Saturday's race program set the record for most racer entries ever at a NYSWA/Flat Rock watercross event. The Pro class saw a number of riders returning from semi-retirement and/or hiatus while the ever-growing and increasingly competitive Semi-Pro class contained the usual contenders and new riders alike.
For Team Highside, Luke Janiszewski #14 was hoping to extend his luck from July in the 600 and 700 Pro Oval classes in the midst of added heat this weekend. Barely his first full season running Pro, Luke has consistently run just outside the Top 5, many times making finals through LCQ wins. With the largest Pro class ever at Flat Rock this weekend, he was a few positions shy of that. Even with holeshots like clockwork, unlucky outside lane picks in such a tight class were too much to overcome, placing 3rd and 4th in his heat races and failing to make the finals.
Even though Luke didn't make any Pro Oval finals on Saturday, it was impossible not to notice his holeshots. For Sunday, he entered the 600 and 700 Drags, taking a 1st in the 600 final and 2nd in the 700 final.
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| Can you say Holeshot? Races like this gave Luke confidence to enter Drag classes for Sunday. He placed 1st and 2nd in the Drag finals. |
In Semi-Pro, Matt Schebaum #99 came away last month looking for more speed on the longer course at Flat Rock. He seemed to have found it with some clutching and gearing changes in practice. He enjoyed the new speed through the first Semi-Pro heat race by taking the win, but then the string of bad luck started...
Somewhere between the last lap of the first heat race and the start of the Semi-Pro 700 heat, a bolt in his primary clutch had backed out, mis-aligning the belt. With little time to fix the problem (riders get 2 mins from when they're called to the line) he started the race and actually led until it finally gave loose, causing him to go down. The problem was fixed by Sunday morning and with another successful practice, Schebaum #99 was looking to start fresh and find better luck in that day's program.
Moving into the Semi-Final rounds of both the Semi-Pro 600 & 700 with heat race wins, things were going well. In the 600 Semi-Pro semifinal, Matt had the inside lane pick, took the holeshot and led for 3 laps, holding off Steven Day #139 and Jesse Hunter #78. Coming around to begin what Matt thought was the 3rd of 4 laps, the flag person had the white flag out. Confused that his strategy of leaving the equalizer lap until the very last turn was foiled, he was forced to unnecessarily give the lead up and go wide a lap early. The flag person had made a mistake counting laps and displayed the white flag a lap early. After the race Matt said:
"I usually count laps to myself and rarely go by the flag person unless its a yellow or red or something because I know they have made mistakes in the past counting laps. This time I lost count to myself because I was too busy concentrating on holding off (Steven) Day and Jesse (Hunter) because they were right on me. The hesitation after seeing the white flag caused me to bobble for a second and you can't do that with fast guys like that behind me..."
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| Matt Schebaum #99 battling Steven Day #139 around the first corner island. |
Also, on two separate occasions, Matt's sled quit on him while he was way out front. It is rare to have a machine quit out front with clear water. Usually other riders' spray, waves, etc are main factors in sinking a sled; so when one quits out front, just dies like someone pulled the key, it usually means a serious electrical issue or the motor is toast. When Matt's Fly Racing Amsoil Team Industries Ski Doo was out front twice and shut down, he was expecting a major mechanical issue; not the simple, yet just as frustrating culprit.
At the end of the day; after confusion caused by the flag person and two mysterious engine shutdowns while out front, Matt was drying out his sled on the stand in the pits and noticed the engine cutting in and out, much like it did on the water. With a few wiggles of the tether switch assembly, he realized his tether key rattling loose causing the motor to cut in and out. Both frustrated and relieved, Matt said...
"I can't believe it was my tether key! The main assembly that attached to the dashboard console on my sled came loose a little bit and the key wasn't pushing the post down quite far enough. And apparently if I hit a wave just right or whatever out there it would pop up and I would go down. I'm happy that the problem wasn't something more serious though, like electrical or blowing my top end or something... I guess that's racing. I pumped for the next race now knowing that it was just dumb bad luck this weekend. I know I can win now"
Team Highside would like to thank our sponsors: Fly Racing, Amsoil, Team Industries, Scott Goggles, and MotoOption Clothing. We will be back at Flat Rock Labor Day weekend Sept. 3-4 for the 3rd and final round of the NYSWA season and in Norwood, NY the following week, Sept 11-12 for Round 2 of the Camoplast/EWA Eastern Watercross Tour. Our season concludes October 8-10 at the Eastern Championships in Epping, NH, part of the largest combined snowmobile event in the East.
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