Daniels Wins, Gloddy Fifth in First Pro Weekend, Barnes Takes
Twins Cup Points Lead
Dallas Daniels took his first win in the MotoAmerica LIQUI
MOLY Junior Cup class in race two at the Utah Motorsports Campus last weekend.
At the same event, newcomer Ben Gloddy came away with a fifth place finish in
his first professional racing event. Michael Barnes regained the points lead in
the Twins Cup
(Above) Dallas Daniels (center) celebrates winning Junior Cup Race Two while runner-up Rocco Landers (left) and Kevin Olmedo (right) look on. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Dallas Daniels:
“This was my first time at the Utah Motorsports Campus and I
thought the track was a lot of fun. It had a nice kind of flow with the uphill
section and the banking. I was running the medium tires so I wasn’t having the
problems that people who were running the softs were having.
“I was in fourth or fifth place all during qualifying but I
put a flyer in at the end that got pole
position. I was kind of overriding the bike the whole session and when I
relaxed on the last lap that’s when I got pole.
“In the first race I missed out on the win by a tenth of
second so in race two I knew I had to get a good start and stay with the leader
and get by him whenever I could. I finally made the pass with four laps to go
in the left hand corner just before the last two turns coming onto the front
straightaway. Even though it was a short straight to the line, I knew I had to
lead coming off the last corner.
“I was nervous about getting drafted at the line but when I
took the checkered flag the first thing I thought was, “Finally!” My team and I
had put in so much effort to try to win a race this year. All last year we were
aiming for a top five finish, but this year we came out swinging with two
podiums in the first race at Atlanta.
“The whole team has put in countless hours at the shop and
the track and it was great to finally reward them with a win. I’d just like to
give a big thanks to my mechanics, Dale Quarterley, Bob Robbins and all our
sponsors for their help. Hopefully we’ll keep going up from here.
“I’m really looking forward to the next race at Laguna Seca.
I got my first podium in this class there last year and it’s my favorite track
on the calendar.”
(Above) Ben Gloddy with Jake Gagne on the grid at UMC. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Ben Gloddy:
“I had a lot of fun at my first MotoAmerica event. Thank you
to Quarterley Racing for all of their hard work all weekend and leading up to
the event. I didn’t feel like the layout of the track worked well with my
riding style or habits, but I found a way to adapt. I ran on the soft tires in
practice and the track was so abrasive it shredded them in about ten laps. In
qualifying and then the race, I used a medium tire. I qualified seventeenth on
the grid for race one putting me on the sixth row, but the grid for the second
race was based on your fastest lap time from the first race, so I moved up to
ninth which put me on the third row for race two. For my first pro race
weekend, I am very happy about my twelfth and fifth place finishes. Laguna Seca
looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun. I feel a podium is definitely
possible.
“I would like to say thank the Penguin Racing School Mentor
Program for their guidance over the last couple years. When I started in their
program, they asked me about my goals for the future so they could come up with
an appropriate training program. One thing I was asked was if I wanted to learn
how to be fast club racer or if I wanted to be fast as a MotoAmerica racer. I
chose the second.”
Michael Barnes:
“In the first practice we had an issue with a plug cap failing.
It happened right after a hard downshift, so I think it’s just from all the
vibration. We doubly fixed it before the next session. We made a gearing change
for qualifying and got second on the grid. I would rather have been on the long
course. I miss the fast corners, but the short course is a lot of fun, too.
“I was really looking for a win this weekend because I
thought we had a strong setup when we entered the race. In the race itself I
could see the leader had a little pace on us. It would have been hard to keep
up that pace the whole race so when I couldn’t close the gap any more, I
settled into second. In the winner’s circle our tire looked a little more worn
than his.
“There was a pivotal point in the race when one of my main
rivals dropped out. I had a lead on third place and was not able to keep up the
pace of the leader, so I played it smart and ended up coming away with the
series points lead.
“One of the main things right now is that I need to go to a
dragstrip to practice some starts. I just haven’t found the feel to get off the
line yet. Lowering the seat helped tremendously; at Road America it was like
night and day.
“We have a decent package right now. It’s a little bit heavy
and the weight distribution isn’t quite where we want it, but we have a neutral
setup that works. Also, it doesn’t have the grunt coming off the corners that
some of the other bikes do. We, along with Moto Corse Performance just haven’t
extracted everything from the bike yet in the interest of careful development.
