Damian Jigalov takes double win at Roebling Road Raceway
The WERA National race weekend March 17-18 at Roebling Road Raceway in Savannah, Georgia was run in ideal weather with temperatures in the 80s and sunny skies.
Coming into the weekend, Damian hoped to be strong, knowing that the National race weekends always bring strong competition – often with MotoAmerica racers.
With double wins in the 300 Superstock classes on the BIOTHERMAL Yamaha R3, tuned by HFD1, Thermosman (on Saturday in the Sportman 300 E Supertock class, and on Sunday in the National 300 Superstock) it was as good a weekend as he could hope for, leaving the young rider, his team and fans very happy.
Practice went well for Damian, getting things off to a good start. After several minor setup changes for the very bumpy Roebling Road Raceway, Jigalov was quickly the rider to beat, setting fastest times in all practice sessions. The goal was to find the right setup, which proved to be a little tricky due to the very bumpy circuit and set fast times from the outset, and to then continually improve on those times through the sessions.
In qualifying Damian had a near-crash moment, losing the front whilst exiting turn 4 at high speed but was able to avoid it with the help of his knee – making for a spectacular save, and leaving him with a smoking front tire.
With qualifying done, it was then down to giving everything in the races themselves, which Jigalov duly did, dominating both races. After taking the lead early on and pulling away, they were largely uneventful races for Damian at the front. A close battle for 2nd and 3 places ensued behind but he remained clear of the field by a large margin.
Jigalov leaves the weekend feeling strong and confident. His winter training program, physically and on bike, has shown to have elevated him to higher levels than last season, and coming up next for Damian is Supermoto training at the Herrin Compound in Dublin, Georgia.
In a couple of weeks’ time Jigalov will then be heading over to Europe for the Italian CIV PreMoto3 season opener at Misano World Circuit with title sponsor Arch Motorcycle Company along with co-sponsors, Biothermal LLC, Barton Construction, WERA and Dainese, AGV, on April 7-8 with the RMU MOTO VR46 Riders Academy team.
Damian Jigalov
“I want to say thank you to WERA for the great competition at the races and the support to prepare me for racing in Europe. I also want to say thank you to my mom and dad, my manager, everyone’s support and all my sponsors. Thank you to Biothermal and Edwin Cosme (team owner), Thermosman Suspensions, HFD1 for building this bike, Podium Motorsports Pirelli for the grippy tires, and all our sponsors: Barton Construction, Dainese/AGV, Arch Motorcycle, WERA, Apex Mfg, Lionize Delivery Solutions, Gabitoy, Sportbike Track Time, and Sportbikes4hire.”