Team RidersDiscount.com Jake Holden Racing had the privilege and honor of getting Taylor Knapp his first taste of the new EBR 1190RS at New Jersey Motorsports Park in AMA American SuperBike. Knapp went to NJMP with no experience on the new bike, only getting on the EBR 1190RS for first time in practice Friday morning. After that, he did nothing but go faster all weekend long. Being that it was an almost entirely bone-stock motorcycle straight off the assembly line, the entire team was thrilled to see Taylor end the weekend on the new bike pulling off lap times that were within half-a-second of the leaders in race two.

Taylor Knapp – “I was happy after showing up having never ridden the EBR 1190RS before. It was a different bike from the Buell I rode in 2009 but it was really good right out of the box. I didn’t realize the bike was going to be so stock, the team just put a pipe and some bodywork on it and we went racing. After the first session I rode it, I was happy – it was really good. And every session out we made tons of the progress and it just kept on getting better right up until the race.

By the second race we had the bike dialed in and I think we were doing the same times as the leaders or were right on par with them on the last few laps. Those guys were racing for the championship and to be less than a half second off the lap time as them makes me really happy I gave the bike a try. There’s a ton of potential for it and I think it’ll be a good package for anyone riding it next year. Working with everyone at Team RidersDiscount.com Jake Holden Racing was great, they did nothing but make the bike better for me all weekend long!”

Boyd Bruner, Crew Chief and EBR 1190RS builder – “Taylor rode what was basically a stock $36,000 motorcycle straight off the factory floor. Erik [Buell] suggested to the team that they get someone from the factory that knew the bike, so I went to work getting it ready. It took two days to build the bike, we just built it right before we left for NJMP and Taylor rode what was pretty much a stock motorcycle, except for the muffler, ECU and bodywork. We didn’t even change the actual pipes, just the muffler so all the stock emissions stuff was still on there. That, and we took off one of the two gaskets on the cylinder head. The gaskets are designed to be easily removed without pulling the cylinder from its studs. It’s light too, so we had to add some weight to it to be legal in the American SuperBike class. It was pretty good for what we had – it was phenomenal actually, and it worked out great after a little seat time.

The key for us was the seating position, which was a little bit high for Taylor – who’s 6’ 2”, so we had to tilt it back a few degrees and for him, that made all the difference. After that change, we dropped a half second and he could run comfortably at the pace he needed without burning up the rear tire. It’s strange because it was only a tiny bit that we brought it down, but it was enough to change the weight distribution.

Working with Taylor, he’d come in, tell me what the problem was, we’d fix it and he’d go back out. It was flawless. Every session he picked up time. It was great working with the team, everyone was so positive – if we had a problem, nobody complained about it, they just wanted to know what they could do to fix it. I got a lot of help from Walker and I couldn’t have done it without Mike Fitzgerald because he did the suspension, which I didn’t have time to do. And James Compton was very, very helpful for me.”

Breeann Poland owner, Jake Holden Racing – “It was a unique situation for the whole team because, not only hadn’t Taylor seen the EBR 1190RS before, neither had we! The whole crew got thrown into the deep end with the new bike but, true to their expertise, had no problem setting it up to Taylor’s liking. I’m really proud of everyone because, like all the other challenges we’ve faced this year, they made headway every session out. Taylor threw down on track too, hounding Geoff May – who’d been riding the same bike much longer, in both races. It was great to see everyone put in all their work to get him going fast on the bike.”

Brian Gibson owner, RidersDiscount.com – “Taylor took to the track like a kid in a candy store. A brand new EBR 1190RS gave him plenty of excitement and being able to ride in both American SuperBike on that and working on his Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R600 in Daytona SportBike kept him busy. It was great to have Taylor back in the RidersDiscount.com Jake Holden Racing garage again. It was a lot of fun to work together again.”

Taylor Knapp would like to thank his sponsors: RidersDiscount.com, Vesrah, CN Trading, Alpinestars Apparel, Arai Helmets, Ray C’s Extreme Store and BTP.

Jake Holden Racing would like to thank his sponsors: RidersDiscount.com, FMF Exhaust, Motul Lubricants, Shoei Helmets, Cortech Apparel, Sidi, Held, Motion-Pro, Liquid Performance, Vortex Racing, Bazzaz Performance, SharkSkinz Bodywork, Zero Gravity Windscreens, Vicci, Goodridge Brake Lines, Speedy Moto, K & N Engineering and Penske Shocks.

