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

The post Taylor Knapp will race EBR 1190RS with Team RidersDiscount.com / Jake Holden Racing at New Jersey Motorsports Park this weekend in AMA American SuperBike Class appeared first on Riders Discount.

It’s not often you get a call from a respected AMA Pro Roadracing team to come down to a privately-owned track and ride with them for two days. But that’s exactly what happened 17-18 August 2011. Mark Junge, owner of Vesrah Suzuki, gave us a ring to stop by and check out Autobahn Country Club – a relatively palatial track next to Union Pacific’s massive Joliet intermodal terminal and ride with his team. When we arrived, the Vesrah Suzuki race truck was already set up and unloaded – we really didn’t need to bring much other than our bikes and a few spares! But the real kicker was the facility and the many garages, some of which were business, others privately owned – on the sprawling 350-acre facility. Porches, Ferraris, high-end Mercedes and the occasional Lotus were regularly spotted in and around these garages and on the track. And of course, the two-mile south track with its rough surface and mixture of high-speed straights with a few hard-braking corners that really test the bike’s suspension.

It was an interesting affair for us with the schedule of car and bike sessions. Four groups total, in fact: a learners’ class, sports car group, open-wheel and motorcycle – each with four or maybe five vehicles running at the same time. Getting a clean track was not a problem and we took full advantage of each 20 minutes session. Vesrah Suzuki brought out a range of their motorcycles – from the latest GSX-R600 L1 (ridden by Cory West in AMA Daytona SportBike), a GSX-R1000 K9 endurance racer and, for the first time – a GSX-R750 L1 that Mark himself built just for kicks. Interestingly, Mark chose to bring along his GSX-R1000 K4 endurance racer too.

Team RidersDiscount.com brought out our YZF-R1 SuperBike and our Triumph Daytona 675 project bike. And, while the R1 is almost at the end of its development, it’s still a blast to take it on the track. The Triumph, on the other hand – just had a new set of Öhlins Road & Track forks installed the week before and, as a result, needed quite a bit of attention to dial it in. Two days of testing proved fruitful with getting the Triumph up to race pace and we quickly found ourselves swapping out offsets and moving back the radiator to account for front tire clearance issues. As expected, the R1 just hummed along and required no changes at all.

The Vesrah Team just clicked off lap-after-lap on their range of Suzukis and even had a few guest riders take a spin on their bikes too. Mark looked exceptionally smooth on his GSX-R1000 K4 – like the return of an old friend, they got along great. Cory West was clearly pushing himself every lap out, backing the bike in everywhere and even throwing out the occasional leg dangle just for good measure.

We have many thanks to offer to Mark, Cory, Tony, Don and everyone at Vesrah Suzuki for letting us come play at their track. It’s always a blast watching a good team work on their machines and rarely do you get a chance to ride with a bunch of fast guys on a clear track. It was a unique experience and we can’t wait to get back to Autobahn and do it all over again!

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