April 3 - Blake Young blog: Road Atlanta

AMA Superbike - Round Three

Heading into Road Atlanta I was ready to get up to speed and put my 9th place California Speedway finish behind me. The weekend started off with a little bit of rain and a really green race track, but Road Atlanta is one of my favorite tracks and it was time to get down to business. The first practice went really well and I was feeling really good on the bike. For the first time Chuck (my crew chief) and I were on the same page with the set up. Each time I was on track, I was going quicker and quicker and I felt like this could be the place to get my first podium of the year.

The first race started out well for me, as going into turn one I was second. I knew Mat was going to go hard from the word go but it was my first time up front this year and I just wanted to play it cool and see how things went. Mat was setting a really fast pace and I just did my best to hold my second place position. I ended up getting shuffled to fifth place but was learning a lot about where the other guys were better than me and trying to improve my lines each lap. We finished fourth, but I was still really pleased with the result.

Sunday morning warm up was quite a learning experience for me! I went out behind Mat after talking with him the night before and asking if it might be ok if I jump-on behind him in the morning warm up. Mat, with a laugh said yea, but make sure I was ready to go by the time we got to the top of pit out because he was going to be on the gas. After yesterday’s race we learned a lot on bike set-up and this was the time to test it out. I rolled out and just did my best to stay with him and learn as much as I could. The bike felt great and I was ready for the race. The start of the race was good going into turn one and Mat was out front again and setting another good pace. The bike was awesome and was doing everything I wanted it to do without having to work too hard. I ended up bringing home my first podium with a second place finish!  The crew and I were thrilled with the hard work we put in all weekend and the finishes we ended up with.

 Kevin’s thoughts on Blake’s result at Road Atlanta:

“Unbelievable… Outstanding…. Phenomenal result at Road Atlanta!!!  It might be the turn in the road that he needs to make, to be able to consistently run at the front every weekend.  We will just have to wait and see.  We were at the Infineon test with the new K9, and it may suit his riding style that much more and who knows, I think it could really be a big turn in his career.

On the podium, the first person Blake thanked was Kevin…. “I told him to make sure and mention how much his fitness played a part but had no idea he would mention my name. It was pretty cool, he is a neat kid to be around,  he just hates it when he doesn’t win.  Today, I think he found pleasure in finishing second, but the question he asked at the end of the day was, how do we beat Mat?”