Kyle Wyman scores top-fives in Virginia for Excelsus Solutions/Lucas Oil/KWR Superbike team

ALTON, Va. — Kyle Wyman rode his Excelsus Solutions/KWR sponsored superbike to two 4th place finishes in Superbike at Virginia International Raceway, and 7th and 5th places overall in race one and race two respectively this weekend.

Mother Nature brought rain to the Virginia circuit for most of the practice day Friday, the first wet sessions of the season. Wyman finished the day 2nd fastest overall after a semi-dry lap in the afternoon, just .028 of a second off the fastest time.

“Friday our goal was to find a rain setup, because it looked like it was going to stay wet for Saturday in Superpole and for race one,” Wyman said. “The rain stopped for a small window in the second session and we were able to throw on slick tires, put in a lap and it was good enough for 2nd fastest.”

Wyman’s worry of a wet Saturday would not come to fruition however, as the clouds burned off and the sun shined down on the 2.25-mile circuit. After the short 15-minute Superpole session, Wyman used his Dunlop Q-tire to secure his best qualifying result of his career, 4th overall.

“We were third fastest in the morning practice before Superpole, so my expectations were really high for qualifying,” Wyman said. “I put together a really good lap on the Q-tire, all the way until the last corner when I had a huge wheelie coming onto the front straight. It definitely cost me some time but my lap was still good enough for 4th on the grid, my best ever.”

In race one Wyman shot off the line and into the lead through turn one, leading a Superbike race for the first time in his career. On lap 7 while battling in the lead group, a small miscue put Wyman in hot into turn one, and eventually ran off the track. Battling from back in 15th place, a charge to the front would put Wyman in 7th overall, passing eight riders over the last 15 laps of the race.

“We had a really good setup on the bike for Superpole, but it proved to be a little off for the race,” Wyman said. “The front was too soft for the heavy fuel load and I was on the fork bottom every lap into turn one. That one lap I got in a little bit hot and I couldn’t stop the bike. I ran off and we lost 20-seconds just like that. From there I just charged as hard as I could to see where I could get up to. I can’t be too disappointed with 7th after making that mistake.”

After a grid penalty was assessed against another rider for race two, Wyman would be promoted to third place on the grid – his first front row start of his career. The good news would come along with some bad, as the Excelsus Solutions/KWR crew learned of a technical problem before the race that would force them to use a stock engine again, like at the first round at Circuit of the Americas.

Wyman’s front row start put him right in the lead group again in the first corner, and would hold on to the lead pack for the first 10 laps. With an underpowered engine Wyman was unable to stay on the back of them for the remainder of the race, and would settle for a 5th overall position on track – another great result.

“Race two started out really great, it was a cleaner race in the first few laps because nobody was dive-bombing each other every corner,” Wyman said. “I was able to follow the factory guys and learn a lot. Each lap I was getting killed out of the last corner though. I didn’t want to make the same mistake as race one and run off the track, so I had to settle in and ride my own race. Overall I’m super happy with how I rode and glad I could put in this result for the Excelsus Solutions team.”

The next on-track adventure for the KWR Superbike team is the official test at Pittsburgh International Race Complex, this coming Wednesday and Thursday, May 17-18, 2017. Wyman is excited to ride at the new track.

“I’m really pumped to go to Pittsburgh this week, not only because it’s exciting to go to a new track, but I feel like I’m riding well and I just want to get back on the bike right away,” Wyman said. “We have some things we should be able to sort out over the two day test, mostly, learning the track. It should be a fun couple of days with no pressure.”

The next round of the MotoAmerica championship takes place at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin June 2-4, 2017

For all your print and marketing needs, visit www.excelsussolutions.com.

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For more information about Kyle Wyman Racing (KWR), visit www.kylewymanracing.com

About Kyle Wyman Racing:

Kyle Wyman Racing (KWR) was formed in 2011 as a motorcycle road racing team focusing on healthy sponsorship opportunities for companies within and outside the motorcycle industry. KWR is the 2012 AMA Pro Harley-Davidson series championship winning team and current partner with Millennium Technologies. For more information visit www.kylewymanracing.com

More, from a press release issued by 1/4LEY Racing/On Track Development:

1/4LEY Racing On Track Development accomplishes the unbelievable: Sweeps top 4 positions in Saturday’s KTM RC 390 Cup Race 1

Alton, VA (5/12-14/2017) – Dale Quarterley and Bob Robbins joined forces during the 2016 season to provide opportunities for up and coming riders in the KTM 390 RC Cup series. Now just one year later 1/4LEY Racing OTD is producing amazing results with four talented riders: Benjamin Smith, Draik Beauchamp, Jackson Blackmon, and Jake Leahey. A moment in history that four riders from the same team sweep the top four positions in a professional motorcycle race.

