Chris "Teach" McNeil of New Hampshire gives us the inside scoop on his performance at the season opener for XDL Sportbike Freestyle Championship in Lake Havasu.
The first round of the 2009 XDL National Championship kicked off in Lake Havasu, AZ - the perfect setting after a long winter consisting mostly of cross training on my new
BMW G450X. The addition of a new toy hauler made the trip down very easy and also continued to up the professionalism of XDL’s appearance – although the rig would cause problems later on with a couple of tire blowouts.
After wadding myself in practice two days in a row on the same trick, I was a little beat up heading into Saturday’s morning qualifying session – but that’s why I wear my Shift gear and
Scorpion dome saver! The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and the track was in very good condition as I managed to avoid the gusts of wind that left more than a few destroyed ez-ups in its’ wake. I rode like I know I can, resulting in a 4th place qualifying position. Going into the weekend, I still had not gotten things sorted all the way with the
BMW F800 since my Stuntwars fiasco, so I was definitely a little nervous about my lack of seat time. However my base set of riding skills alongside a few signature tricks and some sick flow carried me through to the finals.
Chris McNeil picked up 33 points for his fifth place at Lake Havasu, with Bill Dixon taking the win and 45 points.
Before my final run of the day (or night, I should say), I competed in a few of the side events including the wheelie race, which I won. It consists of two laps around the oval track against 3 other riders, all while maintaining a wheelie! I made a pass on the back straight and brought home the victory in convincing fashion. As the sun set and the temperatures dropped, I clutched up what would end up being my 5th place run under the Speedway 95 lights. In typical Teach fashion, I was super aggressive, toed the edge of disaster, and managed to keep the Metzler’s on the ground and the Leo Vince pipe thumping to the cheers of the crowd. Despite the speed and energy of my run, I missed a couple of key tricks early on and ran out of time before I could make up for my mistakes, netting me a top five spot. Considering the circumstances and the lack of dedicated practice time, I’m stoked about my finish and am looking forward to putting BMW back on the box in Nashville.
Thanks as always to all my sponsors and especially Shift, for keeping me safe and running.
