Photo by Brian J. Nelson / Riles & Nelson Photography
Birmingham, AL (June 24) – Joey Pascarella and his 2013 Riders Discount Triumph 675R continued improve during the Triumph SuperBike Classic at Barber Motorsports park this weekend. Pascarella managed his quickest pace in qualifying and two top ten finishes in the Daytona Sportbike Class – ending up ninth in race one and tenth in race two.
“We started the weekend looking for improvements,” said Pascarella. “Both of the new 2013 Triumph 675R’s felt a lot better from the get-go on Friday than they did at Road America. I felt more comfortable on one of them than the other, so we used that as our base setting and worked on it from there. This gave us a pretty good pace by the time we got to the first qualifying session on Friday and I ended up tied with Westby in seventh. The crew made some changes to the bike overnight and it felt even more comfortable on Saturday morning. In the final qualifying session I was able to go quicker and moved up to the sixth spot on the grid.”
Saturday’s race itself began with a good start, but a small moment in the sixth lap caused Pascarella to drop back before fighting back into the top ten.
Regarding race one, Pascarella added, “We started off quick, but I was struggling for grip and ended up making a small mistake which led to running off track at one point. I was able to recover and got back up to ninth by the end.”
Sunday began with more changes having been made to the Triumph overnight. The difference was immediately apparent in the warm up, when Pascarella posted the second quickest time of the morning session. Confident going into race two, Pascarella was able to get out of the gate with a solid start until balance issues from a spun tire and a lack of grip slowed his pace. He was still able to maintain a top ten position, and left the weekend’s racing feeling confident about the team’s progress.
“I was super happy with the bike this morning,” said Pascarella on Sunday afternoon. “We were second in the morning warm up, and almost went as fast as we did in qualifying on a used set of tires. I was excited going into the race today, but struggled with grip once the track temps got hotter in the afternoon. Overall, the crew did an awesome job improving the bike this weekend and it’s feeling much better than the last time out at Road America. We’re obviously fast, as we showed in qualifying and practice, and we just need to keep working at finding the grip when the track is hot and greasy. I know we can run up front when we do!”
Bree Poland, Riders Discount Triumph team manager, had this to say about weekend at Barber, “This weekend was good for the team. We are finally figuring things out and managed to claim two top ten finishes. Of course we would like to be up front battling for podiums, but we’re quite happy with the the progress we’ve made. Joey ended up second quickest in Sunday morning’s warm up, which gave us some good momentum going into the afternoon’s race. Unfortunately Joey’s rear tire spun on the rim and we were unable to convert that into a podium position. Teething pains like these won’t happen again.”
Joey Pascarella would like to thank his sponsors: Riders Discount, Triumph, Speed and Strength, K-Tech, Shoei, Akrapovic, Dunlop, Motion Pro, Zero Gravity, Vicci, Maxima, Saddlemen, Sidi, Forcefield Armour, Renthal, Andrew Swenson Designs, Hanshaw Engines, GB Covers, Brembo, Cap-It Tire Warmers, Spiegler, Attack Performance, Utopia, Sharkskinz, Drippinwet, Pitbull, Fastbikes USA.
About RidersDiscount.com: RidersDiscount.com is an online retailer of quality powersports gear, apparel and accessories. A company founded by racers,RidersDiscount.com ships equipment for every riding style to customers worldwide, backed by knowledgeable sales team and excellent customer service.
Triumph Motorcycles (www.TriumphMotorcycles.com) is the British motorcycle marquee that produces a wide range of sport, cruiser, adventure and touring motorcycles. From the storied Bonneville to the class-leading Speed Triple and Daytona 675R, Triumph offers a blend of design, character and performance that result in truly distinctive motorcycles. First established in 1902 and now located in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England, Triumph has always set the pace for category-winning machines. The company is solely owned by Bloor Holdings Ltd. and its North American operations are based in Atlanta.
*If interested in being a partner/sponsor of Riders Discount Racing, please contact bree@ridersdiscount.com for more info.
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