Aden de Jager New Orleans Report
The week leading up to the New Orleans Supercross, I made a few adjustments to the bike to help me run a bit smoother for the weekend. I finally had my suspension done properly for the Supercross by Roger Dinsdale at Pro-Motion Racing Suspension. I also took a trip down on Wednesday morning to GPF (Georgia Practice Factility) to do some real practice on a top quality supercross track that afternoon and Thursday for the day. You can view me practicing with my Go-Pro Helmet Cam on youtube via this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SznXxPGOCvo
This helped me get a lot more confident with the bike and adjust to the new suspension.
Track Review- As I walked the track in the morning, it was clear that it was a very tight and single lined track. The most difficult section was the 180 degree sand corner straight after a triple leading into a very large set of whoops. While watching practises prior to mine, I noticed that not one person got on top of the whoops; everyone was jumping through them. This however, changed throughout the night.
Qualifiying/Practise 1- The track was tight but I went out there with a positive attitude as I had had some decent training during the week and the bike was in good condition. I set a couple of fast times and did all of the rhythm sections, however I was a little tight and suffered some arm pump. I finished 14th in Group B/C combined, which gave me some good motivation for the next Practice.
Qualifying/Practise 2- Now that I had relaxed a bit more, things were working a little better and things were seemed smoother. I improved my time by half a second which put me in 33rd qualifying position for the night show.
Heat 2- I was pumped to make it to another night show, and even more excited as it was my first one indoor with an amazing crowd surrounding. I lined up with number 17 pick on the gate and stood with the likes of James Stewart. I didn’t get the best jump out of the gate, was pushed wide on the straight and found my self in a sorry last place. I was in the mess of things going through the first rhythm section with all the other riders and wasn’t picking up much speed. I passed a couple of riders, nonetheless wasn’t aggressive enough with the track or the riders to progress any further. I finished in 15th position taking me to the LCQ for another week.
LCQ- I had a spot on the line with 11th gate pick up on the inside. With the hope to improve my riding from the Heat race, I put my head down and focused as the 30 second bored was up. My start still wasn’t the best so I knew I had some work to do. I was a bit more aggressive overall resulting in my position being pushed up to 11th. Jacob Marsack had been just behind me for a few laps and made a pass on the last lap as the white flag was held to put me back to 12th position to finish for the night.
I won’t be attending St. Louis or Toronto due to my financial restrictions. However, these few weeks I will be putting in some hard hours training, racing the Carolina Ultra Series and the Mega Series which are Loretta Lynns area qualifiers. I will be attending Jacksonville Supercross to finish up the Supercross Season (cough, cough, Vegas baby).
I have to say a big Thank You to everyone helping me out; Alpha Motorsports, Yamaha, GYTR, Yamalube, FLY, Kali Protectives, No-Toil, Kenda, Stomp, Hammerhead Designs, Go Pro, Scott, Ogio, Pro-Motion Suspension, Mum, Dad, and my Girlfriend. Without them this would not be possible.
