Two races, two podium finishes. Sure it could have been better if they were first-place finishes, but Jon Kuo is not complaining.
Jon, who we're following through this racing season, competes in the 250cc production class in events put on by the Motorcycle Roadracing Association in Colorado. He finished 7th and 8th in the first two runs of the season, and followed that up with 5th and 3rd in the second two-race weekend. Now, in the third weekend has been run, he took a 3rd and a 2nd.
Let's let Jon give the blow-by-blow.
"For race one I qualified on the second row again. Started in fifth. Got a really good launch, caught up to the first row guys, was able to stick behind them until turn 5, where I had to slow down because one of the leaders crashed. That put me back behind the top two, and I couldn't catch back up to them. I looked behind me and no one was behind me so I just rode my own race basically around the whole track. Kind of boring by myself the whole time. I came in third, so that was good.
"Second race I qualified on the front row, second, because one of the racers from yesterday didn't race on Sunday, and the one that crashed couldn't get his bike fixed in time for the second race. So I got a lucky break on that. Two of the fastest people were not racing that race.
"Come to start, got a really good launch, got in front of the other two people in the front row. Unfortunately I missed my shift in second and third gear, I bounced off the rev limiter a couple times trying to catch back up, and I got boxed in. The winner from race one, Tracy Schram, in front of me, kind of shoved me over, got in my way, kind of took my line basically, and I ended up going into turns 2 and 3 in 3rd place.
"I got a really good drive out of turn 3 and was able to get in front of both of them down the straight going into turn 4 but I didn't have a really good line in turn 4 so I had to slow down a little bit more and Tracy Schram got in front of me and took over first place and that's pretty much how it stayed for the whole race. The racer behind me was pushing me the whole race. He wasn't super close pushing me, but he was close enough to where if I'd have made one big mistake he would have passed me. So he kept me in check the whole race and made me have to be on the mark every single time. And Tracy Schram just took off on us. He was a second a lap faster than us."
Schram, Jon points out, has taken first in all six 250cc production class races so far.
"He's the one to beat. He used to be a factory rider for Honda and a test rider in Japan," Jon explains. "So he's been riding little bikes, like 125 GPs, and I think maybe 250s, I'm not sure, since he was young, maybe 19. So he has a lot of knowledge about racing small bikes and he's been doing it for a long time. Tracy's just on a whole other level than what I'm at."
It's not a bad thing racing against someone who knows a lot more than you. Schram and others are generous about sharing their knowledge, showing the best lines around the track, and helping other racers improve. What will it take for Jon to beat him?
"More practice. More knowledge about racing the 250s. Absorbing all the information I can get from him" and the other fast racers. "Just picking their brains, learning all I can."
Jon sums up this third weekend of the season: "This weekend felt pretty good. I picked up more speed, especially on Friday practice I picked up a lot of speed. I used what I learned at that previous round at Pikes Peak and applied it here. It felt really good, I felt really excited for the races that weekend. And it turned out really good. So you can't be sad or mad about anything."
And going forward, "Sometimes it may be hard (finishing in the top three) because a lot of the faster racers weren't racing this weekend. I put myself in either the fifth or sixth fastest 250 rider out there. Anything in the top five would make me happy."
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