Since Blogstream will be closing as of April 30, 2011, we will set up a new blog at a different location. Stay tuned. Thanks to Blogstream for the fun blog site and the chance to share our racing exploits.

We also set up a new James Gang/Hoban Brothers Facebook fan page with tons of great photos from our archives. If you are into Facebook, you can find it here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/James-GangHoban-Brothers-Racing/186175074760801#!/

For Saturday's 2nd round qualifying we made big changes to Scott's bike. He just wasn't comfortable. We both went a little quicker but he was still unhappy with his set up. We qualified 11th and 12th respectively.

The race was a seven lap sprint. I didn't get the best start and got locked into a four-way battle for ninth. In the draft I would get shuffled back to 12th, then claw my way back in the infield only to fall back again on the banking. Frustrating for sure.

At the finish I was 12th, less than a second from 9th. Scott finished a disappointing 13th. Looking forward to a real race course at Infineon. Even though I've never been there. We hope to put Scott on the bike again with better suspension. Maybe MMP during the World Superbike weekend.

We're at Daytona for the season opener of the AMA Pro XR1200 series and despite a rain delay that cost us our opening practice, we had a good first day on track. Several XR teams tested at Daytona this winter and had the jump on us. But we got up to speed and provisionally qualified 10th out of 20 entries. It's a deep field stacked with talent. But I think we can get a bit faster and am hoping for a 2nd row start.

Racing with Scott Russell by the way has been awesome. What a cool guy. We hooked up in the draft yesterday and had some fun. He's just .2 seconds quicker than me. But his bike isn't handling that well. Hopefully we can get that sorted for him.

Second round qualifying this morning followed by a 7-lap sprint race at 3:15. Game on!

Scott Russell is one of my motorcycle racing heroes. As a record 5-time winner of the Daytona 200, he earned the nickname Mr. Daytona. I vividly remember watching the 1995 Daytona 200 where he crashed early in the race and came back to win! Amazing. He's also a 3-time AMA 750cc Supersport Champion, AMA Superbike Champion, World Superbike Champion and MotoGP podium finisher.

I first met Scott while he was racing for Harley-Davidson on the factory VR1000 AMA Superbike team. It was a challenging time to say the least. The VR simply wasn't competitive, even in the hands of great racers like Russell and his teammate Pascal Picotte. It was painful to see the entire team work so hard and not get the results they wanted.

As the team PR guy, it was my job to try to highlight the bright spots in an otherwise bleak season. There were few. But I enjoyed working with the guys nonetheless.

Now, more than 10 years later, I get to race at Daytona with Mr. Daytona. On Harleys! Crazy. Our team will provide crew chief and technical support for Scott as he makes his debut in the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 class at Daytona. Yup, Mr. Daytona be my unofficial teammate.

We'll be racing there March 10-11.

Stay tuned for updates...

Before long we'll be back at Daytona and the start of the AMA Pro road race season. We sure missed being there this past fall as the track underwent a total repave. It will be the 70th running of the Daytona 200, and the debut of the Vance & Hines XR 1200 class.

Right now it looks like we will sit out the Daytona 200 and focus our limited resources on the XR class. Racing in my first Daytona 200 last year was a dream come true. It was a blessing to have an amazing and dedicated crew of friends and family on hand to support our effort. And let me be the first to say that my top-20 finish was a testament to their skill and prowess more than my riding ability. Fast and flawless pit stops enabled me to get ahead of faster riders who faltered or flat out failed in the pits. It was a very special night for me persoonally and especially rewarding to run and finish the race on my Buell 1125R. We also helped Shawn Higbee with his pit stops and despite an unfortunate crash early in the race, he came roaring back to a top-10 finish.

I would like nothing more than to put the #70 Buell back in the D200. But budgets and sponsorship are not available. We will, however, help Buell racer Pat Mooney with his pit stops in this year's race and I can't wait to help him achieve his Daytona dream.

If you plan on coming to Daytona, please look us up during the Fan Walk. And cheer for Pat as he pilots his Buell 1125R in the 200!

For more info check out:
http://www.patmooneyracing.blogspot.com