How are things going? Not to bad here. Well over the weekend we went to Greenville Ohio. I struggled a lot. The track is a cushion, but was very hard compared to normal. I went into the day very positive as I Love cushion tracks and I made the main the week before. That was a big Confidence booster.
We got up and left on Saturday morning as the track was only 4 hours away from us. When we arrived around noon time we waited for a bit until they let us into the pits. After getting into the pits we unloaded and waited around for practice. Not a whole lot was going on.
Finally it was time for riders meeting and then off to practice. I was in the third practice session. So I went up to watch the first two and the track seemed to be more slick then normal. As it was my turn I got on the bike and went to staging.
When they let us out on the track I was feeling pretty good but now I needed to get it into the corners a bit harder. After 4 laps I came in and decided to try a different gear. Again I watched the first couple a head of me and headed to the line for my practice session. I was getting it into the corners harder but still did not feel that good. It just didn't seem like the bike was running that well. So when I came in I decided to try the other bike.
This time they inverted the practice order so I went out first. I made it a half a lap and the bike started to run on one cylinder so I pulled in and shut the motorcycle off. After coming in they got the bike back running on two cylinders. It was time to make the decision of which bike to ride.
After not getting to ride the other bike I decided to ride it. So we made some minor changes and I was ready to go for the first heat race.
Before heats got started they let the fans in to get autographs. After about an hour they sent them back to the stands and got under way with opening ceremonies. I qualified 32nd which I was not that happy about, but there's nothing you can do when you have bike problems.
This would line me up on the 2nd row of the first heat race. And boy was it going to be a good one. On the front row was JR Schnabel, Joe Kopp, Bryan Smith, Chris Carr, Shaun Russell, Jared Mess. On the second row was John Raun Wood, Myself, Jaron Smith, and Jerry Vanderkool. I got off to a descent start from the back row. I caught right up to the first row and was in 5th before I had bike problems going into three and had to pull off. I look down to see why the bike is cutting out and turns out the gas line had come off and leaked out all the gas. I was so disappointed. This would put me in the second semi back row.
So I watched the first semi to see where everyone was riding. Again I got off to a great start from the back row. I had a pretty good line in 1 and 2, but in 3 and 4 I seemed to be struggling a bit. I got into 5th and stayed there the whole race. Shaun Russell won it with D-Rod in a close second. That was D-Rods first main so I would like to say congrats to him. I felt really good in the semi. I wished I would not have had all the bad luck in the beginning of the night, but that sort of thing happens sometimes. The main event was a good one. There was a great battle with JR Schnabel and Joe Kopp. Joe Kopp came out on top with Schnabel second and Cummings third.
All in all it was a good night and we learned a lot. Next week we are off to Hagerstown, MD. I hope to see everyone there. Again I would like to thank everyone for all there help and support.
Nichole Cheza #15
7/15/2008
Hey Race Fans,
Well it's back from another long weekend and this one was much longer then normal. As we headed to Grove City Ohio for the cushion mile the plan was to qualify on Friday and race Saturday. But mother nature took part in the program and put an end to that schedule.
When we got up on Friday morning we headed to the race track as it was only about four hours away from us and qualifying did not start until 6:00 p.m. When we got to the track it looked pretty hard for a cushion but did not look like it was going to hold together as it was made of sand.
As we got in the pits and unloaded all the equipment we waited around for a couple of hours. At 5:30 a riders meeting was held, I looked to see that I was in the third practice and practice got under way. It wasn't long though before my 4 laps of practice ended after only half a lap. When I came in we checked the motorcycle out to find out what could be causing this. Luckily it was something minor as the main jet had fallen out and I was ready in no time for the first timed practiced.
Since I did not get to check the track I asked Bryan Smith what he was running for a gear and made the change. The next session out I felt really good, but was a little tentative getting it into the corner as the track was very narrow for a mile. I was sitting 28th after that pr actice. I decided I felt pretty comfortable and did not want to change anything on the bike so they left it alone and left it up to me to better my qualifying position.
