| Author | Message | ||
     Americanmadexb |
Go Buell racers!!! Shawn Higbee, Walt Sipp, Paul James.. and got to root for Danny Eslick and Taylor Knapp | ||
| Fireboltwillie |
just about start time! | ||
| Spike240sx |
wtf! worlds worst start! | ||
| Rocketsprink |
lots of issues with this race. watching live timing as well as the tv so live is an hour ahead. | ||
| Spike240sx |
Shit! Higbe is out! | ||
| Mooch |
what channel?? how do i watch? | ||
| Fran_dog |
SPEED | ||
| Spike240sx |
god i wish eslick was on a buell!! | ||
| Spike240sx |
higbee back up to 14th. hell ya! sorry stuck in a bar out of state watching the race. no one to watch it with. | ||
| Americanmadexb |
Ha ha.. i feel ya... Im a post ••••• tonight to on the Quick board Daytona thread! Higbee is 17th after pit stops now. Still good after the wreck! | ||
| Fran_dog |
Never mind don't spoil it. The race isn't live. Removed link. (Message edited by Fran_Dog on March 05, 2010) | ||
| J2blue |
Someone shoot them blue yammies, I want to see Rapp and Eslick chasing the checker. | ||
| Dbird29 |
Latus from Oregon got some airtime. What's the story behind a HD dealer doing a Ducati campaign? | ||
| Americanmadexb |
For F#%K sake... straight back to re-run Nascar.... grrrrrrr | ||
| Buellerxt |
I'm pulling for the Buellers, big time, but I don't get the Speed Channel. Come on guys, low into the corners, hell on the straights, and get the checkered flag! We're with you. | ||
| Gearhead |
Congratulations to Paul James and the James Gang/Hoban Brothers team on their 16th place finish!! | ||
| Imonabuss |
Fantastic finish for Paul for sure in his first 200, and kudos to Shawn for soldiering on after crashing. Nice, all three Buells finished respectably. | ||
| Doerman |
Would have been interesting to see where Shawn would have finished if he had not got caught up in that traffic jam. With due respect to Danny, he could have done better on a Buell. Walt and Paul ... Great showing. I enjoyed watching the race. One nagging thought is how much better this race would have been for Taylor and Danny if they were on a Buell. Well, it cemented one thought. I will be the first one to sign up for a new Street Buell once available next year (I know you can get there, Erik). There's too much goodness in that design to fade away. The 200 is special. The current and future Buells are even more special. | ||
| Court |
I am thrilled to see Shawn, Paul and Walt make sure a proud showing. This was an amazing and historic, in the Buell perspective, running of the Daytona 200. Congratulations to all the Buell racers. Court    (Message edited by court on March 06, 2010) | ||
| Macdiver |
Wow, ! top ten and two more in the top 20. Great showing for these guys. It is a shame Higbee is not racing the Buell the entire season. He probably could get a podium for Buell. Good to see RMR and Eslick lead a few in the beginning proving that Eslick is good and that the Buell does not have an unfair advantage in horsepower. | ||
| Dentguy |
Good job Buell racers. Amazing ride for Higbee riding with that stub for a foot peg. Happy to see the Latus Ducati with Rapp on the box. Too bad Melissa Paris went down so close to the end. She was riding great. Good job for Eslick too. I enjoyed watching him lay down those black lines on the last lap. I think he got a lucky break. I don't think I've ever seen someone get out of their start box and not get penalized. | ||
| Ithaca280 |
Not a bad showing at all, did better without HD holding them back. | ||
| Rasta_dog |
Shawn was running consecutive 1:50's the last ten laps of the race. The only other racers doing that all finished in the top 5  | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Got to meet Danny Eslick and Ritchie Morris. Congratulated them on last year and wished them luck for 2010. We wound up watching the whole race from the James Gang/ Higbee pit (and helping too). Paul James and Shawn Higbee are good people!! | ||
| Americanmadexb |
SPEED freaking blows with there coverage. Superbike race #2 is on and they cut to Higbee high siding on his Ducati, but they announce he is on a Buell. Clearly it isn't a buell with the dual exhaust coming out under the seat.. Douch Canoe's!  (Message edited by americanmadexb on March 07, 2010) | ||
| J2blue |
...and Higbee is okay? Didn't get to watch tonight. | ||
| Smoke |
