Roczen Puts Suzuki on the Podium in Santa Clara Supercross

| April 6, 2016 | 0 Comments

BREA, CA (April 6, 2016) – After a two-week break, Team Suzuki was back on track at Santa Clara California’s Levi’s Stadium, home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers. Santa Clara hosted the Monster Energy AMA/FIM Supercross Championship on Saturday night in front of 40,192 fans under cool but clear conditions. Soaring Eagle/Jimmy Johns/Suzuki Factory Racing’s Ken Roczen carded another strong performance on his Suzuki RM-Z450, earning his seventh podium result of the season.

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Team Suzuki highlights for this weekend included:

  •  RCH Suzuki’s Ken Roczen winning his heat race and finishing second in the main event, remaining a strong second in the overall standings with plenty of racing left in the season.
  • Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s Blake Baggett continuing his comeback with his first top-10 finish and teammate James Stewart returned to form with a strong second-place heat race finish.
  • A total of six Suzuki riders making the Santa Clara Supercross main events, four aboard the potent Suzuki RM-Z450 and one on the agile Suzuki RM-Z250. Three of the top ten finishers in the premier 450 class were Suzuki-mounted.
  • Nick Schmidt taking an exciting victory in the Last Chance Qualifier on his TPJ/Fly Racing/Suzuki RM-Z450.
  • Suzuki’s MotoGP standout Maverick Viñales qualified seventh and was less than three laps from a MotoGP podium finish in Argentina, when he pushed a bit too hard and crashed out.

Roczen Back on the Podium
RCH Suzuki’s Ken Roczen had a solid day of racing in Santa Clara. He bounced back from an illness he battled over the break, won a hard-fought heat race, and then battled for the lead, ultimately finished a close second in the main event.

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“I’m looking at the positives coming out of this race,” said Roczen, who raced in Santa Clara for the first time. “I had a tough couple of weeks. I got sick and wasn’t really feeling well over the whole two weeks. But I felt really good in the heat race and went into the main feeling happy and that helped me ride well. Obviously me and Ryan (Dungey) were battling. The lappers came into play a little bit, but overall it was a good race. The team was working really welltonight. We’ve made some big changes over the last couple of weeks and it’s still going to take some time to get used to, but it was a good night and we’ll go back and put in some more work to be ready for Indy.”

Roczen’s teammate Jake Weimer finished ninth. It marked his sixth top-10 result of the season and moved him into the top-10 in the series standings.

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Baggett Back on Track
Blake Baggett nailed his first top-10 finish of the season aboard his powerful Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450, continuing his steady climb back to full strength from a serious shoulder injury.

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And while Baggett’s progress was on course, also impressive was the return of James Stewart. Stewart battled for the lead before finishing second in his heat race. He showed a glimpse of the speed fans love to see from a fully healthy Stewart, even though he is not quite back to 100 percent from his Daytona crash. Unfortunately, hard luck struck Stewart in the main. After a subpar start he was working his way through the field when an equipment issue, which the team is still examining, forced him to the sidelines.

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Schmidt in the Spotlight with LCQ Victory
He had to go all the way through the qualifying races, but as a consolation prize, TPJ/Fly Racing/Suzuki’s Nick Schmidt had the spotlight shining brightly on him for winning Santa Clara’s Last Chance Qualifier.

In the main, Schmidt was forced off the track and crashed in the first turn – no fault of his own – ending any opportunity for a top finish. He still managed to bring his bike home in 20th, but the big story for him was the TV time he garnered for his LCQ victory.

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Motorcycle Superstore / Suzuki’s Kyle Cunningham had a strong race going on his Suzuki RM-Z250 in the West Region 250 Supercross contest running seventh with a lap to go, but got tangled up with another rider on the final lap and went down, dropping to 12th at the finish.

Cunningham remains inside the top 10 in the 250 West standings.

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Recognition also goes out to Charles Lefrancois, Dustin Pipes, Alexander Nagy, Teddy Parks and Johnnie Buller who all qualified their Suzuki RM-Z450s into the evening program in Santa Clara, as well as Killian Auberson in the 250 West class on his Suzuki RM-Z250.

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The series now goes back east to one of the motorsports capitals in the world in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the Lucas Oil Stadium. Several Team Suzuki riders will be in Indianapolis to meet fans and sign autographs on Friday, April 8 in a special pre-race event at the Pan Am Plaza, 201 S. Capital Ave., Indianapolis, IN 46225, from 6-7:00 pm.

The race at Lucas Oil Stadium can be watched live starting at 7:00 pm Eastern on Fox Sports 1.

Suzuki’s Viñales Oh So Close to MotoGP Podium
With three laps to go in the Argentina Grand Prix on Sunday, Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Viñales ran third on his Suzuki GSX-RR. Unfortunately, the up-and-coming Spaniard push just a bit beyond the limits and lost the front end, causing him to crash out of the race. He was agonizingly close to scoring his first MotoGP podium, but his efforts showed everyone that Viñales and Suzuki are knocking on the door and improving at a rapid rate. Suzuki teammate Aleix Espargaró finished 11th.

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MotoGP now makes its American stop at the Circuit of the America’s in Austin, Texas this coming weekend.

About Suzuki: Suzuki Motor of America, Inc. (SMAI) distributes Motorcycles, ATVs, Scooters, Outboard Motors and Automotive Parts and Accessories via an extensive dealer network throughout 49 states. Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), based in Hamamatsu, Japan, is a diversified worldwide manufacturer of Motorcycles, ATVs, Scooters, Automobiles and Outboard Motors. Founded in 1909 and incorporated in 1920, SMC has 147 distributors in 201 countries. For more information, visit www.suzuki.com

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