Day Continues Dominance with SuperSport East Pole – MotoGT, Status Que | AMA Pro
- From: 'the Wire' | Published: August 15th, 2009 - 6:05 pm
Prevailing in a race that was high in both attrition and drama, the No. 14 Crozier Motorsports Triumph Daytona 675 of Mark Crozier and Dave Estok and the No. 77 Touring Sport Ducshop Ducati PS1000LE of Ryan Elleby and Corey Rech extended their respective AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT Championship leads with a pair of victories Saturday at the Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals at Virginia International Raceway.
Both teams steered clear of the major trouble that befell the majority of their competitors to score victories that could prove to be pivotal in their championship bids with two races left in the season. The Crozier team scored its second overall and GT1 class victory of the season after first hitting the top podium spot in May at Barber Motorsports Park. This weekend the team recovered from Crozier’s lowside incident in Friday’s qualifying session to take the win.
“We knew we had some ground to pick up so we made some changes to the bike,” Crozier said. “We were really trying to put down a good lap time and with the championship thing every point counts. I had my head down and just lost the front and kind of ran out of talent and didn’t hold it. It created some extra work for the crew, but we learned a lot from that, and they worked really hard to put it back together. Today we still didn’t have the speed of some of the other guys, but it was a day of attrition and it was kind of a Tortoise and the Hare thing.”
Estok brought the winning Triumph to the checkered flag.
“Mark brought us into the lead and he was the attrition man today,” Estok said. “He worked his tail off today and did two stints in a row. He gave me the bike with a lap lead and from there my only job was to not crash.”
The No. 14 team now has an 11 point lead in the GT1 standings, 140 – 129, over the No. 41 Liberty Waves Racing/Kowgo.com Buell 1125R of Eric Pinson and Eric Haugo, which finished second at VIR two laps behind the leaders.
“We just tried to stay on our path,” Pinson said. “With our crew and everybody, this thing was just flawless. The Buell was just working great and I want to thank all those Liberty Waves people. Without these guys we wouldn’t be able to do anything.”
The GT1 championship leaders were aided by several setbacks for some of their top competitors. The pole-winning Westby Racing team of Dane Westby and Dustin Meador (No. 13 Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) retired with apparent mechanical issues while leading in the first 15 minutes of the race. The new team had gone a perfect two for two with victories in the last two rounds at Mid-Ohio and Topeka. From there, Josh Day and Dominic Jones (No. 27 Four Feathers Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) led until just before the race’s halfway mark only to retire after a lowside incident in Turn 3. The No. 14 took the lead at that point and stayed up front until the checkered flag.
Third place in the GT1 class went to Paul Schwemmer and Brett Ray (No. 37 Old Pros Racing Aprilia RSV1000R). The result also boosted the No. 37 team to third in the GT1 standings with 112 points.
The No. 77 Ducati continued to be the class of the field in GT2 and joined the winning No. 14 GT1 team in overcoming its biggest challenge before the green flag even dropped. Elleby was caught up in a lowside incident in this morning’s warm-up session, but the Touring Sport Ducshop team quickly got the No. 77 back in race-winning form.
“We had a little boo boo this morning,” Elleby said. “Everything went well, the guys hustled really hard all weekend to get the bikes in perfect condition like they always are. It was a good long, hard race. It was definitely a roller coaster, with a lot of incidents going on. I’m glad we could finish it up, stretch the lead out a little bit and have a little room to breathe.”
Rech won his third-consecutive race with the Ducshop team and his second straight on the No. 77 Ducati. His run was hardly trouble free, however, and a minor lowside incident in the middle of the race left the Ducati with bent handlebars.
“The race went well,” Rech said. “Ryan rode the first stint and everything was going good. The front tire got a little shag after Ryan got off it and I went through a turn and just tucked the front. That was about the biggest thing I had a problem with. We had a bent handlebar but it bent right back to where I could ride it. The Ducshop is a really good team, they put a lot of time in the bikes and I have a good teammate.”