i had some more fun at Daytona!!! one of the Buell riders (Shawn Higbee #11) in Daytona sportbike came by the pits Sunday offering to sell some Buell parts to try and raise tire money and i offered to give him any pit/garage assistance that he needed. after i got done racing tuesday and loaded all my stuff in the van and trailer the Daytona security people let me leave my loaded trailer in the open garage i had rented until the motocross racers were allowed in on Friday 8:30AM. this helped as i could run my van around without the trailer. my wife and daughter left St. Augustine Wednesday morning and i headed down to the track to see if Shawn needed my assistance or to be a spectator. i pedaled my bicycle around the track and gave Shawn a call when i got back which was prior to the first superbike practice. Shawn had 2 bikes entered, a Ducati 1098 that he is planning to run all year in American Superbike and the Daytona Sportbike Buell 1125R which may just be used for the 200 unless sponsorship comes around. Shawn gave me a callback after the first superbike practice and told me that he could use the extra help and i pedaled my butt down to the garage area and just acted as if i belonged there as i pedaled into the garage area following another worker on a scooter. it was bike prep all day wednesday as Shawn sorted out the Ducati that he had never ridden before Daytona. it was mostly rear shock issues that he was working on and he mentioned that the Ducati was always moving around on the track and was very twitchy. (that's the same way my 1125R is)He ran practice all day and i just tried to fit in the slots where i could do things to help. Shawn was pitted with James Gang Racing (Paul James #70)who's team manager is Mike Kirkpatrick. The James Gang had run Moto St the last couple of years and had a very impressive handle on how things were done professionally in the pits so i learned a lot there. Shawn's team manager for this event was Michael Richter, one of the Erik Buell Racing engineers that had flown in on his dime to participate. Shawn's mechanic was Scott -----, another Wisconsin racer who had come down to help. So wednesday testing was completed after sportbike practice in the dark where Shawn had a getoff, i got a Team Hibee Racing Crew shirt and we packed up and all went our separate ways until the next morning. i had Flat Track tickets so i went to watch the races. Man was it cold when the sun went down and i was sitting in the stands to watch the flattrack events. they have moved the event to the 1/2 mile track at Daytona that was just built. the bleachers are close enough to the track that chunks of dirt fall into the crowd every lap as the racers go by. the racing was great(and loud) but the temperature (and my tired condition) drove me back to the infield camping area after the first main event where i had purchased a weeklong pass and it was off to sleep. i was up at first light and at the garage at 8:am after having a good breakfast at the Bob Evans restaurant across from the track. i had made a sandwich for lunch and i was ready for working. in first sportbike practice(it was cold-38F), Shawn put the 1125 on the ground and it was time to fix things again. i had to go steal some parts off of my 1125R in the other garage and we borrowed bodywork from the James Gang backup bike. Shawn went out and practiced superbike. we worked and got things together for more practice and qualifying. Shawn put the 1125r on the grid in 10th during provisional qualifying and the 1098 in 14th. the racing started in the early afternoon with Supersport and then Shawn was up on the Ducati for the Superbie race. Shawn got a good start and ended up running by himself during most of the race and finished 8th. Jake Zemke pulled off the win for Jordan Motorsports in a back and forth 5 way battle. evening Daytona Sportbike final qualifying was up later and somehow we left the transponder on the Ducati. we kept waiting to see Shawn's times on the screen and nothing ever came up and he was rolling by very quickly on the stopwatch. towards the end of the session we came to the conclusion that there was no transponder on the bike and Scott tore off to get it . Shawn came in, Scott threw the transponder in Shawn's leathers and off Shawn went. we ended up with no times and somehow Michael pleaded his case to the AMA and they let Shawn go back out in the second group to qualify. Shawn tore through the second group on finished tires and qualified in the top of that group and 11th overall for the Dayton 200!! we packed up and were out of the garage on time and i whipped over to Friendly's for the 10 dollar special, fish and chips, tea and an ice cream sundae before passing out in the van in the