Special thanks to the entire WERA crew at Grattan this past weekend, especially Jim Sublet. We had a mess on our hands with someone oiling the race line on two thirds of the track Friday morning, along with rain scheduled Sunday afternoon. Jim took a vote Saturday and ended up shifting the schedule with 3 rounds of practice Saturday, and then one on Sunday, jumping into races before lunch to beat the storm. Some intermittent rain came down during the day, but WERA worked around it, even doing a green/white/checkered in the last race, finishing just ahead of the rain. I didn't mind a morning race and getting home a little early. Anyway, not an ideal scenario for any of us, but was another great example of WERA looking out for the riders' best interests. Thank you Jim, Anita, Jacey, Rich, Dan, Rick, Charles, Mark, Dawn, the corner workers and anyone else I may have missed. Some of the best in the biz and makes this family of racing like nothing else. Thank you.
100% agreed. The WERA staff did an awesome job getting everything possible in to avoid the rain. With the Friday/Sat oil issues, the track was terrible in the rain (F2 got caught on the track during a quick dump). It felt very Mid-Ohio-ish. As an aside - I really liked the Sunday setup. 1 practice, start racing early, done by 1pm.
Jim and the team really hustled to pound those races through. 5 min. after the last race came in, the rain started in earnest. Jim, Anita, Dave in control, Rich, Dann, the starters and the corner workers did a great job keeping things moving. Perhaps the biggest help came from the racers by not crashing (much or hard), so we didn't lose time to red flags and pickups. I couldn't believe how suddenly that early, pre-shower hit. It went from, "I just felt a drop" to "Splooosh" in under a min. The day had an extraordinary rhythm to it. Things were movin'!
Hear hear! I was on the fence about staying and racing Sunday, but Jim's commitment in the Saturday meeting to do what it take to get the races in before the rain hit convinced me to give it a go. Had an awesome time.
Agree! I didn't get onto the WERA forum until now, and first thing I did was search for "Sublet" to make sure it was covered. Of course it was. Great job this weekend WERA (and all associated people).
Thank everyone for your thoughts. As all of you know I played a very small role in the outcome of the races Sunday. The whole thing was the result of all your officials working together to make things safe for you guys. In all honesty the thanks goes to the riders who raced swiftly and safely to keep the event rolling. See ya at the races. Thanks Sublet
