Mike
09-18-2009, 08:58 AM
First of all, I would like to apologize for the late date on this race report. The end of our racing season was very hectic for our small crew. We will try to issue future race reports in a much more timely manner.
Virginia International Raceway – August 14th – 16th
As a team we decided to go to VIR a week early and participate in the WERA National. Due to Team Latus not having any prior experience at this track we felt the additional on track time would prove to be very valuable.
When the AMA weekend began we found ourselves well prepared and ready to go for morning warm-ups Friday morning securing the second fastest lap time of the session. With only a small front end suspension change were prepared for primary qualifying . Primary qualifying began with some good solid laps. Taylor was able to go to the top of the board with in the first three laps. Shortly after, on lap eight he suffered a low side crash. Taylor picked up the bike and limp the crashed motorcycle back to pit road. The crew made repairs to the motorcycle as quickly as possible afraid that we would be bumped from the top ten. With minutes left in the session the crew had successfully repaired the motorcycle Taylor was able to complete the last few laps of the session to shake down the bike to make sure there were no other serious damages. When the smoke had cleared and the checkered flag had flown ending the session our lap time was surpassed only by Jason DiSalvo on the M4 Suzuki.
We lined up for the Superpole event second to last bike with only Jason to follow us. The Hondas of both Zemke and Peris had laid down some seriously quick laps and Taylor needed a good one to go to the top of the board. Taylor was able to ride his Buell 1125R to the top of the leader board leaving only Jason DiSalvo to bump us. We all watched the monitor closely as Jason took the green flag for his Superpole lap. Unfortunately Jason had a low side crash and was unable to complete his lap, leaving us with our very first AMA Superpole Victory.
We were very excited to start race one from the pole. Taylor led the field to the green flag for the first time in his AMA professional career. We were all very excited to see how well he could run with a good start. Both the Yamahas and the Hondas came straight the front to join us. We were able to run in the top five for the entire event and had our way up to third place when Taylor lost the front and had a low side crash just passed the halfway point. He was able to get back on the bike and rejoin, however, our hopes for a podium finish would not be realized that day. Taylor was able to ride the crashed bike back to a respectful 17th place finish.
Race two Sunday morning we went to the grid prepared to race. The first start was red flagged due to a big turn one which took out several riders near the back of the grid. Once the mess was cleaned up Taylor once again got the pack off to a clean start. We were overtaken in turn one by the Yamaha 600s on the brakes. Taylor found a rhythm around the fifth place spot and was able to cautiously let championship points leader and fellow Buell team mate Danny Eslick come through without conflict. Once Danny was clear Taylor was able to put his head down and as they both moved forward together Taylor was able to secure a fourth place finish narrowly missing a podium spot. This was our fourth, fourth place finish of the year and we are very much looking forward to breaking this streak and getting our Team Latus Motors Racing Buell on the podium.
New Jersey Motorsports Park – September 4th – 6th
Our weekend at New Jersey began on Thursday morning at the prerace track day. We worked most of the day sorting out the chassis and worked hard on finding a good qualifying set up for soft tires. After several chassis changes and input from Taylor we found a setup that was producing fairly good lap times and we set out to qualify on Friday afternoon.
In the second green flag lap during qualifying we had a low side crash on the primary bike. The bike was damaged badly and with approximately fifteen minutes left in the session Taylor was able to rejoin on the back up bike. Amazingly Taylor’s second lap out on the “B” bike was a 1:24.1 which would be our fastest lap of the weekend and earn us ninth position in primary qualifying and an invitation to Superpole. The very next lap Taylor lost the front and fell down and we were unable to complete anymore laps in qualifying. The crew worked quickly and was able to repair the “B” bike in time for Superpole. Taylor recorded a lap of 1:24.3 narrowly beating the Kawasaki for seventh place.
Race one got off to a shakey start as we were penalized with a drive through penalty for what the AMA described as “anticipating” the start of the race. When coming through pit road to serve the penalty we were additionally penalized with speeding on pit road with a ten second penalty. In spite of all of the penalties Taylor road well enough to get us back into the top twenty. Frustrated and discourage the crew went back to work most of the night Saturday evening to repair the “A” bike.
At the start of race two on Sunday Taylor was very cautious not to start early. In turn one, traffic got bunched up in front of us and our number 54 motorcycle was forced off the track into the grass to avoid a crash. Loosing valuable time and sight of the leaders Taylor rejoined the track and went to work making up as much ground as quickly as possible. By the time lap twenty three had been completed and the checkered flag was thrown Taylor and had worked his way up to the 12th position providing us with a solid finish in the last race of a emotional first season for this race team.
We are very proud of both Taylor and the effort produced from our up and coming rookie team and are looking forward to the beginning of next year season with the knowledge and education that our first year in Pro AMA Road Racing has provided. All of us at Team Latus Motors Racing would like to offer a sincere THANK YOU to all of those who have helped us get this program off of the ground. With the generous support of our sponsors this year we would not have been able to accomplish (10) Top Ten Finishes, (4) Top Five Finishes, (3) Superpole Qualifications, and (1) Pole Position Qualification resulting in an 11th place overall series finish. We look forward to attending all rounds next year campaigning the Buell 1125R in hopes of winning the 2010 Daytona Sportbike Championship.