The next time out Chris Carr got by me on the first lap so I decided to play it smart and see what he was doing to set fast time. I felt much better after this round and could definitely tell I was getting it into the corner better. This time I was sitting eleventh. Not to bad for the third time back out on the Harley. After he did the overall chart I was sitting 19th. I was pretty excited that I would be on the front row for Saturday's event. Before we loaded up and left for the night they showed us our heat races. I was put in the third heat with Kenny Coolbeth, Ricky Marshall, Jared Mees, Myself, Dan Gedeon, Charlie Italia, Jess Roeder, and John Raun Wood.
After finding out my heat we headed to dinner and then back to the hotel to get some sleep. The next morning did not look very good as it was raining. But it let up early and we were off to the track. After we unloaded the sun popped and all looked good for a while anyway. After the heats got going things started to look bad as the clouds were rolling in. They got to the third heat which was the one I was in and we made three laps before the rain came down. Before the rain though I got off to a terrible start. I made a few passes in t he first corner and worked my way to fourth. I was coming up on Charlie Italia and Jared Mees when the red flag was thrown for the rain.
After the rain and cleaning up the track for about 15 - 20 minutes We were lined back up in a staggered restart. Again I did not get off to a great start but in the first corner made my way up to third. As I was gaining on the leaders on the second lap my carburetors fell off putting me out of the race again.
I was so disappointed as I thought I was going to make it from the heat, but it looked like I was going to have to come back in the semi from the second row. As the fourth heat rolled out to the line the rain came pouring down again. This time it was not going to let up. It rained for about an hour. Raining may have been an understatement it poured. So we were running out of daylight and time to finish heats and semi's they decided to postpone us till Sunday.
So again we loaded everything up, went to dinner, then back to the hotel to relax. The next morning we woke up and again it was raining. We thought for sure it was going to rain all day and we would be sent home. But to our surprise around noon time the rain was done and the sun decided to pop up. So we got to the track, unloaded, went to a brief riders meeting and then it was off for four laps of practice.
After practice they ran the last20heat race, ran the basic expert heat races and then it was time for semi's. I was in the second semi with Matt Weidman, John Raun Wood, Steve Murray, Charlie Italia, Brett Pankey, Logan Myers, and Shawn Raggio. I was starting from the second row. Again I got off the line dead last. Into the first corner I made a few passes working my way to forth behind Steve Murray and Charlie Italia. By this time Matt Weidman who was leading the race had pretty much checked out. With in the next few laps I got by Murray and Italia putting me into the transfer position. I stayed there for the rest of the race.
I was so excited to be in the main event after all the bad luck I was having I didn't think it was going to change but to my surprise it did. As we walked out to the line I was a bit nervous. But after all what did I have to be nervous about I conquered my first goal and that was putting it in the main event to keep my national number. As they introduced the 18 rider field, and gave us our warm up lap I was ready to go. But the track had changed tremendously from Friday to race day. And it had also changed a lot from semi to main event.
Starting from the third row I was off to another bad start, but again made a few passes in the beginning. I worked my way up to 14th and stayed there the whole race. The track was horrible but it sure did feel great to run 25 laps. Al l in all the weekend was pretty good. Even though I had some bad luck it changed for the better.
Next weekend we are heading to Greenville Ohio. Its a Cushion! Can't wait! I hope to see everyone there. Again I'd like to thank everyone for there help and support. Thanks Again.
Nichole Cheza #15
Well I'm am starting to feel pretty good again and getting much more comfortable as I ride more and more. All the pain is pretty much gone.
As the 4th of July approached we were heading to Topeka, KS. It was going to be a long drive so I teamed up with Bryan Smith for the weekend. I noticed that many of the racers teamed up with each other as it was far away and gas prices seem to keep rising.
We left at about noon time on Thursday drove till about 1:00 a.m and then pulled over to sleep for the night. . The next morning we woke up and finished the 2 hour drive. When we arrived to the track in the early afternoon on Friday we ate some lunch and waited in line to pull in. It was an awesome day outside warm with a nice breeze. We couldn't have asked for better weather.
After we got in and unloaded I walked over to look at the track. It looked good. The track was being watered and it was very smooth. The race track looked a little small so we changed our gearing before even hitting the track.
After sitting around for a bit it was time for practice. In the first round I felt all right, but I was way down on the qualifying list which frustrated me a bit. Although there was only a one second margin between the first rider and the last rider. As that round ended I again changed my gearing and got ready for the next round. Again I did not qualify that well. My times were faster, but so were everyone else's.
