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Lima is always one of those races that I really look forward to going to each year. I guess it is just the great track, and how they always have a great crowd, where they can either sit in the grand stands, or line up around the outside of the track. If I were a spectator there, I would for sure be lined up along the fence somewhere, as  little dirt in your beer never hurt no one, but it gives you the feeling of being at a race. I have a bumper sticker that reminds me of Lima every time I look at it. It says, " If ya ain't got dirt in your beer, then you are not at a real race track". I love that one!

    I had our brand new Latus H-D XR750 with us again today, and it had the new J&M frame under it, and I wanted to give it a shot here today in practice. It is hard to try a new bike sometimes, especially when the old horse seems to be working just as good as anyone’s bike still, but I I did not want something even with them, I wanted to have a better bike than theirs, and that is why sometimes ya gotta try new things out. I had won Lima in 2003 and 2004, and got second in 2005. So yah, my old horse was pretty darned good here, but I had a new bike I really wanted to try out here.

    During practice, I took the new bike out in the first session, and pretty much any bike  would have felt great on a fresh track like we had right now, and after a lap or two, I could tell that, wow, this bike was really doing everything I wanted it to do, ad doing it real easily also. At the end of my second lap of practice I could feel the bike start bogging down on the exit of the corner, then I went into the next turn and felt the bike riding real bumpy through the corner, then it bogged down again on that next exit. Next turn I knew something was up, so I pulled over and seen that I had a flat rear tire. That explained the bogging and the rough ride. So I had to pull off practice early that time. After all the practices were over with, my best times were in that first session and the other two sessions I pretty much sucked. But I knew I had something for them when race time came around. I decided to race the new J&M framed bike tonight, as it just felt awesome out there. Hole shots help out a bunch here, so that you can get out of the spray and see better and ride your own race, so I knew that is what I needed.

    There was the usual going fast here tonight on this cushion style track. Dominic Beauloc from Canada was a terror here again, and Geo Roeder was going real fast too, and Carr was fast too. But I have beaten them on this style of track quite a few times, and I was ready for whatever they had to thrown at me again. I just wanted to race and quit playing the stop watch game. Let the racin' begin!

    I was in heat race #3, with Chris Carr, Shawn Russel and others. I needed a win as the front row is a big bonus for the start of the final, as the roost here with slow you down bunches for the first few laps if you are stuck behind a group or someone, and that just gives the leaders a chance to get away from you. Carr had pole and at the flash of the green light, I had the holeshot and sailed her off into turn one. There are so many different lines that you can run on this track, as there are high lines that the crazy Canadians and local Ohio guys like to run, there there is another 50 feet of track under them that you can do anything with. It gets kind of brushed off down there at times, but it still works good too. You just have to work the track, and try to tell by the seat of your pants what part feels better, up high or middle or lower. I felt pretty good around the middle of the track, as the top was good, but it was hard to put in consistent laps up there as it was so deep and rough at times, and I just felt more consistent in the middle of the track. So I pushed her hard for a few laps and noticed that I had built up a pretty good lead over second. So I decided to try a few new lines and see what was out there. I kept pushing it hard and pretty much came back to my original lines, around the middle of the track, just bumping into the cushion at times. The bike was just awesome, I mean it was screamin'. Before this race, I had talked with my mechanics Rob and Larry about maybe changing our bearing, and they talked me into it, and boy was it working now. I ended up coming home with the big heat race win and a front row start for the final.

    After all the heats had run, I ended up having the fastest heat race time of the night, so we had pole for the final. Bring em' on!
    For the final, we had put on a new rear tire, and other than that, no changes. I had picked out a great starting spot, the third pick up off of the bottom of the track. I could tell this was going to be my holeshot line.

