Quarterley Racing/On Track Development Team – New Jersey Motorsports Park Race report
Jamie Astudillo:
Jamie once again rode with true consistency. Qualifying in the top 10 and riding two solid races to 6 th place finishes in adverse conditions was an accomplishment to be proud of. The Thunderbolt course is a challenging one in the wet with its many sealer patches that can bite you quickly as many riders found.
Jamie’s take on the wet weekend:
New Jersey wasn’t a bad weekend, but it’s definitely not where I would like to be. I qualified P9 and finished both race 1 and 2 P6. Race 1 started out rough, as I started off in the top five and dropped back to around 15 th at one point. I managed to make my way back up to 6 th, even after running off the track to avoid a fallen racer. Race 2 was pretty much just survival. I rode a smart race, kept it on two wheels and brought home another 6 th place finish for the team.
Dallas Daniels:
Still working through some building back of strength and confidence after his wrist injury, Dallas struggled a little to get on the pace, but improved throughout and in Sunday’s wet race, he got back in the saddle finishing 9 th It was a good performance despite the conditions and gave him a good outlook for the final event at Barber.
Dallas on the NJMP event:
AT New Jersey this weekend I qualified 23 rd which wasn’t very good, but the races went better for me due to the wet conditions. I ended up 13 th in race one and 9 th in race two so I did make some progress. I look forward to the Barber event with the team in two weeks.
Renzo Ferreira- Double Duty weekend:
Qualifying second in the Junior Cup was a boost for Renzo and looked to be a great opportunity to race for the win. As conditions changed to rain, he was still confident that he had the pace to win. Saturday’s race proved to be a great battle in the wet between Renzo and Kevin Olmedo with some intense moments where they traded positions. Unfortunately for Renzo on the final lap and 2 corners to go, hoping to get the drive to the finish line, he found himself sideways on the sealer patches and crashed out of second place.
Sunday’s conditions were even worse with steady rain and a change to the bike in hopes of better traction for the conditions went the wrong way. After a great start, Renzo soon found himself struggling to run the pace of the leaders, realizing pushing it would have likely ended in a crash. Frustrated as he was, he was able to hang on for a 5 th place finish.
By negotiation with Moto America, our team was given permission to run a Ducati in the Twins class for a test to see the competitiveness of a Ducati Monster model. The understanding was that it would be automatically DQ’d due to not being homologated. Ducati is in the process of homologating the 797 Monster for the future. The bike used was a 2014 796 Monster that had been used in some AHRMA events which is essentially the same bike for purposes of seeing how it competes. It is in line with the Moto America Twins rules package as far as allowable mods and spec fuel. It was run without any type of aerodynamics, which at NJ was not such a factor, but plans would be to use a fairing in the future. The trap speeds were in line with most of the SV’s with exception of a few stronger ones and the lap times in dry qualifying were in line as well. The future of running the 797 looks bright for Ducati. For the race, Renzo settled in well in the wet once again, keeping pace at the front. A consistent race and a charge to make some position swaps resulted in an unofficial 3 rd place finish which was a great job! There was some confusion with the crowd on him not showing up at the podium but as the agreement went, he was not scored. We hope to run the bike once again at Barber under the same agreement.
From Renzo:
I felt really confident going into this event especially with qualifying 2nd, and even with the weather conditions, felt I had a good chance for the win. Unfortunately, the track seems to have a lot of bad spots now in the wet, and I happened to find one at the end while battling for the win on Saturday. Everyone had the same conditions to deal with and lots of crashes resulted. On Sunday, looking back on it, our change to the new set up definitely went the other way. I know the team is always trying to give me every advantage, but it doesn’t always work out and I was not going to risk a crash to try to run any harder and brought it home on two wheels with a 5 th place finish.
On the Ducati side, I was really comfortable on the bike, and after qualifying, we made some needed suspension changes that we didn’t get to test in the dry again, but the bike was pretty good. I think we were still a little stiff on the rear, but overall I felt good and was happy to be able to make a run at the leaders in the race, and I look forward to a chance to ride it again and tweak things a little more in the process. It was nice working with Eraldo Ferracci as he helped with the set up and some details about the bikes characteristics, etc.
