After two rounds of the 2020 MotoAmerica Championship at Road America in Wisconsin, Westby Racing was ready to race this weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, which is a home track for the team’s Superbike rider Mathew Scholtz, team manager Chuck Giacchetto, and crew chief Ed Sullivan, who all live in the Atlanta area.
For Mathew, the “home cooking” was just what he needed as his qualified second in Saturday morning’s Superpole session, and then he crossed the finish line in third in the afternoon’s Superbike race one.
Mathew commented, “After the first lap, I settled into fourth place behind Toni (Elias), and I could see immediately that Jake (Gagne) and Cameron (Beaubier) were pulling a massive gap, even after only just five or six corners. Toni’s bike is quick, and he brakes late so I couldn’t really pass him. I was planning on something going into turn 10, but coming onto the back of the straight, (Kyle) Wyman passed us. Then his bike was leaking fluid. It was spraying all over the front of my bike and my helmet visor. So, I was just trying to stay off his race line, and that really slowed me down. Then I maybe got about a second off of Toni and Kyle, and I think Kyle’s bike stopped in turn 10. I caught up to Toni and passed him. Toni was right behind me for a couple of laps after that, but once I began dipping to the mid- to upper-25s, he started dropping off. So, I just kind of rode my own race from there. It was a little bit boring towards the end. I could see Jake pretty far ahead of me, but I couldn’t see Cameron at all, so I was in no-man’s land. I’m hoping in the tomorrow’s race that we can pick up the pace and hold onto Jake and Cam.”
Sunday’s Superbike Race 2 is at 3 PM Eastern and will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) and Eurosport, as well as streamed on MotoAmerica Live+.
In Junior Cup, Cody Wyman’s reunion with Road Atlanta, after a five-year hiatus from a track that he really likes, netted him a third-row starting position and an eighth-place finish in Saturday’s race one. Cody was less than thrilled with the results, but he has his chin up and is determined to get a higher finish in Sunday’s race two.
“We made some changes to the front-end of the bike, and they made the handling better, but it was still a tough race for me,” Cody said. “I got a decent start and did my best to roll with the leaders, but I lost the draft and got stuck in a big battle for fifth place. It was very hot today, and the track was pretty greasy as a result, so I definitely had some moments. We all swapped positions, and I put myself in a really good spot on the final lap, with a couple bikes ahead of me that I could draft. But, turn 10a and 12 were a bit of a mess for me, and I ended up crossing the line in eighth. Thank you to my team for the support. Tomorrow morning, we’re going to try out a small change on the bike and then, we’ll see how it goes for race two.’”
Junior Cup Race 2 is at 2 PM Eastern and will be broadcast via tape-delay on FS2 (check your local listings for FS2 airtimes), in addition to being live-streamed on MotoAmerica Live+.
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