Canadian Chris Peris will ride the Excelsus Solutions/Lucas Oil/KWR Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike in place of team owner/rider Kyle Wyman in the MotoAmerica Superbike races this coming weekend at Road America.
Peris, age 30, was recruited after Wyman crashed during a practice session for the FIM European Superstock 1000 race last weekend at Donington Park. Wyman suffered a mild concussion in the crash and has made the choice to sit out the MotoAmerica at Road America.
“Official concussion protocol is not preventing me from riding. This is a decision I made on my own,” Wyman exclusively told Roadracingworld.com Thursday at Road America. “I don’t want to ride unless I’m 100%. Even if I’m 99%, with a head injury I don’t want to mess with it. I’ll ride with broken bones, but I have a lot of racing ahead of me and I don’t want to put myself or anyone else at risk.
“I want to be a voice for this. I feel people come back too soon. Having another crash just one week after a first concussion can be catastrophic. I’ll sleep well knowing I can recover and come back stronger for the final rounds of the season.
“I did an ImPACT [concussion diagnostic] test yesterday, and four days after my crash my results were better than the ImPACT test I did a week and a half after I crashed and suffered a concussion at Indianapolis in 2015. So that gives me a lot of confidence that I’ll be ready to go in Utah.
“You’ve got to pull an arrow back to shoot it far. I feel like we’re pulling the arrow back this weekend.”
Asked why he chose Peris to ride his Yamaha Superbike at Road America, Wyman said, “Chris is a good friend of mine. We work together [instructing] at the Yamaha Champions Riding School, but most of all he’s willing to do it with the right understanding of the position. I’m confident that he will go out and get good results and represent our sponsors well without trying to be a hero and put too much at risk. He has experience on a Superbike and he’s won here in the past at Road America. I feel we’re going to learn stuff about our bike from a different perspective from a guy who rides similar to me.”
After starting road racing on mini bikes, Peris joined the Canadian National series in 2002 when he was just 15. In 2003, he became the first Canadian to qualify for a 125cc World Championship race, according to the Canadian Motorcyclist Association (CMA). In 2004, Peris began racing full time in the AMA Pro series with Team Hammer and eventually finished on the AMA Pro Superstock (1000cc) podium at VIR in 2008 and won an AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike race on an Erion Honda at Road America in 2009. Peris also raced in the AMA Pro Superbike Championship, the FIM Supersport World Championship and he co-rode to the 2015 WERA National Endurance Championship.