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In addition to his normal duties racing for Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R600 in Daytona SportBike, Taylor Knapp will return to the American SuperBike class riding an Erik Buell Racing 1190RS for the last AMA Pro Road Racing event this season. Taylor, who has plenty of experience riding another one of Erik’s bikes in the 2009 Daytona SportBike class, is looking forward to racing in the AMA’s premier class. It all came together in less than a week’s time while Taylor was returning from Europe. There, he’s been riding a Kawasaki ZX-10R for CN Racing in BSB’s Metzeler Superstock 1000 Championship class. This weekend, Taylor will be in two team garages which will give the Michigan native more time on the track which could prove advantageous in getting each bike set up for his needs. Team RidersDiscount.com and CN Trading look forward to an exciting weekend of racing for Taylor.

Taylor Knapp – “I can’t wait, I’m really pumped now that I get double the track time! The EBR 1190RS is better than the machine I raced in 2009 and I’m really excited to get back into the SuperBike class here at New Jersey Motorsports Park. I have to give a big thanks to American Suzuki and Mark Junge of Vesrah Suzuki for their support all year and for allowing me to compete in the big bike class. I’m looking forward to a great weekend on the two different bikes, it’s gonna be a blast!”

Erik Buell – “It’s a new bike, number 72 right off the assembly line that’s been converted [into a racer] in about three days. The bike actually belongs to a team out of New Jersey who knows Taylor and they figured that he could ride it first. It’s really an effort of well-known race enthusiasts who know how to run a team. We just scrambled to get the stuff together and organized so we could make sure everyone could pull this off in a week. I’m excited to see Taylor on it and I appreciate everyone coming together to do this.”

Brian Gibson – “We’ve always been a fan of Taylor and when we heard he was looking to get back into the American SuperBike class we wanted to do everything we could to help him out. Now we’ve got a new bike to work with over the weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park and we’re ready for it. I’m very happy to see Taylor in our garage again. I’d also like to give a special thanks to Mark Junge and Vesrah Suzuki for giving us, and especially, Taylor – the opportunity to get back into the SuperBike class this weekend!”

Look for the #44 in American SuperBike on the CN Trading / Team RidersDiscount.com ERB 1190RS and in Daytona SportBike riding the Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R600. For updates on Taylor’s progress this weekend, check out our Facebook page.

Taylor Knapp would like to thank his sponsors: RidersDiscount.com, Vesrah, CN Trading, Alpinestars Apparel, Arai Helmets, Ray C’s Extreme Store and BTP

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Team RidersDiscount.com comes away with their best results this year with two fifth place finishes at the Suzuki White Lightning AMA Pro Superbike Nationals. Thanks to the extra seat time working with Mr. Fitzgerald while competing against other AMA Pros during the previous WERA Cycle Jam weekend, Taylor had a particular confidence in his Yoshimura-prepared Suzuki GSX-R1000 for the AMA Superbike event at VIR. Things started off well with Taylor as high as fourth position on the time sheets and ultimately qualifying at the front of the third row.

For the first race Saturday, VIR’s infamous turn one made a bad start worse with many riders jostling for position, pushing Taylor down to eleventh place on the first lap. From there, he worked hard to obtain the speed which he knew he had from his qualifying pace and slowly made his way to the team’s best finish this year in fifth place.

Sunday’s race was a more intense affair for Taylor who had to battle with a field full of fast riders in order to move forward. After making a pass that would stick on the eleventh lap against Jake Zemke, Taylor came to encounter what he knew to be an insurmountable gap between him and fourth-place. Despite the distance, he used those last five laps to put his head down and clicked off times that were faster than all but the top two finishers and came home in fifth place, again equaling his performance from the day before on the Yoshimura-prepared Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Taylor Knapp – “In race one I got a bad start where I was behind a lot of people and I had to fight to get up to fifth place but we still ended up finishing about two seconds back from fourth place. Without the bad start, I really think we could’ve been fourth. Sunday, we got off the line better but everyone was bottled up in turn one again so I had to fight hard to keep up. It was a lot like Saturday’s race, but I still tried to ride as hard as I could and the Yoshimura-Prepared Suzuki GSX-R1000 did what I wanted and we came home in fifth again. The bike is the best it’s been all year thanks to Thermosman [Mike Fitzgerald]!”