Team Sponsors:
Fast By Ferracci, Yoshimura, Regina, Moto-D, Motul, Earl’s Racing Team, Inter-Tech, Scott Powersports, Beta Tools, Defiance Lifestyle Clothing, Fast Bike Industries, Drippin’ Wet Graphics, Dynojet , Woodcraft
Dallas Daniels personal sponsors:
Arai Helmets, medAge, Apex Manufacturing, TCX, Drill Tech, N2 Track Days, Estenson Racing
Jamie Astudillo personal sponsors:
Bell Helmets, medAge, One-X Suits, TCX, S.O.B. MX, Ohlins, N2 Track Days
Renzo Ferreira personal sponsors:
AGV Sports, Team Pro-Motion, Street & Comp
More, from a press release issued by Weir Everywhere Racing:
BMW rider Wyman scores podium finish, secures second place in Stock 1000 Class Championship at MotoAmerica Championship of New Jersey
Weir Everywhere Racing BMW rider performs well in challenging conditions at New Jersey Motorsports Park
Travis Wyman (24). – Photo by Brock Imaging, courtesy of Weir Everywhere Racing.
MILLVILLE, N.J. — The wet conditions at the MotoAmerica Championship of New Jersey couldn’t dampen Travis Wyman’s enthusiasm or will to compete.
The Weir Everywhere Racing BMW rider and Las Vegas, Nev., resident scored a second-place finish on the rain-soaked New Jersey Motorsports Park’s 2.25-mile Thurderbolt track Sunday to secure second place in the Stock 1000 Class championship standings. It was Wyman’s fourth podium finish of the season.
Wyman put his years of experience racing at the track and his experience racing in the rain to good use over the course of the weekend. The Stock 1000 Class’ first time on track was Saturday, after the weekend’s nearly-constant rain had started falling. Wyman placed second in both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning’s qualifying sessions aboard the team’s BMW S 1000 RR package. He missed out on pole by a mere 0.214 seconds. In the Sunday afternoon race, which was moved to an earlier time slot because of the treacherous, wet track conditions, Wyman got a good start and maintained his focus and pace despite the difficult conditions to score a second-place finish.
While the class championship is unfortunately now out of reach, Wyman will be aiming to finish the 2018 MotoAmerica season on a high note when the series rolls into Barber Motorsports Park Sept. 21-23.
Travis Wyman / #24
“We used the Saturday morning practice session to dial in the new suspension we started using at Pittsburgh, and later got second place in Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session. I usually feel pretty good racing in the rain, but it was hard to find good grip this weekend with how wet the track was. We narrowly missed out on pole Sunday morning, so I knew I had a shot at the win. I got a decent start but was struggling to come to terms with Sunday afternoon’s extremely difficult track conditions. I gradually worked myself into a good rhythm and was able to make a late charge to finish on the podium. It was one of the toughest races I have ever done mentally because of how much the track conditions were changing lap by lap. Barber has never been a track I have been really comfortable at, but I am interested to see how well our BMW package will work there. My team has worked really hard at every round this year to get the bike dialed in for me quickly, and I am expecting more of the same at Barber.”
More, from a press release issued by Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda:
Millville, NJ
MotoAmericaRound 9 – New Jersey Motorsports Park
A roller coaster of a weekend
Millville, NJ – Rain, rain, go away and never ever, ever come back! The penultimate round of the MotoAmerica Superbike Series took place this past weekend from what became a very soggy and cold New Jersey Motorsports Park. As chaotic as the weather was, the action on track was even more so. This one weekend was a microcosm of the past nine rounds that packed all the highs and lows of an entire season into one single event.
The weekend started off with some of the highest temps and humidity of the year. Set-up day almost took out a few crew members due to heat stroke. That heat was still unrelenting come Friday morning when the crew arrived at the South Jersey Facility to prep for the days qualifying action. However, before anything could ever happen, there was still a lingering electronics issue that was resolved within an hour of QP1. There was an audible sigh of relief from Crew Chief Scott Jensen as Bobby’s bike fired up just before the green flag flew. With both bikes sorted out, Cam and Bobby hit the track under oppressively hot and humid conditions. It was clear that both riders had some pace but also had some work to do ahead of the final qualifying session of the weekend later that afternoon. Cam would close QP1 in P9 while Bobby would be in P11.
