Tulsa, OK - November 15, 2017 –

For motorcycle racers, “seat time” is the most valuable activity in their training regimen. But, during the off-season, seat time is even more difficult to come by. Sure, there is the kind of “seat time” that literally involves taking a comfortable seat and reminiscing about the past racing season, and there is the “seat time” spent in the saddle of a pedal bike or on a dirt bike to keep one’s fitness level up.

 

For Mathew Scholtz, “seat time” means riding his #1 Yamalube/Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1, at speed and on tracks throughout the Southeast. It’s a valuable opportunity for the Durban Dynamo to hone his skills, continue his mind-meld between man and machine, and work (and play) with his adopted American family consisting of Yamalube/Westby Racing team manager Chuck Giacchetto, crew chief Ed Sullivan, technicians Dustin Meador and Frank Shockley, and suspension guru Jonathan Cornwell.

 

But Mathew is not just riding. He’s got his head down, and he’s running MotoAmerica-qualifying-level and race-pace-level laps. “We’re having fun like we always do,” commented Chuck. “But, we’re always doing work…a lot of it. As tough as the Superstock 1000 class was this year, we are well aware that things are going to be a lot tougher in 2018 when we move up to MotoAmerica Superbike. We’re going into the deep-end, and not just to tread water. We want to win!”

 

If Chuck sounds a little bit “testy,” that’s because he, Mathew, and the team are in full testing mode. Over the past weekend and earlier this week, Mathew and the team joined Sportbike Track Time at Barber Motorsports Park. “Sportbike Track Time had a track day weekend scheduled at Barber,” Chuck added. “They’ve got a great relationship with Yamaha Motor Corporation, so they were kind enough to allow us to test during their event. We made a lot of progress.”

 

According to crew chief Ed, “About halfway through the 2017 season, the team made the decision to move up to the Superbike class, which has given us ample time to start the planning process and assemble some of the parts required. Soon after the final round of the 2017 MotoAmerica season last September, we were on track with Stage 1 of our Superbike program. The plan was to introduce parts gradually in order to make sure the team and Mathew fully understood the effects of each component.

 

“Among the parts tested have been bigger Superbike-spec Öhlins forks, different Evol triple clamps, a new Yoyodyne slipper clutch, a variety of brake calipers and rotors, different wheels, radiator, and, of course, we’re trying a lot of different settings with the TransLogic Systems electronics. We’ve now got three tests under our belt, and we have our chassis spec almost defined. The plan now is to focus on engine development that will work with our electronics package. As usual, Mathew has been great with his feedback, and he has made the process easy for the team who are 100% behind him. I'm confident that he will be giving the factory guys a hard time in 2018.”

 

Mathew said, “We went to Barber to test out some of the Superbike components. We don’t have the Superbike-spec engine in the our R1 yet, but we were able to fine-tune a lot of other parts of the bike. We spent the weekend dialing things in. Then, on Monday, we tried to put a really good pace together. It’s a little difficult because it’s a trackday and there were a lot of other riders out there, but I’m not complaining at all because getting to ride the bike was brilliant. I actually felt a lot more comfortable on the bike at this test than I did when we raced at Barber last September. The new Yoyodyne slipper clutch really worked well for us.  We did a few low “26’s,” which is only a tiny bit off from our laptimes at Barber last fall. And, we were right on pace with our fastest race lap from last fall at Barber.”

 

Yamalube/Westby Racing also tested at VIRginia International Raceway and Carolina Motorsports Park earlier this fall. The team plans to test at least one more time before the holiday break in late December.

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For more updates on Yamalube/Westby Racing, including news, photos, and videos visit “Westby Racing” on your favorite social media site.

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