JASON PRIDMORE: READY FOR LAGUNA SECA AND BEYOND Jason Pridmore is fully recovered and ready to race at this weekend’s combined MotoGP / AMA Superbike Championship event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Pridmore broke the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot in a freak accident at Road America on June 2nd, and had a plate and seven screws installed by Dr. Arthur Ting three days later to stabilize the bone. Jason stayed off the foot for a couple of weeks, then got back to work, training in Arizona and testing his Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R1000 at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada. With three more AMA races and a full schedule of STAR Motorcycle Schools coming up, Jason has a busy summer and fall ahead of him. We got him to stop long enough to ask him a few questions. Q: How’s the foot? A: It’s great! It doesn’t bother me at all. Q: How have you been training? A: I’ve been in Arizona for the last week or so, training outside in the heat. I was in Scottsdale and Flagstaff, I’ve got friends there. I went mountain biking every morning, and I even hiked down into the Grand Canyon about an hour or so, it was beautiful. I went to the gym every day, and I got in some golf as well. Q: How’s your golf game going? A: Really, really well. My last seven or eight rounds have all been under par. I even tied a course record at one of the courses. I’ve got sponsorship from Titlist now for clubs and other stuff, and I’m pretty excited about that. Q: You were able to get on your racebike last week. How did that go? A: It was good. It felt good to get back on the bike. It was just me and my crew. We made some big improvements in the suspension, getting it to feel like it did early in the season. The new shock really suits me, it’s a lot more compliant. Q: Are you looking forward to this weekend at Laguna Seca? A: Yeah, I’m looking forward to the energy and seeing some friends from MotoGP. Logistically, it’s going to be a tough weekend, with such a tight schedule. I just hope everyone, the officials, the racers and fans just have a little patience and it’ll be good. I’m just going to concentrate on Superstock, no Superbike this time. Q: You’ve got some STAR Schools coming up soon? A: Yeah, we’ve got a school a week after Laguna at the new Autobahn track in Joliet, Illinois, then a bunch up North and in the Mid-West in August and September, then back out West in October and November. I’ll be at them all.