    At the flash of the green, I jumped out of there like a bandit and the holeshot was ours. I always say, that the easiest and only place to pass 17 other guys at one moment is on the starting line, and at a cushion track, that is a big bonus for ya. As I was leading going into turn one with the lead, I could feel that my seat foam pad felt like it was sideways all of a sudden. Our seat pads are held on with huge big long strips of velcro, and they have been held on that way for the last 7 years or so with no problems, as everyone does this. But it felt like the velcro had let go somehow this time and here I was heading into turn one with the lead at a Grand National. Not Good! So as I went through turn one, I could feel it was even more sideways under me now. So I decided that I needed to stand up a little and let go of the foam seat pad and just ride on the fiberglass seat pan for the rest of the race, as that would not be too bad. So n the exit of turn two, I still had the lead and I just stood up a little bit and let go of the pad, and when I went to sit back down I felt that I had jus lost my complete seat assembly, fiberglass seat pan and pad and all. I was now sitting on the two frame rails, down in a hole between the rails. But I had the lead and I had to sail it off into turn three now not knowing what it was going to feel like or do to me. So I did just that and it just felt like I was riding a chopper with the handlebars way up high. After about a lap and a half of this, both Roeder and Beauloc got by me, and I was in survival mode now. They got away from me pretty good, and I was just hoping for a red flag somehow so that I could get a seat back on here. I kept pushing it as hard as I could, but I knew I was way slower right now than I could have been, but there was not much I could do about that right now. I seen that there was a rider behind me a fair amount and I was trying my best to keep them back there a ways, as I did not want them to see that I was riding without a seat, as that would just give them a confidence boost to pass me. I kept worrying about hitting a big hole and having the rear tire come up and hit my butt, as I knew it had to be aweful close to my butt anyway, but somehow it never hit me at all. So I kept pushing it, and on lap 9, I still had 3rd place locked up, and then all of a sudden, Roeder spun out his bike in front of me in turn four. He was up and ok but I was on a mission to go get a set put back on here. I pulled into the "hotbox" and seen that Rob had my seat assemble, the one that had just fallen off. I said, I do not care how much duct tape you use, just get that thing back on there.

    I had this idea this spring to hold on our rear seat assembly with this one easy and quick zuess fastener under the seat pad, so we had converted over to this new idea for this new bike. Well, first real race on this bike and it pops off. Su yah, the zuess fastener is out the door this week with the good old bolt and nut replacement. hahaha

    So now, we would have a single file restart, with 15 laps to go and  Beauloc up front, me second, then Bryan Smith, Beattie and others right behind. I knew I had something for Beauloc, ad now I had my second chance. At the light he had the lead going into turn one, but I went under him and came out of turn two with the lead. Wow, what a difference the seat made, as it was way, way more comfortable. Now I just had to put my head down and try and get away from him and the rest of the pack. For the next few laps, I was running up pretty high, and Dominic Beauloc was trying to dive under me on the entrance to the corners, but I had enough momentum on the exits to get back by him each time. We played like this for quite a few laps and I had seen that we had gotten away from the rest of the pack by quite a bit, so this gave both of us the freedom of trying different lines, not having to worry about other riders. He got back by me around lap 16 or so, but I was able to stay right there with him. We were both around the bottom area of the track now, as it seemed to be the best way around. Then with a few laps to go, I noticed that someone was way, way up high making up some ground on us. I decided to go back up top and see how that was working now. So for the last two laps I went high, and I could tell that it did seem a little bit faster than the bottom where I just was and Beauloc still was. On the last lap I had closed it back up on Beauloc quite a bit using this high line, and I knew I had one last shot coming into turn three on this last lap. So I went high and he went low, and he ended up winning by .67 seconds. Dang it, but I was till pretty darned happy with a second place today.

    I had beat the guys that I needed to beat for the points race, and after Springfield where I crashed on the last lap and I was 14th in points. I moved back up into third in the National Twins points tonight as Carr had finished 6th and Coolbeth failed to qualify tonight. So we are having a pretty darned good year so far really, as we are leading in the Grand National Singles series, sitting third in the Grand national Twins series, and I am also leading in both the Hotshoes Twins and Singles National series. And there is lots of races left to go in the twins series to catch the two guys in front of me there, Carr and King.

    We are off to Lake Odessa, Michigan this weekend for another 1/2 mile National on the twins. I had a great lead there last year and lost a motor with 6 laps to go, so I know we have the setup for there, we just need a little more luck this time.

    Until next time, G'Day!  Joe