A.M.A. 2004 Road Race Grand Championship July 22 & 23, 2004

There was no rest or the weary after the AHRMA races at Mid-Ohio. After loading up and heading home the Sunday after the races, I tore the bike down on Monday. The rear sub-frame repair was holding up well, although the bolts seemed to be loose. I made a mental note to check them after every race at the track. By late Monday night I was ready to go and again loaded up the bike in Scott Smallwood's van.

At some point three days previous, the van ride back and forth to Mid-Ohio became my little ‘commute’. That’s not to say that I saw racing like a job, but just driving one hour one way was about a boring as it gets. That Tuesday we paid the gate fee, got in and set up under the exact same tent. It seemed that Scott and I had the pit all to our selves since the races were held in the middle if the week.

Running as a joint venture between the A.M.A. and WERA the A.M.A. Road Race Grand Championship is the sole A.M.A. national amateur road race. The scheduled event uses a one race, winner take all format using a simplified class breakdown. At registration I picked up my paperwork and got an event T-shirt.

Since Scott and I had put in a good three days of racing and practice in at Mid-Ohio, we felt good about the next two days. I had some concern about my tires lasting, but the Bridgestone support truck was there in case I needed to open my wallet.

The first practice was pretty interesting. The skies were clear, but there was a cold front in the area that was keeping the track temperature down. My practice group was not even out of turn two and someone high-sided their Ducati due to cold tires and track. The AMA brought us back in and we had to wait while the carnage of that mess was cleaned up. I guess there’s nothing like wadding your bike up before 9:30 in the morning, except maybe the smell of napalm.

Back out and everyone wisely decided to take their time, at least for the first few laps. And this was where I had an epiphany, clarity of vision if you want. Here I was, during a work week and I was racing. How cool is it to be at the track, open throttle and just trying to get you freaky speed on before The Jerry Springer Show is even playing? As I sliced through the morning mist and rode a wheelie through ‘Thunder Alley’ I had a smile just pasted to my face.

Practice two was uneventful, and I was trying to size up some competition for the novice Clubman race later that afternoon. There were a few guys on Honda CRF450’s that were just flying; Alan Stay’s bike in particular was smokin’ fast. By Bridgestone’s suggestion I raised the tire pressure which enabled me to corner harder and the tire wear deceased considerably. The transponder beacon wasn’t working during the first practice session, but during the second session I posted a time of 1:57.977.

Victory circle was the location of the riders meeting as well as an impromptu lunch gathering. At this riders meeting I felt an even more heightened level of adrenalin than at the usual club meeting. The level of intensity seemed to be turned up a notch. There were some concerns over the transponders not working during the morning practice, but nothing of the ordinary was brought up. Scott and I talked with a few guys we knew attending the races and just hung out. I was just giddy at the thought of racing by the time the grids were called.

The computer had put the Clubman novice entries on the grid at random, so I really couldn’t complain that I was on row one on the outside. Two Honda’s took a huge lead at the start of the race. I was pushing myself pretty hard and I ended up battling with expert David Weaver (CRF450). My tires were now just overheated and wore out, as I was getting some pretty bad chatter in to the back section of the track. Brian put a pass on me heading out of Thunder Alley, nearly t-boning me. From that point on I tried to give him a wide birth and I came home in third clocking in at 1:53.089, while Alan Stay [CRF450] won the race.

My only other race of the day was Lightweight Solo Novice, a 16 lap race with a cash payout (usually to the top three places in each class). There were nine novice riders and 11 experts, and most of the bikes racing were Suzuki SV650’s. I had entered the race just to get some more track time (like I needed any… I had been there since Friday the previous week). The KTM was able to stay with the SV650’s, while traffic was an issue heading in to the keyhole and down the back straight. I was in the thick of things, running mid pack for about four laps. I went to out-break some riders and kept it close in the infield. Eventually the field thinned out and I was left to fend for myself. At that point my goal was to keep in touch with the bike in front of me, but at least I had a blast mixing it up for first few laps while posting a fast lap of 1:55.902.

I resigned myself and my wallet to the Bridgestone truck after the race. I got hooked up with a fresh set of BT-090 race tires. I had been running Bridgestone’s BT-012SS and BT58R front and rear, respectively. The newer tires were a race compound, whereas the previous tires were mostly street and track day oriented. After the tire swap I checked the bike over before the next days practice.

At about 5 PM the AMA put on a pretty cool awards ceremony. The top five got to stand on the podium while former AMA pro-racer David Sadowski did the award presentations. It was a mind blower to stand on the podium and just yap in to the track PA. I hope I didn’t sound too foolish. Afterwards the AMA had a BBQ for all the attendees. Nothing like a day of great racing capped off with a plate of free food eaten with some good friends!
Wednesday was much of the same as the previous day. Scott was done racing so I had to borrow my roommates (ex) prison van to get to the races. I rolled up all pimpin’ to the track in a kaki colored van, with bars on the windows and black spray paint over “The Ohio Department of Corrections” stickers.

Out of the two practice sessions, my best time was 1:54.393. I got the new tires scrubbed in and was able to just work on my reference points. I experimented with breaking later in some sections and getting on the gas sooner. I was feeling pretty loose and ready to have another go at the podium. Catherine arrived with lunch and so we hung out at the riders meeting.

My only race was Lightweight Superbike. I had a good grid position and got off the line pretty smoothly. Aaron Kidd (Yamaha FZR400), Ron Henning (Kawasaki EX500) and I had a pretty good fight for the top three spots. I had followed Aaron in practice and felt that I could beat him if I could stay with him. The first laps would be critical as his bike had more horsepower, but I think I had better times in the back section of the track.

Half-way through lap one things were going to plan… until expert Chad Hinton (Aprilia RS250) had part of his exhaust fall off down the back straight. This caused him to hold up Aaron, Ron and myself. Aaron got by Chad, but I just couldn’t find a way past. That allowed Ron to catch up, and then I had to fight for second place…. while trying to pass Chad. Aaron took off, won by three seconds (while taking over third in WERA regional points for that class). I was able to hold off the last lap attacks of Ron to take second. I dropped a lap of 1:52.457, three seconds ahead of third place.

At the end of five days of racing I considered Mid-Ohio a success. I was able to get on the podium twice by grabbing a second and a third. The limitations of the bike were pretty much apparent, and unless I spend some serious money on the bike I don’t think I could have improved my finishes.

The answer to lowering my lap times would be in getting the suspension worked on, and I needed to get some time to get that sent out. On my way home the van blew a tire in a big way. But nothing could really dampen my spirits. Well, maybe not having a jack after the tire blew. And I did have to be at work the next day… so all was not roses.