Tuned Racing riders Steve Rapp, Bryce Prince, Jason Aguilar, and Jeremy Lasater completed their preseason testing at Buttonwillow Raceway Park over President’s Day weekend. “We had several new parts to test on our Tuned Racing Yamaha R6s this weekend to get ready for the pro season. This was also the first weekend with our new Tuned Racing rig, so we needed to practice setting up and tearing down. All the riders and crew had a good weekend. Now the focus is getting everything race-ready by next month,” stated Team Owner, Mike Pond.
Steve Rapp again was up to speed quickly, turning some of the fastest laps of the weekend and concluding practice early in the afternoon. “Today was my 2nd time riding for Tuned Racing. The Yamaha R6 was really amazing to ride. I had to make very little changes to get up to speed. The team is very professional and will provide me with a great bike. I am looking forward to the start of the season,” explained Steve Rapp.
The fastest rider of the weekend was Bryce Prince. Lapping close to his personal best, Bryce made it look easy. “I was very happy to be back on track with the full crew. The bike felt amazing both days of testing. I feel very confident going into this year after running very competitive times even during a track day thanks to the well run operations at Let’s Ride Trackdays! I cannot thank Chris Waters, Mike Pond, and the rest of the crew enough for their support!”
Jason Aguilar was working on changing his body position. “The team found that I was shifting my center of gravity too far forward, and it was causing me to lose grip coming out of the corners. I worked on getting comfortable with changing my style, getting used to some new parts, and moving things around to accommodate changing my body position. The results were very positive. I rode all day Sunday on Dunlop GP-A Pro tires that had 20 laps of racing from Chuckwalla last month and did not have grip issues. I was not focused on lap times, but still had some good race pace laps while working through track day traffic.”
Jeremy Lasater made excellent progress over the weekend despite a low-side crash late in the final session of the weekend. “I Had a great holiday weekend with Let’s Ride Track Days. There were a lot of great riders out there from AFM, so it was really fun. I dropped my lap times 3 seconds with my new gas forks thanks to Chuck Graves at Graves Motorsports! Also I would like to thank Dunlop tires. They were working awesome on the track. I got my bike working great with my new PSR levers and clip-ons. I can’t wait to ride again with Let’s Ride! Thank you for having the Tuned Racing team out, Thank you to my mechanic, Emil Ovrid, and the Tuned Racing team. I can’t wait for the season to start!”
“We had a great weekend testing on all the new equipment from our new sponsor PSR-USA. I was really impressed with their clip-ons and their tire warmers have always worked great! The set up of the new truck was a little tough for the first time but the end result made it all worth it! I am happy with the amazing talent we have on the team, and how well our crew works together,” stated Mike Pond.
Thank you to all our sponsors: Tuned Industries, Graves Motorsports, Dunlop Tires, PSR-USA, Galfer Brakes, Worxxx Performance and Machine, Drive Systems USA, Torco Advanced Lubricants, Motoyard.com, Let’s Ride Track Days, Zero Gravity Racing Corporation, Dynojet, Flash-Tune, EFSigns.com, SBKPaint.com, Optimal Racing Bodywork, SpeedAngle, Shorai Batteries, ACT Leathers, Onyx Oil Service and Scott’s Plumbing.