The following is from J2 Motorsports…
It was our first time out to Calistoga California, both for a visit and for a race. It is nice country for sure. We drove straight through, leaving Michigan on Wednesday morning, arriving in California Thursday night. We checked out the track on Friday and it appeared to be really racy.
The next day was race day and I felt pretty good about the day. Practice and qualifying went pretty well–I ended up 4th. I was in the 3rd Heat and got a good jump, but Sammy Halbert stuck it underneath me hard in the first turn, standing us all up. I was then 4th going down the back straight away. I was messing around with Hank Wiles for a while–every time I would get by him he would re-pass me. I finally got around him and put down some laps, starting to run down Stevie Bonsey and Halbert. I got to them at the end of the Heat, but there wasn’t enough time to pass. I felt we had good speed going for the Main Event.
In the Main Event, coming from the second row, I got an ok jump and finally started to settle in. I was about 8th or 9th, and worked my way up to 5th place, all over the back of the front four riders, all really close. As I got to them I felt we had the speed to keep going by. All of a sudden I started to notice that I had no more drive off the corners. I lost ground on the 4th place guy, Chris Carr, ending up 5th. I felt like the tire went away on me big time and, sure enough, it was totally bald after the Main Event.
Well, another top 5 finish and we made a couple of points up on Joe Kopp as he had some very bad luck tonight. But we will keep at it. We’re right in the middle of the season–9 races down and 9 races to go. We are still in the hunt and will keep fighting.
Thanks to all my supporters and to all the race fans.
-Jammin’ Jared Mees #1/21
Twins:
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