LEWIS AND DEBISE RETURN TO THE PODIUM IN UTAH
After disappointment in Utah on Saturday, Team Hammer got the redemption it sought on Sunday. The squad came through to collect pair of podium trophies and three top five results to conclude the MotoAmerica race weekend at Utah Motorsports Campus on a high note.
Superbike ace Jake Lewis made good on the pace he’d shown all weekend to score his first podium result of the season. Lewis ran as part of four-rider freight train contesting third over the race’s opening half. The stakes were raised even further after one of the riders battling for the win crashed out of contention. The talented Kentucky native threw down a series of steady lap times aboard his Suzuki GSX-R1000 and dug deep to up his pace late to withstand a late push from a rival to steal away third place at the flag.
After the race, Lewis said, “It’s a big relief. That was a tough race. I was in third and I knew I had a good pace and tried to go with those guys and burned off my tires a little bit. After the crash ahead of me, I was all by myself in second for pretty much the whole race. I kept seeing ‘+0’, ‘+0’… I did look back once and saw a whole string of guys behind me.
“The whole M4 ECSTAR Suzuki guys have been working their butts off for me so it’s a nice reward to pay those guys back. It’s been awhile since I’ve been up here. It’s nice to be running with the big boys again.”
Lewis dedicated the achievement to his father, who passed away earlier this year. He said, “A big thank you to my family back home, my team, and everyone in the paddock who has supported me since my father passed away. This one is for him.”
Lewis’ M4 ECSTAR Suzuki teammate, Valentin Debise, also got a chance to show what he was capable of after missing Saturday’s MotoAmerica Supersport race despite qualifying on pole. The Frenchman led much of the way, and then ripped off the fastest lap of the entire race on the final lap. Debise, aboard his Suzuki GSX-R600, was in second and set the mark in his last-gasp bid for the win.
While he came up just over a half-second short, the runner-up result was a positive way to conclude an up-and-down weekend.
Debise said, “I’m happy and I’m not. Considering all the trouble we went through over the weekend, it’s a good result. But in my heart, I want to get the win. It was difficult for me. I was thinking to lead, but then I saw on the big screen that a rider was right in the back of me, so I thought I would let him through and see what I could do. After that, I was struggling to keep pace and make a pass. I made a mistake trying to make up the gap, but I pushed really hard all the way through the last lap.
“Anyway, it’s a good weekend. Thank you to my M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team. I can’t wait for the next races to fight again. I have to get another win.”
M4 medAge Suzuki’s Nick McFadden was involved in the fight for the final spot on the podium throughout. In the end, he picked up another top five result, finishing just 0.252 back of third.
M4 RiCK! Suzuki’s Daytona Anderson did not finish.
The 2018 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing season will pick back up following a three-week summer break at Sonoma Raceway on August 10-12.
About Team Hammer
The 2018 season marks Team Hammer’s 38th consecutive year of operating as a professional road racing team. Racebikes built and fielded by Team Hammer have won 69 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National races, have finished on AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National podiums 197 times and have won five AMA Pro National Championships, as well as two FIM South American Championships. The team has also won 135 endurance races overall (including seven 24-hour races) and 13 Overall WERA National Endurance Championships with Suzuki motorcycles, and holds the U.S. record for mileage covered in a 24-hour race. The team also competed in the televised 1990s Formula USA National Championship, famously running “Methanol Monster” GSX-R1100 Superbikes fueled by methanol, and won four F-USA Championships.
More, from a press release issued by Weir Everywhere Racing:
Weir Everywhere Racing
Travis Wyman shows strong pace, scores top 10 finish despite unfortunate crash at MotoAmerica Championship of Utah
Weir Everywhere Racing BMW rider remains strong contender for inaugural Stock 1000 Class title
GRANTSVILLE, Utah — It was a weekend of peaks and valleys for the Weir Everywhere Racing BMW team at the MotoAmerica Championship of Utah July 20-22. The team arrived at Utah Motorsports Campus after the Stock 1000 Class’ six-week break and began working to get its bid for the class championship back on track. Rider Travis Wyman had not raced a motorcycle since the weekend-ending crash at Road America on June 3.
Wyman gradually regained his confidence in the front end of his BMW S 1000 RR and worked his way from being 5th fastest in Saturday morning practice to winning pole in Sunday morning’s final qualifying session. Wyman got a good start in the Sunday afternoon race and found himself in a three-way battle for the lead. He set a race pace that was faster than his pole time and was making a move to retake the lead in Turn 5 when he was forced to change his line. Wyman consequently lost traction on the front tire and low-sided. Despite crashing, Wyman was able to remount his BMW and finish the race in seventh place.
The MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Class will next compete at the MotoAmerica Championship of Sonoma Aug. 10-12. Wyman remains a strong contender for the inaugural MotoAmerica Stock 1000 Class championship and will be aiming to score his third win of the season on the technical, 2.52-mile circuit.
Travis Wyman / #24
“It was tough to mentally get rolling again after such a long break and how the weekend at Road America ended. The team was great though. They did everything they could to make the weekend successful. Our race pace was really good. We were consistently running faster during the race than we were on the lap that got us the pole Sunday morning. I got a good start and got into a good battle at the front of the field. I had the last lap planned out and was expecting the other riders to attack in the early part of the lap. When one of them tried to pass me on the inside going into Turn 5 I changed my line to set him up for an over-under move. I ended up crashing but got back up and was able to salvage a seventh-place finish. Our bid for the championship is more difficult now but after Sonoma we head back east to tracks where I have a lot of experience. I want to thank my team for supporting me and giving me a great bike this weekend. I am expecting us to be back at the front at the next round.”
Steve Weir / Team Principal
“We knew the weekend was going to be a tough one for us. Travis had not raced at Utah Motorsports Campus on a motorcycle in several years. It also takes a rider time to regain their confidence in the front of their motorcycle after a front-end tuck. Travis got faster as the weekend progressed. We were able to make changes to the bike to help him regain his confidence and perform at his best as his lap times came down. We were elated when we won the pole position Sunday morning and Travis’ lap times continued to drop during the race. Travis had an unfortunate crash on the last lap due to changing his line and hitting a big bump in Turn 5. The fact that he was able to get back on the bike and finish in seventh-place was huge for our championship bid. Sonoma is a rider’s track and one I think Travis will do well at. It is a difficult track to set a bike up for, so it really comes down to the rider. From what I have seen this season, Travis has the pace and mental toughness to perform well at Sonoma and set us up for a big push for the championship in the last three races of the season.”
More, from a press release issued by Attack Performance/Herrin Compound Racing:
Anthony overcomes on-track challenges to score two top-10 finishes at MotoAmerica Championship of Utah
Attack Performance / Herrin Compound rider not rattled by front brake problems or being forced off track
GRANTSVILLE, Utah – Gavin Anthony’s results in the MotoAmerica Junior Cup races at Utah Motorsports Campus July 20-22 are not indicative of how hard and how smart he rode. Anthony maintained a good pace in the last two laps of his first race at the Championship of Utah despite losing his front brakes. The next day he salvaged a second top-10 finish despite being forced off track and falling back to last place on the first lap.
Anthony’s pace increased as the weekend progressed. He moved up from 10th-fastest in the Junior Cup Class’ first practice session on Friday to narrowly missing out on the pole position in qualifying. He got a good start in Saturday’s Race 1 and was battling for the race lead. Late in the race, Anthony ran over a rumble strip on the outside of the track that unsettled his Yamaha YZF-R3’s front brake pads. He was not fazed and rode as hard as he could despite the brake problems and was able to salvage a ninth-place finish. In Sunday’s Race 2, Anthony got another good start but was forced off-track by another rider on the first lap at Turn 2. He fell back to several seconds behind the last-place rider but was not about to give up. He pushed hard for the remainder of the race and passed about 14 riders to take home his second ninth-place finish of the weekend.
The MotoAmerica Junior Cup will return to action Aug. 10-12 at Sonoma Raceway.
Gavin Anthony / #76
“The weekend started off well for us. I was able to run behind one of the other frontrunners in qualifying and scored a front-row start for the weekend’s races. I was feeling confident and got a good start in Race 1. It was an intense battle at the front. A couple guys got away from me and as I was pushing to catch back up to them when I had a tank-slapper that unsettled by front brakes. I had to ride the bike with very little brake pressure up front and finished in ninth place. I went into Sunday’s race hoping the brake problems had been sorted and got another good start. Unfortunately, as I entered Turn 2 I got pushed off line and ran off track. I had to let everyone by before I could rejoin the race safely and was about 5-10 seconds behind when I did. I just pushed as hard as I could the rest of the race and went from 25th place to ninth-place in eight laps. I want to thank my team for giving me a great bike this weekend and I am looking forward to racing at Sonoma Raceway next. We have some updates coming for our Yamaha R3 and I think Sonoma’s tight, twisty layout will really suit our bike.”