News Team Roadracingworldcom Suzuki Second in 8 Hours At Daytona

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki extended a perfect record of top-two results in the 8-Hours At Daytona on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, claiming a runner-up finish in the grueling contest.

The team's record in American endurance racing since the formation of Team Hammer in 1980 is remarkable and the organization has won 132 endurance races and 13 National Endurance Championships since then.

Attacking the Moto-GT season finale with a trio of proven AMA Pro race winners in Chris Ulrich, Martin Cardenas, and Jason DiSalvo, the Roadracingworld.com Suzuki squad came into the weekend viewed as race favorites every bit capable of building upon their two-race 8-Hours A Daytona win streak.

This time, however, a combination of misfortune and difficulties in finding an ideal set-up compromise for three riders of contrasting physical dimensions -- along with an extremely solid performance by the No. 13 Westby Racing team -- prevented the team from claiming a third consecutive victory in an exciting two-team battle for the overall win.

Cardenas, who took seven Daytona SportBike victories this season, rode brilliantly early on in his return to action following his late-season injury that curtailed his Daytona SportBike championship challenge. The Colombian turned the fastest lap in the race by over a half-second, clocking a 1:50.863 aboard the #18 Suzuki GSX-R600. But the team was hit with a ride-through penalty for clipping an adjacent pit stall while coming in for a refueling stop. A late-race problem with a loose footpeg cost the team additional time, and they ultimately finished in second place two laps off the victory with 245 laps completed.

"We felt we put together a really strong team and Martin was very strong for us," Chris Ulrich said. "The settings are never perfect in a race like this, and we knew from last year that Martin's setting would be difficult for me to ride. But my plan was to limit our losses and take advantage of his speed with his preferred settings. The big question was DiSalvo, and we felt he'd be able to ride pretty well on Martin's settings but it just proved a lot more difficult for him than we anticipated. We ended up with a pretty lopsided lineup and the results showed that.

"I'm probably 6-8 inches taller and 45 pounds heavier than Jason and 30 pounds heavier than Martin. In the first stint I was in the 1:53s even though I was on the bottom of the front fork, and that was OK considering I was just looking to limit the loss. I knew that was going to be the case, and I was just going to do what I could and then hand it off to Jason and Martin and let them turn some fast times and extend the lead. But unfortunately at the end of my stint I made a mistake that cost us a ride-through, which put us a minute-and-a-half behind and we never recovered. Then we had a small problem with a loose footpeg in the last 90 minutes and that was all she wrote.

"I'm happy the Roadracingworld.com Suzuki team has been on the podium for the last four seasons at this race, including two wins and two second places. That's a great track record for us, but I wanted to be fighting closer for the win to be honest.

"The No. 13 team ran very well the whole race and their rider lineup was very strong. They ran a mistake-free race while we had a few mistakes. There's no shame in second, but the history of this team is not one to be second," added Ulrich. "What the No. 13 bike did to us is what we usually do to everybody else. Usually we're perfect in execution; don't incur any penalties, don't make any stupid mistakes, don't have any problems with the machinery. Unfortunately, this year's race didn't play out that way for us and we had a bad day but we still were able to take second place. It wasn't for lack of trying, however, and we'll be back next year stronger than ever."