With storms approaching, both crews and riders knew that QP2 would be their last time on a dry and warm track. This was their best chance at setting fast times around the 2.25 mile track. While the session wasn’t an action packed ordeal with riders running race simulations, or stringing multiple fast laps together, the few laps that they would turn were critical. At one point Cam was in the top three and Bobby was firmly in the top five. Granted these were just bragging positions as it would be their overall positions that determined their Superpole participation. With Cam finishing the session in P6 he would secure a Superpole position with P6 overall. Meanwhile, Bobby would be out on his fast lap and discover the limits of tire grip as he would crash out and finish the day in P11.
As expected, Saturday brought the rain and an expected temperature drop. These conditions dramatically change the characteristics of not only the bike, but the track as well. The latter being the biggest issue. Superpole would no longer be a nail biting battle of hot laps and chewed tires. It would instead be a 15 minute slog on a full wet set-up. The spoils would go to whomever keeps their bike upright the longest and do so at tamer than normal speeds. In these conditions, both of the Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda riders were able to circulate at an impressive pace. They finished the session next to each other with Bobby on the second row in P6 while Cam would start the races from the inside of the third row in P7. For Cam, it was more impressive as he crashed during his fast lap, picked the bike up finished the session. This would signify the team’s highest qualifications of the season.
As the time drew closer for the start of race one, the weather was not about to improve. The race would be run with all bikes in a full wet set-up. While the rain wasn’t pouring, it was coming in sheets and it would continue to fluctuate throughout the race. As the riders took their places and filled the grid, the weather was on a holding pattern and the track was soaked. The lights went out and the field of superbikes gingerly investigated the track. All expect for Josh Herrin, who would make another leap frog start and within a few corners had a gap on the field that he would not relinquish. That left everyone else to battle over the remaining positions. Cam made a great start and was up in the lead group attempting to chase down Josh. Bobby was right on his rear tire by mid race. Recovering from a not-so-great start, Fong would quickly catch up to the lead pack and soon, both big red bikes were together on the circuit. The stage was being set for a possible double top five as Roger Hayden couldn’t shake the duo of Cam and Bobby. However, just passing the mid-point in the race, Bobby would suffer a high-side entering T6. The tricky conditions catching him out and putting an end to his race. This would leave Cam to fly the team flag and fight for the highest position of the season. Fight he did! Cam got past Roger Hayden and was charging hard in fourth place. With one lap to go, Rog would make the pass and knock Cam back into the fifth position. Crossing the line in the midst of a drag race, Cam would claim his first Superbike Top Five! While excited and obviously overjoyed at the result, Cam would state that he was pretty “Bummed” that Roger got him at the end, all the while smiling ear to ear.
Sunday morning the team was greeted with even worse weather conditions. Add a strong consistent wind to the rain and ever dropping temperature. A steady rain was mixed with 30-40 mph winds and temps in the high 50’s / low 60’s. This would represent an almost 40 degree temp drop since QP1. First order of business was to go out for a quick morning warmup session. After his incident on Friday, Bobby was evaluated by medical and given the ok to try the warmup session. He and Cam would both take to the track and check conditions. The really low temps with the ever increasing amounts of standing water on the track made for a miserable session. Bobby would come into the pits and state that he wasn’t feeling too well. Cam would follow him in claiming the track was awful but the bike was working well. Bobby would go back to medical and upon a further evaluation he was unfortunately deemed unfit to race. So going into the Race Two, the team would be a rider down.
