Wet weather and treacherous conditions made for a tough day for Team Hammer at Road Atlanta.
Following Saturday’s strong start to the 2018 season, hopes were high for an even better day on Sunday, particularly after M4 ECSTAR Suzuki ace Jake Lewis led the wet Superbike warm-up session with more than two seconds in hand.
Unfortunately, his challenge for the win would end just one corner into the Superbike race, as the Kentuckian crashed out in an opening lap, multi-rider incident.
Lewis said, “Honestly, I’m just so disappointed in the crash because I felt so good in the warm-up, and even during the warm-up lap before the race. I did the same line off the start that I did earlier in the wet, but as soon as I touched the gas coming out of Turn 1, the rear just snapped loose. I really didn’t have any time to try to save it or get it back under control, and I slammed my head pretty good. I tried to get back on the bike, but it was too beat up to get back in the race or ride it back to the pits.
“I want to apologize to my team. They put a great bike underneath me, and we’ve been working hard all weekend. It’s definitely frustrating because I feel I could’ve won today. We’ll regroup and get back on it next weekend in Texas.”
Despite Sunday’s DNF, Lewis ranks 10th in the Superbike standings thanks to his Saturday top five.
Things went a bit better in Supersport competition, but not without some drama.
Cory West, riding in place of the injured Valentin Debise aboard the M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R600 this weekend, backed up yesterday’s podium finish with an eighth-place ride in the wet on Sunday.
West battled early in a group contesting fifth position along with teammate Nick McFadden on the M4 medAge Suzuki.
McFadden was momentarily the man on the move, slicing up into sixth before crashing. He managed to remount at the back of the field and fight his way up to 12th by the checkered flag.
“We had a better start than yesterday and were up there,” McFadden said. “We kind of got jumbled up in a little pack in the first two laps, and I needed to get by those guys to chase after the leaders. I made a pass on the back straight going into Turn 10 and was off the brakes and just tucked the front. I don’t really know what happened — I wasn’t trailing or anything. I picked it back up and came from 20th back to 12th and salvaged some points.”
M4 RiCK! Suzuki’s Daytona Anderson was unable to find a suitable comfort level in the wet conditions, ultimately finishing 17th.
West leaves Road Atlanta ranked 3rd in the Supersport points. McFadden is sixth with Anderson 12th.
Jake Lewis won’t have long to stew as the MotoAmerica Superbike class will be back in action next weekend alongside the superstars of the MotoGP World Championship at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on April 20-22.
Meanwhile, the Supersport class will resume its fight at the following round at Virginia International Raceway, on May 4-6.
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 68 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National races, have finished on AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National podiums 191 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.
More, from a press release issued by Altus Motorsports:
Altus Motorsports Supercharged Team rolled into Road Atlanta round one of the MotoAmerica Championships Presented by Suzuki in a big way. Altus Motorsports raises the bar with an upgraded program featuring new sponsors, riders, team transport, bikes, builders and twins leasing opportunities. Altus fielded riders in Supersport, Twins and Junior Cup classes.
Newly signed rider Miles Thornton #72 had a showed great promise and consistency over the weekend in the Supersport Class. Finishing 12th on Saturday posting a 1:31:137 which was 1.5 sec off of the top leaders in the field. Thornton picked it up considerably on Sunday with a 6th running a 1:41:025 and was top Suzuki for the day on his M4 powered GSX-R600. Miles currently sits 7th in points. Altus anticipates great things from Thornton as the season progresses and he shakes of the rust from three years away from full time road racing competition.
Jaret Nassaney #59 increased his speed and focus throughout both days of Supersport competition. Nassaney finished 24th on Saturday and charged hard through the rain on Sunday finishing a strong 18th positing 1:45:522. It was a great finish for Jaret on his 20th birthday.
The high-light for Altus Motorsports was made in the newly developed Twins Class. Jason Madama #213 finished second making the very first podium for Altus Motorsports aboard his Conquest, AP MotoArts built Yamaha MT-07/ Z-07 machine. Madama took a quick lead early in the race but was hounded by Parrish. Parrish took the lead and Madama settled in and waited for the opportunity to go for the win. With just around four laps to go Murray got by Madama putting him back to third. Madama made a run back past Murray with two laps to go and closed on Parrish posting the fastest lap of 1:38:127, Parrish beat Madama to the line by .057. Altus Motorsports and Andy Palmer are excited as to what the Twins Class brings to MotoAmerica competition. Altus Motorsports and AP MotoArts have leasing opportunities for aspiring riders to race the Twins class at all rounds for 2018.