Despite the setback, the No. 77 team still finished an impressive third overall and one minute ahead of second place GT2 riders Kenny Rodriguez and Trey Yonce (No. 10 East Coast Powersports Suzuki SV650), who were fourth overall. Fernando Ferreyra and Robertino Pietri (No. 63 Coatzymoto International Racing Ducati PS1000LE) finished third in GT2 and rounded out the overall top five.
The No. 77 Ducati team has taken commanding control of the GT2 championship standings and now has a 44 point lead, 202 – 158, over Jay Springsteen and Scott Ryan (No. 9 Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki EX650). Springsteen was among the half dozen riders to lowside Saturday and went down a little over 20 minutes into the race while running second. The team rebounded to finish a solid seventh overall and fourth in GT2, three laps behind the winners. The No. 64 TeamHurtByAccident.com Ducati PS1000LE team, which finished fifth in GT2 at VIR with John Linder and Robert Fisher, remains third in the standings with 115 points. None of the riders involved in the on-track incidents were injured.
Two rounds remain in the 2009 AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT season. Next up is the New Jersey Superbike Championship Weekend, which includes the SunTrust Moto-GT race on Saturday, September 5 at 11 a.m. ET. Highlights from Saturday’s SunTrust Moto-GT race can be seen tonight on SPEED at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT).
SuperSport Pole Day II
Josh Day (No. 4 Team E.S.P. Yamaha YZF-R6) continued his current stranglehold on the AMA Pro SuperSport presented by Shoei class and moved closer to the East division title with his second straight pole Saturday in qualifying at VIR. Day was also on the pole one race ago in Topeka where he went on to lead every race lap for his second-consecutive series victory.
Saturday at VIR, Day clocked in at 1:29.398 (91.008 mph), the fastest lap any rider has run in SuperSport so far this weekend. Day also remains the only SuperSport rider at the Big Kahuna to get around the 2.25-mile circuit in less than 90 seconds. He also paced Friday’s opening practice session with a top lap time of 1:29.707 (90.695 mph).
“I just went out there and tried the best that I could,” said Day, who edged out nearest title challenger Leandro Mercado (No. 92 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R). I knew they were going to be closing in on my time, and I know all of them are going to be up there for the race. Leandro hasn’t been able to ride for awhile so I’m sure he’s fine tuning his riding this weekend and he’ll be right up there during the race.”
Mercado led the East point standings earlier in the season and also has a pair of victories, but his title hopes took a severe hit when travel issues forced him to miss the Topeka round. He was second fastest in VIR qualifying with a lap time of 1:30.125 (90.275 mph).
“I always think of races for what they are but I have to be thinking for the championship,” Mercado said. “Tomorrow I have to work on the race to make points, so we’ll see for the championship.”
Day now has a 46-point lead over Mercado, 127 – 81. That equates to more than a full-race lead and guarantees he will leave the Big Kahuna on top of the standings even if he fails to clinch the crown. Even if Mercado scores all 31 remaining available points at VIR, Day only needs to finish third or better to leave Virginia with the East title.
Rech (No.7 AB1 Motorsports Suzuki GSX-R600) is making his SuperSport debut and recovered from a Friday practice spill to qualify third with a lap time of 1:30.160 (90.240 mph).
“I’m riding with AB1 Motorsports this weekend,” said Rech, who also has a three AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT wins this season. “The bike was running really good, the tires were working great. We clicked on a really good setup in the first practice and I just have to thank my team. I crashed yesterday in practice and demolished the bike. They stayed up pretty late putting it back together so I just have to put it all to them. My wrist is a little banged up, but I’m fine.”
Joey Pascarella (No. 25 LTD Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) has missed two of the last three SuperSport races while recovering from a broken right wrist and splitting his schedule with Supermoto. He returned at VIR and earned a front-row start with the fourth-fastest qualifying time of 1:30.168 (90.232 mph).
“I missed two Supermoto races and two SuperSport races because of my wrist,” said Pascarella, who recently competed in Supermoto at the X-Games. “I don’t really know, with my schedule, if I’ll be able to make New Jersey, but I’m going to try if I can. I really like these races. I like this track a lot, it’s pretty fun. My bike was working pretty good. I don’t really know when I did my lap, to be honest with you. I just pushed my hardest and hoped I was on the front row. I’d like to thank the whole LTD racing team.”
