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WERA Round 6 – Nashville Recap

I just got back into my own bed here in Michigan at 3:45am this morning, so I'm going to be brief with the recap. As mentioned before, we made the trip down to Nashville to basically manage points. It was a long drive and one neither my dad or I wanted to make, but one we had to do.

We left Michigan Friday around 6:00pm. We got into our hotel in Tennessee at 3:00am, but with the time difference, it was 2:00am. We slept for 3-4 hours and headed to the track. Nashville Superspeedway is just that – a super speedway tri-oval, with high banking, big fencing and all the NASCAR features. We found a place to pit, registered for the races, ran through tech and were ready to go.

The whole weekend was a learning experience. Trying to pick up a whole new track and get up to speed as fast as possible was the challenge. In the Middleweight Solo, we finished 3rd. There were only 10 bikes or so in it (several of the fast locals didn't race in it), but we got down to a 1:07.0, which wasn't too horrific for our first time there; especially without much sleep.

Sunday went well and continued to improve. We finished 4th, 4th, 6th and 5th in our four races, getting down to a 1:05.0, which was a second off Taylor Knapp's 1:04.0 that he had set. I was really hoping to crack into the 1:04's (I always say that right?), but it didn't happen. There was a handful of locals who definitely knew their way around the track. They had been there a couple times already this year and were running low 1:04's. However the goal was to manage points against Jeff (Kov) and we did that. We gained a point in 600 Superstock and now have an 11-point lead heading into the final round at Mid-Ohio this upcoming weekend.

What we didn't plan on happening was taking the lead in a second class. Jeff Agnes crashed out in the 600 Superstock race, in nasty low-side crash, breaking his collarbone. It didn't look pretty and it's a rather unwanted way to take the class lead in points, but Jeff wasn't able to race in the 750 Supersport race, where we were 10 points back. We finished 5th in that race, giving us 11 points and a 1 point lead. I don't know how things will shake out at Mid-Ohio, but Jeff's crash is a major bummer and is definitely not the way I would have preferred to take the class lead. Yes it's all part of racing, but it's never fun when someone gets hurt in the process.

Amidst the headaches and planning and driving there, it was a worthwhile trip. The coolest thing about Nashville was the long left-handed sweeper leading onto the banking. Pinned in 4th gear with the bike screaming, knee down on the ground and the rear tire spinning up, it's a wicked/cool/little freaky experience all at the same time. It's what I'll remember from that track.

We'll be leaving for Mid-O on Wednesday, and will be there through Sunday. It's the big finale to the season and I can't wait.

Cheers,

- eddie

Monday, September 17th, 2007 | POSTED AT: 6:35 AM
FILED UNDER: Race Reports