Lima, Ohio

Lima, Ohio was next on the schedule and I was super excited because the last two times I was here I got a 3rd and a 5th. My plan was to take my Honda out and try it and then take the Suzuki out for second practice and then decide what bike I was going to ride for the third session. The first session on the Honda I was not comfortable at all and I was back in the thirties or so in times. So I immediately said I’m going with the Suzuki. I jumped on the Suzuki and jumped up to 12th overall in times out of 63 riders. The next session we made a gearing change and a couple little things to try and improve. Unfortunately the track was a lot slower and my times were also a whole second off my practice 2 times, so we switched everything back to the Suzuki to make it like practice 2. I qualified 16th overall when the times were combined. I was in the second heat and I started on the second row. After watching heat one put on a great race on a fresh track, I realized the AMA wasn’t watering the track for my heat and we were going out on the track they just raced on. I got on ok start after getting bumped from the inside rider going into one and was about mid pack coming off of two. Going into three the track was so dusty I couldn’t even see the turn or any riders beside me. I immediately backed off because I wasn’t going to hit another rider or crash myself because of visibility. (In Arizona I hit the air fence head on because of two down riders and visibility) After completing one lap of the heat, I already knew I was semi bound, so I just rode the heat and tried different lines and made sure my bike was going to be as great as possible for the semi. In the semi I was on the third row and I had a lot of people I was going to have to pass to get to 4th and a transfer spot for the main. I fought hard and rode great, but I fell two spots short of qualifying for the main. I was super bummed that the AMA didn’t make the track as close as possible to heat one and I was bummed that I fought all the way back up to 12th in point’s in the previous races. Thankfully I only got bumped down to 17th in points and there are a lot of races left on the schedule yet. My next national is I96 in Michigan on the 10th and my next race is West Virginia on the 2nd. I am really looking forward to Michigan because I am going to be running the Pro Singles class and getting a provisional to race the Expert Twins class. I will be doing double duty that day, but I hope to really learn a lot. Also a big thanks to Mike Boughner for working really hard this week and next week to try and get my suspension dialed in better for I96 and especially thanks to all my sponsors, fans, and family for supporting me!

-Shayna Texter