The New Age folks have a number of very interesting theories about life. One of those curious “facts” is the idea that there are streams of energy that flow across the surface of the earth and that there are special places where these paths of energy cross. The places of convergence have unique properties to which the New Age devotees flock. Some of these sacred locations in the US include Santa Fe NM, Sedona AZ and Crestone CO. (Interestingly enough, these places are demonstrably locations of special financial energy because land in these towns is disgustingly expensive…but I digress).

Well, I’ve always been skeptical about this theory but I’m beginning to think there is something special about Fountain, Colorado. That’s the only way I can explain Eric Bostrom’s performance yesterday at PPIR.

Thus far this season, EBoz has struggled. Well, that’s putting it politely. In ‘03 Eric was “the man”. Last year he struggled with the Michelin clad Duc 999 and everyone…team, fans and Eric…surely expected him to return to his ‘03 form this year with him back on Dunlops and with a year on the Ducati under his belt. Given that benchmark, Bostrom has sucked this year: 11th at Daytona, 8th and 5th at Barber, 5th and 4th at Fontana, 10th and 7th at Infineon. Today Eric seemed to align all his chakras and everything clicked. He was second in qualifying throwing down strong laps for the second half of the 40 minute session. Then in the race he repeated last year’s jack rabbit start. Yates eventually clawed his way through traffic to catch up to Bostrom. The Enforcer even took the lead and looked to have it won but traffic kept him from getting away and roasted tires let him down on the last lap allowing Eric back by for the win. Eric’s sixth win at PPIR and his forth straight. Its really a pity the energy grid doesn’t cross the other nine tracks on the ‘05 schedule since Eric is amazing to watch when things come together for him.

In contrast, Mladin has ruled all year with only a mechanical failure at Infineon marring a perfect season. There is only one track on the AMA schedule that Mladin hasn’t won and its the little oval in Colorado. Mat came in confident that this was his year to check PPIR off his list. Well, once again the Mladin curse kicked in and Mat struggled. Perhaps Mat didn’t wear the right crystal or chant the right mantra before the trace. Then again, a bad race for Mat means forth…still valuable points towards the championship.

As I mentioned in my pre-race posting on Friday there are a few other guys that seem able to tap into PPIR’s mystical energy:

Josh Hayes - With a few weekends on a reliable Attack Kawasaki behind him, Hayes showed that his ‘04 performance of coming through the pack after a crash wasn’t a fluke. Josh didn’t crash this time and instead used that same Pike’s Peak mojo to finish the Superbike race in fifth, ahead of Hodgson, Duhamel and Zemke. This is Hayes second fifth in three races so once again he is stickin’ it to the factory boys.

Tommy Hayden - The elder of the Hayden brothers has always run well at PPIR. Maybe its his dirt track background, maybe its his smooth riding style or maybe its cosmic karma but Tommy once again put on a good show for us Colorado fans. Tommy visited the podium in both of his races, third in Superstock and second in Supersport. He ran second for most of the Supersport race until race leader Jason Disalvo threw his Yamaha away in turn three. Tommy nearly crashed avoiding the sliding bike and rider but rejoined the in third. He rode hard to regain second with a deft pass on Jamie Hacking but couldn’t find a way past brother Roger Lee for the win. This increased his lead in Superport to 8 points and his Supersport run solidified his forth place standing there.

Jake Zemke - The Californian has had some memorable rides in Colorado. Today he had two noteworthy rides but only got the glory for one of them…Zemke lead the Formula Xtreme race from start to finish, winning his forth straight FX race and giving him a 13 point lead over teammate Duhamel in the title chase. This win also moved him into first place on the most FX wins list with 10. Zemke’s second race for the day didn’t turn out so well… In Superbike, Zemke came out running strong in third for that first half of the race. It looked like Jake would put the CBR on the podium, especially once Mladin pitted for a new tire, but then he suffered his own personal tire problems eventually pitting for new rubber. Zemke eventually finished thirteenth, hardly fair considering how long he held third place on the track against the monster Suzukis and against PPIR expert Bostrom. It doesn’t require any spiritual mumbo-jumbo to know 13 was definitely an unlucky number for Jake.

Jamie Hacking - Jamie has often struggled at PPIR including some high profile crashes in the past. This year he finally seemed to find the way to channel the mysterious Fountain, CO power. Hacking won a hard fought Superstock battle after holding off persistent attacks from Aaron Yates. He then followed this up with a third place in Supersport, not quite able to run with the two Hayden brother’s Kawasakis but pulling well clear of teammate Aaron Gobert. In addition to putting in strong performances this year, it also seems like Hacking has mellowed a lot over the past two years. I thought he was a jerk for much of his early racing career but ‘04 seemed to have brought about a change. He seems to be a less physical rider and less aggressive towards his competitors both on track and off. The new ager followers might say there has been a transference because unfortunately it appears that the worst parts of Hacking’s prior persona have been picked up by his teammate Jason Disalvo. The change in Hacking in both his outward personality and his performance at PPIR mean he was one to watch this past weekend.

Finally, every vortex of universal bliss is bound to have its downer. It was the track itself that was again the embarrassing stain on the clean white robe of a weekend. As if the dinky 1.3 mile layout with crumbling asphalt isn’t bad enough the riders had to deal with the added excitement of having water seep up through the cracks all during the weekend. To show that some people know how to make a bad situation worse, the track sprinkler systems ran on Saturday evening adding water to an already saturated ground. The fix? The track officials had holes bored into the surface where tampons were inserted to soak up water. Now the surface resembles a cheese grater, not to mention bringing up that age old question of exactly what is the traction coefficient of a wet tampon? The final coup-de-grace was the complete cluster caused by jamming a few thousand motorcycles out just two exists. The motorcyclists, many in leathers and helmets, were left baking in the sun while the VIPs in their air conditioned cars were flagged out of the parking areas in the infield. A miserable end to what was actually an exciting weekend of racing.

[image from my photo collection.]