Rusch Podiums in AMA Grand Nationals

haslargeimage

Eddie Rusch continues to impress with strong finishes in 3 races at the September 13th AMA Grand National event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. He made his way on to the podium with a 2nd place after a hard fought battle in the Expert Lightweight Superbike class. Eddie also finished strong in Expert Thunderbike and Expert Lightweight GP with a 5th place in each respectively. He and Don Elfstrom (chief mechanic and track chaplain) were both interviewed over the loudspeaker after a Saturday qualifying session with an opportunity to talk about the Lordís work through CSBRacing for everyone at the track to hear. What a blessed opportunity!

The goal was to come home with a National Championship. As the qualifying ended on Saturday, Eddie found himself in the best qualifying position of 5th Place. The guys knew it was a lofty goal to take first place in one of the three races at this point, yet they genuinely held out faith and prayed often with the belief that they could do it. God tells us that if we TRULY believe, we can move mountains. Itís that true faith that can be allusive. As the Superbike race unfolded, Eddie found himself in the lead by the third lap (of 8 total laps). No one could believe it! Corey Alexander, a very fast rider from New York, had crashed which gave Rusch the lead. Now, he had to hold off two very hungry riders with more powerful Ducati machines. As the race unfolded, one of the Ducati riders made his way by Eddie and stayed ahead of him until the checkered flag. George Linhart, the other Ducati rider, had moved ahead of Eddie at lap 6. On the very next lap, Eddie made a very daring pass on George and hung on until the end. It was bittersweet in that he came so close and everyone on the team did such an excellent job, yet the championship eluded the team by such a small margin.

The Suzuki SV650 ran perfectly all weekend. In preparation for this special event, the team worked to shed approximately 8 pounds off the bike by replacing the battery with a lighter unit and removing the old ignition switch and associated wires. Eddie Rusch also contributed to the ědietî by losing 8 pounds in preparation for this important event.

A mid-weekend change to Dunlop proved to be a good decision. Rusch adapted quickly to the change by going faster in every session than the one before. Typically, a change of tire manufacturers in mid-weekend is not encouraged, yet Eddie has proven himself to have good race bike feel in the past, so we took his feedback and made the change.

A big lift was provided by former CSBR racer, Michael Jensen. Michael made a sacrifice to use some of his vacation time to travel with the team to this event. He was instrumental in setting up the suspension to compensate for the abrasive track and the traction differences due to the tire change. Michael is also an excellent support to the team ministry in that his relationship to God is genuine and encouraging to the team members.

CSBRacing was blessed to be asked to give an invocation as part of the opening ceremonies by Griff Allen of Speed Channel who was the announcer throughout the weekend. The team is very thankful that he was so supportive of our mission throughout the weekend. God used the boys for chapel service on Sunday of which they had about 25 people in attendance.

Chaplain Don Elfstromís message was ěGod as we understand him, and the vertical, personal relationship we have with him. He loves us all equally, and wants us now wherever we are. In Romans 3:23 He tells us that all have sinned and fall short of His Glory. Our relationship with him is each of ours individually with Him without comparison to or judgment by othersî.