Daytona, the track that kicks off the season for a lot of racing in The United States. Nascar, Supercross, and of course MotoAmerica! 2024 has brought a lot of changes for MotoAmerica, Mission Foods, Roland Sands Designs, Super Hooligans class, including the crazy rider pictured above on the OTW Racing Indian FTR1200.

This was my first year and race in the MotoAmerica Series, and you know what? I LOVED IT!!!!

Thursday:

P1 – This was my first time ever riding at Daytona and managed to get my time to a 2:11 by the end of practice. Upon returning, I knew I was going to have to drop a couple seconds for Q1/Q2 in order to meet the threshold to qualify for the race.

Q1 – Went out for Q1 and was able to find those few seconds out of the gate. But a couple of laps in, the bike was walking around a lot when I was on the embankment. I kept putting in the laps to better my feel of the track and hopes to find someone to draft to get a little more speed (I didn’t 😩). Upon pulling back into the garage, I started putting the tire warmers back on, and lo and behold the back was missing a chunk of rubber!! Explains the wiggle feeling on the banking, was very lucky and had God on my side as I had put several laps with that feeling and clicking speeds of 140+ mph.

Friday:

Q2 – This was not a good session. It started off by the Team and I thinking the session started at 0930 vs 0900. I got into my gear quickly (some would say panicking) but I kept a calm head and used that rush, as my way to get the blood pumping and siked up for the session. We were getting ready to push out when I noticed something on the bike but set sail to try and drop more time for a better grid spot anyway. Only to find myself stuck in the middle of the track after a lap and a half. After being towed back in, the Team Owner had noticed something on the grid that was released (I was missing from it, even though my time from Thursday’s Q1 was good). He was able to talk with the MotoAmerica staff and get me back on the grid, but was forced to start from the back of the grid. Didn’t bother me, I was able to qualify and race!

Race 1 – Started dead last (29th) and picked up a few bikes on the brakes into turn 1 (T1). Our bike is a little on the heavier side and not quite as powerful as some of the others on the grid, so I was not able to take advantage of the drafting in this race, but I was able to be a demon on the brakes and quicker on the infield. I was able to finish 16th (just outside the points) and took off more than 4 seconds off my Qualifying time.

Saturday:

Warm Up – Pre-warm up, we made a legal modification to the bike to allow it to get more air. I went out and did a few laps and while the times were the same as Saturday, noticed a 2 mph bump in trap speeds. So we made that modification a little bigger for race 2!

Race 2 – Again, had to start from the back of the grid (28th, Debrino got hurt Friday), and also picked up a few bikes one the brakes in T1. Had a few good battles and was able to ride with a pack of similar paced riders and was able to take advantage of the draft (can conclusively say our mod worked out). I didn’t quite finish as good as Fridays race (19th) but I was able to meet my goals for the weekend: 1) Qualify for the race 2) bring myself and the bike back in one piece 3) Not finish last and 4) HAVE FUN!!!!

I learned a lot at this event and cannot wait for the next MotoAmerica Super Hooligan Round at The Ridge in June. Until then I’ll be doing some WERA National races, so look out for those race reports.

Lee Eshelman #38