Hopefully we’ll get some time to try some changes at a track day. Working with
the Quarterley Racing On Track Development team has been great. Everyone jumps
in when it’s time for me to go out.
“We added the Palm Beach Police Foundation as a new sponsor
for the Twins Cup. They sponsored my efforts in the Daytona 200 for the last
four years, including this year’s race when I was helping to support Pat
Mooney.”
Quarterley Racing On Track Development sponsors for 2019
include Inter-Tech Supplies, Fast By Ferracci, Inc, Yoshimura Research &
Development of America, Inc., Wiseco Powersports, Motul USA., Regina Chain,
BrakeTech USA, Inc., Ferodo Racing, Matt & Jesse, Scott Powersports, Inc.,
Defiance Lifestyle, Woodcraft Technologies, Dynojet Research Inc., Beta Tools
of Italy – USA, RoadracingWorld.com, Drippinwet.com, MOTO-D Racing, Fast Bike
Industries, VAN DYK Recycling Solutions, Earl’s Racing Team and Kiwi Classic
Moto.
More, from a press release issued by Weir Everywhere Racing:
Travis Wyman battles back from poor start to finish fourth at MotoAmerica Championship of Utah
Weir Everwhere Racing BMW rider maintains fourth place in Stock 1000 Class standings
(Above) Travis Wyman (24). Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
GRANTSVILLE, Utah — While Travis Wyman’s start in Sunday’s Stock 1000 race wasn’t the best, the Weir Everywhere Racing BMW rider battled his way through the field to secure a top-five finish at the MotoAmerica Championship of Utah.
It was an event where Wyman thought he had the pace to take his first win of 2019, but he never gave up and kept charging forward despite how he started the Stock 1000 Class race at MotoAmerica’s first-ever event on Utah Motorsports Campus’ 2.2-mile East Course. Wyman’s comeback ride to a fourth-place finish allowed him to maintain fourth place in the class points standings.
The weekend started off well for the team, as Wyman claimed second place in qualifying. As the race got underway, Wyman struggled getting his BMW going off the starting line and was shuffled back to 12th place by the time the field reached Turn 1. By the end of Lap 1, Wyman had climbed up to ninth place on the tight, twisty East Course and continued his charge forward through the remainder of the 14-lap race.
The team has a three-week break before MotoAmerica is back in action alongside the FIM Superbike World Championship at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on July 12-14. The event will mark Wyman’s first time competing at the iconic track on a BMW.
Travis Wyman/#24
“The weekend was going great right up until the race started. We showed great pace this weekend during practice and qualifying, and it felt like we would be in contention for our first win of the season. Unfortunately, I got a really poor start and quickly found myself way back in the running order. I realized there was nothing more I could do about the start and was determined to do everything in my power to pick the team up and get us the best result I could. I battled my way through the midfield and past some of my championship rivals to finish fourth. It ended up being a disappointing result to what had been one of our most stellar weekends with this BMW package. I’m confident we’ll have our BMW S 1000 RR back at the front of the Stock 1000 field at the next round.”
More, from a press release issued by Scheibe Racing:
(Above) Jake Gagne (32) in action at UMC. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Scheibe Racing had another solid weekend of racing at round five of the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship at the picturesque Utah Motorsports Campus on the high plains of Tooele Valley outside of Salt Lake City Utah. With two seventh place finishes on the technical 2.2 mile East course at the halfway point of the EBC Brakes Superbike Series, the team is just two points outside of the top ten in the Championship after an atypical rough season start.
With the shorter two-day schedule, teams felt the time pinch to get everything right straight out of the gate. “Saturday happens fast on these short weekends with two practices and then the race.” noted rider Jake Gagne, “This time there was no Superpole, which was kind of nice to allow some time to prepare. This track is about as opposite as you can get from Road America, so we made a lot of progress on chassis changes.”
The results of the two morning Qualifying Practice sessions set the grid for the afternoon, and the Hayes Brakes equipped Scheibe Racing #32 BMW S 1000 RR earned 11th position, further back than where Jake wanted to be to get a good start. “I got into a battle early on with Jayson Uribe, Cam Petersen, and Aussie Dave and we had a good little bunch that I led around for a while. I could see the pit board said +0 every lap so I knew they were right there. I was happy to hold those guys off because it got a little tough there at the end.”
