Mississauga, ON- Hey Everyone, Here’s an update on how the races in August turned out!
AUGUST 1: Castle Rock, WA: The night before the TT National at Castle Rock the club holds a pro short track race. The track is cool and seeing as the track is included in most of the TT I wanted to race it! I felt fairly quick throughout practice and made a couple changes before heading into my heat race. I got off the line second in my heat and was able to make my pass for the lead on about the second lap and held on to win it which would give me a front row start for the main event and a spot in the dash for cash. I was excited to be in the dash to get a chance to see where the pace would be at for the main event, I got a decent jump and held on to finish fourth in the dash. The main event was a lot of fun fighting close to the front with the fast locals and the best singles riders in the country, I ended up with a seventh place finish in the main!
AUGUST 2: Castle Rock TT – I was excited for the TT this year, I’d had a lot of fun last year at this race and I was wanting to improve on my 14th place finish from last year. Unfortunately this wasn’t going to be better than last year haha. I struggled though qualifying. I was fast on certain parts of the track but I couldn’t piece a whole lap together to post a good qualifying time. In my heat I felt ok but I was headed to a semi. I figured if I could get a good start in my semi I’d be able to make the transfer to the main, but I got tangled up in a crash on the first lap and never could catch back up. Bummer day but we were headed to Rapid City for the next round.
AUGUST 5: Rapid City Half Mile – The series was back in Sturgis for Bike week! When they announced this race would be on the schedule for 2014 I was pumped, but mother nature had different plans. After running in the Top 5 in the practice session and both qualifying sessions it poured cats and dogs and the promoter was forced to cancel the race. I hope this one is on the schedule next year.
AUGUST 8: Indy Mile – We headed to the mile in Indy! It was a long trip with the last race remaining before I was headed home. Last year I was running ninth until I had a mechanical problem with three laps to go and was forced to pull out. I struggled in qualifying but I knew that the track would change a fair bit before the heat races came around. I had a fairly stacked heat but I got a good jump and was running at the front with fast guys Jared Mees and Brad Baker, I slipped back to fourth spot but it was good for a direct transfer into the 25-lapper. I was running about ninth in the main event and steadily made my way backwards finally finishing 13th. It was a tough pill to swallow because usually I can move my way forward but on this night I was struggling the last half of the feature.
AUGUST 23: London Ontario – The Flat Track Canada series took us to the Western Fairgrounds in London. We hadn’t raced at London since 2007 and everyone was excited to get back. I wanted to win this race real bad and had put a lot of pressure on myself to do it. I felt really comfy and I was real fast in practice and I was able to win my heat race pretty easily. I knew the main event would be a little different, the track was changing and I knew you’d have to ride a little more calculated to take the win. I got a bad start but quickly moved my way into third spot behind Don Taylor and Steve Beattie at the halfway point I had figured the track out and started to move in on the front two. I was able to pass Taylor and I was able to catch Beattie. As we passed the white flag I made my move to the inside of him down the front straight, we got tangled up on the entry to the corner and I crashed. Huge bummer to crash out on the last lap but I was happy about how the day went and how I felt on the bike.
THANKS TO MY SPONSORS !!!.
Our mailing address is:
Doug Lawrence
937 Goodwin Rd.
Missisauga, ON L5G 4J9
Canada
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