Christie survives Virginia heat

By John Hopkins

Jodi Christie picked up 13th and 12th place finishes in the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike event at Virginia International Raceway Aug. 14-15, his first experience of American professional racing.

The Jodi Christie Racing / Durham Honda Powerhouse-backed rider spent a great deal of time adjusting to the spec Dunlop tires used in the AMA series (as opposed to the Canadian Pirellis), according to a team press release. The Keene, ON rider also had to deal with extremely hot temperature of around 40 degrees Celsius.

"He had a bad crash on Friday pushing the front hard into high speed corner three," said his Dad Gary in the team report, "and another that ended poorly on Saturday morning that seemed to shake his confidence in the tire."

Riding his second bike Christie took 13th in the first race of the weekend and followed that up with a 12th on Sunday.

"We had hoped for a top 10 finish, and were close with the times," Gary Christie added. "More time on the tire and the Thursday practice that was cancelled held us back for the weekend. He did well with only a 50 minute practice session to learn the track and try and nail a setup before having to qualify Friday afternoon."

The team hopes to take in the AMA season finale at Barber Motorsports Park in Alablama Sept. 24-26.

In the meantime, the 18-year-old Christie has been testing a Honda CBR1000RR for use in Canada, and plans are for him to make his debut on the bike in the RACE SuperSeries at Shannonville Motorsport Park before the end of the year.