Kyle Wyman battles adversity at Laguna Seca for top-5 finish on Motovation USA/KWR Superbike
MONTEREY, Calif. (July 11) — Kyle Wyman battled adversity this past weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to come away with a top-5 finish at round six of the MotoAmerica Superbike championship. Wyman overcame a mechanical DNF in race one on his Motovation USA/Lucas Oil/KWR Yamaha to place 5th overall in race two.
Wyman’s Friday practice sessions were running smoothly as the KWR team worked to dial in chassis settings for the two 23-lap Superbike races, coming away with the 11th fastest time of the day.
“Friday was a bit of a struggle as we found ourselves down the order from our normal positions,” Wyman said. “We were working really hard on our race pace, trying to put a lot of laps on the tires to make the bike work well with less grip. Our K-Tech DDS Pro shock was working awesome with 20+ laps on the rear tire so we were confident in our race pace, even though we didn’t have the outright speed.”
With fast enough time to make the Superpole qualifying session, Wyman had another opportunity to take to the track on a Q-tire. A clean lap would give Wyman the ability to put in a 1:25.060, fast enough to earn 9th position on the grid, but his worst qualifying position of the season.
“I had a pretty clean lap in Superpole but since our focus Friday was on the race pace I didn’t have quite the outright speed for a one-lap charge,” Wyman said. “9th is still on the third row of the grid however so it’s not too bad of a place to start.”
Wyman fought through
the field off the start to find himself in 4th position overall by lap five, and settled in behind the factory bikes. As the laps wound down the bike started losing horsepower up the steep hills of the Laguna Seca circuit, eventually causing Wyman to pull the bike in the pits and avoid any catastrophic damage to the motor.
“I was really happy to have the consistently fast pace we were running, but even in the early stages I could tell our motor was getting weaker by the lap,” Wyman said. “I was just hoping that it could finish the race for us, but by about lap 15 I started hearing noises and the bike wouldn’t rev over 13,000 RPMs. At that point I made the decision to pull the bike into the pits and try to avoid complete disaster, like we have had too many times this year.”
With a spare motor on hand, the KWR crew put in the time to swap motors Saturday night, in hopes of better fortune in Sunday’s race two. With some setup changes and a fresh engine in the bike, Wyman would have another opportunity to challenge the factory machines.
Another great start to race two and Wyman found himself in 5th position, just off the back of the lead group. Wyman followed 4-time Superbike champion Josh Hayes for the opening laps of the race until a near-crash almost put him on the ground. A solid ride thereafter would secure another 5th place position in class and overall, putting the entire Superstock 1000 field behind him once again.
“I had another really good start in race two and got to settle in behind Josh (Hayes) for awhile,” Wyman said. “It was a great learning experience and I felt comfortable running with him. I thought I would be able to have the pace to stay with him for the entire race, but I had a huge moment at the top of the corkscrew that cost me some time. The front tire folded and I just about crashed, feet off the pegs, somehow gathered it back up. From there I lost a second or two to Josh and just tried to run as consistent and fast as I could. I’ll take another top-5 as we head into the break, and I know our time at the front will come soon.”
The MotoAmerica series will return to action in five weeks time at Sonoma Raceway in Napa Valley, California August 11-13, 2017. In the mean time, stay tuned for news and announcements in the coming weeks.
For more information about Motovation USA, visit www.motovationusa.com
More, from a press release issued by Quarterley Racing/On Track Development:
Draik Beauchamp’s 3rd Place Finish Keeps Quarterley Racing On Track Development Streak Alive with Podium Finishes at all Nine Races in the KTM RC 390 Cup Series this Season.
Mazda Raceway- Laguna Seca (7/11/2017) – After qualifying P1, P3, P6 by Benjamin Smith with a 1:41.8 Jackson Blackmon with a 1:42.2 and Draik Beauchamp with a 1:43.4 respectively, the stage was set for another tight race in the highly competitive KTM RC Cup series. Unfortunately, a first lap race incident in turn two, Blackmon loses rear grip, goes down, and collects Smith. While both riders were OK neither rider was able to re-join the race; leaving Beauchamp to represent the team. Leahey, after last week’s crash, sat on the sidelines for this race, but came out to support the team. A great battle took place behind the leader, Cory Ventura, for 2nd through 5th. Swapping positions down to the last lap, Beauchamp made a hard fought effort to secure 2nd, with a last minute pass by Alex Dumas, Beauchamp takes home a well earned 3rd place podium trophy from the legendary circuit.
