Veteran racer Cory West’s surprising 2018 MotoAmerica Supersport season will continue at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
West, a former AMA Pro Superbike Rookie of the Year and multi-time podium finisher at the Daytona 200, started 2018 on the sidelines, but then the Arkansas resident was hired to fill in on the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team in the MotoAmerica Supersport Championship until the injured Valentin Debise recovered and returned to action.
West earned podium finishes in two of the first four Supersport races and was third in the Championship point standings after two rounds, but Debise recovered from his injuries and returned for Round Three at Road America (where he won the first race and finished a closed second in the second race), and West was no longer needed by the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team.
TSE Racing, with whom West has raced with at the last two Daytona 200s, stepped up and put together an effort for West to race a 2016 Yamaha YZF-R6 at Road America, and West paid them back with two fourth-place results, which kept him third in the Championship.
But Road America was essentially in Wisconsin-based TSE Racing’s backyard and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is 2200 miles away and the small team didn’t have the budget to continue supporting West’s racing.
That is until West posted on social media that he and TSE Racing were going to try to continue racing in California and that they needed help. West’s fans responded strongly.
“Thanks to Cory’s fans, we have raised enough money to get us to Laguna,” said Meghan Ryan, Team Manager of TSE Racing, which will also field Caroline Olsen at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. “We’re going to do that round and hope that there we can stir up enough interest to keep everything going. So for now we’re doing it on a weekend-by-weekend basis and hoping for the best.”
“I know it’s difficult on everybody because it’s been an unexpected season,” West told Roadracingworld.com. “I’m super thankful for the people who have stepped up. I feel like there’s a lot of people who have been rooting me on all year. So to be able to keep the season alive is awesome. I feel really good about it. I’m looking forward to riding at Laguna. I feel like I’m getting more and more confident each time I get to ride. That race on Sunday at Road America kind of lit a fire under my ass, and I was like ‘Holy Cow! I can actually go the same pace as these guys. I’ve just got to put it all together.’ It would be awesome if we could get on the box at Laguna.”
To help raise funds to continue supporting West’s MotoAmerica Supersport activities, TSE Racing is selling special Cory West T-shirts. To purchase a T-shirt, fans can call (262) 882-1161 or email [email protected]. TSE Racing is also hoping to have the T-shirts available for sale directly via their online store at www.tracksidesuspension.com at some point this week.