SEASON WRAPS UP STRONG!
Written by TRACE LEIGHTON
IT'S BEEN A MONTH SINCE THE SEASON ENDED, AND I BELIEVE ALL OF US AT LEIGHTON MOTORSPORTS ARE STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO ON THE WEEKENDS.
AFTER 40,000 MILES OF TRAVEL OVER 5 MONTHS, I CAN'T BE HAPPIER WITH OUR SEASON. WE FINISHED WITH 3 TOP TENS AND 1 TOP 15 NATIONALLY. WE INCLUDE ALL OF OUR SPONSORS IN THOSE FINISHES AS WITHOUT THEM, WE WOULD NOT BE NEAR AS SUCCESSFUL.
#999 COLBY CRAPO: COLBY HAD A ROUGH FOUR WEEKS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON. ALL FOUR WEEKENDS HE WAS BATTLING FOR THE LEAD WHEN HE WOULD SEEM TO GET TAKEN OUT. WHILE ON THE WAY TO NEW YORK, HE AND I HAD A CHAT ABOUT WHAT HE NEEDED TO DO DIFFERENTLY. WE DECIDED HE WAS A LITTLE SLOW IN THE CORNERS AND NEEDED TO WORRY MORE ABOUT WHAT WAS GOING ON BEHIND HIM. FROM THAT DISCUSSION ON, COLBY NEVER HAD ANOTHER WEEKEND WITHOUT A PODIUM. HE WENT 5 STRAIGHT WEEKS FINISHING FROM 1ST TO 3RD. COLBY DEFINITELY FIGURED SOME THINGS OUT. COLBY FINISHED 4TH FOR THE SEASON IN SEMI-PRO STOCK #1 AND 6TH FOR THE SEASON IN SEMI-PRO STOCK #2 NATIONALLY. WE LOOK FORWARD TO NEXT SEASON AS COLBY IS TOUTED AS THE PRE-SEASON #1 SEMI-PRO. HE WILL COMPETE ONE MORE SEASON IN THE SEMI-PRO RANKS BEFORE MOVING TO PRO IN 2011/2012. WATCH FOR COLBY AS HE ACHIEVES HIS GOAL OF 9 OUT OF 9 PODIUMS INCLUDING WINTER X-GAMES IN 2010/2011.
#931 TREVOR LEIGHTON: TREVOR STARTED THE SEASON REALLY HOT AND THEN STAYED CONSISTANT. AFTER TAKING A SECOND IN DULUTH, AND A SECOND IN UTAH, HE KEPT JUST MISSING THE PODIUM. HE KEPT RACING HARD AND ACTUALLY RACED A COUPLE WEEKENDS IN THE NATIONAL SEMI-PRO CLASS ALMOST QUALIFYING FOR THE FINALS. TREVOR IS STILL A YOUNG RACER WITH ONLY 4 YRS OF EXPERIENCE. HE GETS BETTER EACH WEEK AND POLARIS AND OURSELVES ARE ANXIOUS TO SEE HOW GOOD HE CAN BECOME. HE WILL MOVE UP INTO THE SPORT CLASS FULL TIME NEXT YEAR. TREVOR FINISHED THE SEASON 3RD IN THE NATION IN JUNIOR 16/17 AND 13TH IN THE NATION IN SPORT #2. KEEP YOUR EYES ON TREVOR OVER THE NEXT COUPLE YEARS AS HE FOLLOWS HIS TEAMMATE COLBY UP THROUGH THE NATIONAL CLASSES.
