This weekend’s results are brought to you by 6D Helmets.
More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Who Else But Beaubier On Opening Day At The Ridge?
Sean Dylan Kelly Tops Supersport As The Action Heats Up
SHELTON, WA (August 28, 2020) – Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier continued his 2020 HONOS Superbike season domination today in the opening qualifying session at the Ridge Motorsports Park, the championship points leader lapping at 1:40.358 to best the rest by over a second.
Beaubier’s best came on the 14th lap and it was 1.029 seconds quicker than Westby Racing’s Mathew Scholtz, the South African’s fastest lap a 1:41.387. Beaubier’s best was a lap record in MotoAmerica’s debut race at the track in the Pacific Northwest.
Third fastest heading into tomorrow’s Superpole session was Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne. Gagne’s best lap was a 1:42.010 – 1.652 seconds slower than Beaubier.
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Toni Elias continues to search for his mojo on his GSX-R1000 and he improved to the fourth fastest time, one spot higher than his teammate Bobby Fong.
Italian Lorenzo Zanetti rode his Celtic HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R to the sixth best time, half a second behind Fong and .326 of a second ahead of Scheibe Racing BMW’s Josh Herrin. FLY Racing ADR Motorsports’ David Anthony, Rock & Son’s Jayson Uribe and Anthony’s teammate Bradley Ward completed the top 10 on the opening day.
The Supersport war between HONOS Kawasaki’s championship points leader Richie Escalante and M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly continued on opening day at the Ridge, the two fighting for the top spot in Q1 with Kelly and his 1:44.204 getting the nod over Escalante’s 1:44.822. Altus Motorsports’ Kevin Olmedo was third with a best of 1:45.375.
Norton Motorsports/Ninja400R/Dr. Farr/Wonder CBD Rocco Landers bested Celtic HSBK Racing’s Samuel Lochoff by a tick over half a second to lead the way in the Liqui Moly Junior Cup class. BARTCON Racing’s Dominic Doyle was third fastest.
Altus Motorsports’ Cameron Petersen led the way in the Stock 1000 class with his 1:43.362. Ride HVMC Racing’s Corey Alexander was second fastest with Alex Dumas bouncing back from a crash on the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki to finish the day third fastest.
The final session of the day was the Twins Cup and Landers continued to lead the way on his SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki with a lap time that was 1.7 seconds faster than Robem Engineering’s Jackson Blackmon. Syndicate Racing/Apex Assassins’ Jason Madama ended up third with championship leader Kaleb De Keyrel fourth.
More, from a press release issued by Ducati North America:
Wyman hits trouble as Zanetti charges on at The Ridge
Sunnyvale, Calif., August 28, 2020 – It was a day of contrasting fortunes for the Ducati crew as MotoAmerica debuted at Ridge Motorsports Park in Washington, as HSBK fill-in Lorenzo Zanetti led the charge.
Zanetti finished the day sixth overall on the Celtic HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R, finishing FP2 a very respectable 2.424 seconds off pace setter, Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier. It was an impressive MotoAmerica debut for the Italian whose day job is as the official Ducati Corse test rider for the Ducati Panigale V4 R.
On the other side of the pits, MotoAmerica series regular Kyle Wyman endured a trying start to his weekend. The Arizona resident suffered a fast crash in the first test session on Thursday, the violence of the crash essentially breaking his Panigale V4 R in three pieces as the front and back ends of his machine detached from the engine.
Wyman was unable to complete a lap on Friday as the team rebuilt the machine overnight, meaning he has missed Superpole and will start from the rear of the grid for both races this weekend.
Kyle Wyman (KATO Fastening/KWR Ducati Team — Ducati #33)
“I’m fine from the crash yesterday, but when we broke the swingarm, I think it broke something in the cases of the engine, so that’s hampered us somewhat,” Wyman said, understatedly. “We got zero laps today and only six laps yesterday before the accident, and we’ve missed Superpole for the races, so we haven’t had the best time so far.
Yesterday was just a cold tire accident,” Wyman continues. “It was about 100 mph and I completely broke the bike in half. We should be OK for the race—we just have to start at the bottom and build back up.”
Lorenzo Zanetti (Celtic HSBK Racing — Ducati #87)
“I’m never happy, I’m a rider so I’m never happy!” Lorenzo laughed at the end of FP2. “But, honestly, I’m very happy to be here in the U.S. I don’t know the championship, I don’t know the tire, I just know the bike because I’m a test rider for Ducati. So, I just need to keep getting more and more information to improve the bike for the championship. “I think we did a great job after yesterday. I closed the gap a lot to the first position, and even though our bike is closer to Stock 1000 spec than Superbike, I think everyone is happy.”
