Once we all got set up and the bikes all went through tech inspection, we were ready to roll. They shortened our practice and qualifying to just two sessions instead of the regular three to try and save some time too, plus they were going to not have semi's today, as they would just have our heat races, and take an additional few guys out of each heat race. Once we got on the track for qualifying, I could tell right away that this was definitely a different Springfield Mile track than I had ever been on before. It was real soft from all the rain, which really made the track start to come apart in places, plus there were lots of ruts and bumps starting to pop up here and there. Usually some bumps and ruts don't bother most of us riders when we are on smaller tracks like short tracks or half miles, but when you are going 135mph on a mile track like this one, yah, ya don't really need that extra factor in there to spook ya at times and make it a little iffy to say the least. We made it through qualifying and I ended up in the 7th spot I believe.

    For my heat race, I was in there with Willie McCoy, Weidman. Murray and others. I got off the line really good and had the lead going into turn one. We were able to run way, way high on the track today, as it was so rough down low, that everyone kept running higher and higher as practice went on to avoid the bumps down low. Plus it was actually pretty fun to run around Springfield way up high like this, as the normal line is usually right around the bottom next to the guard rail. Myself, I would much rather run up high like this, as it opens up so much more of the track for racing and passing. As I had the lead going into turn one, I knew I had to try and burn a real good corner right away to see if I could break the draft and get away by myself. With the track being rough like this, it usually makes it much easier to break the draft here, just because you can try and bonsai a corner or two and possibly get far enough away in a corner to not let them grab your draft from behind. Usually a corner on the mile here is more like a single file follow the leader right around the bottom besides the guard rail. I mean you are still going fast around the bottom, but you usually have no options but to stay on the bottom, but today you could pretty much go anywhere, that was if you feeling up to fighting the bumps more than they were at these speeds. Ya gotta be feeling pretty confident to chop off a corner here with track conditions like this, because it can grab you and spit you off, HARD! And it will hurt, I promise ya!

    So anyway, I lead it coming off of turn tow, and then here comes Willie McCoy blasting past me down the back stretch. If there is ever a hotrod bike at the Springfield mile, it has to be Willie's bike the last few years, as his bikes is always running really good here for some reason. So Willie and I go back and forth every lap, as he would draft me down the straights, but I had some great lines way up high in the turns where I was able to get him back pretty much every corner. Then we had a red flag come out as someone had crashed, so we waited quite a while to get the rider taken care of and the track ready to go again. I was at the front for the single file restart and right away it was Willie and I going back and forth again, but this restart had let Weidman and Murray join us up front. We all four traded the lead quite a few times over the next few laps, but towards the end, I could tell is was going to between Willie and myself for the win as long as we played it out right. I knew Willie had a fast bike, but I felt like I could beat him to the flag if I lead it off turn four, so that was my plan, to try and lead off turn four to the checkers. I set it up on the last lap to draft past Willie going in to turn three, now I just had to kill turn three and four. I got through turn three pretty good, but I got it a little too sideways off the exit of turn four, and right at the line, Willie got past me for the heat race win, as I ended up second. This would put me on the front row for the final, plus it would put me in the Dash for Cash too.

    For the main event, they were really having to hurry and rush the show along, as it was now somewhere around 6:30pm and the sun was starting to drop down, plus in a short while, the sun would be right in our eyes as we went through turns three and four. By the time we got all lined up for the final, we all went out and did our warm up lap, but as we did this, we all noticed that the sun was in a terrible spot right now, as it just blinded you for a second in the middle of turn three and four. That's the last thing you need when you racing with someone at over 100mph on a rough track like this one. So we the riders went back and told the officials that we needed to wait for the sun to get a little better, just a few minutes. They let us wait it out and now it was time to race, finally.

    At the start, I got off great and had the lead going in to turn one and out of turn two. I hit a heck of a hole coming out of turn two the first lap, and could see that turn two was definitely going to be a handful in this race today. I then got drafted by Mees and Johnson down the back stretch, and from there on it turned into the typical drafting war, except the fact that the turns were way rougher, which made for interesting lines as everyone was moving all over the track to try and find their best lines. In the early going it was Mees trying to get away, with Johnson, Smith,  Halbert and myself right behind. Turns one and two were just getting terrible rough as each lap went on, and then around lap 7 or so, I caught a hole in turn two that wrenched my left knee once again. It's weird when this happens each time, but I swear it hurts like a sunz a gun for about a minute or two, then it seems to mellow out a little bit and let me get back to racing, but by then it is in the back of my mind and I am riding trying to protect it at the same time. After I wrenched it that time, it made me loose the draft of this lead pack I was in, and like I said, after a couple of laps of riding in major pain, it seemed to ease up and let me race again. But by now I was in a lonely 5th place all by myself, as the lead four had gotten away from me, and the 6th place on back was quite a ways back. So I rode the rest of the race all by myself, just wishing I was back up in that lead pack as I felt I had some good lines working now too. Jake Johnson ended up winning the main folowed by Mees, and Halbert. I was kind of bummed with 5th place in the main event, as I knew that Carl and Rob had both built me a great bike for today, but it just did not work out with my knee and everything.

    It was getting dark so quick before the final that they decided to run the main event first, and then see if we had time for the Dash after that. Right after the main was over with, they hurried us back up there to run the Dash. I was excited as I felt I had some good lines now and my knee seemed to be pretty good now. Off the start I was in third behind Halbert and Mees, and the rest of the pack was behind us. Then coming out of turn two, al off a sudden I see Mees trying to put his hand up real quick just as we are starting to get on the back straight. Halbert and both narrowly missed him and snuck by somehow with no collision. With this only being a 5 lap Dash, I knew I had something for them, as Sammy and I started going back and forth every lap. I decided after a few drafts back and forth that I wanted to try and lead it off turn four, as I was able to beat him to the line a couple of other laps, but then he got me one other lap, so it's one of those calls that could go either way. I drafted him down the back stretch and took the lead going into turn three on the last lap. I got through turn three great once again, but on the exit, I felt like I got a pretty good drive off turn four, but Sammy ended up getting by me by about a half a wheel at the finish for the win, as I ended up second in the dash.

    After the Dash, I took the time to look for a second, and WOW, it was pretty dang dark about now. I didn't really notice it being too dark while racing, but after we slowed down, then I really started to notice just how dark it was getting. Glad that we got this one in, finally! Now we had to hope for the best for tomorrow to see if we could get the short track national in on Monday.

    Until next time, G;Day! Joe