Quarterley Racing/On Track Development with successful veteran pro rider Dale Quarterley, is an entry level pro racing program focused on bringing young riders up to speed as they set their sights on a future and the next step towards top level pro racing. The team offers Moto America full support on a team owned “Ready to Race” 390 Cup bike for a Wild Card entry or multiple events.Contact is [email protected] or phone 610-217-9926.
Check out the latest news at www.dalequaterley.com/otd
Team Sponsors: Beta Tools, Inter-Tech Supplies, Motorex, Regina Chains, Scott Powersports, Street & Competition, Woodcraft Technologies
A special thanks to the personal sponsors for our riders:
Draik Beauchamp: 129 Photos- Law Offices of Ogle, Elrod &Baril- Spider Graphix- Tint One- Pit Pass Radio- Sportbike Leather Service- SaferMoto.com-Red Fox racing Cycle Gear Trever White at Harper VW LS2 Helmets
Jackson Blackmon: Dainese/AGV, TrackDay Winners, Xt Racing, Fast Frank, Fast Bike Industries, Finishline Machine, Drippin Wet
Jake Leahey: Arai Helmets- Sidi Boots- Heroic Leathers- NJminiGP- Stump Racing Kids- United Asphalt- Wholesale Outlet- Hangdry- Solid Performance KTM- Evolve GT Trackdays- RideRich Apparel- Scordo Farms
Benjamin Smith: Arai Helmets- William Deal- Gmoto- Sidi-Impact Armor- Absolute Cycle Experience
More, from a press release issued by RiderzLaw Racing:
Herrin, Aguilar Headline Strong Weekend at Laguna Seca for RiderzLaw Racing
Monterey, CA — RiderzLaw Racing gets a dream start to their ‘California Conquest’ of MotoAmerica’s Northern California rounds, as RiderzLaw Racing notches a victory, podium, and competitive finishes across multiple classes during the series’ first of two California rounds at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
RiderzLaw-supported rider Josh Herrin of Meen Motorsports notches his first Superbike podium finish in Race 2. Herrin would take to the front during the early stages of the race before yielding to the pair of Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing riders Toni Elias and Roger Hayden. He then battled with Cameron Beaubier before getting the best of the Monster Energy/Yamalube/Yamaha Factory Racing rider to take 3rd and the final podium spot for the race, his first podium finish in class since moving up from Superstock 1000 this season.
Jason Aguilar makes it three-in-a-row as the RiderzLaw/Aguilar Racing rider takes victory yet again during the weekend’s Superstock 600 class. Starting in 8th place overall for the combined Supersport & Superstock 600 race, Jason made it up as high as the 4th position overall in the race onboard his Superstock Yamaha R6 before yielding the position to Supersport rider Daytona Anderson of M4 Rickdiculous Racing Suzuki, taking his third consecutive victory in his class. “I couldn’t be more stoked the way things are going so far and I’m hoping to keep improving every round. Can’t wait for the next round at Sonoma!”
Also in Superstock 600, RiderzLaw Racing rider Robert Pierce onboard his Yamaha R6 has a weekend to remember despite a start to forget. A mistake during the first Free Practice session of the weekend meant lost track time for the Yamaha rider, but Robert was quick to shrug it off and return to the track in the following sessions. Robert would miss out of Qualifying for the race by just .007 of a second, but a win during the Last Chance Qualifier race secured him the 25th spot at the grid for the main race. Robert climbed positions during the race, settling in behind Ezra Beaubier before passing the One6Sport rider en route to an 18th place finish overall for the race, 12th in his class.
In the KTM RC 390 Cup – a class presented by RiderzLaw during this round and again at Sonoma Raceway in August – RiderzLaw Racing rider Gray Pham of Team MotoTriad has his best qualifying result in class, securing 4th place on the grid for the 12-lap race. Gray proceeded to record the fastest lap in the race and fought for the final podium spot before relinquishing the position in the final lap to finish 4th place.
RiderzLaw has a dedicated team of lawyers who are experts in helping victims of serious motorcycle accidents. For more information on how to contact RiderzLaw, please visit www.riderzlaw.com or call 1-888-5-RIDERZ. Follow RiderzLaw on Instagram, @riderzlaw.