posted on March 08, 2010 11:03
2010 Daytona 200
Anyone who is involved in road racing in the US can tell you how utterly insane Daytona is. It's one of our most prestigous races, it's our only "endurance" race, and it's the first event of the year. When you put it all together, it can make preparation pretty daunting.
With the state of the econcomy it's gotten harder and harder to find support to go racing lately. This year I was so incredibly blessed to have so many of my sponsors step up their support from last year as well as to have more come on board. Nevertheless, a lot of it came together last minute, which left my new mechanic, Rick Matheny of RM Racing with little more than two weeks to build two Yamaha R6's into proper race bikes. He came through for us though, and I rolled into Daytona this year with some stupid fast machinery (insert huge smile here).
My first practice had a few snafus which unfortunately delegated me to the slow group for qualifying. Ordinarily this would just be annoying, but at a track like Daytona, it's super important to hook up with someone fast in qualifying for a draft... not so much of an option for me. As a result I ended up qualifying 28th... which was better than last year, but definitely not where I knew I was capable of being.
We went into the race knowing that the most important thing to do was be smooth, play it smart, and not make mistakes. That got tested right away with a massive pileup right on the start. Luckily I was able to avoid it and make my way back to the pits for the restart. By then I'd realized that despite tire warmers... the groud was so cold that it was still really slick. On the restart I took it really easy for two laps. A few people got by me... but I knew I had 200 miles to do my thing. As my first stint went on I picked off rider after rider and worked my way up to the top twenty or so. I *almost* felt bad when my RM Racing tuned R6 would just motor by people on the banking... but only for a second! I settled into a decent battle with another guy that helped me keep my focus as I waited for Drebber to show me my "In" board.
My first pit stop went super smooth. I had been nervous how we'd stack up against all the big name teams, but my All Star crew of Rick Matheny, Vic Fassola, Michael Godin, Steven Breckenridge, Joe Capelli and our fearless volunteer Josh (from Wyotech) was flawless. I was in and out and back on the track FAST.
A lot of people must have struggled in that first stop because as soon as I went back out on track I saw that my position had improved to top 15 or so. I settled into a battle with the same guy again and just put my head down to do my thing. After the second pit stop I couldn't believe that I was running between 10th and 12th position consistently. A top fifteen finish had been my "realistic" goal... but true to form... in my heart I'd been hoping for top ten. Not to mention that the purse money would have really helped get me along to the next event. I made sure not to think about it too much and just focus on the race lap by lap.
With about ten laps to go Cory West came by me and I had a laugh that I nearly drafted right back by him on the banking... Have I mentioned how fast my R6 is? A few laps later Herrin (the race leader) came by on the run up to the chicane. I made a point to sit up at my normal break marker and just take it easy since I knew I had a big gap back to the next rider. I tipped it in left and flicked it right... and then I was tumbling through the dirt. Before I'd even stopped I was thinking to myself, "you've got to be kidding me! How can this be happening?!" It was like instant heart break. You cannot even fathom the disspointment when in one glance I knew I couldn't finish the race. Immediately I felt a burning in my fingers and I looked down to see that my glove was torn open. I must have gotten my hand caught under the handlebar when I fell because other than that I didn't have a scratch to speak of. Oh dear... it was like adding injury to insult... lol. I knew I didn't want to see it so I just walked to the ambulance.
When they got my glove off they saw that most of the top of my pinkie finger had been ground down to the bone from the second knucke to the tip. Not a pretty sight. I had to go to the ER to get it scrubbed out and xrayed to see that the end of it was broken. I was relieved that Josh was able to go to hospital with me this time and that my team joined us there later... I guess only the people that know me best could understand that the anguish was over not finishing the race and not about my mangled finger.
We're driving now to see the hand specialist tomorrow to see what needs to be done. I'm hoping it'll be a quick fix because I'm definitely ready to get back riding. Lucky for me (ok, maybe lucky isn't the right word) Josh has been through a very similar injury and has a great doc for me to see... Plus he kinda knows how I'm feeling and is taking great care of me. (Although it is kinda embarassing to be babied over a finger injury, lol).
I really want to thank ALL of my sponsors for their support and believing in me... I wish I could have brought home the top ten finish for them... but there will be plenty more opportunities this year. Thank you Yamaha, GYTR, Royal Purple, Joe Rocket, RM Racing, LeoVince, Barbara Conner Jewelry, MotionPro, Concept 5, Millennium Technologies, Factory Bodyworks, GB Racing, Vesrah, Spiegler, Zero Gravity, XT Racing, and Dynojet.
Stay tuned for updates... I really wanted to post a picture of my finger but Josh said a lot of people who paid good money for their lunch probably wouldn't appreciate it too much. lol.
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