Springfield TT
Our first race of the weekend was on Saturday on the TT. There were almost 60 pros that showed up to make the 32 rider cut for the program. I knew the competition was going to be tough like always and I had my work cut out for sure. Rich Hanson, former turner for many of the top GNC riders was there as a spectator and decided to share some of his knowledge with dirt track and see if he could get me hooked up. We made a lot of changes to the bike then what I was used to and gave it a shot. The first practice was oddly strange as the bike handled really different then what I expected. Every lap I picked up my pace, but finished the first session in 30th. For the following session we made a quick suspension adjustment and I was determined to give it another shot. For this session they actually prepped the track giving us a moist and deep surface to work with. Being from PA and racing car tracks, I hated it. My position from 30th dropped to 44th and I had a huge step to climb if I wanted to make it. So, I decided that I needed to make a gear change to try and help me get off the corners better to improve my time. I went out in the third session and picked it up quite a bit. I actually took a second and half off my time and was pumped for the improvement. I climbed all the way up to 28th in times. Unfortunately when times were combined from the second and the third session I missed qualifying by 3 positions. This was a hard a thing to swallow for sure after also missing Daytona mains. I kept my head up and just kept telling myself my season doesn’t start until tomorrow. 

Springfield Mile
The next day was the famous Springfield Mile. I was super excited because I always love the challenge that the drafting brings on these high speed miles. The first two sessions I was 11th in times.  I was happy with that because I knew times didn’t mean anything unless you were in a group that you could draft with.  For the third session I changed my rear tire and actually improved up to 8th in times. I had a front row start for the heat and I was ready.  When the green light went in the heat it was Stephen Vanderkur, JD Beach, and I all battling it out for the lead each and every lap. Coming across the line the win went to Beach, but we all had a front row start for the main. By the time the main came around I was excited as I knew it was going to be a great race with many of us capable of winning. The whole race from the green flag to the checkered flag we were in a group of about 16. We were handlebar to handlebar wide and rear tire to front tire almost touching lap after lap. When the white flag came out I was in about 7th. I know that Carver was making a charge on the high side of me going into to three and four, but I hugged the bottom and followed the rider in front of me. I came off the turn and with the coaching from Chris Carr earlier on I was prepared to tackle to finish line ahead. I set up JD Beach and Brad Baker right before the line just in time to draft by them by a wheel to take 3rd. I was super excited and pumped because it was my first main of the year and I was on the box.  By taking third this moved me up to 16th in points out of at least 40 guys that have made mains this year.  It also puts me only 11 points from 7th place in the series that’s how close the points are. My goal is to get into the top 10 and make a hard charge to a top 5 in the series by the end of the season. I think I have what it takes to get a top 5, but it’s a long season and anything can happen.

Quincy Hot Shoe ST
                After a short week of working on bikes, we headed back out to Illinois for the second weekend in row. This time we were about a 150 miles past Springfield in a town called Quincy. This weekend was a clay short track that I had raced two years ago, but memories of the track that I had were that the track was rough and dry.  So, this gave me a little less confidence because of struggling years past here.  This year however upon arriving the track looked great. Dave Cory and his crew prepped a top notch short track for the national. From the first practice to the main event I was having fun. In practice I was running times like Chris Carr and even Travis Smith from Dave Burks was complimenting on my corner speed.  So, I was super excited for the race. In the scratch heat due to the rider count being down there was only 3 other riders lined up beside me. I got an ok start and led the four laps from start to finish with Adam Cobb finishing in second.  The heats were up and I had pole for the first heat out of two because I had the fastest time out of the three scratch heats. Once again I got an amazing jump on the light and lead from the start of the ten lap heat to the finish. However when I came into the pits I decided I wanted to make a gearing change to try and get me off the turns even better, so that’s what we did marking that the first change of the night. I went out for the main and was pumped because I heard we were going to do twenty laps instead of fifteen. Being a pro we never get to do that many laps unless we are racing aside from the national schedule, so I was prepared and ready to pace myself. I got a great start and lead the whole main from start to finish with a comfortable gap in between myself and second.  Leaving Quincy with the win gave me the points lead in the Hot Shoe Pro Singles series and gave me some great confidence for the rest of the series. My next Hot Shoe race is this weekend in LaMonte, MO where I will ride the single and the twin’s class. I just want to say thanks to all my fans, family, and sponsors for sticking behind me after the dry start to the season and I can’t wait to race again this weekend.
Talk to everyone soon,
-Shayna Texter-