Jason DiSalvo’s Description Of His 172-mph Crash At Daytona

Jason DiSalvo’s Description Of His 172-mph Crash At Daytona

© 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Graves Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo crashed at 172 mph Tuesday during tire testing at Daytona International Speedway when the Dunlop rear tire failed on his Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock racebike.

Looking surprisingly well, DiSalvo returned to the Speedway Wednesday and spoke with Roadracingworld.com about his get-off.

“The tires were working great through the infield and up until that point, actually,” said DiSalvo. “They were spinning like normal. You’re like sideways on the banking the whole way around. For me, I can’t go wide open on the banking until I’m a quarter of the way around.

“I had it pinned. I started to drop down and apexed (NASCAR Turn) four. Just as I was letting it drift back out, I was in there tucked and the next thing I knew I was sideways and it highsided me.

“I kind of remember it chattered like four times, I started to roll off the gas and I highsided – all within the course of a second. It was totally nuts. And it was completely unexpected, too. It gave no warning signs at all, no vibrations, nothing like that.

“I was smoking it up pretty good, but I talked to the tire technicians from Dunlop. They said that doesn’t hurt the tire at all. It just creates surface heat. It doesn’t really create the kind of heat that’s bad, the core heat. They said, ‘You can spin that thing all you want. You’re not hurting it.’

“We were doing race distance. I was on my 11th lap. Up until then I was 1:49s and 1:50s the whole time. I only did one 1:51.1, and that’s because I ran way wide in turn one. But I was solid 1:49-1:50 the whole time, which I think is a pretty good 200 pace. I was pretty stoked.”

Although he suffered a mild concussion and temporary memory loss immediately after the incident Tuesday, DiSalvo remembered every detail of his nearly 400-foot slide down the straightaway.

“I went off and hit my back first,’ said DiSalvo. “That’s where all the bruising and friction burns are, on my back. Then I was sliding on my back and my side mainly. I tried to move around because everything was getting real hot. I used my hands because I was trying to steer myself away from the outside wall. Then I remember going through on my elbows real quick. As soon as it went through on my elbows, I dug my heel in and flipped myself up so I could start rolling. I rolled and rolled and rolled. That was hurting pretty bad, so I laid back down and started to slide again. I actually got positioned right on my back protector, so I could keep everything (arms and legs) up. Then my back protector started to get hot, too, so I dug my heel in again and started to roll some more. And that’s when I finally stopped. They say it was more than a football field that I slid.”

DiSalvo suffered extensive friction burns and bruising over much of his back but only a few small abrasions on his hands and elbows where his gloves and leathers burned through.

“Even though I feel pretty stiff and sore today, they asked me if I wanted to ride today and I actually had to think about it. It’s only a test, so why go out there and put my body through more. If it was race day, there’s no doubt I would ride. I think I could do pretty good, too,” boasted the 19-year-old New Yorker.

In fact, DiSalvo said the whole incident did little to shake his confidence in Dunlop’s tires. “If Dunlop says they’ve got a tire that will last for the race then that’s cool with me,” DiSalvo told Roadracingworld.com. “They said that this tire would last race-distance, but there’s so many variables. Maybe there was debris on the track. Maybe it was a one-off bad tire. Nobody knows. If they said they could give me a tire that would do race distance then I would ride on it for sure.”

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