Jimmy Weinert Racing Team Learns From Houston

February 15, 2011, 11:00am

Although Jimmy Weinert wanted to walk away with better results after the first East Coast round in Houston, he’s happy with what the team did achieve and with what they learned when they were out there. “What we learned was we can do it and we have a very strong team; our engines are fast, the suspension is really good and the riders have the speed and conditioning. It’s just a matter of putting it all together”, says Weinert.

Taylor Futrell achieved his goal of making the Main Event, although “it wasn’t an ideal Main for the first race” says Futrell. After trying to make a pass on a rhythm section by hitting a double, Futrell hit another rider causing him to go down and land on his head. After feeling dazed, Futrell pulled off to the mechanics area to get his bike looked over. By the time he pulled back on the track he was already a lap behind. Futrell refused to quit, and in an effort to receive points finished 17^th. After the unlucky events of Houston, Futrell is ready to start training and riding in order to prepare for Atlanta. “We learned, and there’s stuff I know I could do better, and there’s stuff I did wrong so we’re gonna work on that and Atlanta should be much better.”

During the qualifying practices Les Smith said he “felt pretty good, all the times were close and there was a second and a half between first [place] and where I was – I wasn’t disappointed with it but would like to do better in Atlanta.” After making it into the first heat of the night show, Smith got tangled up in the first turn pile-up and again around lap four. “That shot my chance of gettin’ in the Main straight out of my heat” said Smith. From there Smith said because of the results of his first heat race, he got discouraged and let that carry over to his performance in the LCQ. “That was a mistake,” said Smith. In order to prepare for the second round he says he needs to work on getting his lines right, “I feel like the speed is there, there’s just a few things I need to take care of mentally and I think I should be good.”

With Tyler Bright, it was a speed issue that prevented him from making it to the night show. “I felt pretty good the first session, and then in the second session I felt tight, that lead to not putting in a fast enough lap time” said Bright who finished 41^st- one slot away from going to the night show. “I know where I need to make improvements,” said Bright confidently, “I need to get out there and practice and put in strict laps the whole entire practice-and work on corners and speed which is what I’m lacking at the moment.”

Ryan Zimmer has plans to join the team in Atlanta’s Second Round of the East Coast Lites. The team has the up-coming weekend off and will be utilizing the time between now and February 26^th to improve their weaknesses.

By: Monique Pelletier :: PatraCompany L.L.C.

For more information on Jimmy Weinert Racing, visit: www.weinerttrainingfacility.com