VOL. 55 ISSUE 14 APRIL 10, 2018 P103
into 2018 is Mathew Scholtz of
South Africa and his Yamalube/
Westby Yamaha R1. Scholtz, who
closed out 2017 with a victory at
a rainy Barber Motorsports Park.
That was done on a Superstock
1000-class machine, giving
Scholtz the permanent distinc-
tion of being the only Superstock
1000-class rider ever to win a
MotoAmerica Superbike race.
Scholtz is now riding on a more
level playing field with a super-
bike and he was consistently near
the top of the charts in pre-sea-
son testing at Barber, finishing
second only to factory Yamaha's
Cameron Beaubier.
"We were confident coming
into Barber that we were going
to be competitive, but the big un-
known after racing in Superstock
1000 last year was how we would
compare now that we're on a
superbike," Scholtz said after the
recent Barber Dunlop tire tests.
"Yesterday didn't start out well,
and we didn't get much track time
due to a few different problems.
But, in the final session of the
test, we got the bike straightened
out, and we were able to work
on setting it up for the superbike
engine, the forks and the wheels.
Our lap times weren't where we
wanted to be, though. Today, we
started out really well, which was
a positive step for us. And that
was on the older rear tire, which
was what we raced on here last
year. In the second and third
sessions, the bike just wasn't
working, unfortunately, so we
didn't get any track time with the
new Dunlop tire. In the final ses-
sion, the team got things working
properly, and the bike was great.
With 15 minutes left in the test,
we put on the softer tire and did
a really quick lap time. We still
have a lot of work to do with the
brand-new tire, but it was good
to show that we have the pace.
We go to Virginia [International
Raceway] next week to do a test
there, so we'll have some more
track time to work on setting the
bike up for the new tire before we
go to Road Atlanta for the start of
the season."
Other leading Yamaha squads
include Attack Performance/Her-
rin Compound Yamaha with for-
mer AMA Superbike racer Josh
Herrin at the controls and the
talented Richard Stanboli building
the bikes. That pairing could be a
very strong entry with a history of
success for both.
Kyle Wyman Racing (KWR) has
partnered with Speed Demon
Motorcycles to contest the 2018
MotoAmerica Superbike Champi-
onship. After a successful end of
season in 2017, Kyle Wyman will
work again with crew chief Gary
Dean to challenge for the premier
class title. Dean will prepare Ya-
Cameron Peterson
takes over for Jake
Gagne on the Genuine
Broaster Chicken
Honda Team. Peterson
and crew are hoping
for improved results
on an improved
CBR1000RR.
