MILLVILLE, NEW JERSEY – AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike rookie Ben Young capped off a challenging weekend at the American Red Cross Devil’s Showdown presented by Team Pro-Motion with a 14th place finish at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
With almost seven weeks since the 8th round of the GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing series at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca the Thornbury, Ontario-based rider was raring to get back aboard his #86 BYR/FOGI Racing Yamaha YZF-R6.
Although the young Scottish-Canadian had previously competed at New Jersey Motorsports Park in the AMA Pro Road Racing Motocycle-Superstore.com SuperSport class in 2011, the team knew that getting his 600 setup correctly was going to be a work in progress. Young used the session to focus on reacquainting himself with the track and working with the team to develop a base-line setup to use for the remainder of the weekend.
Young took to the track for the first qualifying session of the weekend where he achieved a best lap time of 1:26.5 which earned him 19th on the provisional grid. With Young’s feedback the team decided to make some changes that included gearing changes and tire choice.
Warm and humid unsettled weather that had been forecasted for the area presented additional challenges for all the teams during Saturday morning’s second and final qualifying session. Due to a wet track with dry sections Young opted to take out his ‘B’ bike, which was set up for wet weather, was unable to fully test the changes made to his primary bike. He determined that the track was too dry for rain tires and too damp for DOT tires and was likely not going to better his times from the first qualifying session.
Still looking for a competitive edge the team chose to make an additional gearing change prior to the first race of the weekend. Young started from 19th on the grid however the changes to bike would only allow him to earn an 18th place finish in first race of the doubleheader weekend.
“We gambled on the gearing for Saturday’s race and it was clearly the wrong choice. Ben did an outstanding job to maintain the pace he did and to move up to finish 18th.” admitted team manager Scott Young. “Prior to Sunday morning’s practice we made some additional changes to gearing and rear suspension and Ben went faster and seemed more comfortable on the bike.”
Once again Young started from 19th the grid for Sunday’s AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike feature race. The young pilot got off the line well and began to move up through the field however an accident triggered by water seeping onto the track brought out the Red Flag.
After the riders involved in the accident were attended to and the track was cleared of the standing water the field was re-gridded for the restart. Starting from 16th on the grid Young continued to battle hard.
“It was a bit of a lonely race for me once it got going. I put my head down to try and catch a pack of riders ahead of me but today’s pace was more than what our current set up would allow me to do.” said Young.
Young who moved up to 13th was eventually passed by 2012 Daytona 200 winner Joey Pascarella going into the first corner with only three laps to go.
“I stuck on his back wheel but with our gearing I just didn’t have enough to get the position back. Overall we made great progress on the setup over the weekend” said Young
Batting right to the end Young put in his fastest lap of the weekend during the final lap of the race earning him a 14th place finish. This latest result is another personal best for Young in his 2012 AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike rookie season.
Ben Young Racing (BYR) and the Fogi Racing Development Team would like to thank the following outstanding companies for their support; Scotbuild Developments, Arai Helmets, GP Tech LLC, Tim Hortons – Sudbury, K&N Filters, EBC Brakes, Arlen Ness Racing boots, Armour Bodies, BCL Motorsports Pit Kit, Vortex Racing, Akrapovic Exhaust Systems, RS Taichi Leathers, The Graphix Factory, The North American International Motorcycle SUPERSHOW and Liquid Performance.
To keep up-to-date on Ben Young and the Fogi Racing Development Team, visit www.fogi.us, www.facebook.com/BenYoungRacing and on Twitter @86BY.
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