Waters Ruled Out Of Laguna

Paul Carruthers | July 23, 2010

MONTEREY, CA, JULY 23 – It didn’t take long for Josh Waters to realize that he wasn’t going to be able to take part in the AMA Superbike race this weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. It took about a lap. Then he pitted, thought about it and decided to give it one more go. A lap later and he was finished, his recent concussion not allowing him to concentrate enough to make racing as the injured Blake Young’s replacement on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki even a remote possibility .”I feel like crap,” Waters said. “I’ve never missed a race in my life. I’ve ridden for Suzuki, this is my fourth year with them, and I’ve never missed out. To talk and to have a conversation with you I feel fine, but I just can’t concentrate. It doesn’t matter what I do. It feels like if you only slept for an hour last night and you hadn’t had a coffee or something like that… that’s the feeling I have. It didn’t worry me being on a track I didn’t know. Normally, that helps. Because you’re heart, everything… you’re more on it, more focused. The doctors have told me… the tests I’ve had, they’ve said no. But I was quite lucky that I had one doctor with me and he was on pit lane. After I came back in after one lap, he said, ‘no.’ I came in after one lap and said, ‘I don’t honestly know.’ But then I said I need to do one more to make sure. I feel so bad. I’ve never missed a race.”Waters, the defending Australian Superbike Champion, was suffered the concussion and a collapsed lung on July 7 at Willow Springs Raceway in a shakedown test to get him further acclimated for his Laguna Seca ride. Waters said he would like to get the chance to race for the team at the Barber Motorsports Park, where he tested for the team in June. But with Young expected to be back by then, he’s not sure if that will be possible.The Yosh team does, however, have a fifth GSX-R1000 that was purchased by Suzuki Australia, according to Waters.With Waters joining Young on the disabled list, Tommy Hayden will go it alone for the factory Suzuki team on Sunday.