The Sunshine State welcomed race fans to the 50th anniversary of Supercross races at Daytona International Speedway. This year track designer Ricky Carmichael threw in some retro features to celebrate the history and legacy that is Daytona. The track got more gnarly as the night progressed, but it sure did make for some good racing.
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Dylan Merriam is just two weeks back into racing from injuries sustained earlier this season. His speed is there, he just needs to work on his starts and avoiding little mistakes that cost him positions. Merriam finished 13th in his heat, and though he started in the back of the pack during the LCQ he fought hard and finished 8th. Merriam is proud of how quickly he jumped back into racing and looks forward to the rest of the season and proving he belongs.
Jimmy Weeks was riding super consistently in Daytona; qualifying 23rd overall and quickly fighting his was to an 11th place Heat #1 finish. During the LCQ, Weeks launched his Yamaha off the gate and around the first turn near the front of the pack; there he battled back and forth fighting for a qualifying spot. With only a few seconds left on the clock he crashed (hard), and ended his night visiting with the Alpinestars Mobile Medical Team. Weeks is doing alright and will be back for Indianapolis this weekend.
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Lane Shaw rejoined racing this weekend after taking some time off due to an old injury flaring up. He snuck right into the night show with a 39th place qualifier; but a 17th place finish in Heat #2 meant he’d go on to the LCQ. A bad start mixed with pure chaos out on the track kept Lane at the back of the pack and ultimately out of the Main Event. He wished he would have preformed better but was overall happy with his Daytona experience and happy to be leaving in one piece. He looks forward to this weekends race and getting up towards the front.
Kevin Moranz has been on fire so far this season, pulling great starts and charging through the pack when needed. This week was a little bit more rough for him, but he pulled through healthy and ready to take on another round. In Kevin’s words: “I’ll take this one on the chin and move on. Went down in heat one as I was in the big pile up in the whoops on lap 1, bike was mangled. [my team] and myself rushed everything together to get me there for the LCQ. Did everything I could but a few costly mistakes made a huge difference from making the main to just one spot away. Happy with how much progress we made from free practice to the night show with bike set up, but time to go back to work to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Thank to my team TPJ Racing, all of our supporters, and all the fans for coming by and showing some love!”
Thank you to our sponsors who make all of our racing dreams possible!
Fly Racing, Pirelli, Lucas Oil, Karcher, 3D Designs, Acerbis Plastic , Benning Auto Parts, Bolt , Boyce Excavating , California Coast Plumbers , Carl’s Cycle Sales, Cometic Gaskets, Cylinder Works, DSC Construction , EBC, Engine Ice , Extreme Recycling, Fire Safety Services, Hot Cams, Magik Graphics, Meade Support Group, Millennium Trailers, Monarch Heavy Haul, MoTool, No Toil, Pivot Works, Randall Reed’s Prestige Ford, Rekluse Clutches, Ryder95, SDG Seats, Tokyo Mods, Torc1 Racing, Vertex Pistons, VP Racing Fuel, Discount Tire / Goodyear
Special shout out this week to Pirelli Tires – Thanks for always providing us with great traction for everything the tracks throw our way.
Photos by Team Photographer Jason Watkins.
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