Mikey Martin 91Y
Saturday May 1st was round 3 of the AMA Pro Singles in Prescott Arizona. We got there Friday night; it was my chance to walk the track. I could see it was going to be very slippery and there were some soft spots in turns 1 and 2. We were staying at a hotel a few miles away from the track so we could sleep in a little before the big race.
We got up around 5:30 Saturday morning, and drove to the track. They were working on the track and putting some water down while we were unloading and going through tech. I was excited to go out for the first practice. It was really slick and they gave us a second untimed practice. After the first session we changed our gearing and made some other adjustments to the bike.
Davey Durelle stopped by our pit area and helped us with the suspension set up. The second practice the gearing was a lot closer but the track was getting worse, it started tearing up bad in turn 1 and 2 but 3 and 4 was grooving up and it was smooth. I qualified 12, I was happy since it was the first mile I have ever ridden. I was in the second heat race and started on the back row.
The light goes green, I got a bad start and was in about 10thplace into turn one. There was really no passing in the corners so I had to draft to pass in the straightaway. I was passing one by one in the straightaway and trying different lines in the corners. It was only a 6-lap heat race and on the white flag lap I was up to eight. I came out of turn two and got a great drive and drafted one more rider for 7th place. Seven riders advanced and I had made the main!
The Pro Singles was the first main and I was nervous. We walked the bikes to the line; I was on the 3rd row. Were ready the light goes green, I got a great start and rode the outside up high in the deep cushion. I was in 5th coming out of turn two, I got pulled into a draft and went into turn three a little to hard and went wide but I managed to get back in line and only lost 2 positions.
I was in about 7th coming out of turn 4. I was pushing really hard and I was trying to find better lines in turn 1 and 2. I fell back a few spots in the straightaway after I got drafted; I kept going wide in turns one and three. About lap 5 out of 12 and my brakes started over heating; I was trail breaking a lot to stay in the corners and that caused me problems with the brakes.
I couldn’t slow down so I had to down shift to use engine breaking to slow me down. I kept losing positions every lap and ended up 15th. It was just a bad day but I learned a lot about racing on the mile. I know I will be faster on the next mile track. –Mikey Martin 91Y
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