This time I made some minor changes to the motorcycle and tried it again. I felt decent but still did not qualify that well. I ended up qualifying 37th. This would put me on a back row start which was going to be really tough on this little track as there was not much passing going on.
In my heat race I did not get off the line very well. I made 3 passes putting me into 5th. I stayed there the whole race until the last lap when I bobbled and a rider got under me. I ended up finishing 6th. This would let me miss the front row by one spot for my semi. As semi's rolled around I got my bike ready and waited.
I was in the second semi. As I took off I got a great jump. Then my bike died out. I pulled in the clutch got it going and took off. By this time I was definitely last going into corner one. Throughout the race I made quite a few passes putting me up to 5th. But that wasn't good enough as you had to finish 2nd or better to qualify for the main event.
Although I didn't make the main I felt and rode much better in the semi. Next weekend it will be off to Columbus, OH. I hear it is a cushion mile and cannot wait to go try it out. I hope to see everyone there. Again thanks for all the help and support from everyone.
Nichole Cheza # 15
6/30/2008
Hey Race Fans,
How are things going? Not too bad here. Well even though I have been hurt for the past month in a half I have definitely kept myself busy. I stayed in St. Louis MO. with some friends and worked at GLOBAL PRODUCTS INC. I had a great time staying there as I got to work at the company and really see how things work. It was quite different punching a time clock to my normal everyday stuff that I do at home during the race season.
Instead of getting up to train, work on bikes, and make lots of phone calls I punched a time clock from 8:00 to 4:00 and then went home to do a work out. Although I had a great time working and learning about GLOBAL PRODUCTS it felt great to come home and get on a motorcycle.
I came home last Thursday and after catching up with all the family for the rest of the week I went to Steve Beattie's on Sunday to do some riding and work on some bikes. I felt pretty good even though I was taking it easy and not giving it all that I had.
I went home around 5:00 that night and found a hurt Jared Mees. Nothing was broken but he was feeling some pain after a hard get off in Tennessee.
Monday I just kind of hung out got some more parts coming and helped get everything ready for the weekend as it was going to be my first weekend back. I was so excited and just could not wait to get back on the motorcycle.
Again on Tuesday I went back to Steve's to go riding and pick up the motorcycle that I left there. It turned out to be a late night as the motorcycle was running on one cylinder and we wanted to figure it out before I left. Well, we did just that.
On Thursday we did a couple of last minute things, loaded up and got on the road about 4:30 in the afternoon. As we left we headed to Bedford PA as that was where the race was being held on Friday night. It turned out to be about 8 hours to get there. When we got there the weather was not looking good. We got a little bit of rain through the night and then again in the morning. I thought for sure it was going to get canceled. But to my surprise we started practice about 7:00 that evening.
This was my first time back out on the Harley since the crash. When I went riding at Beatie's I rode my 450 Honda. I was in the first practice and as we went out the track had slick spots and tacky spots. I really did not feel that comfortable so I decided to try my other bike in the next round. Again I still just did not feel that comfortable so I went back to the other bike and made some minor changes. Still I did not feel the greatest, but it felt good to be back on the Harley and making some laps.
As we got off to such a late start they decided to run a shortened program as all of the racers still had to pack up and make the six hour drive over to Lima Oh. for the next day. A shortened program consist of 4 heat races taking five riders out of each making a 20 rider main event.
I was in the first heat race on the second row. I got off the line descent, but was on the bottom going in to one and got pinched off coming out of the turn. I ran in ninth place the whole race and stayed there. I just could not get into a rhythm. I was a little disappointed with how I did, but realize that it was my first race back and it will take a couple to get back into the swing of things.
After my heat race I loaded up everything except my ezup, posters and T-shirts. After loading I went and watched the main event. Joe Kopp got the holeshot and ran away with it Sammy followed in second until his motorcycle broke about half way through putting Coolbeth second and Smith third.
After signing some autographs we loaded up the rest of the stuff and headed towards Lima Oh. I slept most of the way while Mike Welsy drove. We arrived at about 6:00 AM and pretty much slept in till about 10AM. After getting up and around we had some breakfast and headed to the track.
