VOL. 49 ISSUE 16 APRIL 24, 2012
Herrin won the AMA Superbike
Championship in 2013, finishing off
the podium only twice in 14 races.
heart rate would be sky high and
I would start making mistakes.
I would sit there on the starting
grid of a hot and humid weekend
and all I was thinking about was
all the miles Josh [Hayes] put on
his bicycle that week. I knew that
was something I had to fix and
for the first time last year I started
getting to the point where I could
run laps at the end as fast as I
could early in a race.
"You can only go so far on
raw talent and riding around on
Supermoto bikes. When I raced
600s I could win races like that,
but on a Superbike I found out
that I needed more than just beHerrin in action at a recent test in Spain
on the new Caterham Moto2 mount.
ing a good rider. I needed to be a
good athlete. That's why I'm looking forward to Moto2. I think I finally found a key to being a better
racer and I want to train and get
in even better shape and see the
benefits on the track."
THE HERRIN COMPOUND
Rising up from neighboring cotton fields, complete with decaying sharecropper's quarters, the
Herrins' racing facility in Dublin,
Georgia, is a motorsports dreamland featuring a picturesque Supermoto track complete with
garages and covered bleachers.
Thus Herrin needs only to step
outside his front door to begin
his training sessions on track.
The place is abuzz with activ-
P109
ity. Someone is always working
on the track, modifying parts of
the dirt section or just generally picking up and keeping the
place clean. There is a gaggle of
animals ever present. Dogs, cats
and horses, the populations vary
depending on how hungry the local alligators are.
The buildings, garages and
houses on the property were all
built by Herrin's dad, Phil.
"He builds everything from the
ground up," Herrin says. "Foundation, plumbing, electrical - he
does it all."
Josh and his fiancée Teesha
live in a well-appointed apartment
above the main garage/workshop. His mom, Kim, two brothers, Zach and Gavin, and sister,
