Tuesday Toolbox: Layne Michael

Often times when the 1 PM race takes off, we're concerned about what kind of start Paul Whibley got, or who won the Strang/Mullins battle for the finish.  We follow Jason Thomas and Steward Baylor as they weave their way through the pack, but what we don't always think about are the other 12 classes that are busting their butts to compete in the grueling three hours that help make up the afternoon race.  A West Virginia local, 16 year old Layne Michael is one of many riders that make up the future of GNCC Racing.  Layne is a 3-time Youth champion in GNCC and looking to capture more before moving into the Pro ranks.  We got the chance to hang out with Layne and his family the past couple of weeks and let me tell you, these people are nothing short of amazing.  Layne and his family live and breathe GNCC Racing and are the prime example of why this sport is such a great family atmosphere. 

 

Hey Layne! Thanks for stopping by!  Shouldn't you be in school or something? (laughs)

I actually got out of school early today so I took my bike up to Morgantown [Powersports] and then I decided to stop by Racer and see you guys!

Nice! So Morgantown Powersports, are they one of your big sponsors?

Yeah they've been my sponsor since I've been on 50's, they've backed me pretty well throughout the years.  When I won my first championship on 65's they actually started giving me a bike at the beginning of the year and I turn it back to them at the end of the year.  That's been a huge help for me racing-wise and you know it really helps with money how it is now.  They're just a really big supporter and it helps a lot.

So unlike most of the guys you ride with and against, you're still going to school M-F.  What does your day look like with school, training and riding?

Well yeah, school...I have to wake up at 6:40 AM and I'm usually at school until around 3:00 PM.  It's a bummer to have to go to school but it's what you have to do, I mean education comes first.  I normally come home and grab something to eat and then ride until dark.  Sometimes I'll go to the gym afterwards if I feel like I didn't get enough riding done but for the most part I'll ride for a couple - three hours, I have a lot of people that come and ride with me so it really helps with that part.

Yeah I've been lucky enough to ride at your place recently and I gotta say - your track is sick! You're pretty lucky to have that all in your backyard.

(laughs) Yeah, I am.

So now that you've moved up to the afternoon class, your race time has doubled! What do you do now to prepare yourself for those long motos?

During the off-season I used to wrestle for the school for the winters but I kind of quit all that so I could focus on riding more and I wanted to be able to go down south more and have more time on the bike.  With the weather like it is up here it was pretty hard so I just hit the gym hard and on a couple of the off weekends we would go down and ride a little.  It was a big transition coming from the hour and a half to the three hours, I mean it's double time and it doesn't seem like a lot but when you're on the big bike, the tracks are always twice as rough as they were before and they're twice as long.  I didn't expect it to be that hard.  At Powerline Park last year I kind of figured that out a little bit and I had a basic idea of what I needed to do for this year.

So you pretty much dominated the Youth ranks, taking home three championships and now you're only six points back from first place in the 4 Stroke A Lites, what's your season looking like this year?  Do you think we can expect a fourth championship in the works?

Umm, it's in the progress I guess.  You know, I'm still kind of getting used to the three hours of racing.  I'm trying really hard, I've been riding a lot lately and I'm really looking forward to getting that first win out of the way.  I think after that first win comes through everything will start clicking and we'll be able to go better.  It all depends, I really want it and we'll just see if I can get to that championship at the end of the year.

We got to catch you riding some moto this weekend, do you like that as much as woods racing?  Or it is it just something to do on the off-weekends?

It's mainly just something to do; there wasn't any woods races around so we'll go hit up some motocross races. I ride a lot of moto for practice because there are a lot of people that ride moto around here and a couple good motocross tracks around.  We always want to hit those up because they say motocross is always good for woods riding and it helps a lot.  A couple years ago I started staying with Thad Duvall a lot and that's pretty much what we rode all summer.  We would go out and pound 45 minute motos on the motocross track and when you come in you're breathing really hard because you're always working hard when you're on a motocross track so it really helps adapting to the woods and getting used to having your heart rate up higher.

So you spend a lot of time with Thad and some of the other guys down there, do they push you harder and kind of give you a taste of what the big boys are like?

Yeah, definitely.  I was down at Thad's a lot last year and I had a big bike then and he would hop in behind me and push me to go faster.  He would tell me the places I need to work on and just little stuff like showing me how to go through some of the sections.  It's a big help having someone like him that's there and knows what its like to be out there.

So we're heading to the new Indy 100 round next, what do you think about going somewhere new?

Yeah I'm pretty excited.  You know, no one is going to have an advantage there really so it's definitely new for the GNCCs.  I think it'll be good, something different; a new track that we've never raced and I think it'll be good for the GNCC racers for sure.

Before we go, what's the plan for the rest of the season?

Hopefully we can get that first win out of the way, that's the plan.  We're going to finish out the GNCCs and just local races around town.   I want to thank my sponsors: Morgantown Powersports, Troy Lee Designs, EBC Brakes, PR2, KTM Powerparts and Powerwear, PG Grafx, Asterisk, Maxima, Scott, FMF, and of course all of my family for their hard work and help.

Well thanks for stopping by, Layne.  If you're lucky, I might see you on the grass track this week!

(laughs) Thanks! We'll see!