Going solo, Cam would take his starting position for Race Two in conditions that can’t accurately be described; you’d have to experience it to fully appreciate the level of misery. With the wind howling, the rain pelting their backs, the riders waited for the lights to go out. Once they did, Cam was the rider who made the flying start. Before the field entered Turn One, Cam was leading the way. For the first time in a long time, a Honda was leading an American Superbike race. Within a few laps however, Cam would be pulled back into the fold and find himself battling for a podium position. Cam was fighting hard to maintain his position with every ridier taking risks in this heated contest. As the laps were winding down, Cam had a firm lock on 3rd position, just a few seconds behind Roger. Not wanting a repeat of Race One, where Toni caught Cam, he maintained his pace only to get caught out with three laps to go. Crashing out while third is not something a team and rider would be happy about, however, Cam was three laps away from a podium. That’s something to celebrate.
After a season of struggles and complications, the Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda was in a position to be on the podium. Showing again that the team and crew are close to where they wanted to be all season. Obviously, Cam and crew were dejected and upset; there are still many positives to take away from the weekend’s performance. With the championship settled, the team moves onto Barber Motorsports Park for the final round for what is essentially the final opportunity to prove their capabilities. The team is determined to end the season on a high note and head into the off-season with confidence and pride.
Cameron Petersen – #45
Cameron Petersen (45). – Photo by Corey Coulter/GeoCrash Photography, courtesy of Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda.
“New Jersey was one of those weekends with a lot of ups and downs. It was my first weekend back after the little foot injury and It felt like I hadn’t missed anytime on the bike. The boys have done some work on the bike and it is working really well.
Super happy with the top five finish in race one but the mistake in race two is going to be on my mind for a while. I was running third and crashed with three laps to go, I’m so gutted for the entire team as they deserved that podium. But I’m not going to dwell on the past, instead I’m going to focus on being strong and fit for the last round of the season.
Thank you to everyone involved that make our program possible.”
Bobby Fong – #50
Bobby Fong (50). – Photo by Corey Coulter/GeoCrash Photography, courtesy of Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda.
“In my eyes it was an up and down weekend, we learned a lot. More importantly I learned that I can do well in the wet. The biggest disappointment obviously was falling down in the race on Saturday because I felt like I was getting stronger and that I had a good chance of getting a top five finish for the guys. Having to sit out race two was an absolute awful feeling.
Now, I’m looking forward to Barber. I’m hoping that it’s dry but if it isn’t, we’ll take what we’ve learned from Pitt and New Jersey; My luck it’ll probably be wet, and apply that to the event.
I’m going to be treating this race as if it’s not only my last race of the season but possibly the last race of my career. At this point there’s nothing that looks too promising for next year with how racing is going in the US. You never know if you have a ride for the following year or not. Hopefully I’ll have a future with the Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda / RoadRace Factory guys but if not, I’m still just going to give it everything I’ve got and just go for it all at Barber. I’m looking for big things at Barber, but for now I’m just going to recover, take care of my melon, and just stay training to get the job done.”
Danny Walker – Team Principal
“This was one of those weekends where as a team owner you just want to pull your hair out. The ups and downs of the season were all played out in one weekend. It was crazy!
I’m gutted about Bobby and that his high-side during race one took him out of the weekend. It’s important to be 100% out there and after seeing him get off the bike on Sunday morning, I agree with the MotoAmerica Medical Staff. But I’m just super bummed as he was going well and it was great to see him and Cam working together on the track. I know he’ll be back for Alabama to put in a strong final performance.
Cam, well, he had the best weekend of his season by far. His qualifying effort was great and he performances in the races were fantastic. With his first top five, he was even more motivated on Sunday. He made an incredible start and it was great to see him running in that podium position, especially in these horrific conditions. It hurts that he crashed out from a podium position, I’m not going to lie about that, but he was doing great and it’s just one of those racing things.
We’ll now go to Barber to finish the season strong.”
Scott Jensen – Crew Chief
“We came into NJMP with high expectations as Cam was coming back from his injury and Bobby had a strong result at Pitt Race during his first race weekend on the bike. Looking at the weather coming into the event it was apparent that Mother Nature intended to throw curve balls at us all weekend.
As it turned out QP1 and QP2 were the only dry sessions of the weekend, Cam and Bobby were only 1.0 and 1.2 seconds off the fastest time in each dry session.