CREW CHIEF: KYLE ZARIMBA. KYLE HAD ANOTHER YEAR OF DOING WHAT HE DOES. WHEN YOU SEND A RACER OUT ON A TRACK AND EXPECT THEM TO RIDE AS HARD AS THEY CAN, YOU HAVE TO HAVE TOTAL FAITH IN THE EQUIPMENT THEY'RE ON. AFTER OVER 130 MOTOS AND MAINS, WE NEVER HAD A MAJOR MECHANICAL FAILURE. THAT IS A TESTIMENT TO ALL OF KYLES HARD WORK. HE STARTED IN LATE OCTOBER COMPLETELY TEARING ALL THE SLEDS DOWN AND PUTTING THEM BACK TOGETHER. MAKING SURE THAT EVERY MOVING PART WORKED PERFECTLY AND EVERY BOLT AND RIVOT WAS TIGHT. HE SPENT MANY SLEEPLESS NIGHTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, DREAMING OF WAYS TO MAKE THE SLEDS FASTER, AND IT ALWAYS WORKED. THOUGH WE NEVER HAD REAL MECHANICAL ISSUES, THAT DIDN'T STOP OUR DRIVERS OR OTHER DRIVERS FROM BEATING UP OUR EQUIPMENT. THERE WERE TIMES WHEN THE SLEDS CAME BACK TO THE TRAILER TOTALLY HAMMERED. KYLE WOULD JUST LOOK AT THE SLED AND SAY "WE GOT WORK". BY THE NEXT RACE THE SLED WAS 100% READY TO GO BACK ON THE TRACK AND DO IT AGAIN. ALL OF US ON THE TEAM CAN'T THANK KYLE ENOUGH FOR A GREAT SEASON.
DRIVER COORDINATOR: ADAM S. JOHNSON. THE TIME AND EFFORT ADAM PUTS IN W/ THE DRIVERS, ESPECIALLY TREVOR, IS TOP NOTCH. ADAM WAS ALSO ABLE TO SPEND A WEEK IN IDAHO, MOUNTAIN RIDING AND TRAINING TREVOR. HE PROBABLY WALKED 200 MILES THIS WINTER ON SNOCROSS TRACKS CHECKING LINES WITH TREVOR AND COLBY. ADAM ALSO GOT A COUPLE CHANCES TO RACE THIS WINTER. HE RACED AGAINST TREVOR IN WEST YELLOWSTONE AND HE WON THE MECHANICS RACE AT THE SEASON FINALE IN GENEVA WI. IT WAS GREAT TO SEE #77 BACK ON THE TRACK. WAY TO FINISH STRONG ADAM!
PUBLIC RELATIONS: DERRICK SHANNON. DERRICK WAS NEW TO THE TEAM THIS YEAR AND WE ARE GLAD TO HAVE HIM. AFTER SPENDING MANY YEARS IN THE NASCAR WORLD, I'M SURE SNOCROSS WAS NOT WHAT HE EXPECTED. DERRICK SPENT EACH RACE DAY MAKING CONTACT W/ THE ISOC MEDIA PEOPLE AND DIFFERRENT VENDORS AT THE TRACK. ONCE RACING BEGAN, YOU COULD FIND DERRICK SOMEWHERE ON THE TRACK TAKING PHOTOS. THROUGHOUT THE SEASON HE TOOK MORE THAN 5000 PHOTOS OF OUR RACERS, TEAM AND THE VENUES WE WERE RACING AT. DURING ANY BREAKS IN RACING, DERRICK WAS BACK AT THE HAULER POSTING UPDATES ON OUR WEB-SITE, KEEPING EVERYONE INFORMED ON OUR RESULTS. HE ALSO WROTE ALL THE RE-CAPS OF RACE WEEKENDS AND KEPT THE WEB-SITE UPDATED WITH PHOTOS. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK DERRICK!