A Special Thank You to our 2009 Sponsors:
Latus Motors Harley Davidson Buell
RSRacecraft
Buell Motor Cycles
Silkolene Lubricants
FMF Exhaust
Zero Gravity Wind Screens
GP Tech
Arai Helmets
Virginia International Raceway – August 14th – 16th
As a team we decided to go to VIR a week early and participate in the WERA National. Due to Team Latus not having any prior experience at this track we felt the additional on track time would prove to be very valuable.
When the AMA weekend began we found ourselves well prepared and ready to go for morning warm-ups Friday morning securing the second fastest lap time of the session. With only a small front end suspension change were prepared for primary qualifying . Primary qualifying began with some good solid laps. Taylor was able to go to the top of the board with in the first three laps. Shortly after, on lap eight he suffered a low side crash. Taylor picked up the bike and limp the crashed motorcycle back to pit road. The crew made repairs to the motorcycle as quickly as possible afraid that we would be bumped from the top ten. With minutes left in the session the crew had successfully repaired the motorcycle Taylor was able to complete the last few laps of the session to shake down the bike to make sure there were no other serious damages. When the smoke had cleared and the checkered flag had flown ending the session our lap time was surpassed only by Jason DiSalvo on the M4 Suzuki.
We lined up for the Superpole event second to last bike with only Jason to follow us. The Hondas of both Zemke and Peris had laid down some seriously quick laps and Taylor needed a good one to go to the top of the board. Taylor was able to ride his Buell 1125R to the top of the leader board leaving only Jason DiSalvo to bump us. We all watched the monitor closely as Jason took the green flag for his Superpole lap. Unfortunately Jason had a low side crash and was unable to complete his lap, leaving us with our very first AMA Superpole Victory.
We were very excited to start race one from the pole. Taylor led the field to the green flag for the first time in his AMA professional career. We were all very excited to see how well he could run with a good start. Both the Yamahas and the Hondas came straight the front to join us. We were able to run in the top five for the entire event and had our way up to third place when Taylor lost the front and had a low side crash just passed the halfway point. He was able to get back on the bike and rejoin, however, our hopes for a podium finish would not be realized that day. Taylor was able to ride the crashed bike back to a respectful 17th place finish.
Race two Sunday morning we went to the grid prepared to race. The first start was red flagged due to a big turn one which took out several riders near the back of the grid. Once the mess was cleaned up Taylor once again got the pack off to a clean start. We were overtaken in turn one by the Yamaha 600s on the brakes. Taylor found a rhythm around the fifth place spot and was able to cautiously let championship points leader and fellow Buell team mate Danny Eslick come through without conflict. Once Danny was clear Taylor was able to put his head down and as they both moved forward together Taylor was able to secure a fourth place finish narrowly missing a podium spot. This was our fourth, fourth place finish of the year and we are very much looking forward to breaking this streak and getting our Team Latus Motors Racing Buell on the podium.
New Jersey Motorsports Park – September 4th – 6th
Our weekend at New Jersey began on Thursday morning at the prerace track day. We worked most of the day sorting out the chassis and worked hard on finding a good qualifying set up for soft tires. After several chassis changes and input from Taylor we found a setup that was producing fairly good lap times and we set out to qualify on Friday afternoon.
In the second green flag lap during qualifying we had a low side crash on the primary bike. The bike was damaged badly and with approximately fifteen minutes left in the session Taylor was able to rejoin on the back up bike. Amazingly Taylor’s second lap out on the “B” bike was a 1:24.1 which would be our fastest lap of the weekend and earn us ninth position in primary qualifying and an invitation to Superpole. The very next lap Taylor lost the front and fell down and we were unable to complete anymore laps in qualifying. The crew worked quickly and was able to repair the “B” bike in time for Superpole. Taylor recorded a lap of 1:24.3 narrowly beating the Kawasaki for seventh place.
Race one got off to a shakey start as we were penalized with a drive through penalty for what the AMA described as “anticipating” the start of the race. When coming through pit road to serve the penalty we were additionally penalized with speeding on pit road with a ten second penalty. In spite of all of the penalties Taylor road well enough to get us back into the top twenty. Frustrated and discourage the crew went back to work most of the night Saturday evening to repair the “A” bike.
At the start of race two on Sunday Taylor was very cautious not to start early. In turn one, traffic got bunched up in front of us and our number 54 motorcycle was forced off the track into the grass to avoid a crash. Loosing valuable time and sight of the leaders Taylor rejoined the track and went to work making up as much ground as quickly as possible. By the time lap twenty three had been completed and the checkered flag was thrown Taylor and had worked his way up to the 12th position providing us with a solid finish in the last race of a emotional first season for this race team.
We are very proud of both Taylor and the effort produced from our up and coming rookie team and are looking forward to the beginning of next year season with the knowledge and education that our first year in Pro AMA Road Racing has provided. All of us at Team Latus Motors Racing would like to offer a sincere THANK YOU to all of those who have helped us get this program off of the ground. With the generous support of our sponsors this year we would not have been able to accomplish (10) Top Ten Finishes, (4) Top Five Finishes, (3) Superpole Qualifications, and (1) Pole Position Qualification resulting in an 11th place overall series finish. We look forward to attending all rounds next year campaigning the Buell 1125R in hopes of winning the 2010 Daytona Sportbike Championship.
A Special Thank You to our 2009 Sponsors:
Latus Motors Harley Davidson Buell
RSRacecraft
Buell Motor Cycles
Silkolene Lubricants
FMF Exhaust
Zero Gravity Wind Screens
GP Tech
Arai Helmets