The JR Cup class was contested by Draik Beauchamp #77. Beauchamp is new to the Altus Motorsports program for 2018. Beauchamp finished Saturday in 13th and 14th on Sunday. It’s important for Altus to support Beauchamp and the future of road racing and the JR Cup class.
Altus Motorsports Suzuki Team is supported by our great family of partners. Suzuki, Supercharged Natural Sports Drink, Tucker Rocky, Arai, Moto-D, Bonamici, Taichi, Moto Liberty, Vortex, AP MotoArts, Ohlins, Hot Bodies Racing, SBS, Sidi, M4, Wilmes Chevy, PSR, Conquest and Velocity.
For more information: www.altusmotorsports.com @altusmotorsports @suzuki @superchargedbev or contact director of marketing and racing development, [email protected]
More, from a press release issued by Attack Performance Herrin Compound Racing:
Gavin Anthony shows great pace, endures tough weekend in first-ever Liqui Moly Junior Cup races
Attack Performance Herrin Compound Racing rider’s weekend stunted by mechanical and electrical problems
BRASELTON, Ga. – The only things slowing Gavin Anthony down in the MotoAmerica FIM/AMA North American Road Racing Series opener at Road Atlanta were three mechanical/electrical problems. The Attack Performance Herrin Compound rider showed strong pace in Friday’s qualifying session and in Saturday’s first-ever Liqui Moly Junior Cup race and was the leading Yamaha YZF-R3 rider in Sunday’s Junior Cup race before retiring with a suspected electrical problem. Despite receiving great support from the Graves/Yamaha YZF-R3 Support Program, two-time MotoAmerica podium-finisher Anthony was unable to demonstrate his true potential at Road Atlanta.
The weekend got off to a crazy start for the entire Attack Performance Herrin Compound Racing team before the on-track action began. The team’s transporter suffered a major mechanical problem of its own and was stuck in Louisiana with Anthony’s Graves Yamaha prepped YZF-R3 on board. Wanting to make sure Anthony would be able to race the weekend, the team rented a pick-up truck and had the rig driver drive all night Thursday to deliver Anthony’s R3 in time for Friday’s first practice session.
Despite seeing his R3 for the first time Friday morning, Anthony posted the sixth-fastest time in the session. Things began to go wrong in Friday afternoon qualifying when Anthony’s bike stopped on-track with its first mechanical failure after five laps. The team received a new engine from Graves and had Anthony’s R3 ready to go for Saturday morning qualifying. Anthony was able to gain some valuable seat time on the R3 and qualified inside the top 10 heading into Saturday afternoon’s race. In the race, Anthony had moved up to fifth-place on lap 1 before his engine let go on lap 3. The team made another engine change Saturday night before heavy rains began pelting Road Atlanta early Sunday morning. Sunday’s wet race saw Anthony again move up the field. Anthony was locked in a battle for fourth-place and was battling to be the leading Yamaha R3 before retiring with electrical problems.
Despite the difficult weekend, Anthony and the entire Attack Performance Herrin Compound Racing team will be looking for more reliability and strong on-track results in the Liqui Moly Junior Cup’s next round at VIRginia International Raceway May 4-6.
Gavin Anthony, rider for Attack Performance Herrin Compound Racing, said, “The weekend started off pretty well. We were the second-fastest Yamaha YZF-R3 in the first practice. We went into qualifying with confidence, but had an mechanical failure in the first qualifying session. We came back on Saturday and were able to qualify 10th. We had great pace in race 1, but had another mechanical failure early in the race. After our second engine change of the weekend, we went into Sunday feeling confident. I like racing in the rain, and we were hoping that the slower conditions would keep us from having any more engine problems. We were battling to be the fastest Yamaha in the field until the bike started experiencing electrical problems and our race ended early again. I really want to thank my crew for their effort this weekend. They kept working hard despite the problems we were having and made the weekend the best that it could be. I will be looking to be fast right out of the gate again at VIR. I think that track will better suit the Graves/Yamaha R3 package, and I will be looking to earn my first win of the season there.”
More, from a press release issued by Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda:
Braselton, GA
MotoAmericaRound 1 – Road Atlanta
Rollin’ Snake Eyes in Season Opener
Braselton, GA – The opening round of the 2018 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship kicked off this past weekend from Road Atlanta. Coming into the season, the Genuine Broaster Chicken / American Honda team was eager to demonstrate the new found power of their CBR1000RR SP2. During the off season, the crew worked tirelessly to sort out the issues that plagued the team last season. Working with superbike rookie, Cam Petersen, the crew had made important strides in the engine performance, chassis setup and most notably, the electronics. The entire team arrived on-scene with that “New Team” smell.
