Vann Martin at Mammoth

Vann has been working extremely hard getting ready for Mammoth.

He has been putting in the time on the bike, been going to
the gym everyday, resting, and taking all his Ryno Power supplements.

I like to say that you make your own luck, and I still believe
that is true.

I’ll tell you how it went at Mammoth and we will just
move forward.

In practice Vann was killing it! His lap times were the same
as Justin Hill’s and Chris Plouffe’s. They were the only ones I was
timing because I believed they were where we should be. He spent an extra week
in the altitude just so he would be fully adjusted to the altitude, and to me
it really looked like he was going to win.

Open day he Holeshot the first division and was running
away. On the second lap he had an 8 second lead, then on the 3^rd lap
he started slowing down. As Leocata started to pass him, he tried to fight back
but lost the front end. When he came by I saw what the deal was, FLAT TIRE, and
a front one at that. He finished 16^th.

Then in the LCQ he spun off the gate and started in about 6^th.
When they came down the mountain the first time, another rider clipped his rear
wheel sending him down and putting him in last. He got up but his front brake
lever was pushed up. After messing with that for about a lap, he got it right
and started picking off riders, working his way up to second.

Main event, he started way outside because of his not so
great qualifier.

With a full gate, Vann pinned it and started about 10^th,
which was really pretty good, except there is a lot of crap going on for the
first couple laps. He fell on the first lap, but got up pretty quickly around
18^th. He was passing at pretty much every opportunity and was able
to work up to 5^th.

250 day he again Holeshot his division, but this time had
Chris Aldridge and Justin Hill right on his heels. He made a little mistake and
Aldridge got by. Then on the 3^rd lap Aldridge went down. Vann had to
avoid him which allowed enough room for Hill to squeeze by. They finished Hill,
Martin, and Aldridge; at least we didn’t have to run a LCQ!

Main event, BIG HOLESHOT VANN MARTIN!!!! On the second lap,
Vann missed a shift and Covington
slipped by. They were all in a tight group, Covington, Martin, Leocata, Kiesel, Burns,
Savage, and Aldridge. Going into the last turn on the second lap, Leocata cuts
straight across the berm and slams into Vann wide open knocking him completely
off the track and bent his shifter. Vann was able to avoid crashing but was
passed by a bunch of riders trying to get back on the track about 10^th.
He put his head down, but the bike would not shift right and was able to only
work back to 5^th.

450 day we were getting the bike ready for the moto and the
valve stem was not straight so we decided to fix it. We let the air out of the
rear tire and spun the tire so it was straight. When we put the air back in it,
it went flat immediately. So we grabbed a wheel with a new tire and changed it.
The only problem is the start is concrete; a new tire doesn’t hook up so
well. He spun like a funny car off the line, starting in about 10^th.
It was a 10 lap qualifier, but he could only work up to 3^rd.

Main event he got a little to anxious and again spun pretty
bad, but came down the hill in about 7^th. He never really got in a
groove but was still able to work up to 4^th.

While those finishes are good, they are still not what Vann
expected of himself. After the weekend he was still kind of crushed. We put in
the work, his bike is great, his fitness is incredible, and his skill is right
where it needs to be. Sometimes things just don’t work out. I don’t
really believe in bad luck, but rather we need to evaluate what went wrong and
address those issues. That being said shit does happen!

Vann is a great kid and works harder than most anybody
trying to succeed at what he loves to do. Ponca and Loretta Lynn’s are in
about three weeks. We went back to work as soon as we got home. I came to the
shop and am getting everything back under control here. He went to the track
and track and put in his motos and then went to the gym. He will be stronger at
the two races coming up, I can promise you that!!

Thanks everybody!

Honda of Houston – Dave Martin

American Honda – Keith Dowdle

Powered by Naveen -  Naveen Dassanayake

Fox – Todd Hicks and Aaron West

Yoshimura -  Richard Basinger

Pro Honda Oils – Yeo Yohan

VP Fuels – Bruce Hendle

Dunlop – Brian Fleck and Primo

Ryno Power -  Ryan Hughes and Ryan McCarthy

Renthal -  David Kaiser

D.I.D Chain – Aki Sanada

Hot Cam – Jay Clark

CRF Stuff – Scott Hart

EBR – Josh Rogers

Leatt – Paul Lindsay

Next Level MX – Kyle Williams

Hinson – Ron Hinson and Dave Dye

Factory Backing – Jarrett

Twin Air – Jeremy Garges

Tamer – Kevin Maret

Pro Clean 1000 – Buddy Walton

Matrix – Eddie Cole and Chad Cole

Moto Tassinari – Zak

Wiseco Pistons – Tony Wenck

Leo Vince Carbon Product – Ted Campbell

N-Fab – Tom Fichter

Asterisk – Coleen Asch

Smith Goggles – Brady Rodriguez

DVS – Dano

3 Palms – Emil Shebelben

DTF- Andy Drennen

Jim Reynolds

Big Daddy, Derek, Hance, Richard, Pete, Greg, and all our
friends for helping out, it is so appreciated!