Again the weather did not look to promising. And sure enough it rained for about a half hour. After the rain stopped the sun came out and they let us into the track we all unloaded and waited around for the track to dry. As we got off to a late start we also got some bad news at the riders meeting. We found out that one of our announcers JB Norris had passed away from a severe heart attack only an hour earlier when he had arrived at the track. Everyone was saddened to hear this so we did a salute for him at opening ceremonies. My prayers go out to all his family!
After practice finally got under way I was feeling great. We did not make any changes to the bike except for a new tire. I ended up feeling really good in all three rounds of practice qualifying 16th. I was so glad to be at a cushion that I finally felt at home on. I felt really comfortable compared to the night before on the tacky clay.
After practice was over I did an interview for the local news, and signed tons of autographs as they let the fans in for about a half hour. After that I was getting ready to go up for my heat race and as I hit my brakes the brake line broke. So I got two minutes at the line and my dad, Welsy, and Hacker tried to change it out very quickly. Unfortunately two minutes was just not enough time and I had to sit my heat race out. I was pretty bummed but things like this happen in racing.
After watching all the heat races the track looked like it was changing a lot since practice. As semi's finally rolled around the I was put in the first one. It was going to be tough as I had to start on the third row on a cushion race track. I got off to a good jump and made a couple of passes in the first corner. Staying there most of the race I ended up finishing 6th. I was really bummed as I thought I was going to do really good at Lima. But coming from an injury and some bad luck at the track I accepted how I did for my first time back. I know that each week will get better and better for me and my confidence level will get back to where it was eventually. I am now getting ready for the race in Kansas City which will take place next Friday, July 4th.
Again I would like to thank everyone for sticking behind me 100%. I hope to see you all in Kansas City. Thanks again.
Nichole Cheza #15.
6/2/2008
Hey Race Fans,
How are things going? Not to bad here. I am actually starting to get back to my normal self. Although I have been bored out of my mind with not being able to ride and race I've been staying pretty busy and doing many different things to keep myself occupied.
I finally got to go out and do some things on Memorial Day weekend. So I went to Springfield Ill. with Jared Mees. The weather wasn't quite what I or many others were hoping, but man did it feel good to get to leave the house. It had rained most of the day on Friday canceling the amateur program.
The next day when we got up we ate some breakfast, got ready, went to the Harley shop, and headed to the track. When we got there it was still pretty wet looking. But as track crew worked on the track everyone else was busy unloading and looking over bikes. I got to see many fans, friends and sponsors which is always great. I even shot off some Global Products/Nichole Cheza rags off into the stands. I also handed out Global Product donated gas cards to the first person who didn't make the main event out of each semi.
Racing was great all night. The main event looked to be very exciting in the beginning with a battle for first and second and a battle for third and fourth. It was Henry Wiles with the hole shot and Jared Mees following close behind when Jared went around the outside of Henry just before completing the first lap.
Jake Johnson and Joe Kopp were also going back and fourth. It wasn't long though before Jared Mees broke a front axle over the jump and Henry Wiles ran away with it. Mees was very disappointed and Wiles was very happy. Following behind Wiles was Kopp and the Johnson. Johnson put the pressure on Kopp trying to make a pass anywhere he could, but Kopp was flawless.
After the races were over I sat in Jared Mees pits and signed some autographs. After that we packed up and headed back to the hotel.
The next day we woke up and the sky was not looking good. As we got to the track it started raining. We waited around for a bit before they called it. The plan was to run the race on Monday, but the forecast was not looking good. So instead of staying I rode with Gene and Gail Cummings over to Missouri.
That is where I am currently staying with my sponsor Rebecca Herwick from Global Products. I am currently taking time off recuperating and working at the Global Products facility. I have just recently started to lightly work out again. I started running towards the end of last week and will probably start to hit light weights at the middle to end of this week. I go to visit the Dr. Kieffer on Tuesday.We will go from there.
I am very excited to come back and come back strong. I would really love to come back to Lima Ohio as my first race back as I really enjoy that race track. But we will see how things go. I am going to try and make it to Tennesse.
I hope to talk to everyone soon. I appreciate everyone sticking behind me 100%. Thanks again for all the help and support. This recovery and getting back on the motorcycle quickly would not be possible without everyone. Thanks!
