INTERVIEW
DANE WESTBY
P88
which proved to be visibly down
on power.
However, the Oklahoman re-
fused to blame the bike and repeat-
edly praised his former (and well-
proven) team. He simply noted, "I
just wanted to get back with Tryg
- we ride to all the races together
in the RV. It's just us and Chuck
[Giacchetto]; I've been with Chuck
for almost 10 years now and we
just wanted to get the band back
together and not have to answer to
anybody - it's just us."
It came as no surprise that
when Dane and Tryg decided to
go independent in 2014, 'us' in-
cluded Dane's long-time wrench
Giacchetto. He's stepped up to
be the team manager of a lean-
but-mean squad that also in-
cludes crew chief Jerry Daggett,
suspension guru Eric Knight, and
mechanics Jerry Reeves and Ja-
cob Breedlove.
Westby credited Giacchetto
for quickly assembling an effort
that looks and performs on track
like a full-works effort despite its
indie-minded budget.
"Here we are now - it looks
pretty shiny on the outside, but
I really have to say that Chuck
has done a lot of the hard work.
He's just been working, working,
working, and I just come and turn
the throttle. He made this what it
is. And it is a nice polished thing
because of all the hard work that
he's done for it."
Westby reflected back on the
start of a long-standing working re-
lationship that actually started tak-
ing shape before Westby had even
graduated to the AMA Pro ranks.
"At Road Atlanta one year we
were racing WERA and all of our
motors blew up," Westby said.
"Cory West was doing the Team
Hunter thing at the time with
Chuck and we went over there
to ask to borrow a bike. My dad
had to drive to Atlanta to get the
bike, but Chuck just has this
huge heart and wants to help ev-
(Above) The 27-year-old Westby
is the underdog of the class, but
he currently sits fifth in the point
standings – 22 points behind Jake
Gagne. (Above right) Westby decided
this year that he wanted his own
team so he put together a squad
that features team manager Chuck
Giacchetto, crew chief Jerry Daggett,
suspension guru Eric Knight, and
mechanics Jerry Reeves and Jacob
Breedlove.
