Greg “Stumpy” Steltenpohl continued his drive to the CCS Midwest road racing championship August 28 and 29 at Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit, Illinois. Aboard the No. 256 Honda 600rr, Stumpy posted a podium finish in the 30 minute GTU as well as two other top five finishes, despite crashing three times though out the weekend.
Saturday started off with the Middleweight GP where Stumpy reeled in a 4th place finish of 24 bikes. His next race, the 30 minute GTO started off great with Stumpy in second place behind young gun Jesse Janisch on the Safety First GSX-R 1000. “I had a good pace going, but noticed the sky was getting darker,” explained Stumpy. “I was running a Michelin slick for this race so rain would be a disaster. As I approached turn 5, the red flag was thrown. I made the turn, hit a wall of water and was down immediately.” Fortunately for Stumpy, the red flag was thrown before he fell and was scored for 10th place after the restart because so many riders didn’t go back out in the rain.
The rain kept coming down for the rest of Saturday. Stumpy got his bike repaired and fresh Michelin rain tires for the 30 minute GTU. “I had a decent pace going in the GTU,” said Stumpy. “Jeff Purk and I were going back and forth for the lead. As I was going through turn six behind Purk, the rear end of my bike stepped out and I high-sided, landed on top of the bike and slid long enough for several bikes to go by. I jumped up and got back on, passed as many bikes back as I could and finished in third place. I couldn’t believe it!” Fortunately, that was the last race of the day for Stumpy.
The track dried up for a beautiful day Sunday. Stumpy started off with a 5th place finish in the Unlimited Supersport race after running seven of eight laps in sixth place. “I managed a last lap pass on Willie Broten on his GSX-R 1000 to take 5th. I really had to show some patience so I could make the pass and not get eaten up on the straights by the power of the 1000 versus my 600.”
The day continued on without incident as Stumpy finished 8th of 27 in Heavyweight Supersport and 6th of 29 in Middleweight Supersport. Then, in the Heavyweight Superbike race, disaster struck again. On lap three, while racing for third place in turn one, Stumpy’s bike popped out of gear while downshifting. “I took a chance that the bike would stay in neutral through the turn and dipped it in rather than ride off and, unfortunately, the bike clicked into gear mid-turn and locked up the rear tire. I was down immediately.” Due to the bike damage sustained in the crash, he was out of the race and had to settle for a last place score. With one race left, Middleweight Superbike, Stumpy was able to borrow John “Woody” Wood’s Honda 600 F4i.
With two events left in the Midwest region and one event left in the Great Plains region, Stumpy is ranked #1 of almost 300 riders in both regions. Stumpy could clinch the Great Plains #1 plate at his next event at Blackhawk Farms Raceway on September 18 and 19.
