Famed Road America track the next challenge for GEICO Suzuki racer Chris Ulrich
ELKHART Lake, Wis. – Hoping to improve on a pair of top-10 finishes in the most recent MotorAmerica Superbike race, Chris Ulrich brings his GEICO Suzuki to one of the United States’ most iconic race tracks, Road America, for the Subway SuperBike Doubleheader this weekend.
“I really enjoy going to Road America,” Ulrich said. “It was already a great track but they’ve made some improvements recently, repaving some of the corners, and I’m looking forward to testing that out and getting back on the GEICO Suzuki.
“We made a lot of progress at VIR, and now we’ve got to build on that progress and continue to move up in the points and our finishes each week.”
Ulrich moved up one spot in the Superbike points standings to sixth after finishing sixth in both races at Virginia International Raceway on May 17.
One of Ulrich’s objectives at Road America is to start the weekend fast so he can be among the fastest 10 in the Superbike/Superstock 1000 class. The top 10 automatically advance to the Superpole 2 qualifying session that sets the field.
“The big thing we’re going to concentrate this week is getting through to Superpole 2 right off the bat and improving our position on the grid,” Ulrich said. “If we can do that, we’ll have better results than we’ve had recently.”
Road America is a 14-turn, 4.048-mile behemoth set in rolling countryside in Wisconsin. Long tracks always demand high horsepower, but Ulrich said a good-handling motorcycle is crucial, too.
“The track is big,” Ulrich said. “It’s got three long straightaways you have to contend with, but they’re all connected with corners. You have to have the bike work well in slow corners and fast corners and try to find the perfect balance to put down good lap times.
“You’ve got a lot of things going on at that track. On paper, it may look like a horsepower track – and no doubt you need some ponies – but the bike has to work well in order to get around it and turn in good times.”
Two hour-long practices are scheduled for Friday, with a third, 40-minute practice Saturday. Superpole 1 and Superpole 2 qualifying is slated for Saturday afternoon.
The two races are scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Central time on Sunday.