Blake Young Double-Podiums At Road America
[caption id="attachment_13094" align="alignright"
width="300"] Blake Young raced his Yoshimura
Suzuki GSX-R1000 to two podium finishes in front of his home crowd
at Road America.[/caption]
Blake
Young raced his Yoshimura Suzuki
GSX-R1000 to two podium finishes in front of his home crowd at
the Road America AMA Pro Superbike Championship double-header in
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin at the weekend as team mate Chris Clark
took his best result of the season with seventh-placed results on
Saturday and Sunday.
The first Superbike race of the weekend was delayed and shortened
due to powerful storms sweeping through the area. Despite the
gusting wind and torrential rains, Young put his head down and got
a good start from the second spot on the grid and conservatively
clicked-off smooth laps to finish second. On Sunday, the weather
improved and Young turned in a more-aggressive performance, dicing
with his competition right down to the wire before bringing home
second. These results bring Young's podium tally to nine in as many
races this year.
Said Young: "I admit I'm a little disappointed. I'd hoped to win at
my home track, but this weekend was definitely a learning
experience and I know that we have some improvements to make. We
have a few weeks before the next race so we'll go back and figure
out what we need to do to come out strong for Barber."
Team-mate Clark was undaunted by the bad weather and had a good
showing at Road America: He started both Superbike races from the
third row and then slotted his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 into
solid positions in both rain and shine. After running as high as
fifth on Sunday, Clark carded two seventh-place finishes at the end
of the weekend. Currently, Clark is tied for eighth in the overall
Championship points.
[caption id="attachment_13096" align="alignleft"
width="300"] After running as high as fifth on
Sunday, Chris Clark carded two seventh-place finishes at the end of
the weekend.[/caption]
"Right before the first race, we caught the tail end of a big
storm," said Clark. "But by the time the race started, it was
drying. Unfortunately, I got behind a rider whose bike was spitting
oil. Once he was off the track, I put my head down on the Yoshimura
Suzuki GSX-R1000 and gained time. By the white flag, it was raining
again and the race was red flagged, but I kept pushing and cut the
gap even more. Sunday's race was a hard-fought battle for fifth.
Unfortunately, I made a mistake and wound up seventh, but I'm happy
with the bike and my lap times show that. Now, I'm looking forward
to Barber and moving forward."
Team Yoshimura Suzuki Racing's next event of the 2012 AMA Pro
Superbike Championship series is at Barber Motorsports Park in
Birmingham on June 22-24th.
Road America Overview And Point Standings
2012 AMA Pro National Guard Superbike Road America Image Gallery (Click for full size images)
Road America Superbike Results - Race 1:
- Josh Hayes
- Blake Young
- Josh Herrin
- Ben Bostrom
- Larry Pegram
- Jason Farrell
- Chris Clark
- Geoff May
- Chris Fillmore
- Stefan Nebel
Road America Superbike Results - Race 2:
- Josh Hayes
- Blake Young
- Josh Herrin
- Ben Bostrom
- Danny Eslick
- Geoff May
- Chris Clark
- David Anthony
- Chris Fillmore
- Larry Pegram
2012 Superbike Class Standings:
- Josh Hayes - 257
- Blake Young - 237
- Josh Herrin - 151
- Roger Hayden - 126
- Geoff May - 123
- Larry Pegram - 123
- Ben Bostrom - 111
- Danny Eslick - 107
- Chris Clark - 107
- Chris Fillmore - 101
Source: Team Suzuki