USGPRU / AMA at Road Atlanta

I had a lot of confidence going into the USGPRU race at Road Atlanta, combined with the AMA for the second time this year. The first race, at Miller, we missed being in Europe for the Rookies Cup, so I was also real excited to get to race in front of the big teams and riders.

The first session on Thursday, I rode at a decent pace the whole session. I was kind of trying to get my confidence up to carry more speed through the turns then I was able to last year due to the new pavement. At the end of the session, I was already going faster then I did last year at the GNF and Cycle Jam with WERA.

The second session, I was really wanting to pick it up some and get faster. I wanted to be the first one in the mid-'30s wherever that was going to be. I made all of about a lap before the bike seized entering one (for those of you who dont know, turn one is 105+ mph on a 125, third gear...). The backend locked up and jumped sideways so fast, I had no idea that it was gone 'til it was to far gone to react to it. I was lucky to get off the bike before it really highsided. The crash was still painful though!! I got up and immediatly found my arm to be hurting more then anything. So the paremedics MADE(!!) me get in the ambulance to get a ride over to the medical center to get my dad to sign me off to let me go, and that we didnt want to go to the hospital (like that was going to happen...)

So, my hopes of being fastest with a real fast laptime was shattered like that...but theres always tomorrow right??

On Friday morning, we had a brand new piston in the bike, so I spent just about the whole session breaking it in. I ended up third fastest with a '37.8. Not exactly as I would like, but with just one and a half fast laps on the track in the session, I was happy. I felt I could do much better for the after noon session. Little did I know that I wouldnt have the chance to do so.

At right after lunch, Connor (who I just met this weekend) and I went out to watch AMA practice on his Zuma. We rode over to inside of turn 7 and watched them go through there, then as we were leaving, I saw Elena and Tyler Odem sitting on a pitbike in between turn 6 and 7. I rode the scooter over there with Connor on the back. About the time I got to them and got my helmet off, two patrol men drove up in thier cars and told me to get off that I was kicked out!! I was so confused and they wouldnt even tell me what I did wrong. They then told Tyler that they were going to impound his KLX 110 because it wasnt a 125...everyone was trying to figure out what was going on. I got ahold of my dad on Elena's cell phone and he came over there to talk to the two... They then told my dad that I was doing stoppies on the Zuma with Connor on the back. When he tried to defend me (best way to put it [everyone knows its nearly inpossible to do stoppies on a Zuma, let along with two people on it!!]) they kicked him out also.

So, here I am missing the second practice of the day because two hire cops wanna show some autority that they think they deserve....

Lucky for me, Kevin Schwantz and I had become friends after meeting at Assen earlier this year, and with the help of him and Stuart Aitken-Cade, I was let back in the next day just in time for the morning practice.

In this session, I was not really thinking about riding so much as I was about pretty much just being mad...I wasnt thinking about being fastest or anything like that, I was just riding and trying to blow off some steam while doing it. Well this helped, because I came out of the session fastest with a '35.7. I was happy with this and was a little more confident going into the qualifying session later that day.

In the qualifier, I went out and immediatly began to turn fast laps, just looking for places where I could get more out of myself. I knew that it would be hard trying to get a faster laptime then PJ Jacobsen on his RS 125 which is a pretty good bit faster then mine, but this didnt slow me any. The whole session I was in a group of slower riders though, it seemed like they were everywhere! I would come in to get away from them and when I went back out there were more...I was trying to use them to my advantage and draft off of them when I could. I finally caught PJ on the next to last lap and tried to get a pull off him on the straight, but it didnt so much work when he shut the throttle off on me on the back stretch. I just went by him and finished the lap. Yet, my fastest lap ended up being a few laps earlier with a '34.706!! This time put me in 2nd behind PJ on grid which I was happy with. I was on front row atleast. Nobi Iso was third with a mid 35 and Elena completed the first row with a high 35. The race was going to be close but I knew that if I could be behind PJ on the back straight, then I could do the laptimes faster then his, maybe 33s. I knew that most of the time he had on me was mostly the horsepower he has, dont get me wrong, he is real fast, but I felt like on equal bikes, we would be much closer...

So on race day, I wanted to win soooo bad!! Just like everyone else I would assume though.

On the start I broke out with a decent start entering turn one in third behind Nobi and Elena who both got killer starts. I followed them for about a lap and a half and then made the pass on Elena, then Nobi just as the red flag came out due to a rider who fell in turns 10a-b. On the restart, it was almost a replay, Nobi, then Elena, then me, then PJ. I got by Elena quicker this lap and then passed Nobi and lead the last half of the first lap. Nobi got back by me and I made a real good move on him out of the esses entering turn 5. Then PJ drafted by me on the straight. I got back by him and started to ride just hard enough to stay in front but still save tires. Coming on to the last lap, I let PJ by coming out of turn 12. I knew that being in front of him on the back straight on the last lap was pretty much suicide and that he would have no problem drafting by me there. The whole race I was getting passed down the straight away but braking back by them in a killing effort into turn 10a. But they kept going deeper and deeper every lap and it was getting just as much harder to pass them as they did. So my plan was going right until we went entered turn one and PJ got by a lapper and I didnt. I passed the lapper and began to reel him back in, as soon as I caught him, another lapper began to held me up. Then entering turn 6 another one, but this one I stuffed the unnamed lapper in an effort to get back up to PJ before turn 7 so I could draft with him and pass him on the brakes like I have been. I was too far behind and lost it right there. I then noticed that he was getting held up though 10a-b. I kept running as hard as I could and almost caught him but was held up by a squirrel all the way over the hill and through turn 12. I was mad at first but then turned to an instant happy and proud of the way I rode, I congradulated PJ and then did a couple wheelies before coming back in.

So I didnt win, but I think I made a good impression this weekend!!

Thanks to Kevin Schwantz and Stuart Aitken-Cade for getting me back in!!
Also to the AMA for letting us come out and ride with them!!