Its been almost a year since my last trip to Mid America, my last time there where some firsts... First time chasing a top 5 finish, first podium, first time crashing, first time racing with a concussion... Needless to say it was good to be back. I have more track time logged at MAM than I do at local GIR... go figure!
We loaded up and left town around noon. First year AM Josh King and I headed out to Columbia to meet up with the cowboy cruiser to make the trek to Pacific Junction, IA. We arrived at MAM around 8 o'clock and began to get everything ready to set up. Trying to keep it close to the vendors we find a great spot that we can secure a few extra spots for our stragglers. Set up camp, installed frame sliders, bought some fuel, got some contingency stickers, ate some pizza (thanks TA for ordering too much!!), drank some beer... off to the hotel.
Rain and hail all night prove to bring "Lake MAM" to the surface... right smack dab in the middle of where we where pitted. 2 inches or so of water surrounded our trailer and surrounding area... the only real casualty, I had a jack stand set out with bright yellow caution tape attached to it to secure pit location for our teammates... I guess someone didn't see it and backed over it, hope ya didn't blow your tire. A simple "sorry bout your jack stand, I didn't see it" would have been appreciated. Moving along...
Saturday team challenge was cancelled, I am starting to think that maybe running this race isn't such a good idea. 2 events, o-fer-2... mechanical at RA, meteorological at MAM. Good on TA for canceling and allowing everyone else to practice, what sucks is my teammate was (again) only making the trip to run the TC... we'll have some better luck at HPT I hope.
Practice Saturday after the rain proved to be VERY hot and with a VERY green track. Took a long time to get up to speed, felt towards the middle of the day that things where getting faster... not so much, but it seemed even the FAST experts weren't cracking into the sub 1:40's.
As the track started to come in, the fatigue seemed to follow... made some preload adjustments to get the bike turning a little better, balance out some compression and rebound issues and cut a few seconds... still not where I planned on being pace wise. Got lots a fluid, fresh rubber (2 full track days and 1/2 day of practice is enough for 1 set I s'pose) and back to the hotel for a shower and dinner... hoping to be faster tomorrow.
Sunday GTU. Practice was uneventful, completed 4-5 laps getting a good scrub in the tires and loosening up. Sat in the trailer and drank some fluids prior to the GT, still a little dehydrated from yesterday despite plenty of fluids last night and this morning. Oh well, only one race to worry about.
Small grid in the GTU, 11-13 bikes by best guess. Some fast guys in front of me for sure. Goals where to be faster than practice (better be) and be consistent, pass the guys I'm faster than, don't get passed by the ones I'm not...Mission accomplished, although I didn't run a great race I did drop an additional 3.7 seconds from practice and blew right threw my set up... had some front end issues limiting me to 40.2-40.8 times (2nd hand knowledge, according to my lap timer I broke Jensens record.... 1:28.28) didn't see official times myself. A touch more trail and I'm in the 38-39 range that I was hoping for... knowing is half the battle. I also got to pass my buddy josh running in the AM GTU... looked like he was running around having a blast! Best guess was a 2nd hand account... 8th, still waiting for official results.
Once again big thanks to Rob, Jason, Ryan and the rest of the Lithium crew, you guys make it easy!! Tommy and Edgar for the ultra fast front tire swap. Hitman motorsports for the dyno tune, much more crisp and clean. Another 4.6hp up top not counting the VP we added Sunday. Moved the powerband 1k to the left, pretty damn linear pull...very impressed with the work!
Nice to meet some new people, Jeff Kufalk, Mike (thanks for the loaner axel to my buddy josh, kept him running his first race weekend), Dave Daniels... see ya at HPT!!