As the rains came for Superpole we found ourselves 6th and 7th on the grid, and looking strong for Race 1, unfortunately Bobby had a crash that ruled him out for the remainder of the weekend. Cameron brought home a solid fifth place finish after running fourth for the majority of the race.
With Bobby on the sidelines for race two it was Cameron as the lone Honda CBR1000RR Superbike on the grid. With a fantastic start and a good line into turn one Cam found himself leading the race out of turn one. As the laps wound down Cameron was confidently in 3rd place with a large gap to fourth with three laps to go, when Cam had an unfortunate crash in Turn 3 bringing an end to the race three laps too soon.
Now we head to the final race of the season at Barber Motorsports Park- see you there!”
More, from a press release issued by Team Hammer:
LEWIS AND MCFADDEN EARN TOP FIVE RESULTS IN NEW JERSEY
Saturday’s treacherous wet conditions at New Jersey Motorsports Park were only a mild preview of what was to come on Sunday, but Team Hammer made the best of a difficult situation to splash away with a pair of top-five finishes on the day.
With heavy rain already falling and even worse weather forecast for later in the afternoon, the action was pushed forward in the day and the races shortened. M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s multi-time MotoAmerica Supersport race winner Valentin Debise failed another concussion protocol test Sunday morning and was again sidelined. This was despite undergoing brain scans the week before (in France) and being certified as fit to race by two doctors who compared his current scans to previous baseline scans, and despite passing the same test conducted by MotoAmerica’s doctor at NJMP on Thursday.
M4 medAge Suzuki’s Nick McFadden (18) finished fifth in Supersport Race 2 at New Jersey Motorsports Park. – Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
But M4 medAge Suzuki’s Nick McFadden once again stepped up in the race. The Kentuckian executed a lightning launch off the grid aboard his Suzuki GSX-R600 and broke away with the leaders, running as high as second place in the early going. From there, McFadden registered a mature, steady performance in the soaked conditions that caught out a number of his competitors. He rode hard but within himself and eventually settled into fifth to claim his eighth top-five result of the 2018 Supersport season.
As a result of his double top-five weekend points haul, McFadden is now tied for third with Debise and another competitor at 150 points; they will settle third in the championship at the season finale.
“It went pretty well for us today,” McFadden said. “I got off the grid from the third row and was up to third place by Turn 1. I followed the leaders around for the couple laps, and after one of them crashed, I found myself P2 for a while. I tried to ride a steady race and knock out the same lap times every lap and be consistent. Eventually, some guys found some speed as the race went on, and they came by and dropped me to fifth. I couldn’t hang on, so I just kept doing the same lap times. They had a little better pace than me, but I brought it home with another top-five.
“It was really nice to hang with the leaders for several laps here, which is something I haven’t done for a few rounds. I’m beginning to feel more like myself again. I’ll keep training and keep working, hard and I’ll be ready for Barber in a couple weeks.”
It was a similar story for fellow Kentuckian Jake Lewis in the premier class. Lewis did well to manage the tricky conditions on his M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike to make up for his Saturday spill. In fact, this time around, he found himself climbing the order when a couple of his rivals crashed ahead of him.
By the time he reached the checkered flag, Lewis had put himself in fifth, marking his 11th top-five finish this Superbike season. Lewis now ranks sixth in the standings with 185 points and two races to go.
Afterward, Lewis said, “It was really wet compared to yesterday and pretty cold as well. The track was puddling up too, but we made some changes to the bike overnight that helped me feel more comfortable in the rain. We got off to a decent start, and there were a couple of crashes right away. I was battling for what would become a podium position there for a while, but those guys picked up the pace. I decided it was best to keep it on two wheels after crashing yesterday.
“It’s nice to get a top-five even if a couple dudes crashed in front of us. And now we have a direction to go if it rains at the next round… although hopefully it doesn’t!”
M4 RiCK! Suzuki’s Daytona Anderson came back from his Saturday DNF to finish 17th in Sunday’s Supersport contest.
The 2018 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship season will conclude at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 21-23.
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 70 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National races, have finished on AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National podiums 200 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.