Road Atlanta is a favorite stop for the MotoAmerica series. The flowing natural terrain circuit offers a mix of technical S’s with fast straights climbing and descending the hills. The weather can always be a factor at the Georgia facility, and this weekend the weather was projected to have a critical role in the races. With the impending storm looming over the horizon, the entire superbike paddock was in a rush to get those first practice sessions nailed and vie for the best possible qualifying positions going into Saturday’s Superpole. The mantra is “Best to get the hard done in the dry.”
The first practice session of the season was slated for late morning Friday. Testing is one thing, but now, everything matters. Times from FP1 and FP2 are taken into account for determining Superpole eligibility, so there’s very little time to mess around. As the sun brought up the track temp, the crew prepped the Genuine Broaster Chicken Honda for Cam’s first laps of 2018. A full 50 minute session was scheduled and Cam was circulating at a pretty decent clip. As Cam was learning the bike and track, he and the crew tried various setting to ensure a quick lap time. As the session was coming to a close, a red flag brought the whole progress to a screeching halt. The last few minutes of the session were lost and along with it some of Cam’s best sector times. Cam would dismount the motorcycle and return to debrief after finishing in tenth place.
Fast forward to later that afternoon and FP2. The sun was still shining and temps were just about ideal for riding on fresh Dunlop rubber. Cam came out of the gate quick and was looking strong. The changes made during the break were clearly working in his favor. Again, Cam was up and down the timing screen consistently inside the top ten. Just as in FP1, Cam was making his best progress when a red flag was shown and the session was called early. Without a full compliment of laps, Cam was again in P10. Scoring an average of 10th, Cam was immediately put through to Superpole set for late Saturday morning. As the sun set, the crew was left with a clear path forward in giving Cam the best possible bike for Saturday.
The storms that were forecasted for Saturday had not arrived when the team came and opened up the pit for FP3 in the morning. This is a short session, typically 25 minutes that is more of a warm up than a full practice. Cameron set out to give the bike a proper shake down. However, there would be problems. Coming down into T-10A on the second lap, he hit a false neutral and had to regain his line. On lap three in the same location, he experienced a low side when he lost the front end at the apex of the corner. Apart from adding to his personal rock collection, Cam and the bike were ok and headed back to the pits for some quick repairs. Within minutes he was able to get back out and finish the session in P11.
Time to shake off the FP3 incident, Superpole is here! In case you’ve forgotten, Superpole is a fast 15 minute session wherein the riders get one flying lap on a super sticky Dunlop Qualifying tire. This would be Cam’s first ever experience on the special tires and fortunately the crew had two of them. They sent Cameron out for the first part of the session on a sticky “Q” tire so he could get used to the feeling before they brought him in for a change and then the final push. Despite feeling confident on the new tires and again hitting personal best sector times, Cam was only able to manage P11 by the time the checkers flew. Not a bad place to start his maiden race, but certainly a position that would require some hard work to make up ground during the 21 lap event.
There isn’t a great deal of time between Superpole and Race One. Typically it’s just enough time to have lunch, sign autographs and debrief. Having fulfilled those obligations, Cam soon found himself sitting atop his Honda on the starting grid. Still under perfect conditions the entire 15 rider grid was anticipating a cracking opening salvo. The starting grid is always a spectacle of colors and sounds. There are not a lot of places quite like it. The energy is amazing. As electric as it is the real excitement is when the grid is cleared to go and the motors scream to life. When the lights go out and the field roars towards turn one, no-body exhales until every rider is through cleanly. Cam made an ok start, not getting off the line as clean as he would like, he had to fight his way through the back of the pack through the first several corners. After making up some ground, Cam would be coming up to the infamous T-10. Coming into the corner, Cam wasn’t in the ideal line and tried to recover as he braked for the entrance of 10A. Unable to make that recovery, Cameron would end up going straight through the corner and crash into the gravel, ending his first superbike race as a full time rookie.
Unfortunately, the crash was a bit more severe than originally thought. Once Cameron was back at the team’s transporter, he began to show signs of a possible concussion. Upon medical evaluation, it was deemed necessary to transport him to the local hospital for further evaluation. Cam was soon released from the hospital but not cleared to race on Sunday. Sadly, the start of the 2018 Superbike Season ended before it fully began. The team now looks forward to Round 2 from the Circuit of the America’s beginning this Friday. No rest for those who choose this lifestyle!
