VOLUME 58 ISSUE 27 JULY 7, 2021 P29
Elias To Race Laguna Seca
K
yle Wyman Racing an-
nounced that the team will
field 2017 MotoAmerica Super-
bike Champion and 2010 Moto2
World Champion Toni Elias on
its Panera Bread Ducati Panigale
V4 R the MotoAmerica Geico
Motorcycle Superbike Speed-
fest at Monterey, July 10-11, as a
replacement rider for the injured
Kyle Wyman.
Wyman, however, will be
focus his efforts on winning the
Mission King Of The Baggers
Championship on his factory
Harley-Davidson Road Glide.
Wyman suffered multiple
fractures of the olecranon bone,
a significant structural compo-
nent of the elbow joint, when
he crashed his Panera Bread
Ducati in the second of two
Honos Superbike races at Road
America on June 13. Wyman
underwent surgery on June 17
in Northern California, where
Dr. Maury K. Harwood used a
plate and seven screws to repair
the elbow. Since then, Wyman
had been rehabilitating the injury
at home in an effort to be as fit
as possible for the King Of The
Baggers Series finale at Laguna
on July 11.
"I'm very happy to welcome
Toni Elias to KWR as a replace-
ment rider for the Laguna Seca
round on the KWR Ducati Super-
bike," Wyman said. "Toni brings
a wealth of experience both in
MotoAmerica and abroad, and it
is an honor to be in a position to
field a rider and world champion
of his caliber. Toni is a great guy
who we've missed this year in
the paddock, so I'm really happy
that I can welcome him back to
MotoAmerica. There were a lot
of factors we sifted through to ar-
rive at our decision, and it wasn't
one I've taken lightly. I want him
to have fun and enjoy the bike
and the experience, and I'm sure
we will learn something along
the way while I focus on the third
and final round of the King of the
Baggers championship."
"I'm really happy and really
excited because Kyle has given
me this opportunity to comeback
to a racetrack with a good bike,"
Elias said. "I've been coaching
since the last race in Laguna
(Seca), but when you coach you
are riding at 10, 20 percent of
what you can go in a race. It's
been low speed and calm, so I
need this energy.
Although this will mark Elias'
MotoAmerica Superbike debut
on a Ducati, it won't be the first
race for the Spaniard on the
Italian marque as he competed
for the Pramac Ducati team in
the 2008 MotoGP World Cham-
pionship, earning two podium
finishes.
"I don't think it will be very dif-
ferent than the MotoGP Ducati,"
Elias said. "The blood is the
blood and that doesn't change.
I believe problems we solved
that year will help me during this
weekend and I think it will help
the team for the future."
CN
Toni Elias will pilot
the Panera Bread
Ducati Panigale
V4 R Superbike
this weekend at
Laguna Seca.
