Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

No Limit Suzuki’s Jason Pridmore will not race in the AMA Superstock class and will instead concentrate on his Formula Xtreme effort this weekend at Infineon Raceway due to injury.

“The GSX-R1000 is too aggressive for him right now at this track,” said Crew Chief Jeremy Daniel. “It has too much power and too much torque, so Jason will sit out Superstock and concentrate on the Formula Xtreme bike and getting healthy for the next rounds.”

Pridmore suffered a separated shoulder and broken foot in a crash during testing at the Streets of Willow Springs April 10. He had the shoulder surgically repaired the following day by Dr. Arthur Ting.

Another member of the walking wounded at Infineon is Hooters Suzuki’s Eric Wood, who is riding with a broken right hand.

“I broke it two weeks ago riding my dirt bike at our local motocross track in Middleboro (Massachusetts),” Wood said Thursday during promoter practice. “The guy in front of me kicked up a rock and it hit me right in the hand. I got it X-rayed the next day, and my middle finger of my right hand was broken clean through.

“My biggest problem is when I hit bumps it pulls my finger and separates the bone. Hitting bumps while on the throttle is the worst thing. I considered getting the bone plated, but I can’t because the break is too close to his knuckle. We’ll figure something out.”

Complicating matters further, Wood has never ridden at Infineon Raceway before.

As it did for the California Speedway round of the series, Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki only brought GSX-R750s, and not GSX-R1000s, to race in AMA Superstock at Infineon Raceway.

After testing with it at Barber Motorsports Park, Yoshimura Suzuki has brought a GSX-R750 Superstock for Ben Spies to ride at Infineon Raceway.

“The way the bike handles, similar to a 600, should be an advantage at certain courses,” said Yoshimura Suzuki Team Manager Don Sakakura. “We’re just putting a few laps on it to see how it feels at this track. I don’t think we’ll race it here this weekend.”

The start of Friday’s practice schedule was delayed approximately 15 minutes due to a large fluid spill from one of the track safety vehicles at Infineon Raceway.

AMA timing and scoring, however, has been up and running flawlessly throughout Friday morning practice.