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Matt Weidman: Lima Report

June 27, 2009

LIMA, Ohio (June 27, 2009) - Matt was looking forward to this race and thought this might be the place for his first GNC Podium.

The first practice session out, he set the fastest time with a 25.8 second lap time. The 2nd session, which is the first one that counts, he did not look good, and watching him you could see something was wrong. He came in and was 5th fastest, but said the bike was broken; the transmission was jumping in and out of gear. He said it was pretty scary, the rear wheel felt like it was locking up and he almost got off a couple times. He grabbed the back up bike and went back out and qualified 2nd fastest in the last round, but the track got slower, so the first one counted for the overall.

Matt had a pretty good heat, Taylor was fast qualifier in the third round, and Schnabel got a whole lot faster from the2nd to the 3rd qualifier, so it was not going to be easy. Matthew was disappointed with the 3rd place heat race finish, not only did this put him out of the Dash, but on the 2nd row for the main.

Dad made a few minor changes to the bike and we were ready to go. On the start of the main event his initial reaction time looked good, but he ended up around 12-14th place on the first couple laps. He started passing riders and he and Schnabel got into a good battle passing back and forth, which drove them both forward and they caught the lead pack. Matthew got into 4th and caught Sammy Halbert on the last two laps, finishing one second behind Sammy and 3.5 seconds behind the winners, Brian and Jared. Fourth place is his best GNC finish to date and everyone was excited, especially when you have to work hard for it and pass a lot of fast guys.

He missed his Podium by only one and is getting closer, so maybe this year?

Please visit www.mattweidman.com for updates and info.