February 29th, 2008

San Manuel Yamaha’s Nathan Ramsey has quietly been putting in a really good season, and in Atlanta, he ran in the top three for much of the race before finishing a strong fifth. So much for the old, washed-up guy so many internet “experts” proclaimed him to be a few months ago, huh? “It’s been like baby-steps since I started riding again, and I haven’t quite gotten there yet, but tonight was a good start,” Ramsey said. “I got a good start from the outside in kind of a bad situation, coming from the LCQ, and it turned good. I think it’s coming. I feel my pace is starting to pick up, and if I can get up there and race with them, that stuff will all come back to me. It’s baby steps. I think tonight was another good step in that direction, and it was fun to be up there racing with those guys.”

Ramsey said that last year was pretty hard on him. “It was a tough season,” he said. “I was trying, just like this, and it just wasn’t happening. Everybody has those bad days, or bad years, and I’m definitely up there on the age scale, and I just came into this year knowing that I’m lucky to be here. It’s a different attitude, and it’s working. I used to be a little too excited, and put a little too much pressure on myself, and I’m just trying to ride it through. My goal this year was just to go to every race.”