TEAM CHEF/TRAVEL AGENT AND #1 SUPPORT HELP: WENDY LEIGHTON. WOW WE COULDN'T DO IT WITHOUT WENDY. ISOC CHANGED THE RACE SCHEDULE SOME THIS YEAR WITH ALOT OF THE FINALS STARING AT 7 PM. WITH THIS WE WERE NOT DONE RACING UNTIL AFTER 10 PM MOST NIGHTS, CAUSING A PROBLEM WITH THE CREW BEING ABLE TO EAT. WE ARE SO THANKFUL THAT WE PUT A FULL KITCHEN IN THE NEW HAULER. WENDY WAS ABLE TO START A FULL MEAL RIGHT AFTER SERVING LUNCH. THE CREW AND DRIVERS WOULD THEN EAT THROUGHOUT THE EVENING AS THEY EACH HAD TIME. I'M NOT TALKING MICROWAVE DINNERS. WENDY WOULD WHIP THINGS UP FROM PORK CHOPS TO LAZAGNA TO A FULL ROAST ALONG WITH ALL THE SIDES. I THINK YOU CAN ASK ANY OF THE OTHER RACERS AND OUR SPONSORS. I'M SURE THEY WOULD SAY NO ONE ATE AS WELL AS THE LEIGHTON TEAM. OF COURSE WHEN ONE OF OUR DRIVERS WAS RACING, YOU WOULD ALWAYS FIND WENDY IN THE STANDS ROOTING THEM ON.
TEAM MANAGER: TIMI LEIGHTON. TIMI MOVED UP IN THE WORLD THIS SEASON BY TAKING SOME OF THE LOAD OFF OF ME. SHE STEPPED INTO THE TEAM MANAGER POSITION AND DID A GREAT JOB. HER DUTIES INCLUDED GETTING ALL THE RACERS HEATS AND RACE SCHEDULES TO HELPING CLEAN THE TRAILER AND SLEDS. SHE ALSO TOOK CARE OF POSTING RESULTS AND UPDATES TO OUR FACEBOOK PAGE. TIMI DID ALL OF THIS WHILE ALSO BEING A FULL TIME COLLEGE STUDENT IN UTAH. TIMI WILL BE ADDING TO HER SCOPE OF DUTIES NEXT YEAR BY HANDLING THE ORDERING OF LEIGHTON MOTORSPORTS SWAG AND HANDLING PROMOTION EFFORTS ALONG WITH OUR SPONSORS.
AS FOR THE 2010/2011 SEASON. WE ARE EXTREMELY EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE WE HAVE ALREADY RE-SIGNED WITH POLARIS. THIS WAS TAKEN CARE OF BETWEEN TOM RAGER SR. AND MYSELF BEFORE THE SEASON WAS EVEN OVER. WE ALSO HAVE SIGNED WITH WALKER EVANS SHOCKS FOR NEXT YEAR. WE ARE ALSO EXCITED WITH THAT TO HAVE THE SUPPORT OF BEN HAYES, (THE SUSPENSION MASTER). WE HAVE ALSO COMPLETED NEGOTIATIONS WITH MANY OF OUR PRESENT SPONSORS AND ARE IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH NUMEROUS NEW SPONSORS. WITH THIS LIST OF SPONSORS WE ARE DEFINITELY HEADING INTO ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SEASON WITH OUR EYES SET ON NUMEROUS CHAMPIONSHIPS.
TO CLOSE, I AGAIN CAN'T THANK OUR SPONSORS AND THE REST OF MY TEAM ENOUGH FOR THEIR EFFORTS AND HARD WORK. WITHOUT ALL OF YOU WE WOULD JUST BE AN AVERAGE TEAM. I HAVE PERSONALLY COMMITTED TO POLARIS AND OUR OTHER SPONSORS TO CONTINUE TO DO OUR ABSOLUTE BEST TO REPRESENT, BOTH ON AND OFF THE TRACK, THEM AND LEIGHTON MOTORSPORTS IN A PURE PROFESSIONAL WAY AND PROMOTE ALLOF US. WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH ALL OF YOU AGAIN NEXT SEASON. WE CAN CONFIDENTLY SAY WE HAVE A TOP SEMI-PRO AND A TOP SPORT RACER IN OUR TRAILER.
THANKS AGAIN AND WE'LL KEEP YOU POSTED THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER WITH UPDATES OF SOME OF OUR NEW SPONSORS.
THANKS
TRACE
