From a press release from BYR/ Fogi Racing- BYR/FOGI Racing’s Ben Young continued his progress in the AMA Pro Road Racing Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike class last weekend earning his best finish of the season so far with a 16th place finish in the first of two races at the Subway SuperBike Doubleheader at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
However, a mechanical setback in Sunday’s race ended his day early, halting any further progress the team had hoped to accomplish over the weekend.
Prior to Friday afternoon’s practice session it seemed that the unseasonably cool temperatures had followed the AMA Pro Road Racing series from Miller Motorsports Park to Road America. Under overcast skies Young took to the track for the first practice session earning 18th fastest with a time of 2:26.356.
In the first qualifying session Young rode confident and dramatically dropped his lap times down to a 2:25.013, tentatively placing him 19th on the grid. With one more qualifying session to go Young knew he could dig deeper.
In Saturday morning’s final qualifying session the Thornbury, Ontario resident achieved 15th fastest with a best lap time of 2:23.065 placing his Scot-build Yamaha R6 15th on the grid, a personal best for the pilot in his rookie Daytona SportBike season.
In the first Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike race of the weekend Young ran equally as strong as he did in the final qualifier, chasing Kneedraggers.com/Triple Crown Industries – Austin Dehaven and Turner`s Cycle Racing’s Kris Turner for most of the race. Dehaven began to pull away however in the closing laps of the race Young would pass Turner to take 16th place at the line.
Feeling confident from the previous day’s progress FOGI Racing’s young apprentice was eager to see what the second race of the weekend had in store for him and the team.
On Sunday the track conditions and weather were perfect for the racers and the fans in attendance at Road America. After the morning practice the team decided to risk changing the rear gearing to allow Young to get a better drive out the corners. Young once again found himself chasing Dehaven and Turner with Fernando Amantini joining the mix. Preparing to make a pass on Kris Turner, Young’s machine developed transmission problems and was forced to retire on the 8th lap.
The young Scottish-Canadian rider was asked about his weekend: “The second race was unfortunate but we had a strong weekend overall. Our bike is underpowered at present compared to the front runners. Hopefully we can rectify that and award our sponsors and the team with high-end results for the remainder of the season.”
Young is looking forward to spending some time at home with family and friends before heading back out on the road for Round 6, the Triumph SuperBike Classic at Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama June 22-24.
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