Springfield TT, 5-29-10 GNC Round 4>

It seems like every year that one Memorial Day weekend, there is a goooood chance of rain in Springfield, Illinois. This year was different, as the sun was shining, and it was HOT! All weekend looked good according to the weather man, but we've all heard that before, right?

    I have been really looking forward to the TT here, as it had been a couple of months since our last 450 race in Daytona, and I had been doing a lot of dirt bike riding at home lately, as ya never know when they might decide to throw in a log or two to jump over at the races. hahaha, but if they do, I'll be ready for it.

    I went out in the first session right behind Wiles, Johnson and Lewis. My bike was working very good, as my mechanic Rob had her dialed right in. After the first round of practice was done, I had the fast time! Yah, that's what I was feelin.' Then in the next session, I came back in and had slipped back to 5th, then to 7th in the last session. I was not worried as I knew that your time here depended on when they watered the track and etc. compared to your time. I knew I felt like one with my bike, and it felt FAST! Thanks Jerry at General Engineering. www.geheads.com Jerry and Rob had built me some hotrod 450's for the year, and I could feel it now.

    I would be in the first heat race with Chad Cose on pole, then Wiles, Steve Bonsey, myself and others. Wiles got the jump on me off the line, as he took the point, but I was right behind him. After a few laps, it seemed like he was getting through the sweeper better than me, but I would get into the right hand turn way better than him and get right back on his rear wheel. Lap after lap we did this same thing, but in the end I was not able to make the pass on him as he won heat race one, with me second. I felt that if I could get out in front of Wiles here, I definitely had something for him tonight, as passing was pretty tough here tonight. With my second place finish, that would put me in the Dash for Cash again.

    For the Dash, we tried a couple of things with the gearing and suspension, as we figured this was the time to try it. I was not getting the best of starts so far today, and I knew that a start would be a lot of help in the Dash and Main event. At the start of the Dash, Mees got the holeshot, followed by Wiles and myself side by side going through turn one. I had the inside position on Wiles, which was better as he had the outside edge of the jump to work with now. I took over a solid second going up the jump face, right behind Mees. Mees was going good, but I still felt faster than him through the right hand turn and such, but I was quickly finding out that passing was gonna be pretty hard tonight on this track. Jared ended up winning the Dash, followed by myself and Shawn Russel.

    I had been watching the track all night long, and I had picked up on one nice line, but I knew if I tried this new line, that I would have to shift at different places on the track. I really did not want to change up my shifting pattern all of a sudden for the main event, as I had not tried this all day long, but I knew I needed to give it a try. I was gonna try it sometime in the main, but I just was not sure exactly when?

    This starting line here was very tacky, with great traction for starts, which is the type of dirt I love, but for some reason, I was not really getting that great of starts so far tonight. I mean I had been getting like second or third off the line each time, but I wanted the holeshots. It was main event time and I needed to make it happen.

    I had fourth pick on the line, which looked to be a pretty good starting spot. The board goes sideways and on come the green starting light for the start of the Main Event. I get off the line pretty good, but I have a couple of guys under me going into one. I come out of turn two going up the jump in the third spot, with Mees out front, Wiles second, and myself following close. We enter the right hand turn, and it looks like Steve Bonsey is trying to squeeze under me on my right side, just about then I see the a blue #7 bike come trying to squeeze in there too? There was not room for Bonsey, let alone Sammy too. Ooh to be young and dumb like that again. I stand my bike up to try and avoid their collision, as I think they both went down in this classic Sammy situation, or at least it put them both back farther than they were at that moment. I went from third to like sixth when I got back on line, THANKS guys!

    Anyway, I now had some work to do to try and catch back up to the leaders. My bike was working great tonight, and I felt ready for the challenge ahead of me now. I started putting in some great laps, and lap after lap, I just kept charging toward the front. I came up on Shaun Russell, then once past him I caught Bryan Smith, and each of these riders took a little time to pass, as passing was tough here on this track. It seemed every time I passed a rider, I could get away really quick and catch the next guy, but the pass on each person was taking longer than I wanted, as I could see Wiles out front, and Mees in second, both getting away from me and the pack. Once I finally got into third place, probably around lap 12 or so, I had a huge gap to make up to try and catch Mees who was in second place, probably 3 or 4 seconds in front of me. I remember thinking about now, that all of my hard work I have been doing is going to pay off right now. This is the stuff I train for. I put my head down and it seemed like I was not making much ground up on Mees, as he was so far ahead of me, that I could not really tell if I was closing up on him or not. Then with about 6 or 7 to go, I could see I was catching him. I kept charging harder and harder, and when the 5 laps to go board came out, I had closed up to about 5 bike lengths behind him. I could see a couple places where I was definitely stronger than him, and it looked like he was getting tired too, as he  was bouncing around through the bumps in places, and didn't quite have the energy to charge through that rough stuff anymore. I liked what I was seeing, a weakness. I was entering turn one high when I caught him, but then after a couple laps of following him, I tried and moved it down lower to sneak under him here. When I did that, he changed his line and moved right down to block me at times. Now I had him right where I wanted him, as he was riding to defend me off now. I would change my one corner up here, and next time, he would be right there trying it too. It was kind of like a cat and mouse game for me, but I was having some fun at the same time. Finally with about two to go, I knew I had to get the pass done, so I set him up and I ran a little wide into the sharp left turn before the sweeper corner, and right when he exited that turn, he hit the bumps he had been hitting in the previous laps, and this let me grab an extra handful of throttle this time as I squeezed right under him going into the sweeper corner, and came out in front of him. Now I had one lap to go, and Wiles had a good gap on me, but I knew Mees was tired and if I rode my own race, I would not have to worry about him anymore. Wiles ended up winning the TT race, with me second, and Mees third.

    I really have to THANK my tuners, Rob Kopp, and Jerry Wilhemy of General Engineering, as I really have some awesome 450 Hondas right now. I can't wait for the Peoria TT, coming up soon, as I can tell, we have some weapons for there. Plus, right now I am leading the Grand National points, as I have ten points over Johnson in second, but alot of racing to go still.

    Now it is time to get some sleep and get ready for the Springfield Mile tomorrow morning.

Until next time, G'Day!  Joe

 

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadslide, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming- WOW-WHAT A RIDE!