Daytona Bike Week
 
Hey everyone. Another week at Daytona in the books. I get so excited to head down there every year. Although, the tracks aren't always the best and its a long week, its awesome to get out of the snow and cold weather and head down into the sunshine for a couple weeks.
 
After a week of successful private testing at Neeses, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia, we had our open practice day at Savannah thursday night before the hot shoe. I only took each motorcycle out twice each, but I felt awesome on both. The track was grooved up like it always is, and I could run the 450 and 750 so deep into the corners, get it straight and drive it off. With impressive lap times, I was very excited to get it on the next day.
 
Unfortunately when we got there for race day, the track was soaked! I couldn't believe it. I didn't even think we were going to race. When we did finally get on the track, it was super tacky. You barley had to shut off on either motorcycle. It was way different from when we tested and I had a hard time getting use to this as there was no groove at all. On the 450, I just couldn't seem to figure the new track out. I got a pretty crappy start in my heat race and finished a few spots out of the Hot Shoe. I was pretty bummed but I really wanted to focus on the 750 a little more then the 450. On the 750, I was figuring out the track a little better then the 450. I had to ride a 750, I only ever rode once before because my other 750 blew up on the practice day. I still felt good. In my heat race, I was running 3rd behind Carr and Cheza. The first couple laps, I was trying to find a hole to get around Nichole. She was riding really awesome, but I wanted to put the Lancaster H-D bikes one, two. With two laps to go, I went a little wide coming into turn three and Sammy Halbert stuck it underneath me. There was not much I could once I committed that high into the corner. He got by me and I finished 4th. One spot out of the main event. With no semis at a hot shoe, I watched both from the truck. There was about 50-60 riders in each and with 12 spots into the main, its definitely tough, but no excuses, I just had an off day. The good thing was, I felt good and I learned a lot.
 
We raced Volusia the next couple days. The first day we got there the track was ROUGH. You would go into the corners and get about a foot of air of your seat. It was like a motocross half mile. I must of did something to my back in one of the practices, so I choose not to beat up the equipment or my body on the 750 and only opted to run my DTX 450. I felt awesome on that bike all day. Being one of the smallest riders out there, I definitely had to hold on. I finished a third in my heat race, after leading it for a while, and lined up for the final. Now that the sun went down, the track got slick and my DTX bike was having a hard time hooking up compared to the majority of the final who were on framers. I got the worst start in history, but I managed to work my way up to a 10th place finish. I started reeling in the majority of the pack, but with only 12 lap finals at a hot shoe, I ran out of time.
 
I started to feel sick at the start of the week, and I wanted to take a day off to regroup. I choose not to ride the 2nd day at Volusia. I had a really bad stomach ache, and it being that it wasn't a national, I felt it was a good day for me to rest and get back too 100%.
 
The third Volusia was a lot smoother then the first day I rode. I choose to ride my C&J 450 framer. The thing was working awesome at every track we tested on, and I was excited to get on it again. In my heat race, I started on the middle of the back row and had 6 laps to get into the top 3 to make the final. I turned the switch on and something clicked and I started picking guys off to finish 3rd. That was good, but even better I reeled in the leaders, who turned the fastest heat of the day. I also rode the 750 again on this day. We decided we wanted to try a drastic change on this bike. Since it wasn't a national, it would be a good day to test some restrictors in the motorcycle to see how they compare to one another, since this is only my 10th or so race ever on a 750. In my scratch heat, I ran 2nd behind factory harley-davidson rider Kenny Coolbeth the whole way. Jethro Halbert got by me on the last lap and I finished 3rd. I felt pretty good, but I think with a little changes I could of finished at least a solid second. In my heat race, I got a pretty bad start. I was 5th off the line. I was trying everything I had to get by the 3rd and 4th place riders. I would eat them up going into the corners, but they would slowly pull away from me down the straight-aways. I ended up missing the main by two spots. It was a shame. I felt awesome on the 750, and we learned ALOT on this day. I just wish we could of made a small change with restrictors before the heat and I know I could of ran a lot better. But no worries, I feel great on the 750, even on a crummy track and im ready for the AMA Twins Nationals to start. In the 450 main event, I started on the outside back row. The light went green and I started picking guy off. I just got by Sammy Halbert for 4th place, when the red flag came out. Wow, awesome luck for me, NOT! I felt awesome! On the re-start I didn't get off as good and I was running 7th or 8th, when guys started blowing by me on the straight-away and my motorcycle started to sound like a lawn mower. Sure enough, the bad luck continued and my exhaust broke right in half! I was black-flagged and credited with 12th place in the final. BUMMER! I really felt a podium was in reach. Oh well, thats racing and I really feel bad for all my sponsors and team, that this happened.
 
Next was the Nationals at Daytona. I qualified pretty descent both days. Wasn't the best, but ALOT better then last year. There are about 100 riders who come to Daytona. 60 riders make the night program, and then only 16 go to main. This is one of the only tracks on the circuit I struggle on, but I was ready to make that change. I finished 5th the first day in my heat race. I lined up for my semi and pulled an awesome holeshot, smacking rev limiter all the way off turn two! I looked over my shoulder and saw I had a pretty solid and no sooner after that, did I see a red flag! I couldn't believe my luck. Another thing that was really heartbreaking is that the rider who fell, was off the track and standing up before they threw the red. This got me flustered quite a bit. On the re-start, I came off the line in 4th or 5th. I still don't remember, I was pretty worked up still. I caught up to the leaders and battled with them the whole race. Everytime I would make a pass, I would sweep wide and get stuffed in the next corner. I couldn't find a line to get a good size lead and I finished in 2nd place, 0.594 seconds from first. Pretty heartbreaking. I felt like I got robbed, but hey thats Daytona and I felt awesome and the bike worked great. Day two, I finished 5th again in my heat race. I was running 3rd in my semi, and I got a bumped off turn two by Factory Suzuki rider JR Schnabel, who crashed running away with his heat race. That sent me back to 10th or 11th. I passed a couple guys, but I watched the main from the truck. The good thing is, I felt really good this year at Daytona. Last year I didn't make the 60 rider cut and this year I was half a second from the main. I figure if I can run that good here, the track I struggle on the most, I will be just fine everywhere else! I had quite a handful of bad luck, but im hoping I used all the bad luck up for the rest of the year. The bike worked awesome, and im ready to rock and roll for the rest of the year. Next race is Tucson, AZ on April 5th. That is where I won my first basic twins race last year. I love the race track and im ready to go!