M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Bobby Fong Victorious at Road America
Suzuki Riders Petersen and Landers Also Capture Impressive Wins
Brea, CA – Suzuki Motor of America, Inc. and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki returned to Road America for Round 2 of the 2020 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing season where they scored four podium finishes, capped off in spectacular fashion by Bobby Fong’s maiden MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike class victory. In addition, Altus Motorsports’ Cameron Petersen and Roadracing World Young Guns Rocco Landers both grabbed impressive victories over the weekend on their Team Hammer built Suzuki machines; Petersen won the Stock 1000 on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 while Landers took the Twins Cup win on his Suzuki SV650.
The 2019 MotoAmerica Supersport champion built upon the impressive pace he flashed aboard his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the opener and translated it into a highlight packed follow-up weekend. On Saturday, Fong qualified second for the twin premier-class finals and raced to an unchallenged second. He took another step forward on Sunday, ultimately rewarding the team with a victory.
“It’s been a pleasure riding for M4 ECSTAR Suzuki,” said Fong. “They gave me an opportunity to ride this Superbike and showcase my talents and show what I can do against the big boys and now it’s paying off. We’ve just got to keep the ball rolling.”
Teammate Toni Elias endured another eventful weekend, but it was a big step up from his zero-points opener. The 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike champion appeared to have taken a podium position in Saturday’s Superbike Race 1, but was later assessed to have overtaken under yellow-flag conditions on the final lap. As a result, he was docked a position and awarded fourth in the official results. On Sunday, the Spainard was again in podium contention before being knocked off his machine by another rider. Elias remounted and raced his way to a hard-earned seventh.
In addition, Petersen, who rides for Suzuki’s dealer effort Altus Motorsports, clinched a win on his Team Hammer built Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the Stock 1000 class. Petersen showed good pace on the high-speed Road America track and is eager to add to his points standings.
Landers grabbed his first Twins Cup victory on Sunday aboard the Roadracing World Young Guns/Sportbiketrackgear.com Suzuki SV650 built by Team Hammer after topping qualifying with a new class record lap of 2:27.452. Landers is looking forward to adding another win to his young career throughout the season.
Sean Dylan Kelly, who earned the team’s sole podium result in the opener, stepped his game up in the MotoAmerica Supersport class. ‘SDK’ took full advantage of the capabilities of his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R600 to secure the first pole position of his MotoAmerica career. He then backed that up with a pair of runner-up results, each one a step closer to the win than the last.
“It was a fun race,” said Kelly. “We definitely showed a lot of fight and had some nice passes for the lead. We’re taking it race by race, but at the end of the day, we want the championship and that means taking as many points as possible.”
Supersport teammate Lucas Silva remained steady, notching up seventh- and eighth-place finishes on the weekend.
Alex Dumas made huge strides of his own in his second weekend in the Stock 1000 category after previously winning national titles in the Junior Cup and Twins Cup classes. After both qualifying and finishing seventh in his literbike debut, the French Canadian qualified fifth and finished fourth in his second go on the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000, battling for the podium throughout.
Suzuki and its riders will look to capitalize on its renewed momentum when the series resumes for Round 3 at Road Atlanta on July 31-August 2.
More, from a press release issued by Hayden Schultz Racing:
Hayden Schultz Emerges On Top of Battle Royale for Final Podium Spot.
Hayden Schultz returned to the MotoAmerica Podium for the first time in 5 Years at Road America. The last spot for the podium was decided after a thrilling battle that saw up to 6 riders swapping positions over the 8 lap race. In the end it was Schultz that came out on top after a draft pass to the finish line. After a first round that saw the team resort to a stock motor for the races after a technical issue, a trip to the podium was helpful in jumpstarting the teams 2020 campaign.
Schultz said “I’m excited to see all the hard work from my team and myself start to show some results. After such a great battle with a group of fast guys it feels incredible to come out with a podium. I had a plan for the last lap and thought it was out the door after nearly highsiding coming out of turn 5. Thankfully, I was able to battle back and put myself in the position I wanted to be in. Coming out of the last corner I felt good about the drive and knew we had a shot and getting into 3rd by the line. I’m so happy for my team. Gene Burcham, Ron “Dink” Glidden, Gary Jeffries, and Michael Burcham have been putting in countless hours back at the shop and my program and this result would not have been possible without them. This is only my fourth time on a road race bike in the last 2 years and the second time on this race bike so I know we can improve and close the gap to the very front. I’m ready to get to some more technical tracks where I think we can do better and fight for wins.”
The team is headed back to the race shop to make more progress with the race bike and get ready for the next round at Road Atlanta where they will be joined by a second rider.
Hayden Schultz Racing would like to thank their sponsors that make the season possible:
Brittenum Construction, Law Tigers, Dreyer Motorsports, Robem Engineering, Glidden Racing, aRacer USA, Wossner Pistons, Full Spectrum Power, 6D Helmets, RS Taichi USA, Moto Liberty, Blud Lubricants, Ohlins USA, Gene Burcham, Gary Jeffries, Shundi Self-Storage
