Hey everyone,

I just made it back to the cold weather in Illinois from Daytona Bike Week. Don Higbee from Karst Motorsports was kind enough to let me jump in with my stuff with his rider Jake Latimer and together we made the trip. First we went to our engine builder Woody Kyles’ house were we finished getting our Yamaha 450s ready. It was nice getting down early and enjoying some of Florida’s weather, so thanks Woody and Judy. We rode a little motocross and bicycled to stay in shape before we made it up to Savannah, GA to do some testing. I have a new twins ride for the year with Snedeker Racing. Eric and Van Snedeker hired Ben Knight to be my mechanic and we are going to do battle with three J&M XR 750s. The Harleys felt really good at Savannah and from there I went to go test my Yamahas before the first Hot Shoe race of the year. The first race was scheduled for Savannah and I was planning on racing both my 450cc and 750cc but mother nature didn’t cooperate and AMA was forced to cancel the race. I wanted to do some more racing before the two Grand Nationals in Daytona so I raced a couple Steve Nace races and I ended up with a 2^nd and a 4^th place finish. Daytona was jus like usual, the track was dry and rough in qualify which left me with a 2^nd row start for my heat race. I went forward in my heat and battled for a direct transfer but came up one position short. I got a good start in my semi and after a red flag and some confusion was sorted out I remounted and won the semi. I had a 3^rd row start for the main but I felt really good and pushed forward to end my night with an 11^th place finish. The second day at Daytona was much of the same, qualifying went bad for me and this time I had a 3^rd row start for my heat race. I came forward in my heat and really felt good going into my semi. In my semi the track seemed really dry and I struggled to get my Yamaha to hook up exiting the corners. I wasn’t able to finish top 3 to transfer into the main event but fortunately for me I finished inside the top ten in points for the 2008 season and I had a provisional card to get myself into one main event. So I used the provisional and started all by myself on the 4^th row for the final. I charged forward at first but I was still struggling with rear wheel traction and ultimately faded back to 18^th. So I got some points while I was done there and also won a race on my way home. It was the Matt Smoak memorial race held at the Mid Carolina Speedway. It felt good to win something while I was gone, and there were some fast riders there so it was a confidence booster. I am already looking forward to Springfield and I plan on training and getting my motorcycles ready to do battle. I will keep everyone in the loop on my latest happenings and keep checking out my website as we are still added things as well as riding videos from my helmet cam (RobPearson27.com).

See you at the races.