My week at Mid-Ohio…    

Well, Renate and I are finally settled back in after the long trip. There were about 300 emails I have to fish through, but overall it was a great week.

The week started off good as we traveled to Mid-Ohio after having a great event at Hallet, Oklahoma. I called Max McAlister of Traxxion Dynamics to find out when he would be there so I could send my normal customers to him. Well that turned into, “can you go ahead and work the whole week for me?” I was greatly disappointed as this was going to be one of the few events as I thought I would be able to race without having to work. Didn’t happen. I tried to race, but it was useless. As soon as I arrived, Nicky Cummings and Ty Howard (GP-Tech/FX Bike) needed extensive work on their bikes. Although I took a total of 6 laps of practice and two in the race, Mid-Ohio is not a track that you can half-ass ride. You got to bring it or you are wasting time as well as getting in everyone’s way.

By Wednesday, I settled in and really focused on Philip Lawlis, Scott Beckley, Bill Drake, Ty Howard, Nicky Cummings, and anyone else that needed product support. I had called most of my MRA customers and the club president to let them know I wouldn’t be there and that really let me focus on the customers in front of me.

Ty Howard is the bad luck poster child for the weekend. He was more than fast enough to win every class, but issues such as a flat front tire on the warm-up lap during one of his races and contaminated fuel in the Suzuki Cup Final only underscored the AMA Grand National Championship week event for Ty. Regardless, he still performed exceptionally well. Philip Lawlis probably had one of the most underrated performances of the week. New to the track and having missed practice Philip placed in the top 10 almost every race. GOOD JOB.

Renate and I were very happy to be present to when Logan Young won the Horizon award. In less than a year, Logan has gone from a fast club racer to one of the best national riders. GOOD JOB to Logan and his family.

I also got a chance to work with “Young Gun” Nicky Cummings. I was really impressed with the family of Nicky. Unlike many Dirt Dads, Nicky’s father was calm and stayed completely out of the “pits”. This item is important as many teams will simply walk away from young riders nowadays if a “little league” dad is even slightly suspected. Nicky is a nice kid and rode well. This was also a “Honda Tryout” weekend for Nicky and it was very difficult for him to get accustomed to the bike as it is was valved too stiffly for him. This is a shame as I feel he very well could have run in the top 10 had the bike worked even slightly correctly for his weight and riding style.

The AMA weekend was nothing less than a big f*&king grind, but very rewarding. I teamed with GP Tech’s Geoff Maloney to provide competent motorcycles for Ty Howard in the Formula Extreme and Supersport races. In short, A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF WORK netted incredible results for Howard. 6^th place in FX and 7^th place in Supersport was the reward to Howard and the RPS/GP-Tech crew for their hard work.

After the long drive home, the best explanation is that, “it was a lot of fun!”

Thank you to Ty Howard and all of the racers for their support of RPS products and services.

Marcus McBain