The Red Bull USGP’s First Winner!
Shawn Fehlman is going to Laguna in style
By Jason Weigandt

Shawn Fehlman crashed his R1 into a wild donkey, totaling his motorcycle. It’s a sad, sad story, and it would have stayed that way had Shawn not had the wisdom to subscribe to Road Racer X. Luckily for Mr. Fehlman, we pulled his name as the winner of our Red Bull USGP contest, which means he’s won a trip to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, a Spidi jacket and gloves, a meeting with GP rider Colin Edwards, and a new Yamaha R6. (Someone had better tell the donkeys that Shawn’s back in action.) Here’s what he had to say for himself. Oh, and if you’re not Shawn, you can enter our new contest, in which we’re giving away a Hotbodies Racing-replica Honda CBR600RR, as well as a plethora of parts from Hotbodies Racing team sponsors. And every subscriber will get a Hotbodies Racing sticker kit.

RRX : Shawn, what was your reaction when you got the news that you’d won the contest?
Shawn Fehlman: Well, when [RRX staffer] Julie called me, the first thing I thought was that something had gone wrong with my new subscription. I was in a bad mood when she called! I was like, “But the check was cashed and everything!” Then she told me that I’d won. I was like, “Hey, give me a second so I can change my attitude!” When I got this news, I was blown out of the water.

This is a big deal. How did you hear about the contest?
Well, I had been buying Road Racer X for a few months now, and it was the best road racing magazine I had ever read. I was in the Denver airport, and I said, “You know what? I’m tired of paying the cover price.” And in that one at the airport, I filled out the subscription. I said to my buddies, “Hey, man, I’m going to win this contest and get that motorcycle.” I had just wrecked mine, and I’d been without a motorcycle for like two months.

No kidding! So you totaled your bike.
Yeah, we have these wild donkeys out here in Las Vegas. I clipped one, and the bike was all smashed up.

So this isn’t just about going to the races or getting a bike for fun—you really needed a new one!
Yeah, I needed a new bike.

You’re getting an R6, so you can’t do much better than that.
Oh yeah. I had an R6, and then I had an R1, which I wrecked. I loved both of them.

You’re getting a jacket and gloves, too, but the big thing is you’re on your way to the MotoGP. Were you planning on going to that?
I was. To tell you the truth, the bike is fantastic, but I am just as excited about going to the race. We had already bought tickets to the MotoGP, so we sold them once I won this. Now we get the VIP treatment. And we already had the time blocked off. We bought the tickets as soon as they went on sale; we bought tickets, pit passes, everything. We were so excited. But this, this is 100 times better.

I guess we got the right guy. Sometimes you get a winner who’s like, “Oh, so I get to go to a race, eh?” But you sound like a hard-core road race guy. This is the USGP!
Yeah! I’ve been watching the GPs on TV for four or five years. I bought TiVo just so I could record them all. Then I finally got my wife to like it. At first I was always yelling, “Hey, get away from the TV!” when they were on. But now, Colin Edwards is one of her favorite riders. And I was watching him when he and Troy Bayliss were beating the crap out of each other in World Superbike. So he’s one of my favorite riders, and he’s one of her favorite riders. We’re so excited.

So your wife is the lucky one who gets to go with you?
Yeah. She was going with me anyway, but now that we’ve won this, it’s great. We get to meet Colin Edwards!

So you consider yourself a Yamaha fan?
Yeah, I’ve been riding Yamahas since I was eight years old, except now I have a Honda CRF450 motocross bike—I had to get something that was a little less expensive then a road race bike after I totaled the R1. Besides that bike, everything I’ve ever ridden was a Yamaha.

So do you do any road racing?
No, I haven’t raced before, but I’ve done plenty of track days, and I ride on the street. I’m hooked on road racing.

So you just needed a new street bike to ride.
Yeah, and now I have one, thanks to you guys. And the race, there’s so much stuff going on, with kart racing with Wayne Rainey and all of those guys. You can’t ask for a better show than that. Thanks so much. I can’t say thank you enough. My wife and I talk about it every single day. She’s like, “What am I going to wear?” all the time. The money I save with the tickets I’ll probably have to spend on clothes for her!

(Laughs) That’s pretty good. See you at Laguna, Shawn.
Thanks so much.