Cameron Petersen
“Not the way I planned on starting the season, I struggled all weekend long with electronics and set up and I gave myself a lot of work to do in the race with a bad qualifying.
Going into Race 1 the crew and I made some changes to the bike and I was confident we were going to have a better package to be more competitive. Unfortunately the race was short lived after making a mistake on the first lap and I ended up going down hitting my head in the process.
I’m extremely disappointed but I’m going to put it behind me and focus on the future. I can’t thank the team enough for all their hard work over the weekend and I can’t wait to jump back on the bike and redeem myself.”
Danny Walker – Team Principal
“We’ve probably come off the busiest off-season in our history. With the issues that we faced last year, our guys were determined to not allow the same problems to surface. Scotty and the crew found us some extra horsepower and focuses their remaining energy on getting the new electronics up and ready. We even had some help from our WSBK partners and I’m pretty sure we fried Scott’s brain with the amount of information that was dropped on him.
We also had prepared Cam as much as possible. He moved out to Colorado so that he could train in MX and Roadracing by utilizing our school’s equipment. We completed a bunch of testing and knew we had work to do but were completely confident that we could hit the ground running.
I was pretty pleased with how the progression was going during the practice sessions. Cam was showing that he could adjust quickly to the changes that were being thrown at him. In Superpole, Cam was sitting pretty good until the end when that last flurry of activity knocked him down to P11.
Starting from P11 would mean he would have a lot of work to do during the races, but we felt confident that he could do it. Sadly, a mistake into T10 on the opening lap ended that. Cam took a decent knock to the head and was later ruled out of the second race on Sunday. Not the way you want to start a season, but this is a learning process. We take our lessons and we move on. We’re heading to COTA next where that extra horsepower that Soctty and the guys found, ought to make for a great show!”
Scott Jensen – Crew Chief
“As a crew cheif Road Altanta was my first race with a new rider since the start of 2014. Which is always a fun, exciting new adventure. In addition is was our first event with a new electronics package which meant it would be busy to say the least. The event started off well with a constant steady progression in both Cameron’s feel for the bike and our lap times through all the practice and qualifying sessions. This had us all excited to get the racing underway!
Unfortunately we had an opening lap crash in race one which kept Cameron off the bike for the remainder of the event, so now we head towards COTA!!”
More, from a press release issued by Dunlop:
Dunlop Riders Dominate WERA Triple Crown +1 at Road Atlanta
Buffalo, NY: Braving conditions at a rain-soaked Road Atlanta this past Sunday, Brad Burns and Billy Ethridge took first and second respectively on Dunlop tires in the WERA Triple Crown +1 Presented by Honda.
While all of the Sunday road races were run on a wet track, the WERA Triple Crown +1 riders had to compete in a deluge. Despite the conditions, Burns and Ethridge made big waves on their Dunlop KR189 front and KR404 rear tires.
The WERA Triple Crown +1 race was originally scheduled for 11-laps but was red-flagged after three. When the rain eased up, the race was restarted as an eight-lap race, with the riders gridding in their original positions.
After leaving the competition in his wake, Burns said, “At Road Atlanta, it’s pretty exciting going down the back straight at about 160 in the rain, trying to avoid the paint lines and puddles while braking hard for turn ten. When it was raining really hard before the race was stopped, we were running at a pace about 30-seconds slower than my dry times. In the end we were running at about 10-seconds off our dry-track pace. I’m used to the Dunlops and knew I’d have the best tires through to the end.”
Second place finisher, 48-year-old defending Triple Crown champion Ethridge, said, “During the first start it seemed like the water was over a foot deep at the bottom of the hill before the Esses, and there was a river coming down the hill after turn one. So I took the first few laps of the restart easy to sort out the best lines. There’s a lot of grip with the Dunlop rain tires in the wet, but the speed is so fast it really gets your attention.”
Development Manager for Dunlop Motorcycle Tires in North America, Mick Jackson, said; “All of us at Dunlop congratulate Brad and Billy for their efforts. We saw great performances out of these riders despite the conditions and are excited to see the continued competition in this series.”
The Dunlop tires used by WERA riders are available to all other club racers are the same tires used by pro racers in the MotoAmerica series, where Dunlop is the official tire supplier.
About Dunlop Motorcycle Tires
Dunlop is the largest supplier of original equipment and replacement motorcycle tires in the U.S.A. For more information, visit www.dunlopmotorcycletires.com.