FIRST PERSON/OPINION By Josh Hayes Hi, everybody. It sounds like I’m going to be doing a new column for Roadracing World & Motorcycle Technology, and I’m really excited about it. This year has been quite a turnaround for me. Things went from me looking like I might go to World Superbike and World Supersport to me finally getting a Superbike ride in the U.S, so it’s been a crazy off-season. We weren’t even sure if there would be a real AMA Superbike class or not or who would be racing, but it seems like we have a really strong American Superbike class with some great riders. I’m glad that Mat Mladin came back with Yoshimura, and Tommy Hayden and Blake Young. It’s good to see that Neil Hodgson and the Honda boys and Larry Pegram and Ducati could put something together to come out and race. Of course, Ben Bostrom and I have been pretty secure pretty early that we were going racing, and that sure made life a lot easier. We’ve got the new “long-bang” YZF-R1 this year, but my initial impression was kind of tough with the bike. It’s so much different than anything I’ve ridden before. Every manufacturer has its own brand of engineering, its own ideas on how to get to their finished product. Hondas feel like Hondas, and Suzukis feel like Suzukis and Kawasakis feel like Kawasakis. That sort of thing. And in my career this is the first Yamaha I’ve ever thrown my leg over. They are quite a bit different than what I expected when I got on ’em. But I think it’s a very refined motorcycle, which only makes sense because Yamaha is the tuning fork company! It’s taken me a bit of time to adjust to the motorcycle and, on top of that, the new crew. These guys have been accustomed to doing things a certain way. They’ve worked with the same riders for the last several years. So right now it has been a real big learning process. Testing didn’t exactly go like I wanted. And I have to take some of the blame on myself. With all of the traveling to Europe, things going on with Melissa’s racing, getting the new condo out here in Southern California and having the family out for Christmas and everything, it was such a long and busy off-season for me that I think when it came time to go testing I was really tired. I didn’t necessarily think so at the time, but I can look back and see it. Now I feel much more focused, and the team and I are working much better together. Daytona was a lot of fun. Yamaha put me out on the Graves R6 in the Daytona 200 to give me another shot at it, which was fantastic. I didn’t feel that good coming into the weekend, that it would be me up there at the front running away and having a gap, but the race weekend went a lot like last year did when I won it and got DQ’ed. I was never fastest in any one session, but I was always right there doing good times that I could repeat. Then come race time I was the guy out front”¦until the pace car came out and erased my lead. I got a little frustrated because I had lost all that work, so I was trying real hard on the restart. Sometimes when you try real hard you fall down and go boom, and that’s what happened. The Superbike was a pretty big challenge at Daytona. We were still chasing our tails a bit because we brought a completely new motorcycle to Daytona. I was trying really hard in that race, too, and I ran off the track. It was my first missed shift of the weekend, and it was totally my fault. I was just being a sally with the shifter and ran off the racetrack. Fortunately, I came back for a top 10 and finished eighth. Having Melissa race in the Daytona 200 was really exciting for me. I’m pretty lucky. I think get it from my dad, but I’m a pretty calm guy. So I wasn’t too nervous about Melissa. I’ve watched her race a whole lot, and I think she has really stepped up to a new level. The toughest part is knowing how bad she wants it. Heading into the weekend we were spending a lot of time talking about how you go faster. The big thing, I said, was getting out of your comfort zone, getting in a little too hot and making mistakes from time to time. Maybe I talked to her about it a little too much because she ran off the track four times in the Daytona 200 and it may have cost her a few positions. But I was really proud of her to take those steps and make that effort. And that was the first time she’s ever been within four seconds a lap of me riding as hard as I can possibly ride. After Daytona, we spent some time in Mississippi clearing up some things there, visiting with my manager Gina, hanging out at my bicycle shop and riding with my old buddies, the cycling group that I’ve been riding with for years. I’ve been trying a few new group rides out here in California, and I’ve been finding that the level is a little bit higher out here than in Mississippi. But so is the motocross. Speaking of motocross, I was really bummed to find out that Neil Hodgson got hurt. I know a lot of people will say dirt bikes this and dirt bikes that, but it’s hard to understand how much guys like myself and Neil love motocross. We see so many other racers out at the motocross tracks, guys like Aaron Gobert, Mladin and Chris Ulrich. I can’t think of a better way to train for motorcycle racing. It’s probably the very best cross training we can do. At Fontana we were chasing our tails with the Superbike, again, trying to figure things out, and we got a pair of sixths. But hey, I got out of there with some points and we’ll go onto the next one and try and do better. We’re out here in Southern California right now, and it’s been beautiful. I’m sitting out on the deck looking at the beach right now. I have my training coach Riggs Kilka here with me. He has been to a couple of races to see what it’s like, but when he asked what I needed I said, ‘I think I need you to come to my house and spend a week in the life of Josh. You need to come and see what it’s like when I have to take care of making phone calls, doing paperwork, paying bills, writing magazine columns and then go motocrossing or cycling.’ So that’s what he’s here doing. He’s just kind of observing a week in my life and seeing how we can make some improvements there to make me more fit and positive on the mental side of things so I’m ready to go race well when the time comes. And that next time is at Road Atlanta and it’s coming up fast.