Austin, TX - March 20, 2015 – With his brand-new #00 Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock 1000 bike still in preseason bodywork, but proudly displaying the logo of his primary sponsor Yamalube, Dane Westby and his Yamalube/Westby Racing crew successfully participated in the Official MotoAmerica Test at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA). Dane recorded the fastest 1000 Superstock lap time, along with the fourth-fastest time of any rider overall, which includes the Superbike participants at the Test.

The team worked methodically and diligently to get Dane more and more comfortable on the new R1, and things progressed quickly, in more ways than one. On the second day of the Test, Dane’s laptimes dropped both significantly and suddenly, an obvious indication that the team, the bike, and the rider had found their sweet spot.

"We did 16s on our first day here, and we thought that was ripping around pretty good," Dane commented. "And, on the second day, we did 11s. So, it’s amazing just how quickly we lowered our laptimes. We just kept chipping away at suspension settings, threw some tires at it, threw this at it, and every single thing kept taking huge chunks out of our laptimes.

“When I ran the 2:11.580, it didn’t feel that fast. Before the session, we had discussed that we probably had a 12 in us, so the 11 was like...‘wow.’ This new R1 is phenomenal. I can’t say enough good things about it, and we still haven’t reached the bike’s potential. So, I’m looking forward to coming back here to COTA in a couple of weeks."

Yamalube/Westby Racing will return to COTA with their #00 R1 in full 1000 Superstock race trim on April 10-12 where they will compete in the 2015 MotoAmerica Series.