Elvis Jr. Race Report: Infineon Supermoto (Photos Posted)
* The Supermoto USA race weekend started for us on Thursday as I headed up to Infineon with our race bikes and EZ-UP in order to get a good pit space. This is important as you have to push your bike in the pits and it helps to be close to the track entrance. This went well but about 50 other teams had the same plan.
* On Friday, practice started at 1:00 PM. To learn the track Michael went out on our "B" bike just as it started to rain. On the first lap Michael and most of the other riders crash on a steep up hill mud section. After getting his bike started again he made a full lap and then crashed again in the same place. After this session the dirt section of the track is declared unridable and was eliminated. As soon as Michael came in I made the decision to change the tires on that bike to rains and to keep the "A" Bike on slicks. As we had to mount the tires on the rims this took us about and hour. Once the rains were mounted he went out for the last session of the day on a wet track and did pretty well. Other than the 10 minutes he had on the rain tires, so far the day was a total waste of time.
* Saturday started with a one hour delay to let the mud/dirt section to dry out. As so far it wasn't raining Michael went out on our "A" bike with slicks on. At this point things were going well. We made a few changes to the set up, but he was happy with the bike and the track, and looked fast. His race for Saturday was a new class for him 250F. These were faster riders and there was a $500.00 purse up for grabs.
* For his heat race he was gridded 19th in the middle of the 4th row. Not good. He got an OK start and was able to work his way to 10th place by the end, which put him on the outside of the 2nd row for the main.
* Michael got a great start in the main and was in 6th place coming out of the first turn. After a quick right left section he entered the step-up jump in the dirt section. As he reach a sharp left hand turn at the top, the rider in front of him shut the door on Michael and Michael hit him and went over the high side. He got going again right away but his front brake in was broken off and he came back in to the pit. Let me just say he wasn't too happy.
* *Our plan for having two bikes, one set up for rain and one with slicks for the dry was now impossible. This brake line in not a standard part and we couldn't find one. We spent the rest of the day setting up our "A" bike with rain tires and parts fron the "B" bike, as the forecast for Sunday wasn't looking too good.
* On Sunday morning we arrived to a wet track. At this point we were good to go. Michael's first wet practice went well, but we had a problem. It stopped raining and the track was drying. We decided to let him go out one more time to learn what the rain tires felt like on a drying track. He struggled as the riders with slicks were much faster.
* As he came back into the pit, Gary Jaehne and I did our best NASCAR tire change and we had him back on slicks in about ten minutes and he was ready for his first heat race, Open Novice.
* Michael was gridded on the pole, as he is leading the class. He won his heat going away. This would keep him on the pole for the main.
* In his next heat, the 400 Amateur class he was also on the pole, but his start wasn,t as good and he found himself in third. Michael was able to make two aggressive block passes in the dirt section and came away with a hard fought win. Things were now looking a lot better.
* Ten minutes before Michael's Novice main started, it began to rain. We had just enough time to change his front tire back to a rain, but we still had a slick on the rear. The track was now wet and he got a bad start. Four bikes crashed hard behind him and conditions were getting worse. Michael made his way to third place but then crashed in the dirt section. Bikes were crashing everywhere and the red flag came out stopping the race. When he returnd to the pit our NASCAR crew got going and we had him on full rains in a matter of minutes.
For the race they eliminated the dirt section and changed the track a little bit to make it longer. On the restart Michael got the holeshot and other than one small mistake in the new section won going away.
* In the 400 Amateur main Michael got a great start, but was followed closely the entire race. The 2nd place rider was unable to make the pass and Michael won again.
* This was the hardest we have ever had to work at the races. What seemed like a total waste of time at first changed to joy after the wins. Thanks to everyone who came by to say hi, and to all of you that helped us. On Saturday we will do it all over again at Infineon with the AFM.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Fast Elvis
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Mill Valley, Ca.
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