Draik Beauchamp qualified seventh during the rain on Friday after a very wet practice. The team spent much of the time that day trying to decide between rains or slicks for qualifying. Draik, regardless of what the weathermen were telling him, knew the rain was coming. He told his teammates, “We need to work together and set some fast laps in the first few minutes of qualifying before the rain comes.” It was that gut instinct and belief in himself that took him from a second row qualifying position to his first place podium finish.

In typical Dale Quarterley fashion ‘nothing is ever a problem.’ He spent each day, rain or shine, listening to the riders; making adjustments or not depending on the feedback. Each one of the riders has to understand what the bike is doing and Quarterley works closely to help the boys learn to communicate what they feel out on the track. Just before the first KTM race on Saturday Quarterley recorded the following reflection, or maybe we should call it prediction: “It’s race time. Time to get the team ready. We have four bikes in the race. We qualified 1,2,3, and 5. It should be a good day today. Hopefully we bring it home 1,2,3,4.” And that’s just what this 1/4LEY Racing On Track Development team accomplished.

Jackson shared, “This weekend at VIR stared out a bit rough as I was recovering from a broken wrist and crashed in qualifying.” But that all changed as Jackson jumps out front at the start of Race 1, with Benjamin and Draik in arm’s reach. Benjamin passes Jackson, then Draik uses the draft to pass Benjamin with Jackson on his heels, finishing up Draik, Jackson, and Benjamin. Nail biting right to the last lap. The gap between first and third was only 0.044 seconds. Rounding out the 1/4LEY OTD team Jake brought it in fourth. He’s already looking for his own podium finish, “I know I have achieved more than most; however, I am still not satisfied. I guess that is what keeps me pushing each and every race. I have made huge strides since my opening race, but who doesn’t want to achieve victory?

Race 2 on Sunday was deje vu out of the gate. Jackson gets the hole shot but never looks back, leading every lap of the race, and gapping the field by over 11 seconds to win his first professional race. The rest of the action was happening behind him. Multiple riders didn’t finish the race including Benjamin Smith, Draik Beauchamp, and Jake Leahey. Mark Reynolds, team member of 1/4LEY Racing OTD, summed it up well: “Another exciting weekend for the 1/4LEY Racing OTD team. With strong performance from the whole team and crew. This weekend gave the team a little of everything from rain to sun and from podiums to crashes. All part of racing and the team did a hell of a job. Congrats to everyone involved. Excited to see what Road America has in store.”

The riders couldn’t be in the position they are in without support from their families and sponsors.

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

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

Jackson Blackmon: Dainese / AGV- TrackDay Winners – Xt Racing – Fast Frank – Fast Bike Industries – Finishline Machine – Drippin Wet

Benjamin Smith: Arai Helmets- William Deal- Gmoto- Sidi-Impact Armor- Absolute Cycle Experience

More, from a press release issued by Team Hammer:

LEWIS AND MCFADDEN EARN PODIUM FINISHES FOR TEAM HAMMER IN VIRGINIA

Team Hammer backed up its victory-laden weekend at Road Atlanta with a three-podium trophy haul in Round 4 of the 2017 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship at Virginia International Raceway.

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Jake Lewis and the all-new 2017 GSX-R1000 took center stage for the squad in Virginia. The talented Kentuckian followed up his Atlanta Superstock 1000 win with a pair of third-place performances despite the relatively early state of development on his new machine.

A lack of dry track time prior to Saturday’s race didn’t do Lewis any favors, but he came back even more competitive on Sunday, dicing for a runner-up result right to the checkered flag.

Lewis has registered five podiums in six races and only expects to improve going forward. As a result, he sits third in the STK1000 championship (and seventh on the combined Superbike/STK1000 order).

