thedrifter
03-23-09, 04:43 AM
Gunnery sergeant cracks world of bike racing
By Bill Archer - Bluefield (W.Va.) Daily Telegraph
Posted : Sunday Mar 22, 2009 10:46:49 EDT
PRINCETON, W.Va. — When he was a teenager riding his motorcycle on the country roads of southern West Virginia, Gunnery Sgt. Rodney Vest could only dream of racing in one of the premier motorcycle racing events in the nation, the American Motorcycle Association’s Daytona 200.
But Vest, 33, made history in the first AMA race held under the lights at the historic Daytona International Speedway.
“This is my second time competing in the Daytona 200,” Vest said in a telephone interview. “I don’t have any major sponsors, but I work at the Marine Recruiting Command Depot at Parris Island, Beaufort, S.C.
“The Marine Corps helps me out a little and gives me the opportunity to compete at this level. The Marine Corps has been very good to me and my family, and I’m proud to represent them this way.
“I told someone last year that competing in the AMA Pro Racing Circuit is about the same thing as me playing basketball against Michael Jordan,” he said. “You know he’s going to dunk on you, but at least you get to touch the ball after he does.”
Just to qualify for the AMA Pro Season opener, Vest had to push his GSXR 600 Suzuki motorcycle to the limits of its endurance. He participated in four days of qualifying and practice before knowing that he would get the opportunity to race. He qualified at a speed of 168.88 mph.
“Even the factory teams have to do it all with the same bike, so it’s a tough test,” Vest said. “I was excited that I qualified and got in the [starting] grid. Unfortunately for me, I was drafting with a group of bikes that could go a lot faster than mine, and I blew my engine in the seventh lap.”
The group he was drafting with was hitting speeds of 169-170 mph.
“Safety is a major issue on the pro racing circuit,” Vest said. “I don’t even ride on the street anymore. This is not a full-time job for me. I just help out the Marine Corps with recruiting, and this is part of it.”
Vest’s crew chief and mechanic are not Marines, but he recruited three of his fellow Marines at Parris Island to come with him to serve as crew members.
“It’s kind of like if you’re a NASCAR fan, getting full access to the pits at the Daytona 500,” Vest said. “The guys who came with me to Bike Week here in Daytona got to see AMA pro racing from an insider’s perspective.”
Vest’s parents, Diane and Terry Kelley, still live in his hometown of Princeton, but after he joined the Marines in 1996, he hasn’t had much time to return home to visit with his friends. Vest made headlines May 17, 1993, when he and another PSHS student tackled and disarmed a 15-year-old student who was holding 17 students hostage in a biology class.
Two teenage students carried two pistols and a sawed-off shotgun with them to school that Monday, and the younger student fired on the school’s principal, George Keatley, about 2:40 p.m. that day.
“When I tell my friends here about it, they don’t believe it,” Vest said. “I have to pull out the newspaper clippings to prove it.”
He doesn’t think about that incident very much. Instead, he tries to be a good husband to his wife, Rebecca, father to their daughter, Abigail, and to be a good Marine recruiter.
Vest served one tour in Iraq in 2004, and he was racing competitively before he left. He returned from his deployment and resumed competitive racing, although he considers it a sideline to his primary work as a recruiter.
Vest finished as high as 24th in one AMA pro race last year and will head to Atlanta in the first week of April for his next race.
Ellie
By Bill Archer - Bluefield (W.Va.) Daily Telegraph
Posted : Sunday Mar 22, 2009 10:46:49 EDT
PRINCETON, W.Va. — When he was a teenager riding his motorcycle on the country roads of southern West Virginia, Gunnery Sgt. Rodney Vest could only dream of racing in one of the premier motorcycle racing events in the nation, the American Motorcycle Association’s Daytona 200.
But Vest, 33, made history in the first AMA race held under the lights at the historic Daytona International Speedway.
“This is my second time competing in the Daytona 200,” Vest said in a telephone interview. “I don’t have any major sponsors, but I work at the Marine Recruiting Command Depot at Parris Island, Beaufort, S.C.
“The Marine Corps helps me out a little and gives me the opportunity to compete at this level. The Marine Corps has been very good to me and my family, and I’m proud to represent them this way.
“I told someone last year that competing in the AMA Pro Racing Circuit is about the same thing as me playing basketball against Michael Jordan,” he said. “You know he’s going to dunk on you, but at least you get to touch the ball after he does.”
Just to qualify for the AMA Pro Season opener, Vest had to push his GSXR 600 Suzuki motorcycle to the limits of its endurance. He participated in four days of qualifying and practice before knowing that he would get the opportunity to race. He qualified at a speed of 168.88 mph.
“Even the factory teams have to do it all with the same bike, so it’s a tough test,” Vest said. “I was excited that I qualified and got in the [starting] grid. Unfortunately for me, I was drafting with a group of bikes that could go a lot faster than mine, and I blew my engine in the seventh lap.”
The group he was drafting with was hitting speeds of 169-170 mph.
“Safety is a major issue on the pro racing circuit,” Vest said. “I don’t even ride on the street anymore. This is not a full-time job for me. I just help out the Marine Corps with recruiting, and this is part of it.”
Vest’s crew chief and mechanic are not Marines, but he recruited three of his fellow Marines at Parris Island to come with him to serve as crew members.
“It’s kind of like if you’re a NASCAR fan, getting full access to the pits at the Daytona 500,” Vest said. “The guys who came with me to Bike Week here in Daytona got to see AMA pro racing from an insider’s perspective.”
Vest’s parents, Diane and Terry Kelley, still live in his hometown of Princeton, but after he joined the Marines in 1996, he hasn’t had much time to return home to visit with his friends. Vest made headlines May 17, 1993, when he and another PSHS student tackled and disarmed a 15-year-old student who was holding 17 students hostage in a biology class.
Two teenage students carried two pistols and a sawed-off shotgun with them to school that Monday, and the younger student fired on the school’s principal, George Keatley, about 2:40 p.m. that day.
“When I tell my friends here about it, they don’t believe it,” Vest said. “I have to pull out the newspaper clippings to prove it.”
He doesn’t think about that incident very much. Instead, he tries to be a good husband to his wife, Rebecca, father to their daughter, Abigail, and to be a good Marine recruiter.
Vest served one tour in Iraq in 2004, and he was racing competitively before he left. He returned from his deployment and resumed competitive racing, although he considers it a sideline to his primary work as a recruiter.
Vest finished as high as 24th in one AMA pro race last year and will head to Atlanta in the first week of April for his next race.
Ellie