Yoshimura Suzuki achieve triple podium

at Wisconsin

Press Release

• Racing
• Suzuki

Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Jake Lewis and Roger Hayden raced to three podium positions at the weekend’s MotoAmerica Superbike Championship fourth round at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin in America.
MotoAmerica Superbike rookie Jake Lewis scored a pair of podium finishes on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike in front of a big crowd at the scenic, four-mile road course as team-mate Roger Hayden was runner-up in race one and finished fourth in the second leg.

The finishes kept Lewis and Hayden in third and fourth respectively in the MotoAmerica AMA Superbike standings after eight races.
Lewis qualified on the front row, third, in the rainy Superpole on Saturday. Yet it was a weekend of marked contrast in both the changeable spring Wisconsin weather, but Hayden raced a little beat-up on Sunday after crashing in the rain during Saturday’s qualifying session.
The fall-off in Superpole meant Hayden started from ninth on the grid on Sunday, but he was able to quickly motor his way to the front in race one using the horsepower on tap with his GSX-R1000. Hayden nearly put himself in a position to draft into the lead at the finish of race one, but came up just shy of taking the victory. The official margin between Hayden and winner Cameron Beaubier was a scant 0.136-seconds.
Hayden admitted:
“I kind of put myself into a hole in qualifying, crashing out and having to start ninth. But I got a really good start and was right there with the leaders in turn one thanks to the power of the bike. I just hung in there for a while and then Josh (Hayes) crashed and we lost a little bit of time. I caught back up to Cameron and was right there; I was really hoping to make a pass on him on the last lap, but I just didn’t make it happen.
“The second race didn’t really go as planned. We had little bit of an issue that hampered us the whole race and we got fourth. We still had a good showing and almost got the win in the first race. I feel like we’re right there and I’m looking forward to Barber. It’s one of my strongest tracks. I’ve got to thank my whole team because they had to do a lot of extra work after my Saturday crash. They did a great job as always.”
An illustration of just how strong Hayden and the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 combination was came in race one when he turned the fastest lap of the race with a 2:13.798.
For Superbike rookie Lewis, Road America marked a pair of races running consistently up front. Two consecutive podiums shows that the maturation into an elite Superbike rider by the lanky Kentuckian is continuing at a pace better than many expected. Lewis finished third in both Elkhart Lake rounds.
Lewis explained:
“This weekend was pretty good, I was pretty happy with two podiums and I felt I rode a lot better than I have recently. I was able to run with the front guys in both races and see what I need to work on. I had a good qualifying session and got off to two great starts. I felt good in all the conditions we had here. It gives me a lot of momentum and confidence going into the next round. Hopefully I’ll be fighting up front again and finish even a little higher up.”
The Yoshimura Suzuki squad returns to action on June 12-14th at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
Elkhart Lake AMA Superbike Race 1 Results:
1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
2. Roger Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki)
3. Jake Lewis (Yoshimura Suzuki)
4. Danny Eslick (Honda)
5. Chris Fillmore (KTM)
6. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
7. Elena Myers (Suzuki)
8. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha)
9. Stefano Mesa (Honda)

Elkhart Lake AMA Superbike Race 2 Results:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha)
3. Jake Lewis (Yoshimura Suzuki)
4. Roger Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki)
5. Danny Eslick (Honda)
6. Chris Fillmore (KTM)
7. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha)
8. Elena Myers (Suzuki)

2015 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship Points:
1. Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha), 176
2. Josh Hayes (Yamaha), 150
3. Jake Lewis (Yoshimura Suzuki), 116
4. Roger Hayden (Yoshimura Suzuki), 101
5. Bernat Martinez (Yamaha), 84
6. Elena Myers (Suzuki), 70
7. Chris Ulrich (Suzuki), 54
8. Danny Eslick (Honda), 48
9. Stefano Mesa (Honda), 35
10. Chris Fillmore (KTM), 32

Information from a Team Suzuki Press Office – June 2