the Wednesday session. JD and me rode the first group and and Cameron the last. So me and my dad got a ride with JD and Norm (the Bostrom brothers manager) to the train station. We caught a train back to Madrid and took the plane from there to Chicago and then back home, Chattanooga, TN. We waited about a week for the good news. At the bottom is a list of the twenty kids who made it. Notice the three at the bottom!

Lukas SEMBERA Czech Republic
Johann ZARCO France
Cyril CARRILLO France
Lucy GLOECKNER Germany
Markus REITERBERGER Germany
Christoph SCHOENBERGER Germany
Peter SEBESTYÉN Hungary
Lorenzo SAVADORI Italy
Sturla Borch FAGERHAUG Norway
Javier CHOLBI Spain
Johnny ROSELL Spain
Cristian TRABALON Spain
Robert GULL Sweden
Adam BLACKLOCK United Kingdom
Matthew HOYLE United Kingdom
Stuart MITCHELL United Kingdom
Jamie Charles MOSSEY United Kingdom
JD BEACH United States of America
CAMERON BEAUBIER United States of America
KRIS TURNER United States of America

Hi

Hello, My name is Kris Turner. I roadrace motorcycles. In this blog space, I will be writing race reports, thoughts, news, chat about sponsors, and things happening in my racing life. Please check back often.

Thanks,
Kris
www.kristurner.com