Formula Xtreme racing at Road America
Mike Morgan - Jun 7, 2007

“Road America has not been nice to me the last couple of years.  Crashes, broken bikes and bodies have been the norm for me there.” 

 

“I went about this race weekend, June 2nd and 3rd, a little differently. We arrived on Tuesday to take part in a track day before the AMA weekend.  It was nice to get some time on the bike and ramp up to the weekend a little slower.  With 2 full days of riding before racing, getting around the track was easier.  Practice enables the rider to get real comfortable on the track and with the bike’s handling tendencies. The result was faster lap times,” according to Mike Morgan, who finished 29^th out of 42.    

 

Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Racer, Morgan, rides a stock 2006 Suzuki, GSXR 600, modified for racing. Morgan, AMA number 811, intends to race in five races during 2007. Check back here for his personal account of progress throughout the season. Mike supports his racing passion by working full time for Kenwood.

 

“The AMA splits the field into 2 groups, 50% in the fast group and 50% in the slower group, based on lap times.  I came very close to making it into the faster group. But I don't really push to hard during practice on Friday morning.  So, I was two positions away from being in the faster group for, qualifying on Friday, and it was exciting to be that close without trying to hard.”  

 

The weekend's weather did not cooperate.  It was raining on and off.  So that makes for more stress when you don't have an endless supply of rims and tires.  But as usual the guys at Dunlop really came through!  Those guys have such a hard job and not much thanks.  They are one of the single biggest factors in racing. 

 

“Another factor for me is pit crew.  Trying to do everything by myself at a race is hard.  So I have got to give a special thanks to the guys from Smartdot!  Everyone did a great job and helped out a lot.”

 

“After qualifying 29^th and being as high as 24^th during qualifying, I was happy with the weekend.”

 

“The race went well!  I did make a few mistakes that allowed a group to get far enough away that I could not get back in their draft.  Road America is such a high speed track that if you get out of the draft it is hard to regain that position.  During the final laps I was gaining ground but ran out of time.”  

 

Morgan concluded; “for a track that I have struggled so much in previous years, I'm happy with my performance.  I lowered my lap time by 4 seconds and was consistently going faster by 2-3 seconds than I did last year.”  

 

There is a long break before Mid-Ohio, August 3 through 5^th in Lexington, Ohio, and Mike will use the time to prepare mentally and physically by participating in more track days.