More, from a press release issued by MotoAmerica:
Kelly Puts A Stop To Escalante’s Perfection
Landers, De Keyrel And Alexander Also Win At Road Atlanta
BRASELTON, GA (August 1, 2020) – HONOS Kawasaki’s Richie Escalante rolled into Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta riding the high of winning four straight Supersport races, but M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Sean Dylan Kelly put an end to Escalante’s perfect Supersport season with a thrilling victory on a hot Saturday in Georgia.
With Escalante finishing second to Kelly it means that no one in the 2020 MotoAmerica Series is undefeated.
Supersport: Kelly Takes It!
Supersport race one was an absolute battle between Kelly and Escalante, with Kelly emerging victorious by just .052 of a second to snap Escalante’s four-race winning streak. The race was red-flagged when Nolan Lamkin crashed in the early going, and it was restarted with the original starting grid and Escalante in the pole position. Kelly got the jump on Escalante, but Escalante stayed close throughout the 18-lap event, and the two swapped the lead several times. On the final run to the checkers, Kelly had enough of a gap to hold off Escalante’s draft-pass move. Meanwhile, Celtic HSBK Racing Yamaha’s Brandon Paasch ran a solid race in third to round out the podium.
“First of all, I’m just super happy to finally get the win,” Kelly said. “I haven’t gotten one since Pittsburgh. At the end of the day, after waiting so long, you get hungry, and more hungry, and more hungry. Especially after the start to the season that we had. We definitely had a rough start at Road America 1, but we’ve just built on it ever since. Honestly, I owe it all to the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team. John and Chris Ulrich, Jeremy Toye, my crew chief. They’ve really put in a lot of work. We’ve just been moving forward ever since. I’m extremely happy. We still have work to do for tomorrow, but this is just taking it in. First win of the season. Really happy. Thanks to everyone that’s watching back at home, especially my dad who I obviously wish was here, but that’s all right. I know he’s still pretty emotional back at home.”
Stock 1000: Alexander’s First
In Saturday’s Stock 1000 race, Ride HVMC Racing Kawasaki’s Corey Alexander notched his first MotoAmerica win. Second-place finisher Cameron Petersen hung with Alexander in the opening laps of the race, but his Altus Motorsports Tucker Hagerty Suzuki developed a technical issue, and Alexander was able to stretch his lead to nearly four seconds at the checkers. Alex Dumas, the 2018 Liqui Moly Junior Cup and 2019 Twins Cup Champion, recorded his first podium result in the Stock 1000 class with a third-place result.
“I didn’t really know what to expect going into the race,” Alexander said. “Obviously, I kind of knew about Cameron’s (Petersen) brake issue. So, I wasn’t sure if that was going to be a factor. Also, I felt like we were a little bit off so far this weekend. Just kind of hit a wall with our setup. We’ve been working really hard, the guys at Graves Motorsports, and Chuck (Graves) and my crew chief Chris (Lessing) have really been trying to get the bike to just work a little better for me. Obviously, my size and stuff aren’t the easiest. Making the bike work a little better for me. They found something going into the race that gave me a little bit more confidence to push that next step to run with Cam. Cam’s been riding really good all year. I knew it was going to be tough. Definitely been a little bit frustrated with the first two races we had. Got a good start and put my head down. I didn’t expect to get the holeshot on him. I thought I’d have to follow him for a little bit until maybe his brakes fell off. But overall, just feel really good. It’s a good confidence boost. This whole thing has been obviously tough on everybody with COVID-19 and the whole deal. Back in New York, our dealership is still open. Unfortunately, my uncle (Richie Alexander) couldn’t make it, which is a bummer because he’s been to every single one of my races, since 2008. Definitely sucks he’s not here, but I’m glad we’re racing. Glad everybody’s safe and things will hopefully turn around in the country and we’ll get to keep racing. Hats off to Alex (Dumas). I think we have to stop hanging out every day. He’s starting to pick up on everything. Every time we ride together and come back. We were out in Washington last week and he must have picked up a couple things. He was faster today. He’s been fast all weekend. Really amazing to see him progress. Hats off to these guys.”
Twins Cup: De Keyrel Gets It Done
The final race of the day was Twins Cup, and Kaleb De Keyrel, who has won two of the first three races of the season, was victorious again aboard his 1-833-CJKNOWS Roaring Toyz Yamaha on Saturday at Road Atlanta. Second place went to Hayden Schultz Racing Yamaha’s Hayden Schultz for his second podium in a row. Polesitter Rocco Landers had quite a ride aboard his Roadracing World Young Guns/Sportbiketrackgear.com Suzuki on the final go-around of the 12-lap race. The class rookie made an aggressive move to try and catch De Keyrel, but he very nearly crashed and had to make a miraculous save to salvage a podium in third.
“I just knew that Rocco after qualifying, he laid down that super-fast lap time,” De Keyrel said. “I knew he was going to be there the whole race. I just tried to get off to a good start and just ride good, clean laps and just try and be as consistent as possible. Overall, I’m having a blast out here at Road Atlanta. Ever since we rolled the bike out of the truck, it’s been fast. Just the suspension honestly is the biggest improvement that we’ve been working on big time. We’ve been dialing in the bike more and more for me every race weekend. So, the more laps we get on the track, the better the bike is getting suspension-wise and handling-wise. It’s really starting to feel like my motorcycle. I’m really happy with my 1-833-CJKNOWS Roaring Toyz Yamaha MT07. It’s been working really good out there, so I’m happy.”
