Westby Racing Team Tests At VIRginia International Raceway
Tulsa, OK – October 29, 2019 – Continuing with their off-season testing program, Mathew Scholtz and the Westby Racing team were at VIRginia International Raceway on Monday, equipped with two Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbikes: one in the team’s iconic gold-and-black livery with Mathew’s familiar #11 on it and one in non-descript white bodywork with no competition number, but fully equipped to help refine the team’s setup by comparing different settings back to back. Performance Riding Experience (P.R.E.) hosted a track day at VIR on Monday, and they invited Mathew and the team to test during the event.
“We came out to one of the P.R.E. Track Days, and I think it was really beneficial for us,” Mathew said. “We had a few ideas with the electronics that we wanted to try…the traction control settings and a couple other things. We worked quite a bit on the engine torque mapping, just trying to smooth out the bike for me. That was one of the bigger things that (team electronics specialist) Herschel (Auxier) and (crew chief) Ed (Sullivan) were focusing on. Trying to give me a really smooth power delivery because I don’t have the best throttle control off the bottom. So, I think we made a couple of positive changes there.
“It’s a little bit difficult to get a good read of things because, obviously, it’s a track day, and you don’t always get a good, clean section of track. Your lap times are kind of fluctuating because of the other bikes that are circulating, so you’re only able to go quickly in a couple of the corners at a time.
“Despite that, personally, I feel that we made some really positive steps that will translate over to when we race, and the bike will be better. With the changes we made, it’s just easier now to ride the bike consistently. So, things were really good for us.
“Big thanks to the P.R.E. guys for having us out. They’ve really been an important part of our off-season testing program. It was awesome to be out there on the track. The weather at VIR wasn’t the greatest, but it’s getting towards wintertime, and being at the test was a lot better than being in rainy, freezing-cold Georgia, sitting on the couch. I’m very thankful that I was able to be out there riding and preparing for the 2020 Superbike season.”
Up next for Mathew and the team are off-season tests at Barber Motorsports Park and the Circuit of The Americas before the end of the calendar year.
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