Jason DiSalvo got his 2009 season off to a terrific start by riding his Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600 to the overall victory in the Michelin Pro Series Sanctioned by ASRA Team Challenge/Solo Challenge Friday at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida.
“We wanted to use the Team Challenge as a practice, sort of a dress rehearsal for the 200,” DiSalvo said, referring to the 57-lap 68th annual Daytona 200 by Honda, scheduled for March 6. “We wanted to see how the tire life and fuel mileage and pit strategy would play out.”
DiSalvo pitted twice, once for fuel and a new rear tire and once for fuel only, and won the 45-lap race by over 70 seconds.
“Everything went really good,” continued DiSalvo, who lapped consistently in the 1:50 to 1:51 range. “The team did a great job with the pit stop. In a perfect world we would have done this at night [when the Daytona 200 will be run], but to have this knowledge about the bike and the tires is great. And to have those laps and that hour and a half on the bike is really valuable. I’m really happy, especially with my conditioning. I’m hoping we can carry this momentum into next week.”
Second overall in the race was 17-year-old Russell Wikle, who will be making his AMA Pro racing debut for Team Roadracingworld.com on a Suzuki GSX-R600 next week. Wikle made only one pit stop, during which his father, racer Luther Wikle, changed his rear tire and Danny Turner, father of racer Kris Turner, refueled his motorcycle. The strategy ended up being spot-on, as Wikle ran out of fuel on his cool-down lap.
“We were doing this as a test for the 200,” said Wikle. “That race is only going to be 11 more laps, so we now know a lot for next week. We know the bike will only go 22 laps on a tank, and that’s it! We did really good on tires, too. I think we can go the whole race on one front tire.”
Third overall and in the Solo Challenge category was 27-year-old Irishman Michael Laverty, the older brother of British Superbike racer John Laverty and Supersport World Championship rider Eugene Laverty.
Michael Laverty led the overall race in the early going on his Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000, but his team, which is preparing for the AMA American Superbike class, did not have quick-change and quick-fill pit equipment so Laverty’s two stops on pit lane cost him valuable time and positions on track. Still, the effort was well worth it for the Daytona first-timer.
“Just learning the track, learning the bike and the tires,” Laverty told Roadracingworld.com. “That was the best way to do it, just get plenty of laps. Now I’m pretty comfortable with the track and pretty comfortable with the bike. We probably need to make a couple of changes to get it perfect, but I think we’re in pretty good shape.”
Laverty recorded the fastest lap of the race, a 1:47.953 on lap 41 of 45, but that lap was on the 3.51-mile course, not the 2.95-mile course the American Superbike race will be run on.
Fourth overall and winners of the Team Challenge and the GTU category were Sadowski Brothers’ David Sadowksi, Jr. and Matt Sadowksi, brothers and sons of former Daytona 200 winner David Sadowksi. Sadowski Brothers shared a Yamaha YZF-R6 and made only one pit stop to refuel and change riders. They stretched one set of Dunlop DOT tires the whole race distance, a feat they credited to their new Race Tech suspension.
“Race Tech came out with their own new shock, and it worked great,” said David Sadowksi, Jr. “Also, they had our front dialed in with their fork cartridges.”
Vallely Racing’s Ryan Patterson and Matt McBride won the GTO division in spite of blowing up both of their GSX-R1000s in practice and having no choice but to run the race on a GSX-R600.
KRM Racing’s Christopher Boy and Kevin Mendez took first-place in the GT Lights category by completing 42 laps on their Ducati-powered Bimota DB5.
A total of 47 teams and solo riders entered the Team Challenge/Solo Challenge.
There were no red flags.
In CCS sprint racing action Friday at Daytona, DiSalvo’s teammate Martin Cardenas made a mistake and ran off the track and still came back to win the GTU race by 8.5 seconds over Bettencourts’ Jeff Wood and Heyser Cycles’ Eric Wood. Hal’s Harley-Davidson/Buell’s Dan Bilansky used a last-lap move to beat Bimota-mounted Mendez in the GT Lights race. Loikits Industries’ David Loikits ran away with the GTO event, winning by over 18 seconds on his Suzuki GSX-R1000.
