Season Best Results in Indy for Team Ohlins/Langston Motorsports/KTM‏

The
team was at full strength this weekend with the return of Taylor
Futrell (#86) who has been recovering from a collarbone injury. Les
Smith (#46) and AJ Catanzaro (#93) both made the night show with 11^th
and 17^th
place qualifying times respectively. Taylor encountered some
unfortunate mechanical issues in the first free practice that
prevented him from participating in the first timed session. He made
the second timed session but a lingering mechanical issue forced him
to miss the night show.

AJ
was in the second heat race and came off the gate with a mid-pack
start. He worked his way into a qualifying position where he remained
until an untimely mistake on the last lap put him into the LCQ. AJ
did not get a good start in the LCQ and was unable to work himself
into a transfer position.

“I
rode well enough in my heat race to qualify but did not finish the
job,” said AJ. “I am somewhat frustrated right now because I know
I am capable of so much more but can’t seem to make it happen at
race time.”

Les
Smith had the best night of his season. He too was in the second heat
race and came off the gate with a top ten start. Les made some key
passes early on and worked his way up to a season best 5^th
place finish moving him straight to the main event. In the main
event, Les had a mid-pack start and was on the move getting into 10^th
position when during the 5^th
lap the race was red flagged. There was a staggered green flag GNCC
style re-start to continue the main. Les was able to maintain his
10^th
position off the start taking 9^th
place around the mid-way point. Les finished in 9^th
giving him his best overall finish for the season.

“Even
though I did take a nasty spill in the whoop section during free
practice, I felt really good on the bike and the track all night,”
said Les. “Man, seeing the smile on my mechanic Nick Burns’ face
every lap made it even more fun. Our team is really coming together
and I have a lot more work to put in so we can keep improving,” he
said.

Grant
Langston, Team Manager, said “I am so happy for Les, he’s such a
good kid and really earned this result. I knew it was only a matter
of time before he would be in the top ten and I know he will now only
work harder to continue improving,” he said. “It feels especially
good knowing we were the top KTM Lites team of the evening. Now we
just have to find the right changes to make in AJ’s program so he
can start living up to his potential,” Langston said.