WESTBY RACING
NEWS AND UPDATES
Westby Racing Concludes Its Monterey Weekend With Mathew Scholtz Finishing Sixth In Sunday’s MotoAmerica Superbike Race
Monterey, CA – July 14, 2019 –
After unfortunately crashing out of Saturday’s MotoAmerica Superbike race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the Westby Racing team came back strong on Sunday, with Mathew finishing sixth aboard the gold-liveried #11 Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike.
Starting from the middle of the second row on the grid, Mathew got off to a good start and set about moving towards the front. However, sometimes when dissimilar brands of tire rubber meet each other on a racing surface, chassis setup problems can be the result. And, with a World Superbike (WSBK) race occurring just prior to Sunday’s MotoAmerica Superbike race, Mathew and the team were left wondering if residual rubber left on the track from the Pirelli tires that are mandated by WSBK may have affected the setup of Mathew’s Dunlop-shod Yamaha.
With Mathew feeling a lack of confidence almost from the onset of Sunday’s 23-lap race, he took a cautious tack in order to avoid a repeat of Saturday’s crash and crossed the finish line safely in sixth.
“We learned from race one where we needed to improve the bike, and we made some changes for the morning warmup, which were positive,” Mathew said. “We saw the direction that we needed to go with the bike, and we did a little bit more before the race, and I think some of it was positive, but I wasn’t getting good feedback from the bike. I don’t know, maybe it was because the track surface wasn’t as hot or the Pirelli rubber on the track from the World Superbike races changed the way the bike felt, but I wasn’t feeling my usual confident self in the race, and the bike just didn’t feel right. I made a couple of mistakes in the opening laps and almost tossed it away so, with yesterday’s crash, I decided to take things easy. I’ve got to thank the Westby team. It’s been a difficult weekend for us, and they worked really hard to give me the best bike possible. Luckily, we’ll be staying through tomorrow for the trackday, and hopefully, we’ll be able to test one or two things for our next round at Sonoma. That track definitely suits our bike better, so I’ll use this break to train hard, and we’ll come back our strongest.
The Westby Racing team will get ready for round seven of the 2019 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, which will be a two-day event at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California on August 10th and 11th.
MotoAmerica Superbike Standings
1. Toni Elias – Suzuki – 246
2. Cameron Beaubier – Yamaha – 207
3. Garrett Gerloff – Yamaha – 181
7. Mathew Scholtz – Yamaha – 110
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