Hello everyone my name is Lane Shaw and I am a privateer Pro Motocross racer from Alvin, Texas following the AMSOIL Arenacross to gain my AMA Supercross license. I will be giving my story of what it is like going to the races, training, driving from state to state, and how the races go for me along with some highlights of the racing action.
Round 4 of the AMSOIL Arenacross series stopped off in the music city of Nashville, Tennessee this past weekend at the Bridgestone Arena. The track crew did an awesome job with the 24 hour turn around they had to build the track. The Bridgestone arena has a little bit bigger floor space than some of the other stops on the series so it opened the door for more options for the night's racing. The track crew added another lane to make the track a little bit longer than the usual three lane track. It gave us riders more options to gain or lose time, which caused for better races and more excitement for the fans.
Overall, the night's racing was dominated by the series points leader Jace Owen, but it didn’t start off so hot for him. After winning all but a couple races this season, Jace Owen was a distant 3rd place behind the great battle between Ben Lamay and Gavin Faith, with Ben coming out on top. A holeshot in the second main event would give Jace the upper hand he needed to click off a solid 15-lap main event, come out with the win and the overall win for the night. Gavin Faith in second, Matthew Goerke, Ben Lamay, and Chris Blose rounding out the top 5.
As for my night of racing, I was a little rusty. This being my first round of the season I found myself caught in the hype a little bit. Even though I ride, train, and prepare myself as much as I can, nothing compares to being in the stadium. Something about the track, the riders, and industry all together gives any rider the goosebumps. Trying to mask the nerves, I found more of a flow in the last qualifying session and put down a time to get me into the AX Lites night show. The break between the final qualifying and the night show gave me some time to get a quick bite to eat, take a small break to relax and regroup for the night of racing ahead. After talking about the day with my team, I had a better game plan coming into the races. Heat race 2 came around and I found myself on the second row on the start. Not getting flustered, I found myself 9th place after the first lap. Since they only take the top 7 to the main, and because of the short amount of laps in each heat race, I made a quick pass for 8th before the finish line, but I couldn’t jump the finish and a trail of close riders behind me got around me. Moving me back to 12th. I ended up finishing 11th place as the checkers came.
Even though I didn’t make the main event on the night, I made some good moves to get myself into the spot I needed to put myself in position to make the main. Too quick of a move on the second lap with everyone still close moved me back after the fast work I did on the first lap. But that is racing, it happens like that sometimes, but I am glad to know that I have the speed to be there battling to get in the main on a night when I felt really tight on the bike. I’m excited to take what I learned from Nashville and take it into the training week and following rounds of racing I am going to. I couldn’t do any of these [races] if it wasn’t for the awesome fans that keep this great sport going, and all of my awesome sponsors that make this possible including: JKOPMX, Proven Moto, Yoshimura, Works Connection, Enzo, Split designs, Texas Yamaha/Powersports, Dirt Tricks, Fox, 100%, Hinson, Rk/Excel, Cycra, ODI, Motorex, Pivot Works, Vertex, Cylinder works, Twin Air, Braking, Atlas, Ride Engineering, my parents, my grandparents, Jay Wilson, Ralph Chisholm, Joe Hammons, Andrew & Jacki Short, Coach Seiji, Kris Keefer, and all my family and friends who support me.
