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Racing Lines # 62 May 26, 2003
By Gerald Langston
I have missed a few racing lines since Glen Helen for a number of reasons, so here’s an update of what is happening and what has happened. Grant turned 21 on June 17th, we had a party for him and his friends at our house. Although everyone was well behaved at least 3 cell phones don’t work after being in the pool.
This weekend Grant has traveled to Mammoth Mountain for the 36th annual running of this legendary event. Grant has wanted to do this event every year since he arrived in the USA but has been injured every year. The track is set very high in the Sierra Nevada mountains and both the track and scenery are apparently stunning. Grant will the contest the 125cc, 250cc and open class on a 525.
Getting back to how things have gone since Glen Helen. Well frankly it has been an up and down roller coaster ride, going to Hangtown (Sacramento) he was 2nd in the points, by 2 points and there he rode very lack lusterly to an 8th and 4th place finishes which left him joint 3rd in the championship with Sorby. Sorby has to be the biggest surprise since he came to the USA. I saw him often in the Grand Prixs and he was at best very average and I was surprised when Mitch Payton even picked him up, now I am really impressed at how Mitch has molded him into a championship contender.
I could not make it to Mt. Morris as my right hand man in the business (Colin Hincks) took his annual leave. I did listen to the race and watched the lap times. Although the times did not show every lap (something wrong with their system) they showed often enough to confirm what we know is a problem in that Grant goes fast enough for 3 or 4 laps, then drops off the pace and finally sets some of his fastest laps at the end of the moto. We have discussed the problem and put it down to not enough race practice. We believe the solution is a combination of obviously racing, long practice motos and interval training. Interval training is when you alternate between pushing hard and slowing (but not stopping) to recover before pushing again.
Southwick was a “could have, should have, but did not” deal This was one of Grant’s “banker” races, i.e. he was confident he could win there. Sunday looked good as Grant posted the 2nd fastest practice time, but things went terribly wrong in the first corner or moto one. Grant did not fall but Brown did and his handlebar jammed into Grant’s rear wheel. As you can imagine Grant not only came to an abrupt stop, but it took 4 or 5 people what seemed to be a minute to dislodge the 2 bikes. At first Grant rode well passing 19 bikes in the first 4 laps but then the mid race lull set in and in the whole remainder of the race he only past five more riders for 16th. In the second moto he started on the outside to avoid any potential carnage. Within ¼ of a lap he had moved from 7th to 4th but lost his front wheel diving up the inside of someone. Most of the pack rode over him and his bike leaving him to charge from the rear with no front fender (that’s a problem in wet sand) to finish 7th. Fortunately all the championship contenders had a bad day. Sorby blew right out, Hughes hurt his leg and Brown only made up 1 point. This moved Grant into 3rd place 25 points behind Brown.
Onto Budds Creek or Bubba’s Creek as it is being called, this was another track that Grant has never raced due to injuries. Grant was good at Budds, but Bubba was phenomenal. Everyone knows by now Bubba was quicker than the 250s there but to put things into perspective I got the actual AMA times from Moto one to illustrate. Bubba’s best time was 2.20.130 Grant who was the best of the rest was 2.23.204 which is 3.1 seconds slower. Championship leader Brown was 2.26.284 which in turn is 3.1 seconds slower than Grant!! Grant went 2-3 for second overall but more importantly moved to second in the championship - only 15 points behind Brown. Encouragingly Grant did not seem to suffer from “mid race lull” at Budds and the next round at Red Bud (I know it’s confusing) is a track Grant likes and has won at.
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