WESTBY RACING
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At The Circuit Of The Americas, Westby Racing Superbike Rider Mathew Scholtz Finishes 7th and 13th In A Texas-Sized MotoAmerica Adventure
Austin, TX – April 15, 2019 –
For Mathew Scholtz and his Westby Racing team, the 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship of Texas at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas was a weekend adventure that they will not soon forget.
In Friday’s Superpole final qualifying session, Mathew put the #11 Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike in fifth position and on the second row of the starting grid. Early on Saturday, a massive storm replete with torrential rainfall, lightning, and high winds forced the cancellation of the morning’s free practice session, which prevented the team from fully testing the changes that they had made to the bike’s setup on Friday night.
In Saturday’s Superbike race one, Mathew felt that the setup he and the team chose on Friday night was a little bit off. Early in the race, he ran wide and slightly off the track, but he was able to quickly rejoin the race. However, a few turns later, he lowsided the bike and slid gently into the gravel. Quickly remounting his essentially undamaged Yamaha, Mathew got back underway and recovered to finish seventh, which was a very solid result considering how much worse things could have been if he hadn’t been able to continue on in the race after the crash.
After some more tweaks to the setup on Saturday night, Mathew recorded the fifth-fastest time in Sunday morning’s warmup session, which was encouraging for him and the team.
In Sunday’s race two, things were going well until MotoAmerica race officials inexplicably signaled to Mathew that he needed to come into the pits. He dutifully rode his gold-liveried Westby Racing Yamaha in for the team to check over, but they didn’t find anything wrong with the bike. The race officials agreed with the team’s assessment and cleared the bike to return to the race. By then, however, Mathew was a lap down, but he faithfully soldiered on despite the disappointing situation and salvaged as many championship points as he could, ultimately crossing the finish line in 13th place.
About the weekend at COTA, Westby Racing team manager Chuck Giacchetto said, “All in all, round two was a positive experience for us because we learned a lot and still left with valuable points, a tight program, and most importantly, a rider who is extremely motivated to take charge at our next round of the championship.
“As I look back on the efforts of other teams that have not garnered success when switching to advanced electronics packages, I have to say I’m extremely pleased with how fast Herschel has made the bike comfortable and compliant for Mathew. That’s not to say that it isn’t a huge team effort. All of our crewmembers contribute to the awesome package that Pop (team owner Tryg Westby) decided to move forward with in the offseason. The whole effort has matured to a new level that is positioned to accept new challenges ahead.
“I’d like to give a very special thanks to Ronald Kabella and Pat Riley of MOTOREX for joining us at the second round of the MotoAmerica series this weekend in Austin, Texas.”
Mathew and the team will regroup and come back strong for round three of the 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, which takes place at VIRginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, on May 4 through 5.
MotoAmerica Superbike Standings
1. Toni Elias – Suzuki – 90
2. Cameron Beaubier – Yamaha – 77
3. Josh Herrin – Yamaha – 49
4. Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha – 45
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