On Saturday July 16th I headed up to Grattan Raceway in Michigan to compete in round six of WERA’s National Challenge Series. Since there was a six-hour endurance race being held Saturday, there was no practice except for endurance teams. Hence… a late departure from Columbus. The ride up was uneventful and pretty quite. Catherine stayed home and all of usual pit monkeys and racers were at Mid-Ohio for an event that weekend. I expected light grids for the Formula 2 class, and just enjoyed the drive up. I flipped through some radio stations and cranked out some tunes on the CD player. Sometimes it’s nice to just travel alone to an event and sort out your head. So I rolled in to Grattan at about 7 P.M., just missing the hard rain that fell after the endurance race was over. I stopped by the Grattan Inn for a sandwich and then rolled in to the low pit area. I got set-up, dropped the wheels on the bike so that Mize Mobile could put on a scrubbed set of Bridgestone BT-090 Pros for Sunday’s practice and races. After the sun went down, I closed the van windows as misquotes kept dive bombing me for the first hour I went to sleep. Sunday morning and I was up early. I ran the wheels and tires over to Mize before he got to the track. I had a light breakfast, picked up the wheels and put the bike back together before the first of two practice sessions. I decided to run some tires left over from WERA’s GNF in October of 2004. The Formula 2 race was more about getting some set-up time for the next North Central race, and any points that I could collect would be a bonus. I wanted to win, but knew that the series leaders Chris Parrish and Kendrick Morrison where on the grid and had other plans that didn’t include me. After the beating I took at the North Central races at Beaver Run, my confidence was pretty shot. Finishing last in every race was not what I had planned, but I put it down to a bad weekend and moved on. Beaver Run is not my favorite track, and just to leave there with-out scaring myself silly was pretty good. And I realized that Beaver Run doesn’t suit the strengths of the Cleveland-Akron KTM. Grattan’s layout plays to the KTM’s strengths, and would be a nice confidence booster and warm up to the AMA Sports races beginning on Monday at Mid-Ohio. Practice session one saw me out and just feeling out the bike and the ‘older’ tires. WERA was running the track clockwise, a direction which I had only run once before. I posted a time of 1:35.372, and since I had no previous laps times to use as a benchmark that became my time to beat. Before the second practice I made some minor suspension adjustments, checked out the tires and upped the pace. Most of the Suzuki SV 650’s were beating me on the straights, but I was holding my own in the infield. Kendrick Morrison’s Honda RS250 was flying in the sub 1:30 range. My best time out was 1:33.332. Formula 2 was about the last race of the day, so I just lounged under the EZ-UP most of the afternoon. And that’s one nice thing about racing an event with no pressure; you can just chill and relax. Usually I’m just a ball of nerves at the regional level, but for some reason the National’s I’m more laid back. I think it’s because I’m just out there trying to advance my skills and not worrying about the points. Well, the race gets called to the grid. It’s sunny and quite nice, and I roll up on the outside of row one next to Chris Parrish and Kendrick Morrison. We have a five bike field, and I grab a good start and get passed half-way down the front straight. In fact, all the Novices barely beat me to turn one. I try and make some inside passes through the infield as the ‘red mist’ closes over my eyes. But then I have a sudden realization that even if I did get past all the novices, the lead group was pulling away. At that point I just wanted to stay out of the novice’s fight for their podium positions. I also knew that I needed to be at Mid-Ohio that night, and race there for the next 4 days. So getting caught up in a race that might put me off the track isn’t worth the effort. I circulate for the ten laps, work on my laps and bring the bike home in last place. I clocked my fastest lap on the last lap, turning a 1:31.835. Given the circumstances I wasn’t too disappointed about my finish. My finish put me in third for points in Formula 2, behind Chris Parrish and Kendrick Morrison. After the race I packed up and headed towards Mid-Ohio. Along for the ride was Dominic Jones, a rider from New Zealand. Chatting with Dom made the ride home go by much faster, and we barely got to Mid-Ohio before the gate closed. Up next is the AMA Sports Grand National Roadrace Championships at Mid-Ohio, June 18th through the 20th. I’ll be racing in Clubman, Formula 2 and D Superbike. A big thanks again goes out to my sponsors!
