Luke Does the Springfield TT!

Thanks again to Jim Grant of JGPhotoWerx for allowing us to use this shots he caught of Luke at the classic Springfield TT on May 24th, 2008. Click on any image to see a larger version! If you are interested in purchasing large prints of any of the images, please go to www.jgphotowerx.com, look for the image you would like and then contact Jim. Below the images you can read Luke's take on the race.

Home of the legendary Mile, Springfield, Illinois starts the Memorial Day weekend off with a TT race on Saturday. Luke Gough had spent the week prior to the TT riding quite a lot and then doing that great session at American Supercamp (www.americansupercamp.com) the day before the race where he banged bars with Chris Carr. (Click here to read that article.) All in all, he was excited to be putting his new found skills to use on the track.

When he rolled his FlatTrackStuff.com, Johnson Cams sponsored CRF450 onto the track, he was a bit intimidated by the size of the jump. Remember that TT races must have a right hand turn in the course and usually have a jump of some kind as well. “When I saw the size of that jump, I was a bit surprised!”

Gough wasn’t the only rider surprised by the size of the jump, after the first practice session and some really long flights, the face of the jump was carved down a bit and then the distances became more normal. “I was regularly landing my front wheel at the 90 foot mark” said Gough.

A qualifying position of 35th was good enough to get into the main program and the evening started off in heat race #3. The position he had became irrelevant when he was bumped to the back row after a rule infraction. The AMA has a rule that you must be staged for your race at least five minutes prior to the start. Luke didn’t know this rule and was penalized with a back row start for the heat race.

Even with a third row start, Luke got a good start and got past about half the pack headed into the first turn.  “I got a great start and got around a bunch of guys, but when we went into the right hander, I was a bit hot and then got a slight bump from another rider” Gough said. “That was all she wrote. I lost the front end and went down. I was able to get back up and ride, but finished last in my heat race.”

A last in his heat race put Gough into Semi #3 for one last shot at the main event from the second row. “I got another good start, though not as good as my heat race, and moved up a bit straight away” said Gough. He struggled and fought and worked his way to eighth place by the checkered flag. It was a valiant effort by Gough, but not enough to make the main event unfortunately.

“I didn’t make the main, but was I was very happy with my riding. I really feel better each time I go out there. I am still adapting to the bike setup a bit, but I will do better next time!” announced Gough.