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Vital MX Pit Bits: Daytona 4

Bring on the goodies, gear, and trick stuff!

64 GuyB https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/users/64/avatar/c50_110811guyb_redbud_1449985751.jpg?1449984985 https://www.vitalmx.com/community/GuyB,64/all 07/10/06 9429 3581 46002 870 2413 30812 41 1719 2 185

GuyB
3/7/2021 3:28 AM

Who gets to take home this beauty?

On Friday's press day it was obvious that they'd opted to not add extra water to the track, given Saturday's forecast of rain.

Marvin Musquin rocketing into the tunnel on the over/under bridge.

Ken Roczen getting a little loose on Friday. The 450 series points leader was also the fastest qualifier on Saturday.

Chester and Clyde are a couple of the fierce guards at the gate to the paddock. They'll also be at the Sebring endurance races soon. You've been warned.

Daytona always seems to bring out some cool helmet art. The concept for this one belongs to Cooper Webb himself. Airtrix brought it to life.

Marvin Musquin's newest helmet is all Florida-themed.

The details in the helmet are amazing, and also asymmetrical, with different designs on each side.

Eli Tomac and Daytona have a thing. It seems to fit his style, and it's always a race that he has circled each season. You usually find him with a new custom helmet for that round. Oh...and the pre-production Bells that we've been spying around? There are rumors starting to circulate about them being available by summer.

The Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki 250 West crew of Seth Hammaker, Jordan Smith, and Cameron McAdoo is looking really stout.

Dominique Thury getting in some heelclicker time.

The work situation for Daytona is different, with the rigs parked outside the NASCAR garages, and the teams pitting inside. It's cool to see all the haulers lined up together.

With Chase Sexton back in the mix, James Stewart made the trip up to Daytona to keep an eye on his student. Yep, he's passing on some of what he learned from his pop.

Over the last few weeks, these garages have housed race equipment for the Daytona Rolex 24 hour race, and a pair of NASCAR weekends...one on the oval, and the other on the road course.

Works Connection has a cool custom engraving program where you can add your number on your brake and clutch cylinder caps, like here on Chris Blose's AJE GasGas.

The Twisted Tea Suzuki guys were working in the NASCAR inspection bay.

Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas Factory Racing's Pierce Brown was back in the mix for the first time in a while since recovering from a knee injury.

Ryan Sipes has signed on with GasGas for another couple seasons. He'll be adventuring through a variety of different disciplines like we've seen him do in the past.

The Alpinestars Mobile Medical crew had some new helmets that they'll wear full-time now, which match nicely with their gear...and safety mission.

While the leader of the 3D Racing Yamaha squad, Bill Dill, is home fighting brain cancer, the team was in Daytona carrying on. Road 2 Recovery has a spot set up for people who'd like to help him with medical costs.

The Speedway will be a busy place over the coming days, with the Daytona Supercross, and RC Amateur Supercross.

The practice schedule got trimmed back a bit due to lightning in the area, as well as some expected rain. Hunter Lawrence was busy waiting it out.

Jordan Smith trying to stay dry.

That red/white/blue Leatt combo looked sharp on the MotoConcepts Honda crew.

Yep, pit carts get umbrellas of their own.

There was plenty of evidence of post-race celebratory burnouts at the start/finish of the 2.5 mile oval.

Hmm...what have we here? New oil cooling goodies on Hunter Lawrence's Team Honda HRC 250. This looks to be the same setup that the GP squad has been using.

Ah yeah, those little factory details.

The Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki guys and Malcolm Stewart were using a new '22 Scott early release camo goggle.

Most everyone had mud prep for their helmets early in the day, just in case, but it mostly proved unnecessary.

Okay, this was a funny sticker to see on the bottom of Alex Martin's skid plate. The good part is, he's feeling a lot better after his crash and concussion at Orlando a couple weeks ago.

That CRM airbox cover for Alex Martin's YZ250F...

Tall pegs? Nah. But Alex Martin does have a set of footpeg mounts that are higher than normal.

Jerry Robin sporting some new Canvas gear, and set for a good season.

Justin Cooper looks like he's having fun this season. It's always good to see a points leader relaxed and ready to go.

The mechanics weren't sweating the weather too much, but we did see a few nods to waterproofing.

It's good to see Alex Martin back in action here.

Eli Tomac was fastest in the first 450 qualifying session, but slipped to third overall. Given his winning history here, we wouldn't sweat it too much.

Justin Brayton is still a bit too dinged to race, so Mitchell Oldenburg is still filling in on the Muc-Off Honda.

Malcolm Stewart gettin' it in the sand. The helmet colors? He's doing his own tribute to Lewis Hamilton.

Cameron Mcadoo (31), and Seth Hammaker (150) was second and fourth, respectively in 250 qualifying.

Cooper Webb was P4 in qualifying.

Yeah, we dig the NASCAR-inspired gear that Chase Sexton was wearing for this weekend.

Apparently, there was some extra-curricular dicing between Jason Anderson and Ken Roczen in the final qualifying session. We'll have to see if it carries over to the racing.