Sorry about the lack of updates... I have a horrible connection here! It took 5 minutes to load the reply box and it's not all done yet!
We had a weird issue with the bike in the first practice, a rock to the outer clutch cover! Mike did not even get one lap of practice!!! To say he was upset would be an understatement.
Using parts from the practice bike, we put his race bike together with about 5 minutes to spare for the second 15 minute qualifying session. Of course, Mike had never ridden this track at all and had no chance to test anything here, so his first few laps were nothing more than looking around laps.
He made a stop at his mechanic Todd to adjust the forks to make them stiffer, then headed out to do a hot lap. He cruised up to the bowl turn, then got on the gas hard heading up to the finish line. When he got there the checked was waving.
His lap time of 2:39 was on a lap that two guys fell in a tight corner in the back section, in where Mike had to go around in the really, really soft stuff (I was watching him there) he lost so much time there!
We all know that he would have been at least 5 to 10 seconds a lap faster.
It would have helped to have completed the first practice session, because we really needed to add on tooth to the rear sprocket as well.
We are so sorry to disappoint all of our fans... we learned a great deal and know that our results at Unadilla will be much better.
As an aside, Mike said that there were tons of people cheering him on, waving towels, shouting and more. I even heard the guys standing next to me at the track talking about Project Two 50, then I pointed out Mike to them. They were very happy and excited.
We know that we are heading in the right direction and will improve.
Thank you all for your amazing support!
