Riders Discount/Tuned Racing rider, Jason Aguilar, was the sole representative for the team at Chuckwalla Valley Motorcycle Association’s (CVMA) March 26-27 round. In windy conditions on Saturday, Jason qualified on pole for the Middleweight class races but was 4th overall behind the top 3 Open class bikes on their 1000cc machines.
The first race on Saturday, Formula Middleweight, saw Jason get the holeshot and lead the entire race for the win. In Jason’s last Saturday race, Supersport Middleweight, a red flag erased his holeshot start and race lead. On the restart, Jason missed out on the holeshot and came up 0.189 seconds behind the winner for a 2nd place finish.
Sunday, the winds died down and weather was perfect. Jason was the fastest of all the riders in morning practice, but was fighting a sore throat and sinus congestion. Jason explained: “I was feeling really bad in the morning, but I really wanted to race. I figured I could handle running the 2 Middleweight class races, but when they asked me to run the 12 lap Open Shootout, which was one race after my last race, I wasn’t sure I would have the energy. They really wanted me to enter, so I decided to go for it.”
The first race of the day was Supersport Middleweight. Jason did not get a great start, but had good acceleration as he shifted through the gears and grabbed the lead going into Turn 1. From there, Jason checked out for a 24 second gap by the end of the race.
Formula Middleweight was up next. Team Mechanic, Blair Ramey, made some suspension changes, and it helped. Once again Jason grabbed the lead at the start and he ran away with another race, crossing the finish line 16 seconds ahead of his next competitor. The suspension changes worked, allowing Jason to run his fastest lap of the weekend.
Blair only had a few minutes to get the Riders Discount/Tuned Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 ready for the Open Shootout. Jason would be starting the race from the second row, behind the Open Class leaders. The announcer stated to the crowd that there was “no way a 600 could beat the 1000cc Open Class machines to the first corner, but the superior corner speed of the 600’s could allow them to catch the bigger bikes later in the race”. Jason proved the announcer wrong by getting a great start from the 2nd row and diving up the inside into the first corner for the lead. Jason pushed really hard to open up enough of a gap to hold off the bigger bikes down the straightaways. As it turned out, Jason had company, not from a 1000cc bike, but another 600. On lap 10, it was a braking duel as the 2 riders were side by side down the backstraight. Jason with the inside position was able to defend, and then opened a slight gap on the final 2 laps to take the win by 2.9 seconds.
Jason Aguilar: “I want to thank Blair for giving me a great setup today, we gathered valuable data that will help us throughout our MotoAmerica season. I also need to thank my team sponsors; Tuned Racing, Riders Discount, Graves Motorsports, Quicksilver Lubricants, Tuned Industries, PSR-USA, Speed & Strength, Dunlop, Galfer Performance Braking Systems, Dynojet, EK-ThreeD Chains, Drive Systems USA and Superlite Sprockets, Alien Motion, EFSigns.com, Arai Helmets, SBKPaint.com, FTecu, Speed Angle, Scott’s Plumbing, Let’s Ride Trackdays, Zero Gravity Racing, Optimal Racing Bodywork, Sunoco, and my personal sponsor Solarmax Technology. I want to thank Jason Pridmore and the Star School for working with me for the first time on Friday before the race weekend. I am really looking forward to working with them this season and taking my riding to the next level.”
Mike Pond: “Tuned Racing and I are happy to see Jason back on top of his game, and showcasing the true talent he has. We know it, and now Jason is ready to show the world that he is a contender!”