Wow, what a weekend, in fact it was quite a week. First our bikes didn’t arrive till Friday afternoon. I guess expecting anything to be delivered on time during the week between Christmas and New Year’s is wishful thinking. That gave us 6 days to get the race bikes assembled and ready to go and we wouldn’t be able to send suspension out until Tuesday because of the Holiday (for everyone else) on Monday. Everything would have to go perfect for us to get that back in time to leave for Cincinnati on Friday morning.
All the last items we needed showed up on Wednesday and Thanks to Justin at Factory Connection for turning the suspension around in one day it looked like we were good to go. But then UPS lost a box, but lucky for us it was Jace’s suspension and he was driving to Cincinnati so he took his suspension off his practice bike and we were good to go again. Friday morning as the team was pulling out of Omaha for the 12 hour drive to the race the just serviced truck had a problem and we were beginning to think, maybe we should skip the first round. It just looked like something was telling us we shouldn’t go. Again, luckily, the truck is fixed in a couple of hours and Tracin and the boys are on the road and arrive in Cincinnati just before midnight.
We are up at 7am and finish up the bikes with the SSI stickers and the TiLube/Jack Links team is looking good. Jace qualifies 5th and Ben 6th and our guest rider Cameron Mcadoo is 12th. Things are starting to feel back to normal. The bikes are running perfect but, after the last week we are just waiting for something to go wrong.
Heat races are up next and Ben holeshots the first heat and finishes second behind Hayes. Jace gets a 3rd place start and gets a 3rd with Mcadoo in 5th. All the riders are in the main and 2 are in the head to head. Jace wins the head to head by leading every lap and get the extra point going into the mains. He then pulls the hole shot in the main with Ben close behind in third. Jace pulls out a 5 second lead and wins the first main of the year over last year’s champ Faith. Ben comes in in 6th and Mcadoo in his first AX main ever finishes 10th. We are starting to forget about the last week.
What could be better than the first main? How about another holeshot by Jace and this time we have Ben right behind him. They ran this way for 11 laps until Faith got by Ben. Jace leads every lap of the night to his first AX win and the TiLube/Jack Links team finishes the night with a1st, 4th and 8th overalls. Jace had a perfect night leading 30 of 30 laps. Ben got a 4th and Mcadoo get 2 of his 3 required “Road to Supercross" points with his 8th overall. Last week seems a lot better now.
Next round we will be in Grand Rapids, MI. If you’re around stop in and see us.
About TiLUBE: TiLUBE offers a broad line of state of the art lubricants specifically formulated for high performance racing applications including power sports, auto racing, truck and tractor competition, and more. With the racing heritage, all the products for auto, truck, heavy duty diesel, motorcycles, and work can be counted upon to offer “ultimate lubrication.” Check out www.TiLUBE.com.
About TUF Racing: TUF is the longest running privateer team in the history of AMA racing with their first SX team back in 1985. Past riders include Alan King, Keith Bowen, Todd Dehoop, Ron Tichenor, Ron Lechein, Mark Barnett, Josh Demuth, Jimmy Gaddis, Buddy Antunez, Denny Stephenson, Danny Smith, Chad Johnson, Jeff Gibson and Kyle Regal just to name a few.
The Ti-Lube/Jack Links/Tuf Racing Honda team is proudly supported by:
TiLUBE , Jack Links, American Honda, Fly Racing, Wiseco, EKS Goggles, Cometic gaskets, Hot Cams, Pivot works, Twin Air, UFO Plastic, Vortex, SSI Decals, Dunlop, , FMF, Factory Connection, Works Connection, RK, , Excel A60, KG Clutch, DP Brakes, Ottsf, Hinson, Renegade Fuels, Beta Tools, Motoseat. Motorsports Products, Podium Ink, Neken clamps Action Sport Canopies, Engine Ice, Motion Pro and NGK.
