Update From Ryan Sipes

Hello all…hope you guys are having a great week.  Wish mine were going a
little better, but I’ll get to that later.  So, Anaheim 2!  I was
excited for this race for sure.  I always like Anaheim, it’s just a fun
venue for me.  I felt like I had some momentum going from the last race
in Oakland, or at least something to build upon.  Practice went great
for me and the team as a whole, as my teammate Nico Izzi were 1st and
2nd place in both practices, and my other teammate Gareth Swanepoel had a
season best in his qualifying time.  We have all been working hard and
it is starting to show.  I get to see what these guys do day in and day
out, and believe me when I say that we are all putting in the work!  I
got to work with my trainer Steve Hatch last week as well, so I was
feeling good. 

In my heat race, I spun bad off the gate and got a
horrible start (what’s new?).  My mechanic said he counted me around the
first turn around 16th, and I went to work passing as many guys as I
could.  I felt really, really good.  I ended up coming all the way back
up to 2nd place, and almost made the pass on Dean Wilson for 1st on the
last lap, so I was pretty happy with my ride.  I felt like I definitely
had the speed to win. 

In the main, I adjusted my technique off the gate
because I knew it was slick, but I think I compensated a little too
much, because I wheelied a little bit this time.  Not a terrible start,
but not great…I think I was around 9th.  I felt good moving up, and by
lap 10 I was into 5th and gaining on Wilson for 4th.  I got it down to
just three bike lengths before falling in the sand section.  I was so
mad at myself!  My brain was way ahead of my bike…I knew I was faster
and just wanted to pass him so bad that I wasn’t concentrated on what
was right in front of me.  Staying in the present moment is so important
in what we do, just a split second brain-fart can cause a mistake, and
that’s what happened.  So I ended up 11th, far below the result I was
looking for. It’s frustrating to ride a great race and throw it away
with a lap and a half to go.  But, live and learn. 

Now for the bad
news…I had a crash this week resulting in a broken hand and separated
shoulder.  I am getting surgery on both tomorrow and will be out six
weeks.  The only good thing about it is I will only miss one race, that
being the one this weekend in San Diego.  I will be back in plenty of
time for the last two west SX rounds and the finale in Vegas.  Bad news:
 now I won’t be able to race the 450 on the east coast.  I was really
looking forward to racing the Yamaha 450!  It’s a great bike.  But the
focus right now is on getting better, and I will be doing therapy 3
times a week to speed up the recovery time.  Looking forward to getting
back to winning races and getting back up where I belong.  I want to
wish the rest of the Star/Valli Yamaha team good luck this weekend.
 Kill it guys!  Thanks for reading.