On Saturday at Road America, MotoAmerica’s first race day of the 2020 season with spectators, Westby Racing’s Superbike rider Mathew Scholtz finished fifth and, in Junior Cup, Cody Wyman was seventh. The results weren’t what either rider had hoped for, but Mathew, Cody, and the team gained valuable information that should help them improve on their results in Sunday’s races.
At the start of the Superbike race, Mathew struggled to get a clean launch off the line, and that setback put him at a deficit from the beginning. He had an exciting battle with Josh Herrin and was able to finish ahead of him, but the time spent in that battle enabled the frontrunners to pull away, and Mathew was just not able to catch them. A technical issue also cropped up with the bike, but the team fixed the problem and they are ready to go for tomorrow.
“My starts are just not helping me,” Mathew said. “Today, it put me too far back in the pack, and I had to fight my way to the front. And, then, I had to contend with (Josh) Herrin for a few laps. Also, we had a small problem with the bike, which the crew were able to find and fix. Tomorrow should be a better day for us.”
Cody, who is racing the only Yamaha against virtually an entire grid of Kawasaki’s with engines of larger displacement, knows that he has his work cut out for him at tracks like Road America that place a premium on top speed. He has to fully exploit the corner speed of his bike in order to counter the straight-line speed advantage of the other bikes on track.
For Cody, it’s a challenge that he absolutely does not shy away from, but on Saturday, finishing seventh was the reality of the situation.
“It was a decent day at Road America, and it was awesome to see the turnout and the number of fans at the track,” commented Cody. “In the race, it was tough coming from the fourth row, but I did my best to ride through the field and put myself in the best spot for a solid result. I knew in the opening laps, when I was getting held up, that it would be a big ask to challenge for a top-five finish. So, I settled in with our group and strategized to win that battle. It worked out to plan, and I ended up winning the battle and finishing seventh. It’s not where I want to be, but we’ll get another shot at it tomorrow.”
Sunday’s Superbike Race 2 is at 1:30 PM Central and will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) and Eurosport, as well as streamed on MotoAmerica Live+.
Junior Cup Race 2 is at 2:30 PM Central and will be broadcast via tape-delay on FS2 (check your local listings for FS2 airtimes), in addition to being live-streamed on MotoAmerica Live+.
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