Sept 22 - 23 AMA Grand National Championships at Mid-Ohio

Power Supertwins 8th
USGPRU 250GP 29th
Lightweight Superbike 2nd

This was my best race weekend of the year. And since breaking my ribs in a crash last year, this was the first weekend that I tried to win a race. Moreso, it was the first weekend this season that I tried pushing into some of the further limits of traction and braking. Speed? Never gone so fast. Completely wide full out in sixth gear at 12,000rpm and getting there from second gear on the longest straightaway I've ever experienced. My braking zone was at the end of that straight. So the braking limits that I was pushing were pretty extreme for this racer. Knees clamped on the gas tank, front brake squeezed lightly to set the pads, and then hard as I could making the rear end wanting to come up off the ground, and then finally a little front end locking making everything begin to look waggy. Coming down from 135mph to about 60 into Turn 5 and doing so in such a way, that other racers did not pass me by braking later. Part nerves, part brain. The former getting attention when the brain thought it looked a bit dangerous. The latter getting precedence, when the former relaxed knowing that the brain had sorted out there was plenty of room to run off track.

Trying to keep tucked in behind the windscreen on that long straight was something that was actually an amazing experience. I was racing up a class, so my bike was outpowered by the other racers. Drafting them was critical. On this straight I am speeding for nearly 20 seconds. The Aprilia is buffeted at first by the wind. Then at about 110mph or so, the wind quiets down as the holes drilled in the fairings begin to deal with the back pressure. Its not something I have ever felt before. It made me "get" why the holes were drilled. But when the bike is slicing through the air and my body isn't, its just a matter of squatting my chest down on the tank, putting my chin literally on the tank, and peering through the windshield while trying to tuck in my elbows and knees. Arching my back in just such a way smooths it out even further. The wind noise ceases and all I hear is the motor screaming. Catching a glimse of the shift light when it hits 12,500rpm. The speed was awesome. Totally thrilling actually.

Mid-Ohio is a world class auto roadracing course which makes it an amazing race track for motorcycles. Its 2.4 miles long with 15 turns. The main straight away is extremely long with a kink near the middle. That kink is taken just at the point where I shift into sixth gear and begin winding out the motor to its absolute fullest. In fact, because the track is characterized by speed, the bike is geared to reach its absolute peak and hold it for just a tick before grabbing the front brake hard and down shifting four gears to drop into a 90 degree right hander which takes me to the next turn, an up hill off-camber left hander which drops down hill at its apex to a chicane leading up to another turn and dropping down into a right hand turn into another high speed section they call thunder valley. The track requires very little braking, blending high-speed straights into high-speed turns which are often huge carousals. It flows with heaps of traction. The final straight takes me down along side pit-lane to the finish line which empties into the fast left hand turn one and onto another long straight broken up by a pair of S turns and another carousal they call the keyhole.

Learning a new track is one of my favorite things. Still summer-like in Ohio, we had a hot dry track for Thursday's opening practice, with the exception of Turn 7 which got a really good bathing of oil. One bike after another went down there, with the medi-vac helicopter transporting no less than three riders. I was in excellent control in there though as I went through the "cleaned" section, nearly always experiencing some kind of loss of traction (but never control). The best I could do on Thursday's's practice was a 1:56.584. By Friday I was in the 1:52 range and qualified for my race positions with a 1:50.054. By Saturday's practice I was into the 1:48s. Slow guys were running into the 2 minute laps. The fastest liter bikes (heavyweight superbikes and supersports) with top experts were cutting laps to 1:36.

I brought a second race bike with me. The Honda RS250 I acquired at Barber. But it blew an oil seal and fried its transmission which I eagerly disassembled three times in order to fix it. I needed a seal though and that's not something to do trackside. So I was going to race the Aprilia which had 20 less horsepower and weighed 60 pounds more. I raced once on Saturday to an 8th place finish, and to 29th in the USGPRU on Sunday morning.

On Sunday afternoon, I raced for the AMA Grand National Championship for Lightweight Superbikes. My Aprilia is underpowered in relation to a lightweight. But my ultralightweight Aprilia bike has the heart of a lion and I managed to keep it screaming at or near its 13,000rpm redline. The race was a crash-fest with racers down in nearly every lap. Winning this race was a matter of surviving the wreckage while running the bike as hard and as fast as I could. I avoided so many fallen bikes and riders, one of which was immediately in front of me sliding into my line. Coming up with a second place felt good. I started in the sixth row and somehow got to the first turn with the pack. The pack stayed a pack through half a lap until a bike low-sided in Turn 7. That's when I lost the lead bike while avoiding the fallen racer. Yes I wanted that #1 AMA plate badly. But a second place felt great. Considering that I crashed at the end of last year, this was a great way to end the season. And as I said, this was the race I told Duzzi, "I'm going to try and win it."

So am I back? Well I can say that after crashing last year so many times and getting injured, I needed to learn to race a track rather than other guys. I did that patiently all season. And Mid-Ohio was really no different other than holding on the throttle longer, and braking later, and for the first time in a year planning where I would make my passes rather than avoiding them. I became vastly improved this year by not "racing" other guys. I made the step from crazed competitor to roadracer.