infield. up early again on Friday and a Waffle House breakfast. i was down at the blue garage to pick up my trailer at 7AM and was at the locked garage at 8. the garage didn't open until 9:30 Friday so i went down to Shawn's trailer and sat in the sun until everyone started getting up. everything was going smooth in practice and the sun was shining, wind was down and it was a perfect race day. we headed overthe garage and started preparation. Shawn did warmups on both bikes and we brought them back to the garage for final race prep. we pulled all the borrowed bodywork from the 1125r and replaced it with some that came in Fedex. we brought rims to Dunlop, 3 rears and a front for the Buell 1125R and 1 rear for the Ducati 1098. Scott replaced the Ducati's clutch and i installed the rear and moved over to the 1125R. i pulled the front wheel while Michael pulled the bodywork. we installed the replacement bodywork and worked on all the little things to get ready for racing. we were pitted in spot 2, almost as far from the garage as we could get but were very close to pit out. we moved everything down to the pits for the night race and were ready to go. the racing began with supersport and then we were up in superbike. everything was going too smooth and they went out for the sighting lap. when Shawn came in from the sighting lap he asked Scott about tire pressure and we found that the rear was still at the pressure as removed from the Dunlop area. we got kicked off the grid as the race was about to start and i don't know how much pressure Scott was able to bleed off but Shawn had the rear spin up and he went down soon after the first or second lap. very disappointing to Shawn and the crew. we got ready for the 200 and we were going to make sure there were no mistakes this time! everything went well with pre-race ceremonies, the sighting lap except no one brought Shawn's water to the line. Scott told me to get the water and bring it to Shawn after the warmup lap. i did that and i noticed that i was the only one not on a bike that was on the grid. Shawn gave me the water back, a push while the noise got loud and i sprinted to the wall as the bikes roared off!! i wouldn't recommend doing that again! one of the people at the wall said that i must have balls of steel when the truth was that i didn't really know how fast the grid moves in the AMA!! way faster than the club races that i have done. Shawn didn't get a great start but there was a hell of a pileup that redflagged the race. they re-gridded and they were off again. Shawn went down early but got back up on the bike in about 36th. he radioed into the pits and needed a brake lever, footpeg and that the top fairing bolts had snapped. i got ready with the brake lever and footpeg but he didn't come in until his scheduled stop. somehow he had forced his brake lever back into place and adapted to riding on the nub of the right footpeg that was left. they tywrapped the fairing in place,replaced the rear and loaded him with fuel in about 20 seconds and off he went! from there it was spectator duty for me because everything went well as Shawn worked his way up the field. watching Mike Kirkpatrick and the James Gang Crew work was amazing as they completed 6 excellent pit stops on 2 bikes(3 each bike). Shawn worked his way up to 8th by the finish and Paul James finished 16th in his first ever Daytona 200! more work took place as we unloaded the pits and transported everything to the garage and then the trailers. another friend of mine, Laird Canfield, and I went out to find something to eat and ended up at the Waffle House as almost everything was closed next to the racetrack on Friday night at midnight. that is nothing like Louisiana!! passed out in the van and woke up to a 12 hour drive back homwe to Breaux Bridge after stopping at ----------Waffle House-----------north of Navarre, Fl to meet my youngest brother and his family for lunch! got home in the afternoon and was unable to stay awake long enough to watch the races on Speed! fell asleep during the Supercross!! see ya at the races! tim | ||
| Smoke |
CONGRATULATIONS BUELL RACERS!!!!! my apologies to super Buell tuner Bob Sweeney for forgetting to mention his part in the Paul James, Shawn Higbee and every Buell racing effort! THANKS BOB!!!!!!! tim | ||
| Stormy |
Scott Korol and the whole crew at Stormy's Garage want to congratulate Shawn, Paul, Walt and the Very important crew members on the excellent showing for the Buell very privateers! | ||
| Sparky |
Excellent report. Thank you, Smoke. |
