Tamer Weekly Report – Indy Supercross
Well, I have been trying to lighten up lately and instead of the serious, all business race report, I am now coming to you straight and true in everyday slang. I hope it is working and while reading the report, you find yourself laughing at some of the content.
In Indy, Team Tamer – Kawasaki – Leo Vince – Maestrocard did a slight turn around to the past few weekends of racing. Eric Sorby qualified 15th, Jake Marsack qualified 25th and Ronny Jackson qualified 35th moving all three riders from the day show to the night show.
This Supercross Lites class is tight in speed. Fastest qualifier, Ryan Dungey, had a time of 46.722 and the slowest qualifier making the 40 rider cut had a time of 51.229. A total difference of only 4.507 seconds from top to bottom. It is amazing how deep the talent is on the East Coast. Making the night program has become a challenge for many, including our Lites team.
When the gate dropped for the Lites qualifiers, we woke Ronny up and told him to go. Talk about sleeping on the gate…… After Ronny got going, he then decided to hang out behind a rider for 3 laps while being passed by everyone else. Ronny would finally figure out away past the slower rider, but it was too little too late. After a stern talking to, Ronny went out, regrouped for his Lites LCQ and came off the line in great position. This is a 6-lap race. 6 laps is not a lot of time to do anything. Ronny would live up to his aggressive riding style and in doing so, overshot a corner. Unfortunately, the corner was a 10’ tall bowl burm where it would launch him and his Kawasaki onto the concrete floor just shy of the display boat. The bike was mangled as it was wedged under the boat. I seen the accident, but it was so amazing that it took a few seconds to register to me that that was one of my riders flying like Santa Claus through the air. When all is said and done, the bike is a mess and Ronny is OK prompting his new nickname of goonalicious. Ronny would not make the main event.
Sorby was next and he rode an excellent heat race moving directly to the main event. Jake Marsack would not fare near as well as he was forced to race the LCQ. Now Jake has won the LCQ on more than one occasion, but not tonight. Jake would miss the cut and was finished for the night. I was disappointed with Jakes and Ronny’s performances in Indy. We discussed the events that took place…..or that didn’t take place and they know what is expected of them in Dallas this weekend.
It was now Sorby’s time to carry the team and he would do so just fine. Above, where I mentioned Ronny was sleeping at the gate. Well Sorby was in hibernation at the start of the Supercross main event. There is a picture on the Internet that shows Sorby 6 bike lengths behind right out of the gate. I think him and Stewart must have been talking when the gate dropped, as Stewart rounded turn one in 20th place while Sorby rounded in 21st position. But Eric would put his head down and charge through the pack finishing 13th overall. I think this was a very respectable ride for Eric and it moved him back up to 16th in points.
Now that Supercross is coming to the X-Games this summer, it is very important to finish top 16 as the top 16 in Supercross are invited to the Games.
Well, now we are preparing for the Dallas Supercross where the transporter will be on display at the Tucker Rocky warehouse on Thursday and then to the stadium on Friday. For those out of the know, Tucker Rocky is a huge distributor of motorcycle parts and accessories to the motorcycle world and is the parent company of Answer Racing, one of our premier sponsors.
Thanks for reading the update and as always, thank you for visiting www.tamerracing.com and supporting our team sponsors.