The difference between a SS bike and an FX bike is that in the FX class you are allowed to run slick tyres, there are much less limits on the engine tuning which meant that a good FX bike would probably put out about another 8 horsepower than a SS bike. Apparently some the Factory FX bikes also have traction control! Pretty crazy for a 600 ey! I had one ‘05 bike (which was Disalvo’s last year bike) and a new ‘06 bike.
Mark helped me sort out all the entries and paperwork and I was very excited about going to America, I’ve never been before so it would be a good experience. I had a lot of things to learn in one weekend, like learning to ride a four stroke properly, the Pirelli tyres and the circuit (American tracks never look easy on TV) so we decided that I should do the WERA Championship race - which is America equivalent of the MRO Championship - the week before so I would be up to speed buy the time the AMA weekend came around the following Sunday.
I flew into Newark, New York on Tuesday 19th September, and met up with the team owner Barry Gilsenan. Barry is from Ireland (hence the name - Celtic Racing) and moved over to New York when he was younger and now owns a few pubs and clubs in New York and Pennsylvania. We went to Barry’s house in upstate New York, stayed there that evening and then met with my mechanic Mark Rozema on Wednesday morning and set off for Ohio in their motor home, which towed along a 40ft workshop trailer. It took about 9 hours to get to Mid Ohio with a couple of interesting Truckstop visits! I felt like I was in a movie!
On Thursday we got the truck setup ready for the weekend and I met the lady who helps our team, Angela. The one thing about racing in America is that their tracks are normally considered too dangerous to race in the wet. The surface at Mid-Ohio is apparently very slippery and the run off at the circuit was not enough if something did go wrong. It had already been decided that if we had rain on the AMA weekend, we would not be racing and would have to wait until it was dry.
