Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/861665
CHAMPIONSHIP VOL. 54 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 15, 2017 P115 My Own Race: 24 TONI ELIAS 2-2 SUPERBIKE "I am very happy that I was able to get second in both races, even though I had to work very hard to get there," Elias said. "On Saturday's race, I was pushed wide in the first turn and fell many positions. Sunday, things went bet- ter early in the race and I was able to get into second much faster. My hope was to gain on Cameron, but he was riding very well and it was not possible. For the championship the weekend was very good. I now have a 70-point lead and am in a very good position. I was sorry that Roger had a bad weekend, but in our sport sometimes these things happen." 95 ROGER HAYDEN DNF-DNF SUPERBIKE "We had a tough weekend here at Sonoma," the Yoshimura Suzuki Team rider explained. "In race one another rider ran into the back of me and knocked me down. In race two, I was just pushing a little too hard and went down early in the race. We qualified well and made some progress on the bike. I'm glad we only have one weekend off. I'm looking forward to Pittsburgh." 85 JAKE LEWIS 1-2 SUPERSTOCK 1000 "It was a great race for me," said Jake Lewis (M4 Ecstar Suzuki Team Hammer) after his race-one win. "I qualified well, which set us up well, and then I got a good start on top of that. I just put my head down to catch the class leader, and unfortunately, he crashed. I then saw the Superbike leader out in front, and honestly, I felt like I was catching him for a little while out there. I thought I had second overall, but with a few laps to go, I caught a huge pack of lappers, which hurt me big time. I lost a lot of time. But really, I'm super happy because what I need to do is win in the Superstock 1000 class, and that's what I did today." 53 VALETIN DEBISE 3-3 SUPERSPORT "I would like to thank my team because they gave me a big opportunity to make some tests despite the expense," said Valetin Debise (M4 Ecstar Suzuki Team Hammer) following his third-place finish on Saturday. "We went testing with Öhlins and we tried like 10 sets of forks and finally found something that works really well for me. So now instead of crashing I can push a little bit more into the corner, which is really helpful. As you see, it was a big step forward for us. I was third and really close to second and not that far off first. Tomorrow we will try one more time, and why not try to push for the win? I'm feeling really confident, and I'm really excited for Sunday's race." The Frenchman ended up finishing third again. "Unfortunately, today I wasn't able to stay up in contention for the win," he said Sunday. "I tried to ride a little differently in an attempt to go faster, but that was my mistake. I didn't choose the right way to ride my bike." 4 JOSH HAYES 3-3 SUPERBIKE "Today at the beginning of the race it was a little bit cleaner and everybody got through a little bit better so I had some more work to do during the race," Hayes said on Sunday. "It took me a little while to get through everybody and I had to pick my spots a little more carefully. I had what felt like a little bit better pace than yesterday and overall felt like I had a little bit better motorcycle. Overall, I felt like it was a more solid day. The work I did on the bike this weekend felt like an improvement so hopefully I can carry that through to Pittsburgh and the rest of the series and be a little bit more of a permanent fixture closer to the front."