Suzuki Teams Talk About Daytona Opening Rounds of AMA Superbike Championship

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jamie Hacking's #92 Yoshimura/American Suzuki/Dunlop/Motorex-sponsored GSX-R750 gets final work done inside the Yoshimura garages at Mid Ohio in July of '01 in preparation for the AMA Superbike Championship round at the Lexington, OH. track. The Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire began hosting two rounds of the Wiseco 100 for the premier superbike class in July of 2000, along with Road America and Road Atlanta, which had been the first track to hold a double round in 1998.
The official factory version of Team Suzuki in '01 consisted of then-2-Time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin (and soon to be 7-Time Champ), along with team mates Hacking and Aaron Yates on the Yosh GSXRs. Jump to 2011 and Blake Young and Tommy Hayden helm the team that now houses the GSX-R1000s with Rockstar/Makita backing. Both are multiple-time winners in the premier series in AMA Pro Road Racing, and Young did the double at Daytona last Friday and Saturday, for the second year in a row that the same rider won both opening rounds. Jake Zemke scored the double in 2010 while riding with the Michael Jordan National Guard Superbike team.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With the winds of Daytona having blown by for another year, and some two months before round two of the 2011 AMA Pro Road Racing Superbike Championship hits the track at Infineon Raceway in May, teams took the time to reflect this week on last weekend's outings. With the Daytona 200 SportBike show catching most of the attention due to the calamitous nature of the way the race eventually came down, the AMA Superbike Championship rounds one and two were all but overlooked. But not for the lack of excitement, on the track where it belongs!

With Team Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki's Blake Young winning both opening rounds at the World Center of Speed, #79 showed the field and the fans that his race win at the season ender last year at Barber was no fluke, and the young man from Wisconsin is again on top of his game after breaking his back last year and missing part of the season. Team mate Tommy Hayden on the #22 carded 2nd/3rd results in the openers and for the second year in a row missed the top step of the podium in both races by a combined .235 seconds! Needless to say both will be a constant threat throughout the remainder of the season and will provide some excellent and exciting racing once the series hits the real tracks on the schedule.

Team Jordan/National Guard Suzuki teamsters Ben Bostrom on the #23 Jordan Brand GSX-R1000 and Roger Lee Hayden on the #54 National Guard GSXR also figured into the mix for the season opener, but obviously not what either would have wanted, with BBoz scoring a 4th/5th and RLH a 5th/15th, the latter of which was caused by losing the front end on a painted line/stripe in a cornering move. With both of these guys being new to not only the team, but the new 2011 GSXRs as well, and testing having been at a bare minimum for all, look for both to better their results as the year progresses. BBoz obviously still has the fire in him that propelled him to the '08 AMA Supersport Championship and his '09 Daytona 200 win, let alone his win at Laguna last summer on the Pat Clark Yamaha. And the youngest of the Hayden Brothers out of OWB, KY. is looking to race at the front again in 2011 after suffering from running at the back in the World Superbike Championship last year while riding the under-funded Kawasaki for Team Pedercini. Either of these riders could garner the next win for Michael Jordan's team in it's eighth season of competing in the AMA Pro Road Racing Series.

The 2011 version of the AMA Superbike Championship reconvenes at Infineon Raceway (Sears Point to all you old heads like me) on May 13-15. With Daytona gone down the road, the series hits the real tracks for some real racing, in what should be a super year for Suzuki AND the rest of the field!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suzuki Racing reviews Daytona rounds one and two of the 2011 AMA Superbike Championship:

http://www.suzuki-racing.com/young-dominates-daytona-superbike-opener.23805.cms?SRS_ID=1

More here from Suzuki Racing's official website:

http://www.suzuki-racing.com/young-and-hayden-take-daytona-one-two.23775.cms?SRS_ID=1

Team Rockstar/Yoshimura/Makita Suzuki and Team Jordan Suzuki review their Daytona's to kick off the 2011 season. Thanks to RoadRacingWorld.com for this press release:

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=43666
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMA Pro Road Racing has the official results of all the racing at Daytona International Speedway here:

http://results.amaproracing.com/live/results/pdfresults/rr/2011/01-daytona/default.aspx
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------