M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Valentin Debise adds to Team Hammer’s Podium Legacy

Team celebrates 35-year Arai partnership and 195th podium in AMA Pro/MotoAmerica competition

Brea, CA. (June 26, 2018) – Team Hammer closed out the Laguna Seca race weekend by scoring its 195th AMA Pro/MotoAmerica podium finish–a fitting way to conclude a weekend that served as a celebration of 35 years of collaboration with Arai.

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Valentin Debise continued his remarkable midseason return to action from injury, racing in his hand-painted Team Hammer throwback Arai helmet to the podium by scoring his third top-two result in just three attempts this season.

The Frenchman opened Sunday’s MotoAmerica Supersport race from pole on his Suzuki GSX-R600 after dominating final qualifying Sunday morning, firing in a fastest lap more than a half second better than any other rider in the field. However, despite his qualifying superiority, he found himself running a close second for much of the race, battling an evenly-matched opponent.

Debise attempted a pass for the lead with just a handful of laps remaining but was unable to make it stick. From that point on–and despite an incredible effort on the final lap–another attempt to take the lead and reach the checkered flag first remained just beyond his reach.

“After this morning I was thinking I could run away,” Debise admitted. “I was a little surprised to see my rival had a little stronger pace than I did. So I just decided to sit behind him, study his lines, see what I could learn, and maybe try something new with my style in hopes if I could go faster at the end. With five or six laps to go, I knew I had to make a pass, if only to disrupt him and prevent him from just riding his pace. I was a little bit wide and went to block him on exit. But he knows me, so he squared up the corner and came back underneath me. So credit to him, it was a good move on his part.

“On the last lap, I put my head down, pushed really hard, and made a killer final lap. I almost crashed like 20 times, but I waited a too little long. If I would have tried a pass, I would have sent it to the moon, so I just relaxed and finished second.

“I’m happy to be here on the podium at Laguna Seca, and I’m happy to be wearing this helmet to celebrate 35 years of partnership between Team Hammer and Arai. It was a great weekend for my team and a great weekend for me. Thanks to my M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team. They did a great job as always, and it’s always a pleasure to work with them.”

Team Hammer celebrated the 35th anniversary of their partnership with Arai helmets at Laguna Seca.

Debise was joined in the Supersport top five by M4 medAge Suzuki’s Nick McFadden. The Kentuckian, who qualified in the middle of Row 2 in fifth, put himself in the mix for a potential podium finish in the race’s early stages before ultimately settling into a lonely sixth. Just when it looked that’s where he’d end up, his position was upgraded to fifth due to a last-lap crash in front of him. The unexpected turn of events earned McFadden his fourth top-five result of the 2018 MotoAmerica Supersport season. M4 RiCK! Suzuki’s Daytona Anderson’s finished in 14th after qualifying on the outside of Row 4 in 12th, moving up into the top-10, but then running off the track.

Meanwhile, M4 ECSTAR Suzuki Superbike ace Jake Lewis improved upon on his Race 1 eighth. Lewis was involved in an intense melee for fourth that included some of the series’ biggest names and most accomplished riders during the opening half of the 23-lap Superbike race before finally finishing in sixth position.

Team Hammer will return to action on July 20-22 at Utah Motorsports Campus for Round 6 of the 2018 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American road racing season.

More, from a press release issued by Altus Motorsports:

Altus Motorsports Supercharged Race Report “Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca”

(Monterey, California) – Altus Motorsports Supercharged Team was poised and ready going into round five of MotoAmerica Championships of Monterey. The entire team and riders were excited to hit the Weather Tech Raceway Laguna Seca track. The facility and track is like no other and motivates riders to push beyond their limits and that’s exactly what Altus Motorsports Supercharged Team delivered.

The shining star of the weekend was none other than Jason Madama fresh off victory in the Twins Cup Championship in Wisconsin. The high spirited Madama grabbed the pole in Saturday qualifying running a 1:35:837 on the Altus Conquest Yamaha FZ-07/MT-07. Madama was stoked coming in after qualifying knowing he was the man to beat. When the flagged dropped Madama wasted no time and checked out with a 2.5 sec lead on lap one. Mid way through the race Parrish and Turner did their best to keep Madama in sight, Madama took a quick look back to see where his challengers were and opened up to a commanding 8.5 sec lead at the checkers. Going into Utah in a few weeks the Altus Motorsports Conquest Yamaha FZ-07 and Madama are going to be hard to beat.

In the Supersport class Miles Thornton #72 qualified 9th with a 1:28:42 on his M4 powered Suzuki GSX-R 600 on the twisting up and down Laguna Seca course. The last time Thornton threw a leg over his machine at Laguna Seca was way back in 2014, but Thornton’s skills and tenacity pushed him to just 1.9 sec off the pole sitter Valentin Debise. Thornton and crew chief Eric Gray discussed reaching for more to put them in the hunt for a podium finish making some minor adjustments to the bike setup. When the flag dropped on lap one Thornton knew the slight bike changes were a set back and he would have his hands full to maintain inside the top ten for the day. Pushing hard late in the race and finally getting past JC Camacho after a four lap battle, Thornton had his sight set on Silva and was closing. It was to no avail Thornton went down on turn five with the front end going away on him. Thornton quickly remounted and salvaged an 18th place finish for the day. “At the end of the day we know where we are and will be closer to the front going into the Utah Championships.

Also in the Supersport class Jaret Nassaney #59 qualified 24th on the tough and winding course. Nassaney worked hard throughout the race to better his best finish of 15th at Road America earlier in the season. Nassaney finished the race just inside the top twenty with a 19th place finish on his Suzuki GSX-R600.

It was also a great weekend for Altus Motorsports Supercharged Team debuting the new Tucker Powersports Kawaski 400 in the Liqui Moly Jr Cup. Tucker Powersports was debuting their new image and branding on the Kawasaki 400 ridden by Jaret Nassaney. Nassaney started 18th on the grid aboard the Tucker Powersports Kawasaki and quickly moved through the pack toward the front. There were quite a few riders going down early in the race while they raced for position. Draik Beauchamp #77 followed Nassaney through the carnage where they both were running 5th and 6th respectably. With six laps to go the race was red flagged and restarted. Both Nassaney and Beauchamp capitalized on the restart maintaining their positions. With a few laps to go Beauchamp was pushing hard to keep Nassaney in tow and unfortunately went down when his front end pushed out going into turn five. Nassaney finished the race in 5th aboard the debuting Tucker Powersports branded Kawasaki 400. Altus Motorsports Supercharged Team and Tucker Powersports put Laguna Seca in the books and walk away with more knowledge to better our teams results going into the MotoAmerica Championships of UTAH. Who knows back to back to back may be in the cards as Madama is on a streak.

Altus Motorsports Suzuki Team is supported by our great family of partners. Suzuki, Supercharged Natural Sports Drink, Tucker Powersports, Conquest, Arai, Moto-D, Bonamici, Taichi, Moto Liberty, Vortex, AP MotoArts, K-Tech, Ohlins, Hot Bodies Racing, SBS, Sidi, M4, Wilmes Chevy, PSR, and Velocity.