Blake Young Blog

Team Suzuki Press Office

I broke my L1 vertebrae at the Barber test after the Road America round of AMA American Superbike racing in June. I was then forced to sit out three races in order to heal up, and I made my comeback at the New Jersey Round at the beginning of September.

It was hard to sit back and watch the series go on without me. That's the toughest part of being a racer; you want to be out there competing and when you can't, it's really hard. I listened to my doctor's orders and I did lots of physical therapy and wore a soft body cast while I was recovering to make sure my injury healed up properly. I wanted to come back strong and healthy.

I made my return to racing at the New Jersey round of the AMA American Superbike series at the beginning of September. I wasn't sure exactly how I would stack up compared to everyone else because I hadn't been on a race bike since June. When I lined up on the starting grid in New Jersey, I knew what I needed to do and I knew what I was capable of doing, but I just wasn't sure if I'd be physically strong enough. It turned out that I felt pretty good at that race, and it was one of my most consistent and smooth races of the year. I ended up in fourth place in both races that weekend, which was pretty respectable for my comeback, and at the end of it all I felt like I was about 85% back to my normal self.

Right now we're in Alabama getting ready for the last race of the 2010 season, and I hope that I can be up front battling for the lead. I feel comfortable on my GSX-R1000 and my crew on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team has been working really, really hard. I want to thank them for being patient with me and getting me back up to speed on my bike. Hopefully we can get out there and do even better this weekend and end the season with two strong finishes. I really want to leave the season on a high note, so we're working on getting the bike setup just right so that everything works well for the start of the race on Saturday.