After a few small changes to the swingarm and front end, Sunday’s race two was interrupted halfway through with a red flag. “Every change we thought about and then made ended up being a little better which was encouraging. At the restart I was one row up which gave me a better starting position allowing me to run with the front pack for a little bit for the last ten laps. I got a good start and was able to get a little gap behind me, but I didn’t quite have the pace to stay with Jake Lewis and JD Beach. I wanted to bring the bike home safe. I saw Jayson coming for me at the end but held him off so that was a fun race. I know Jayson really well. He’s done a bunch of Supercamps with me, and he’s a great kid. This was the first time I’ve raced with him, and I’m proud of him, he did really well.”
Team founder Steve Scheibe was pleased with the performance of the BMW noting the engine performance was again exceptional. “It’s the highest elevation track we race at 4,400 ft, adding additional stresses particularly to the cooling system and we didn’t have any issues. We were able to get up to speed quickly with gearing and electronics despite having never run that track configuration before.”
Round six of the series will be at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. This iconic track in the midst of a State Park in the hills just East of Monterey, California will be shared with the FIM Superbike World Championship July 14-16, 2019.
Jake is a fan of the track. “We should be in a good place on setup for Laguna and I think this bike will like it there getting up those hills.”
Scheibe Racing, founded by Steve Scheibe in 2001, is a Wisconsin based MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North America Road Racing Championship team.
Sponsored by: Hayes Brakes, VP Racing Lubricants, Akrapovic, Renthal Chainwheels, Regina Chains, and Alpha Racing.
More, from a press release issued by RiderzLaw/Aguilar Racing:
RiderzLaw/Aguilar Racing Reloads
(Above) Jason Aguilar (96). Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Jason Aguilar regrouped and reorganized the RiderzLaw/Aguilar Racing team coming into Utah Motorsports Campus for the MotoAmerica Round. Crew Chief, Poncho Rangel, who guided Aguilar Racing to the 2017 MotoAmerica Superstock 600 Championship, is back with Jason now. In addition, new mechanic Efrain Pardinas has joined the team, with only mechanic Manny Macias remaining from prior rounds.
The team is starting fresh with no data, and combined with the 2-Day format at Utah, the team had little time to get the bike dialed in. The challenge of getting a new team up to speed in a 2-day event resulted in early struggles. In the first and only practice session, Jason ended up 11th overall. Qualifying was productive, with Jason improving by one and a half seconds, but that was only good for 14th place. The only saving grace of the 2-Day format was that the best lap from Race 1 on Saturday would determine the grid position for the 2nd race, so there was till opportunity to improve the grid position for Sunday.
Race one saw Jason move up one position on each of the first 3 laps. Jason was closing the gap to the next 3 riders in front of him, and looked as though he would be able to continue to move up. However, due to the physical nature of the track, combined with a few nagging injuries, Jason developed arm pump in his left forearm forcing him to slow his pace in the final few laps. This left Jason in a disappointing 11th place, but due to having the 8th fastest lap, he would be lining up for Sunday’s race 8th on the grid instead of 14th. In the race, Jason improved his lap time by over half a second from his qualifying time. The team made some adjustments for Sunday and hoped Jason’s arm would improve. However, Sunday’s race was going to be 19 laps, 4 more than Saturday, so concerns about Jason’s physical condition were paramount.
The team was starting to gel, and improvements were made to Jason’s race setup. Sunday’s Race 2 saw Jason struggle on the first lap, dropping back to 11th position. However, Jason worked his way up to 9th, and set out to close in on the 8th place rider. By lap 5, Jason had improved his lap times by almost a full second from Race 1. Jason continued to reel in the 8th place rider, taking the spot on the penultimate lap and bringing home an 8th place finish. It was a tough start for the team, but the improvements were notable, and we look forward to the next race at Laguna Seca on July 14.
Big Thanks to All of our Sponsors: RiderzLaw, Lexin, Honos, Torco, CL Auto Group, Moto Station, Graves Motorsports, Metric Method, TaylorMade Racing, Dunlop Tires, Yamaha Motor USA, FTECU, Superlite Sprockets, Motion Pro, Arai Helmets, Mithos USA, Alien Motion Batteries, SBS Brakes, EF Signs, SBK Paint, RFA Designs