After the best weekend of the year, Team RidersDiscount.com is looking forward to building on the success of VIR during the next two events at New Jersey Motorsports Park and Barber Raceway. With two hard-earned fifths in the bag, Taylor and the team can’t wait to get on the gas in New Jersey!

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Riding two completely different bikes at the Lucas Oil Superbike Challenge held at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, Team RidersDiscount.com’s Taylor Knapp got a win on the Yoshimura Suzuki-prepared GSX-R1000 and a second place finish riding the RidersDiscount.com-prepared Triumph Daytona 675.

Having qualified second in GTU, Taylor was confident he could get a win on the Daytona 675. Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding about the start procedure and, believing that a few riders had jumped the start, Taylor got off the line after three rows of bikes had already passed. Still, Knapp managed to run down everyone but Wood. Taking advantage of the Triumph’s speed he came within one-and-a-half seconds of the race-winner before another rider’s crash ended the race early while also setting the unofficial fastest lap on the red flag lap. Having run out of time, second place would have to do.

Sunday’s Lucas Oil Superbike Challenge GTO race proved to be better. With the start procedure that went the way it was explained in the riders meeting, Taylor, riding the Yoshimura-prepared GSX-R1000, stalked Jeremy Toye for the first half of the race, well clear of Geoff May and Chris Peris who were slowing each other up while fighting for position. With May and Peris behind him and having conserved his tires for the first half of the race, Knapp made his move on the BMW-mounted Toye into Miller’s turn five where Toye reacted by tucking the front and crashing out of the race. With May and Peris battling for what was then second place, Taylor put his head down to take the win a handy seven seconds ahead of the next best finisher.

Taylor Knapp – “We starting setting up the bikes at the WERA weekend before the Larry Miller Challenge and, especially with Triumph, things were really close out of the box – we only had to tweak it a little to get it into the 54’s. I really have to thank Mike Fitzgerald from ?hlins USA, he was a big help in getting both bikes handling the way I wanted. For the GTU, they changed the starting procedure to go with the lights after the official riders meeting. So, in the race I roll up to the starting line and I’m waiting for the yellow to come on [as per instructions during the second, unscheduled riders meeting] but only the red came on and went off right away, so I was caught way off guard – I don’t even think I had it in gear. Then I realized that we were supposed to be going but it was such a delay that two or three rows went by me and Jimmy Wood was just gone. Once I got going, I kept it at a three second gap behind the leader for most of the race and just after halfway I started closing in [on Wood] because he was beginning to fade back a little bit and I kept going faster. I had it closed down to a one second gap and that’s when they threw the red flag. It would have been close because I was starting to reel him in. I actually had the fastest lap time, but they reverted back a lap so Jimmy actually got that one. But the Triumph is awesome, it was just rolling – I wish I could have got that on top of the podium.

For the GTO race, I got a good start and stayed behind Toye until about halfway. I guess May and Peris were going at it behind me and slowing each other down, so I checked out on them. With Toye, I wasn’t really showing him much, I just saved my tire riding behind him in second. After halfway, I made my move by pulling him on the brakes coming into corner five. I think he saw me coming up the inside and tried to out-brake me and tucked the front when I stuffed him. After he crashed, I tried to finish the race as best I could and in the end I had a seven second gap on Peris. Now, I’m feeling pretty confident going to Road America. We’ll start where we left off with the GSX-R1000 and I think we’ll have a lot more for the races there. It should be a good weekend!”

Brian Gibson, owner RidersDiscount.com – “We had a very successful event racing both the Suzuki GSX-R1000 and the Triumph Daytona 675. Coming into an event as competitive as the Lucas Oil Superbike Challenge, we can’t say enough about how good the Yoshimura-prepared GSX-R1000 is; they gave us everything we needed to get up front. And we’re especially pleased with the work of Seamus Taaffe, who spent many hours meticulously preparing the Triumph to give a Taylor a fantastic bike straight off the truck. We’d also like to thank Mike Fitzgerald from ?hlins USA for spending a lot of time with Taylor because, without his expertise, it’s doubtful that we would have been as successful as we were. Now, we head to Road America with great enthusiasm since we have a lot of data we can use to get Taylor closer to the front.”

