Daytona Highlights - Day One - March 3, 2010
Hello all! Daytona 2010 was my first professional races with the AMA Pro Racing Single Series. For weeks leading up to the opening two rounds at the all new Flat Track at the famous Daytona International Speedway, I was very nervous and very excited! I was excited because I was finally able to make the trek to Daytona and also because I was finally back on a brand that I am comfortable with "Yamaha YZ450F". All I could think about was how bad I wanted to show up in Daytona and make the main and of course get on the podium. That would be great for myself and my all new sponsors! Unfortunately that is not what happened.
I arrived in Daytona the night of March 2nd, the night before the series kicked off. I pulled into the pits, got out of my truck and walked out onto the all new flat track. At that point I was very impressed with how the track looked which made me very confident.
After a well needed good nights sleep, my father (pit crew) and I arrived at the track, I got signed in and we got our pit spot and unloaded the trailer. We then walked out to the track to take a look and saw something happening that we both knew wasn’t going to be a good thing. The track prep crew were plowing up a perfectly groomed race track. Right then and there I got a bad feeling about the upcoming practice and qualifying. By the time it was my groups first practice session, the track was very loose, rocky and with deep ruts. I went out for my 4 laps of practice and I hated the track. Confidence was gone! I wasn’t getting good traction and I couldn’t get a fast lap in at all. I dropped tire pressure and hoped for a better a practice in the 2nd session of qualifying. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. I ended up qualifying 71st out of 74 racers. With that qualifying position I was done for the day and had to watch the rest of the day from the stands. Not what I wanted, but there was still the next night.
Daytona Highlights - Day Two - March 4, 2010
After a very bad and rough day 1, my father and I got back to the track the next morning and setup my race bike to the way we discussed the night before at the hotel. We changed gearing, tire pressure and adjusted my front forks to work with the track conditions better suited for me.
I was feeling my confident coming back after our adjustments and looking to do a lot better in round 2. I did my 4 laps of the first practice session and again I hated the track! At this point I had no idea about what I should do differently to the bike. I ended up just leaving the bike setup where it was and headed out for the 2nd practice/qualifying session. I ended up qualifying 73rd out of 74 racers. Another day spent watching from the stands.
All in all, even with bad experiences in my first 2 rounds of the AMA Pro Single Flat Track Series I still had a lot of fun and very grateful for the experience! Cant wait for my next Pro Singles race where I will do better!
As always tons of thanks to my sponsors and family!
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