Cycle News Staff | November 3, 2009
The following is from Jared Mees…
We didn’t get too much time off after Pomona before we were again racing. But this time, on ice!
The Ice Series started a little earlier than in previous years. When we got back from Pomona, we had our yearly end-of-season trail ride up north. This year was one I think no one will forget as Travis Pastrana, Hubert, Jeff Cernic and Travis’ Dad all came up to ride with us. There was a record-breaking 75 people ready to go on this trail ride.
For it being early in November, the weather was awesome which may have been why it was one of the best trail rides. We all had a blast and hanging out with Travis was pretty cool. What a level-headed Dude!
The next weekend was the season opening for ice racing in Roanoke VA. There are some 16 races on the schedule this season and I am planning on doing most of them as of right now. We got to Roanoke on Saturday afternoon. There is no practice for these events…-you go in there and pull the trigger racing.
The 1st Heat could be termed “practice” because there are no points or money involved, just a freebie, putting on a good show for the fans. So we did just that. The 2nd Heat, which counted, I had a good lead but with a lap to go stalled the bike and got a goose egg last place. The next Heat [#3], I got the hole shot and won it. Every time I hit the ice we did a small change to the bike to see if we could get it to work better.
For the Main Event, having won one of the Heats and getting a 4th pick, put me on the outside of the front row…which is worse than inside back row. I got a good start but was running 3rd, neck and neck with Mark Cheza running in 2nd. Someone sent it in there and took Cheza and me up to the wall. I was then like in 6th spot and had some work to do. I followed Cheza for a couple of laps, and then had to get aggressive to get by him. Next was Tom McGrane and within one lap I got by him clean. JR Schnabel was out in front and it looked like I was going to have to settle for 2nd, but I started to knock down some fast laps and caught up to him.
Coming off of turn 2 Schnabel spun it up badly and that allowed me to run up on him. I finished the run with some force, taking Schnabel to the ground. Coming off of turn 4 was the white flag and I was able to win the race. JR picked up his bike and finished 5th. Last year Schnabel did the same exact thing to me in the same exact corner on the same exact lap!! So what better way to pay him back? Ha Ha. He was really cool about it, after all that’s racing… we shook hands and said next weekend! Ha Ha… The cool thing about racing Schnabel is we both can dish it out and both can take a beating–no hard feelings. That’s what it’s all about with friends.
So that was Round 1 of this Ice Series. Thanks to all, Jammin’ Jared Mees.
Special Thanks to my ICE Series CRF450 Partners:
Team Pro Honda Oils and Chemicals, Rogers -Lake Racing, Saddlemen, Briggs Auto, Montgomeryville Cycle Center, A&A Racing, KKMotorcycle Supply, Steve & Cindy Vizzo, Battley Cycles, Rod Lake, Digger 57, Kelly’s, Greedy Leathers, Maxxis, JE Pistons, Cometic Gaskets, Top 1 oils, VP Racing Fuels,Tsubaki, Motion Pro, Micha Racing, Arai Helmets, TCX Boots, Troy Lee Designs, K&N Filters, Supertrapp, Millennium Technologies, Vortex, Craig Pickett, E2 Voltage, Goodridge, Works Connection, RekluseClutches, Gene & Gail Cummings, Eddie Mulder, NGK, Esjot, Z Gallerie, Dodge Bros, Dick Winters, Utopia, Yoshimura R&D, WestCoast Hot Shoes, Jupiter Wheels, EBC, Ogio, Mikuni, Web Cam, Ancra, J&M Racing Frames, Pro Plates, Kold Kutter, Turn 1 Distributing. Crank Works Crank Shafts, Ezup, Twenty Six Suspension, Flash, G2, Penske Racing, Chicken Hawk, Ferrea Valves, J2 Motorsports, Royal Publishing Co., Applied Diamond Coatings, M&Z Anodizing, Brent Armbruster, Bristol Core, Universal Coatings,