More, from a press release issued by Daytona International Speedway:
Jason DiSalvo Opens Daytona 200 Week By Honda With A Checkered Flag
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 27, 2009) The only thing that wasn’t new for Jason DiSalvo during Friday’s Team Challenge race at Daytona International Speedway was his podium finish.
DiSalvo, rider of the No. 40 Suzuki for the Team M4 Suzuki, kicked off his 2009 racing season riding a new bike for a new team and managed to take the checkered flag in the Solo Division of the Team Challenge.
“Based on lap times from this morning I felt pretty comfortable about it,” DiSalvo said. “When (Celtic Racing’s) Michael Laverty came by me, I figured that I really didn’t have much chance to stay with him but thankfully my team made up the time difference exponentially in the pits.”
While the Team Challenge was only DiSalvo’s second time ever on the Suzuki 600, he was able to dominate the rest of the competitive field.
“I’ve learned the bike, but I haven’t perfected it yet,” DiSalvo said. “The bike and I are still in the early stages of our relationship.”
The 24-year-old DiSalvo finished third in overall points in 2008 AMA Superbike championship standings and finished third in the opening round at Daytona. However, after the 2008 season, DiSalvo and his factory Yamaha YZF-R1 team parted ways and DiSalvo was without a ride until early January.
“Usually we’re signing a deal by at least November,” DiSalvo said. “I remember spending Christmas at my wife’s parent’s house and thinking, ‘you know, it’s Christmas time and we don’t have a ride.’ “
DiSalvo was able to pull out a win Friday afternoon that will hopefully set the tone for his remaining races during Daytona 200 Week By Honda, which includes the 68th Daytona 200 By Honda on Friday night, March 6th.
He’ll continue competing during this weekends’ CCS and ASRA events before the AMA Pro Racing portion of events kicks off on Wednesday.
“It’s good,” DiSalvo said. “I still have a couple more races tomorrow that I have to get behind me and try and get some wins in those. We’ll just try and go for a clean sweep the week before the 200.”
Tickets for Daytona 200 Week By Honda events are available online at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP.
Friday’s results:
Amateur GTU: 1. Hunter Propst, Suzuki 600; 2. Sean Cassell, Honda 600; 3. Robert Cloutier, Kawasaki 600
Expert GTU: 1. Martin Cardenas, Suzuki 600; 2. Jeff Wood, Yamaha 600; 3. Eric Wood, Honda 600
Amateur GT Lights: 1. Chris Anderson, Ducati 900; 2. Steve Grujic, Suzuki 650; 3. Michael Sabourin, Suzuki 650
Expert GT Lights: 1. Danny Bilansky, Buel 1200; 2. Kevin Mendez, BIMO 1000; 3. Joseph Rozynksi, Buel 1169
Expert GTO: 1. David Loikits, Suzuki 1000; 2. Jean Paul Tache, Suzuki 1000; 3. Alan Schmidt, Buel 1125
Amateur GTO: 1. Jordan Richardson, Buel 1125; 2. Javier Vazquez, Suzuki 750; 3. James Cohrs, Yamaha 600
Team Challenge Overall: 1. David Sadowski Jr., Matt Sadowski, Yamaha 600; 2. Ryan Patterson, Matt McBride, Suzuki 1000; 3. Paul Schwemmer, John Ashmead, Kawasaki 600
Team Challenge Solo: 1. Jason DiSalvo, Suzuki 600; 2. Russell Wikle, Suzuki 600; 3. Michael Laverty, UNK
Team Challenge GTO: 1. Ryan Patterson, Matt McBride, Suzuki 1000; 2. Steve Wilkening, Matt Graham, Honda 999; 3. Chris Weakly, Mikal Pechota, UNK
Team Challenge GTU: 1. David Sadowski Jr., Matt Sadowski, Yamaha 600; 2. Paul Schwemmer, John Ashmead, Kawasaki 600; 3. Alex Shaw, Eric Helmbach, Kawasaki 636
Team Challenge GTL: 1. Kevin Mendez, Chris Bly, Bimo 1000; 2. Eric Helmsbach, Eric Wilson, Suzuki 650; 3. Tomas Puerta, Ferrando Perreyra, Suzuki 650