(NEWS RELEASE)

DU QUOIN, IL – 16 APRIL 2011

This was our first GNC indoor short track race in a few years. I believe the last one was right here in Du Quoin. I was pretty excited about it since the last time here it was a Hot Shoe, but with National-level competition, and I was able to win it. I came out to test here right after Daytona so I knew a little to start with. It was also my 25th birthday and I knew it would be either a really good one, or a lousy one.

I qualified 10th… but felt like I could go faster. In my heat race ( the 3rd ) were Henry Wiles, Johnny Lewis, Jesse Janisch. JD Beach, Stevie Bonsey, JR Schnabel, Luke Gough and Brock Shwarzenbacher to name a few. I got a good jump, right behind Wiles (who was leading) But a red flag came out and we had a re-start. Off the line Wiles stalled his bike, got run over, and there was another red flag. This gave me the point now. I got the jump and rode a clean heat race, bringing home the win in the Heat

Next was the Dash. I got off the line in 3rd, stayed there until Jake Johnson got me right at the end, putting me in 4th. I tried a couple of different things in the Dash that did not pan out that well, so I made a couple more changes for the Main Event.

In the Main Event I again got off the line in 3rd place, ran there until about 5 laps to go and then made a mistake which allowed Jake to get by me. I found a line and was coming back… and felt like I could make a pass but almost hit the back of him, ending up losing too much ground. It was a 4th place finish for me that night. All in all it wasn’t too bad of a birthday but it would have been nice to do better

.

SALINAS CA – TT AND SHORT TRACK – 23 and 24 APRIL 2011

Kenny Coolbeth, Bryan Smith and I had teamed up to go to Du Quoin together in the rig owned by my main sponsor, Craig Rogers. This would save us all on the cost of fuel. After DuQuoin we went to Kewanne to Reimans Harley Davidson, Brandan Bergen’s sponsor. We all prepped up bikes for a day and then all four of us headed out Tuesday afternoon. We drove straight through, had a great trip out, getting to Craig Rogers’ house in San Jose on Thursday morning. We hung out for a couple of days until race day.

When we got to the track on Saturday it looked big and promised to be a lot of fun. I felt really good in practice and qualified 2nd to Jake Johnson. This put me in the 2nd Heat with Luke Gough, Robbie Pearson, Stevie Bonsey, JD Beach, Chad Cose, and two of my traveling companions and buddies: Bryan Smith and Brandan Bergen, to name a few. I got off second on the line and was running behind Luke, who was riding really well. I made some time on him and he would make it back on me. I finished 2nd but felt good and racey.

I was in the Dash again, running 3rd to Jake. On the last lap, last corner, I ran underneath him and took his line away to get 2nd. With these Dashes, they give us Championship points… you need all the points you can get.

For the Main Event I picked the top, got a good jump and was running 2nd for about 10 laps until Brad Baker got by me and then I got by him. He again got by me and made it stick, taking off. I then ran in 3rd place until about 5 laps to go and had a “big” moment going around the right hander. Henry Wiles got by me and then so did Sammy Halbert. I ran down Sammy on the last lap, last corner, similar to my pass on Jake to get 4th back. I was really looking forward to the podium but came up short. The track was fun, it would be nice to race that place at night or have some sort of chemical for the dirt. With it being a daytime race it seemed to get dry very quickly.

Next day was the Short Track. First time I ever raced on Easter Sunday… Hope everyone had a good Easter. In the first practice I was way off on gearing. For the second practice, which is the first qualifying, and counts for time, it went much better and I was 2nd. I did not change anything for the second qualifying round, was 6th, but my times in the first qualifying stuck for the combined times so I was 2nd fast overall.

I got the hole shot in my Heat race and went backwards quickly. I couldn’t make anything happen. I got passed going across the strip for 4th so I had to run a Semi. I got a decent jump and finished 2nd in the Semi. For the Main Event I really wasn’t sure which way to go for set-up so we pretty much left it as it was. I got another good jump and was running up there, but faded back as the track got dry. I ended up in 12th place, worst finish of the year and worst finish for me in a long time. So we will try to pick up from there and roll into Springfield. We still have a lot of races to go but need to make some stuff happen quick.

Thanks to all my supporters, especially Craig Rogers and Rod Lake of Rogers-Lake Racing, Saddlemen, Montgomeryville Cycle Center, National Cycle and Digger Helm.

Jared Mees # 9

Singles Series Sponsors:

Lucas Oil, Rogers Lake Racing, Montgomeryville Cycle Center, Twisted Beverage CompanyTM, Saddlemen, Digger 57, M.E.H. Corp, Rod Lake, Rockysonline, Arai Helmets, Speed Strength Leathers, KK Motorcycle Supply, A&A Racing, Steve & Cindy Vizzo, Battley Cycles, MRT Racing, Kelly’s, MTA, JE Pistons, Cometic Gaskets, VP Racing Fuels,Tsubaki, Motion Pro, TCX Boots, Troy Lee Designs, K&N Filters, Millennium Technologies, Vortex, Craig Pickett, Goodridge, Works Connection, RekluseClutches, Gene & Gail Cummings, Eddie Mulder, NGK, Z Gallerie, Dick Winters, Oakley, WestCoast Hot Shoes, Jupiter Wheels, EBC, Mikuni, Web Cam, Ancra, J&M Racing Frames, Pro Plates, Kold Kutter, Turn 1 Distributing. Crank Works Crank Shafts, Ez-up, Suburban H-D, Twenty Six Suspension, Flash, G2, Penske Racing, Chicken Hawk, Ferrea Valves, J2 Motorsports, Royal Publishing Co., Applied Diamond Coatings, M&Z Anodizing, Brent Armbruster, CV4, Bristol Core, Universal Coatings, Hammer Head, Hot Rods, TSS Graphics, Dyno Jet, DVS Shoes, Xtremely Fit, Aerodyne, Boyesen, Wrex, Fluidyne, Helix, Gunk, Kicker.