I have always said @ Elkhart Lake AKA Road America, the wheels stay on or they come flying off. The 2018 Road America MA round # 4 was no exception, what a nightmare.

   The scene was set, huge momentum coming into play looking towards Elkhart after our double podium at VIR earlier in the month. Now that the stage is set lets rewind about 13 days prior.

 At Westby Racing we pride ourselves on being prepared for everything we get into, that was about to come crashing down, literally. A week past the VIR national we decided to go back to VIR and test the new 200/60/17 Dunlop slick, this tire is the newest version of the MA spec tire for superbike. Let's start by saying the only thing it has in common with the older 55 series tire is that it is black and round.

   Immediately after installing the tire the issues started, no side grip, no drive grip, it falls into corners....... yuck, Houston we have a problem. The problems were very short lived thanks to our experts employed, Ed and Corndog worked quickly to get us a base setting and get Mat comfortable and things were looking up. That was until the last out of the day when we tossed on a med spec just to see the difference in performance and grip level in the extreme heat. Out lap, first flyer, 1:24.580 that's hauling ass at a trackday ! Mat goes flying by the stripe only to drop the hammer on the exit of T1 and flip himself over the high side. Look my guy is as tough as nails but this wasn't your average high side, this was a BODY SLAM that totaled the bike and more sadly broke the right foot of our champion. Oh shit, we have 10 days to get this right, bike complete, rider back into health. We got this , no issues..... Until we showed up at Elkhart and we had nothing, nothing but botched timing, mayhem and bad luck. The super team that once was 10 days ago was now floundering like a first day rookie. Our first session was in and out the whole time searching for grip and then finally a trouble code appeared that really took valuable time out of our session. At Elkhart every lap matters because the course is so very long and lap times are over 2 minutes long, so the key is to stay out, gather intel and push as hard as you can, time gets wasted sitting in the pits.

    FP2 wasn't much better for us unfortunately and Mat was starting to lose his patience with the lack of progress so naturally this caused a small panic in our pits. After looking at where we were set up wise we noticed we had concentrated on the rear of the bike and never paid full enough attention to the front. Mat was devastated with his results the first day so we needed to regain his confidence. 30 minutes later I knew the fella's had it nailed for the A.M. session, a simple offset change would net us 1.7 seconds and we would be off and running ! When it was time for superpole Mat delivered in a big way, he rolled into the 2:11.90 area and it was amazing. Soon after the next three riders did the same and we ended up on the second row. I was one happy guy to get back to where we should be.

  Race # 1 Saturday, not a great start by the champ but he made his way to the front of the pack really quick, now we are in the fight. Soon after a few great laps and carving through the field, Mat crashed, rejoined for a lap or so then had to pull in because the bike was not in great shape. The crew analyzed the situation and the team and Mat decided to re- enter the race and collect valuable points, albeit just 2 but they will be valuable in the hunt for the championship I'm sure.

    That night Mat, reflected to us that his confidence was back and more importantly his mindset restored for the next day's race. At the start of race 2 Mat got a bit better hole-shot and was in about 8th position heading out of turn one, by the time he got to turn 5 he was in P5. From there the next battle was into Canada corner then up through Thunder Valley. That's where it all came apart. Mat missed a gear on the up-shift and then ran off the track to try and compensate or stay up with the lead four riders. In the end the off resulted in a massive crash that totaled the bike, despite every ounce of energy in his body Mat could not finish the race.

    Right then I knew my guy was fine in health but severely damaged mentally, this poor bastard just tossed himself down the road for a third time in one weekend and was still riding with a broken foot. I gotta say he is truly a gladiator with a heart of a lion, I'm glad he's our guy that's for sure.

  You know, some folks would find the outing a total disaster but, in the end we actually as a team walked away knowing we had finally after two and a half years together hit bottom. This feeling would last until the team dinner on Sunday night where we all raised a glass first and foremost to Mat then he, toasting yet again to his team for all their efforts. The silver lining ? The silver lining is resting your head that Sunday night knowing you have a team owner, a team, a rider and sponsors that will never give up on you and never ever turn the challenge down . We got this, see you at Laguna baby.

Photo by Brian J Nelson