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Named Road Racing World’s “Young Gun” in 2005, Knapp has been racing as a privateer since turning pro in 2004. In 2008 he recorded numerous top-ten finishes in the AMA Pro Road Racing Series along with his first Superpole in the Daytona Sportbike Class at VIR. Knapp consistently scored excellent finishes in the AMA American Superbike 2009 season, allowing him to place ninth overall in his class, above several factory riders. 

This will be RidersDiscount.com’s third year working with Taylor Knapp, with 2010 as the team’s first year becoming a full title sponsor. Last year Knapp rode the RidersDiscount.com GSX-R1000 starting at Road Atlanta, and RidersDiscount.com has supported Taylor since 2008. “This is a great opportunity for both of us,” says RidersDiscount.com – owner Brian Gibson. “We’re excited to work with a rider of Taylor’s caliber. Of course we’re all hoping he challenges the factory riders, and we’re he’s continuing his relationship with us.”

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RidersDiscount.com riders Taylor Knapp, Russell Holland, Brian Gibson & Chris Knight shared success in the WERA National event at Grattan Raceway. Taylor comes away with two wins and a second place, Russell finished second in the F1 race, Brian walks away with a win and a DNF finish and Chris pulled off a best of second place. RidersDiscount.com riders raced in almost every expert class on Sunday from F1 to both 600 classes.

#44 Knapp started his Sunday with a second place finish in A Superstock on his GSX-R1000 K7. The result could have been better had it not been for his clutch failing right after the start. Mechanical problems aside, the 21-year-old kept eventual race winner Jensen honest to the end. The 600 Superstock race would be his redemption – Taylor outgunned his main rival from the A Superstock race making a pass on the brakes into turn one and seat-hopping his ZX-6R over the Grattan Hump every lap. Taylor’s fun continued in the F1 race where his GSX-R1000 K9’s radiator was punctured by a rock and started spraying water on the front wheel. With the front sliding through every corner, Taylor held on to take the win over Jensen by 0.98 seconds.

WERA newcomer #83 Russell Holland found the Grattan layout fun but challenging in spite of the fact that it was one of the bumpiest circuit he’d ever ridden. The 25-year-old Australian came to the National event not to compete for wins, but rather, familiarize himself with the 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1 in preparation for his first AMA event at Mid-Ohio. Having only visited Road Atlanta and Barber in 2004, the RidersDiscount.com team thought it best for Russell to use the WERA National event to develop the YZF-R1 to his liking. Having never ridden the Yamaha before that weekend, Russell finished 4th in the F1 expert race and placed 2nd in A Superbike.

RidersDiscount.com’s Chris Knight finished ninth in the 750 Superbike race riding a 1999 Suzuki TL1000R and was only bested in the heavyweight twins class by RidersDiscount.com’s Brian Gibson riding a 2008 Triumph Daytona 675. Brian’s weekend could have gone better hadn’t it been for a mistake in turn 2 on the final lap during the 600 Superbike race where he tucked the front battling Eddie Kraft and ruined his chances of a second place finish.

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Aside from having ridden the bike only four laps in practice at Road America three weeks ago, Taylor Knapp quickly found himself at home on the RidersDiscount.com YZF-R1. Despite an engine that ran hotter than ideal all weekend long in the sweltering Georgia heat and a front end that needs improvement, Taylor scored a second place finish in A Superstock along with a win each in Formula 1 and Solo 20 races with the RidersDiscount.com Yamaha YZF-R1. On top of that, with his RidersDiscount.com Suzuki GSX-R1000, Taylor carded an additional win in the A Superbike race – the first time he’d ridden that bike and with only stock suspension!

Taylor’s first race on Saturday with the 2009 R1, was won by a 22.333 second gap over Chris “Opie” Caylor. “There was actually a problem with the forks and it was really, really soft but we were rode around the problem …” said Taylor of the R1. The ?hlins & RidersDiscount.com crews tried to help Taylor with his fork situation and did make progress to the effect that, come Sunday, Taylor finished with outstanding results on the Yamaha and the Suzuki bikes.

Taylor reflected on the weekend “It went good actually – the Yamaha is definitely getting better. Once we sort out the forks on the R1 and look for a little top speed, it’s going to be great. We had stock suspension on the Suzuki, but we still went pretty good on that.” Good indeed, Taylor now heads to Laguna Seca for the combined AMA/MotoGP round to show teams from both the AMA and Europe what he can do as a front-running privateer.

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