After eight months of training and getting prepared for the 2012/13 snowcross season, it was time for Byers Motorsports to hit the track again. Jamie has been training since the end of last season with great motivation coming off his CSRA Pro-Lite National Championships.
Byers Motorsports is also pleased to have the same great sponsors onboard again for the 2013 season with Supertrax Magazine, Polaris and Byers Equipment Motorsports as the primary sponsors.
Once the 2013 Polaris 600 IQ racer was prepped with Woody’s studs and carbides, a new Dayco XTX Belt, Powermadd handguards, a Creecher’s Design wrap and topped up with Amsoil; Jamie packed up his Coldwave gear, TekVest, Fly Racing Helmet and Dragon Goggles and headed out to Planet X Snowcross testing facility in Aurora, Minnesota.
Jamie spent a number of days getting back into the rhythm and setting up the sled for his liking before heading to Duluth, MN for the ISOC National Season opener. The Duluth National is one of the most anticipated snowcross events and draws riders from all over the world to compete.
When he arrived at Duluth, the only snow to be seen was on the ski hill where the track was to be layed out. On Thursday night, Mother Nature decided to help out with a few inches of the fresh white stuff to cover the ground and make it feel like winter and got everyone in the snowmobiling mood.
Jamie hit the track Saturday afternoon for the Pro-Lite #1 class; which consisted of 5 heats and 47 total entries. In Moto 1, he got a great start and took the lead over the finish line jump into the first corner. He was running strong in the lead for the first 5 laps before catching an edge at the top of the hill tossing his hand off the handlebars and gave up the lead, finishing 4th.
He got a decent start in Moto 2 coming out of the first corner in 4th, battling and finished 3rd at the checkered. With 5 heats, Jamie had to go trough the LCQ to make the final, where he rode a strong race and placed 5th for the final transfer position. Starting at a disadvantage in the back row, Jamie rode a good 18-lap finial finishing up in 13th.
Sunday’s Pro-Lite #2 was a little tougher for Jamie as a few more riders were added and another heat making good qualifying finishes key to even qualify for the LCQ. In Moto 1, Jamie came out of the first corner in 2nd and fell back to 5th by lap 3. He charged hard and found good lines making passes back to 3rd for the finish.
In Moto 2, he had a bad starting position but made up time in the first corner as everyone pushed outside. He struggled finding a good line around the whole track and came across in 6th. Unfortunately the 3rd and 6th was not enough to get him in the LCQ.
“Overall I’m happy with how this weekend went. I would have really liked to have made todays (Sunday) final but I am happy with yesterdays racing.” Jamie said after the weekend. “We came out here with the main focus of getting a good suspension set-up and getting some seat time before our first CSRA race, and we did that. This being my first time competing at an ISOC National event, I know I can compete with these guys and look forward to racing down here again, but for now our focus is on the CSRA National series.”
The CSRA season opener is scheduled for December 8-9 at Calabogie Ski Resort near Ottawa, Ontario. This will be Jamie debut season in the Pro Open class competing for the CSRA National #1 plate.