“It was a good weekend,” Lewis said. “We’re still a little bit off where we can be — it’s a new bike so we still have some development to do but we’re getting closer each weekend. That said, it’s nice to be battling up front. We just need to keep working hard, and I feel the race wins are there to be had. We made a change for Race 2 which improved on Race 1, but a little issue prevented us from fighting for the win.”

While Lewis is eagerly anticipating the upcoming Road America round — a track he loves and a venue where has excelled in previous years — he’s grateful that the team will first enjoy two days of testing at Pittsburgh International Race Complex.

He said, “I feel like the test is really important for us with this new GSX-R1000. We had one test prior to the season at COTA, but that simply wasn’t enough time. We haven’t really had time to try new things because we’ve been doing all of our testing during race weekends. Having a dedicated test is a big deal for us.”

M4 medAge Suzuki’s Nick McFadden also backed up his victorious Atlanta weekend with a Superstock 600 podium aboard his GSX-R600 in Virginia. Saturday’s race saw him finish in fifth, albeit less than a quarter second off a runner-up result. He fought back on Sunday to come home in third.

McFadden is currently second in the early Superstock 600 championship standings on the strength of two wins, a third, and a fifth. He also ranks seventh in combined Supersport/STK600 points.

“Sunday was a good day for us. We struggled on Saturday with a lack of dry track time, but the M4 medAge Suzuki crew worked hard overnight and gave us a lot better bike for Race 2. We made the most of what we had and salvaged a decent amount of championship points. We’ve got some tracks coming up that we really like, so look for us to move a couple spots up on the box.”

Unfortunately, the VIR weekend was not kind to Valentin Debise. Debise entered the round leading the Supersport championship and made himself the race favorite with a stunning lap in qualifying to secure pole position.

However, he crashed out of Saturday’s race at the start of lap 2 after coming together with his rivals while battling for the lead. And on Sunday, he crashed out in the same spot on lap 3 after making a move into first.

The uncharacteristic weekend marks the first time in the Frenchman’s MotoAmerica career that he leaves a race meeting without a podium, bringing to a close a most remarkable streak.

Despite scoring no points at VIR, Debise still sits fourth in the points chase.

M4 The 22 Project Suzuki’s Brandon Paasch guided his GSX-R600 to the 4th best Supersport-spec machine in Saturday’s race and backed it up with fifth in class on Sunday.

As a result, the gifted 16-year-old finds himself tied for fifth in Supersport points, one spot back of teammate Debise.

M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Brandon Cleland rebounded from a non-points scoring Saturday with an eight-place STK600 ride on Sunday. He’s now ranks tenth in the class championship.

Team Hammer will head directly to Pittsburgh International Race Complex for a two day test this Wednesday and Thursday. After that, the long straights of Road America await when the championship travels to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on June 2-4.

About Team Hammer

The 2017 season will mark Team Hammer’s 37th consecutive year of operating as a professional road racing team. Racebikes built and fielded by Team Hammer have won 65 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National races, have finished on AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National podiums 164 times and have won five AMA Pro National Championships, as well as two FIM South American Championships. The team has also won 134 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 Aguilar Racing:

Aguilar Racing Back on The Podium at VIR

Aguilar Racing’s Jason Aguilar overcame qualifying problems to get back on the podium at VIR. Rain and wet conditions did not provide any time to work on dry race settings on Friday, and at the beginning of qualifying Saturday morning. As the track dried during qualifying, all the riders came in to switch to dry race tires to get the best lap time for the conditions. When Jason came in, one of his mechanics had a tool break that resulted in a lengthy delay getting the wheels changed to dry race tires on his 2017 Yamaha YZF-R6. The delay left Jason without enough time to get in a fast lap, and a disappointing overall qualifying position of 17th on the grid. Coming into the race, Jason was tied for 2nd in points for the Superstock 600 Championship. With Jason’s main competition qualifying in the top 3 Superstock 600 positions, Jason would be starting the races with a big disadvantage.

By Saturday’s race time, the track had dried and the racers were ready for battle. Jason did not get a good launch, dropping several positions on the first lap. The poor start put Aguilar Racing’s hopes for a Championship in serious doubt as the main competitors were battling up front for the lead at the end of the first lap, while Jason was 19th. By lap 2 Jason started rolling through the field. Halfway through the race, Jason had moved up to 6th in the Superstock 600 class. With 2 laps to go. Jason had moved into 5th. Pushing hard, Jason moved into 2nd place at the start of the final lap. A mistake in Turn 3 sent Jason off track. He recovered quickly, but came up just short of 2nd place by 0.187 seconds and a disappointing 4th place.

