After leaving Seattle we flew across to the other side of the country to New York where we would be for a couple of days before loading up into the team truck and driving West again for Ohio. Hattie was really excited about going to NY so we went into the city for one day. My team boss and owner, Barry Gilsenan, lent me his car, a very nice Mercedes which I drove into downtown Manhattan, fighting my way through the Yellow Taxi cabs which was pretty hardcore! They don’t give an inch around there! Another thing I had to get used to was this ‘turning right on a red light’ malarkey! What is all that about?!
After our brief visit to New York it was time to pack up and leave again for the next round of the AMA at Mid-Ohio. Mid-Ohio was where I did my first AMA event last year making it the first track I have been to that I have raced at before so I was really looking forward to it. The weather was really good and pretty hot although bearable.
I was on the pace and the bike was feeling good right from the first session of the weekend during Thursday practices. Unfortunately we had an issue later on that day with my Formula Extreme bike. The engine spun a bearing and started rattling which I pretty much knew straightaway that that would be my #1 engine gone for the weekend. During the year you are allowed on two occasions to use your Supersport bike in the FX class so after some discussion with my mechanic, Mark Rozema, we decided that this would be the best way.
