My Blog

Round 3 of the PAMX Spring Series is tomorrow at Pleasure Valley MX in Johnstown, PA. I'm really pumped on this one as it is basically my hometrack on the circuit. The weather is looking good for the Test & Tune today in which I am participating, but it may be a different story for the race.

Last weekend at Round 2 held at High Poit raceway was somewhat of a dissapointment. There were so many riders in my class there we had to use the first moto as a qualifying heat and the second moto as a main event. The top 18 made it out of 27 riders. I was about midpack around the first turn until a rider cuts across me and takes me down creating a three man pileup. I got up and went hard to the line finishing 11th. Then in the main, I started in 5th, but again a rider went down in front of me with nowhere to go, and I went down. I could only manage to get back to 25th. But I showed that I fixed my starting problems, and as practices happened this week, I feel good aout my speed too. So I am excited for this weekend

Here's a nice excerpt from an article that was wrote for the Racing Paper which may end up being in the next issue-"The second biggest class of the Spring Series, the Lites C, is also one of the most unpredictable and interesting classes to watch. There are about 15 riders out there that can take a win at any time. The Fratz-Orr brothers have been the dominant force so far this season, but at the High Point round, we saw that a crash can happen at anytime. So with just one brother out there, many other riders are looking to take the win. Billy Kibler has been looking very strong, as has Noah Vislosky, but maybe the most intriguing rider on the whole circuit is Micheal Payne. A BMX Pro turned MX racer, Mike really isn't in the point chase right now, but has had some bad luck. Watching him slice back up through the pack is amazing to watch, and with a little more practice, he can be winning with ease. He's only been riding for 2 months! By the end of the series, these four riders should be duking it out each week for the win."

So guys, log onto gopamx.com for race times and fees. It's $10 to get in per person, practice starts at 8am with racing at 10am on Sunday. Test & Tune is from 11am-4pm Saturday. Come on out and watch.

Thanks to my sponsors; Hannah Racing Products, NOGI Clothing, Jamestown Cycle Shop, Fringe, Fuzion, Kicker, Osiris, thehelmetman.com

Just got in from the first round of the PAMX Spring Series which was held at Roaring Knob raceway near Uniontown. They cancelled practice on Saturday because the track was wet I guess, so I ended up going to Proving Grounds with Shipley and a few others to practice. The track was for ATV's, so it wasn't a whole lot of fun but was good practice.

So then we shipped out at 4 in the morning Sunday for Roaring Knob. I got 3 laps of practice, and we were the first ones out, so the track didn't have any ruts or anything yet. The track was fine, not a whole lot of mud or anything, but it was cold out.

I had first gate pick this time, so I picked the perfect gate. But I blew it right off the bat and ended up in the first turn about 20th out of 28. Through the first two turns I made alot of passes which I've found out I can do easily, and made it to about 7th. Then a rider fell in front of me in the same rut that I was in. I tried climbing out of it, but got tagged by another rider and went down. Everytime I tried getting up I got knocked back down by the other downed rider. So I started 28th about 2 straights behind.  caught up and made several passes but then got arm pump bad and had to back off some. Moto 1 I ended up 15th.

So I had a terrible pick on the gate it would seem. Except everyone neglected to pick the far inside gate. So I grabbed it with the hopes of pulling the holeshot. Nope. I get over-anxious and dump the clutch all of the time, so I need to work on that. But I stalled the bike and started 28th again. Not to mention my fender must have gotten knocked loose during the first crash, and I didn't notice until I got on the gate. So we had no choice but to take it off. It was ugly, but it was all we could do.

So I'm in 28th, but I caught up early and once again made a bunch of passes on the first lap. I was around 17th at the end of the first lap. The arms lasted longer this time so I ran a whole race. The yellow flag was out over the one jump I was doing that I could have made time on, but I still charged to an 11th place finish. With that I ended up 11th overall for the day.

I feel that I could be top 5 with a start. The top few were jumping everything which I wasn't, but I will get that down too. Right now I sit 11th in points with High Point next weekend and my hometown race at Pleasure Valley the next.

You can follow my results and the points chase at gopamx.com. Just click on points, then on the TRACKSIDE logo. Choose a 2008 event or go to points and choose 125C or Lites C to view the results or points.

High Point is next! A pro national track should be fun. And dangerous. But fun.