“Started way back and worked my way up to 2nd, but made a mistake last lap and ended up 4th today. Hoping for no mistakes tomorrow” stated Jason.

Jason was fast in Sunday’s morning warm up, finishing 3rd in class for the session. In Race 2, Jason got a good start and by the end of the first lap, had moved into 5th place, but was still several seconds behind the class leaders. On lap 8, Jason made the move into 4th place. It took 3 more laps to catch the 3rd place rider and move back into podium position. Jason was now stalking the 2nd place rider and, with 2 laps to go, moved into 2nd place. On the final lap, Jason pushed hard and stayed focused to stay in second place this time.

Aguilar Racing is now in 3rd place in the Championship, and 17 points back of the lead. The team is headed to Pittsburgh International Race Complex for Dunlop tire testing this week, and then Road America next week where Jason got his first professional podium, and podiumed last year too. It is shaping up to be a real battle for the championship, with several riders already showing the pace to run up front and win races. “After a rough qualifying session, I am glad I could keep in the points battle and get back on the podium. I am looking forward to Road America, a track that I really enjoy, with some of the best fans in racing.”

Thanks to all Aguilar Racing sponsors: Graves Motorsports, SolarMax Technology, Torco Advanced Lubricants, Yamaha Motor USA, Taylormade Racing, FTECU, Speed and Strength, Arai Helmets, Galfer, Motion Pro, Riderzlaw, Superlite Sprockets, SpeedAngle, Dunlop Tires, Thermal Technology Race, EF Signs, SBK Paint.

More, from another press release issued by Quarterley Racing/On Track Development:

Draik Beauchamp riding for 1/4LEY Racing On Track Development clenches his first professional win in Saturday’s KTM RC 390 Cup Race 1

Alton, VA (5/13/2017) – “I couldn’t believe it, the hard work paid off.” The first thought in Draik’s head when he realized he was going to win the race, but the rest of us already knew that about this young man. Draik Beauchamp’s hardwork starts before he ever makes it to the track. This young man cuts lawns and details cars to earn his own money to help fund his racing dream. The minute he and his dad arrive at the track they are unloading the truck and setting up the pits. Kurt Beachamp travels with Draik, always first to arrive and last to leave, taking on any job that needs to be done. Draik gets on the bike and rides bringing back information for Dale Quartereley to interpret and help coach Draik to a win. Kurt works diligently as the mechanic to make the changes to Draik’s bike. All that hard work and dedication paid off this weekend.

After a cold wet day on Friday that didn’t present the results Draik was looking for he showed up Saturday morning saying, “I qualified yesterday in a position that doesn’t represent me. New mindset today with new goals.” Qualifying P5 on a sunny dry track, Draik needed a strategy to get to the front finish first. At the start of the race his teammate Jackson Blackmon was out front right out of the gate. Draik and Benjamin Smith traded places a few times, then Benjamin passed Jackson for first. On and off the track Draik has repeatedly been a team player; taking the big brother role at Jennings for some practice laps with Jake Leahey and working with Jackson Blackmon in the rain. Today that teamwork helped form a draft and late in the race pass for Draik past Benjamin with Jackson in toe. Draik reflects back on the day and notes. “When it comes down to it motorcycle racing isn’t a ‘team sport’; there’s only one winner. But I am really glad to be part of 1/4LEY Racing On Track Development team. Without the support of the entire team and the motivation these guys provided I don’t know where I’d be!” For today, Draik Beachamp stands on the center podium in his first professional win in the KTM 390 RC Cup Race with dad celebrating alongside his son’s victory.

“Amazing day here with MotoAmerica at VIR. I’m very blessed to have a great team behind me along with all my sponsors and supporters. Looking for more awesome results for the 1/4ley Racing On Track Development team. Thanks to: Trever White at Harper VW,Ogle, Elrod, & Baril, Tint One, Red Fox Racing, Cycle Gear, Sportbike Leather Service, 129photos.com, SaferMoto.com, Pit Pass Radio,Motorex USA, Spider Graphix and LS2 Helmets. Of course a special thanks to Bob and Melissa Monroe Robbins for making this possible. – Draik