AMA racers Nicky Moore, Geoff May and Jake Holden were lucky to walk away from big crashes during promoter practice Thursday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, in Lexington, Ohio. Moore was only bruised when he highsided his Moto Uno Kawasaki ZX-6R exiting Turn Seven just after lunch time. The young Californian said he must have hit some oil on the track because his rear tire let go quickly and without any warning. Moore’s bike remained in the middle of the track after the crash and was narrowly avoided by several riders before a red flag stopped the session. Holden crashed his Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superstock racebike “hard,” according to his Crew Chief James Compton. “He was flying. He did a 1:25.8, some 1:26.0s, came in for a minor adjustment to the front end and went back out. He was on a really good lap, but he highsided out of the right-hander [Turn 14/exit of the Carousel] before the last left-hander coming onto the front straight. The checkered flag was already out, and when I looked up the bike was horizontal above the checkered flag.” Holden walked away from his crash but was later taken to a local hospital via private vehicle for precautionary X-rays to investigate his lower back pain. May had the first and maybe the biggest crash of the day, when he pushed his Team M4 EMGO Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superstock bike too hard too soon coming through Turn 12, a fast left-hand sweeper before the Carousel. “It was the second lap of the day,” said May. “I felt good, the bike felt good, my first flying lap felt good, so I put my head down. I guess it was too soon or I drank too much coffee this morning or something, but I forgot about the bumps in that turn. The front bounced once, then the second time it just went away.” May estimated his speed at the time at 110 mph, which resulted in him sliding through the limited run-off area and impacting the Airfence fronting an Armco barrier. “The Airfence saved my butt,” May said with a smile. “I smacked the Airfence pretty good. I remember after I hit thinking, ‘Man, that was nice!’ It felt like I jumped into a foam pit or a bunch of pillows. I’ve hit hay bales at that speed and it hurts. That’s my first time really hitting Airfence.”