Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team aims for gains on American roadtrip
US Round
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, United States
The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team head to Laguna Seca this weekend where hometown hero Jake Gagne returns to the circuit he made his WorldSBK debut, while Leon Camier gets his first chance to ride the legendary American circuit on the CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2.
At approximately 3.61 kilometres (2.223 miles) in length, the Laguna Seca circuit is the shortest on the WorldSBK calendar however packs numerous challenges within its 11 corners, including the ultra-fast Turn 1 and the world-famous Corkscrew which plunges almost twenty metres from entry to exit.
This circuit is where Gagne made his WorldSBK debut with the Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team in 2017 where the American rider grabbed a pair of point-scoring finishes in a fine performance. With half a season of WorldSBK racing experience now under his belt, Gagne is aiming for his best race weekend of the year at a circuit he loves.
For Camier, the Laguna Seca round comes off the back of strong performances at Donington and Brno and with the summer break fast approaching, the British rider is aiming to move closer to the front runners at a circuit where the sublime handling and braking stability of the Fireblade should prove advantageous.
The WorldSBK action at the United States round starts this Friday at 0945 local time (GMT -7) with Free Practice 1. Race start on both Saturday and Sunday is at 1400 local time.
Leon Camier 2
Laguna Seca is quite a challenging circuit but it is really cool to ride probably one of my favourites so I’m looking forward to getting started on Friday. At this track it’s really important to have a good feel with the bike there’s some developments we’ve made on the chassis side that I think will help me on the Fireblade this weekend. Physically I’m feeling better, my shoulders and ribs have come on a lot so now we need to get out there and see if we can close the gap to the guys at the front.
Jake Gagne 45
I’m really stoked to get on the Fireblade at Laguna Seca. It will be a really special weekend racing on home turf and at a track I’ve had such great memories. One year ago at Laguna was my first ride with the Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team, it will be really nice already having ridden Laguna Seca and having some good data to build on. We’ve been making some definitive progress the last few weekends so I think it’s time to make another good step up and put it all together. I’ve always enjoyed Laguna Seca being such a unique track, so I’m really excited to get on track on Friday and see all the US WorldSBK fans!
Kervin Bos
Team Manager
It’s already the eighth round of the season and Laguna Seca will be an exciting one for us with Jake racing at home and Leon back to full fitness. Usually our Fireblade is well suited to the Laguna Seca circuit and given our recent developments I think we’ll be able to provide a competitive package for this track. It will be a weekend with a lot of pressure for Jake racing in front of his home fans, but we’re hoping he can build on the progress at recent rounds and he already has some knowledge of the bike at this circuit which will help a lot. Leon continues to show his strength on our CBR1000RR and this round we hope to be even closer to the front. We’re aiming to take another step forward in performance at Laguna Seca and the team is ready to go!