Liqui Moly Junior Cup: Landers Nails It Down
Defending Liqui Moly Junior Cup Champion Rocco Landers started the 2020 MotoAmerica season with three second-place finishes to Dominic Doyle, but in race number two at Road America 2, Landers finally got the win. On Saturday, Landers put in a dominant performance to record his second-consecutive victory. The Norton Motorsports/Ninja400R/Dr. Farr/Wonder CBD Kawasaki rider started from the pole, got the holeshot, and immediately started pulling a gap, which he extended to more than five seconds by the time he crossed the finish line. His pace was as hot as the temperature on Saturday at Road Atlanta, and the Oregonian broke the outright class lap record on his way to the checkers.
Current points leader Doyle got a bad start from the line and had to play catch-up aboard his BARTCON Racing Kawasaki throughout the majority of the 11-lap event. He raced hard, however, and managed to land on the podium in third. Second place went to Celtic HSBK Racing’s Sam Lochoff, the South African getting his best result of the year thus far.
More, from a press release issued by Team Hammer:
SEAN DYLAN KELLY WINS A THRILLER IN ATLANTA
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki continued its winning ways as the 2020 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing season resumed for Round 3 in blistering hot conditions at Road Atlanta.
The action on track was even hotter than the sweltering conditions in Saturday’s MotoAmerica Supersport showdown. At the conclusion of 17 laps of repeated draft passes and braking duels, M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s class title hopeful Sean Dylan Kelly stood atop the podium thanks to a breathtaking final-corner overtake.
Throughout the contest, a confident Kelly routinely put the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R600 wherever he wanted, utilizing a variety of lines and late-brake heroics to keep himself in contention for the victory on the final lap.
As the battle for the win closed on the checkered flag, Kelly somehow navigated around a pair of slower riders and then dove up the inside of his chief rival in the race’s last corner to earn his first victory of the season by 0.052 seconds.
The win was the 18-year-old’s third in just over one season of MotoAmerica competition.
Afterward, he said, “Wow! That was a really good race. It definitely was a hard one. Getting our first win of the season feels so good. We started off the season in a difficult way but we fought through and we’re here. I want to thank the whole M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team — they’ve worked so hard. I’m really happy to get this win for everyone and we’re going to do it again tomorrow.”
The day also proved fruitful for Kelly’s teenaged teammate Alex Dumas. The French Canadian notched up another milestone in his meteoric rise, scoring his first career podium finish in the Stock 1000 class aboard the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000.
Dumas, who raced into the 2020 season on the strength of dominating back-to-back championships in the Junior Cup (2018) and Twins Cup (2019), has instantly proven to be a quick learner — and flat-out quick — on a big-bore racebike as well.
Dumas has climbed up the order in each of his three Stock 1000 races to date, backing up his seventh-place debut with a fourth-place finish in his second attempt. Dumas went one better on Saturday at Road Atlanta, finishing in third position just 0.051 seconds out of second place.
Dumas said, “I feel really good this weekend. I’ve been pretty quick this weekend in practice and qualifying, so I was really looking forward to the race. Unfortunately, I made a small little mistake at the beginning and lost some time, but I kept pushing. It’s great to get my first podium of the year. I’m really happy, and I’ve got to thank everyone at Team Hammer and everyone who supports the team.”
M4 ECSTAR Suzuki MotoAmerica Superbike duo of Toni Elias and Bobby Fong added a double top-five to the team’s list of accomplishments on Saturday.
Toni Elias (2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Champion and 2010 Moto2 World Champion) ran third early on and pressured for that position mid-race before accepting a lonely fourth.
He was followed home by Bobby Fong, who came to Road Atlanta fresh off his maiden premier-class victory. Fong’s hopes of backing that performance up with a second consecutive win took a big hit earlier in the day when he crashed his GSX-R1000 at high speed.
The bruised and battered Fong soldiered on to fifth-place points to keep his championship hopes alive.
Lucas Silva continued his perfect season’s run of top-tens with another strong Supersport outing. The native Brazilian initially battled inside the top five before ultimately taking the checkered flag in sixth.
Roadracing World Young Guns/Sportbiketrackgear.com’s Rocco Landers made a spectacular save in the final corner of the Twins Cup race to salvage a podium finish following a race-long battle for victory.
Despite feeling under the weather, Landers pulled an early advantage before settling into second. Landers attempted to position his Suzuki SV650 to make a late strike for the win, but his plan was effectively foiled when he got hung up on lappers on the last lap. Landers still did what he could to claw back the advantage in hopes of snaring an unlikely victory, but ran off course in the last corner as a result.
He somehow managed to keep it upright through the gravel and returned to the track in time to cross the stripe in third position.
Team Hammer will have another opportunity to add to its trophy haul on Sunday at Road Atlanta.
About Team Hammer
The 2020 season marks Team Hammer’s 40th consecutive year of operating as a professional road racing team. Racebikes built and fielded by Team Hammer have won 87 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National races, have finished on AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National podiums 248 times and have won seven AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National Championships, as well as two FIM South American Championships (in Superbike and Supersport). The team has also won 137 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.
