Wyman hits trouble as Zanetti charges on at The Ridge
Sunnyvale, Calif., August 28, 2020 – It was a day of contrasting fortunes for the Ducati crew as MotoAmerica debuted at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Washington, as HSBK fill-in Lorenzo Zanetti led the charge.
Zanetti finished the day sixth overall on the Celtic HSBK Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R, finishing FP2 a very respectable 2.424 seconds off pace setter, Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier. It was an impressive MotoAmerica debut for the Italian whose day job is as the official Ducati Corse test rider for the Ducati Panigale V4 R.
On the other side of the pits, MotoAmerica series regular Kyle Wyman endured a trying start to his weekend. The Arizona resident suffered a fast crash in the first test session on Thursday, the violence of the crash essentially breaking his Panigale V4 R in three pieces as the front and back ends of his machine detached from the engine.
Wyman was unable to complete a lap on Friday as the team rebuilt the machine overnight, meaning he has missed Superpole and will start from the rear of the grid for both races this weekend.
FP1 Final Standing
P1 — Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) 1:40.751
P2 — Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:41.772
P3 — Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) 1:42.248
P4 — Josh Herrin (BMW) 1:43.311
P5 — Lorenzo Zanetti (Ducati) 1:43.326
No time – Kyle Wyman (Ducati)
FP2 Final Standing
P1 — Cameron Beaubier (Yamaha) 1:40.358
P2 — Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) 1:41.387
P3 — Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:42.010
P4 — Toni Elias (Suzuki) 1:42.243
P5 — Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 1:42.256
P6 — Lorenzo Zanetti (Ducati) 1:42.782
No time — Kyle Wyman (Ducati)
Kyle Wyman (KATO Fastening/KWR Ducati Team — Ducati #33)
“I’m fine from the crash yesterday, but when we broke the swingarm, I think it broke something in the cases of the engine, so that’s hampered us somewhat,” Wyman said, understatedly. “We got zero laps today and only six laps yesterday before the accident, and we’ve missed Superpole for the races, so we haven’t had the best time so far.
Yesterday was just a cold tire accident,” Wyman continues. “It was about 100 mph and I completely broke the bike in half. We should be OK for the race—we just have to start at the bottom and build back up.”
Lorenzo Zanetti (Celtic HSBK Racing — Ducati #87)
“I’m never happy, I’m a rider so I’m never happy!” Lorenzo laughed at the end of FP2. “But, honestly, I’m very happy to be here in the U.S. I don’t know the championship, I don’t know the tire, I just know the bike because I’m a test rider for Ducati. So, I just need to keep getting more and more information to improve the bike for the championship. “I think we did a great job after yesterday. I closed the gap a lot to the first position, and even though our bike is closer to Stock 1000 spec than Superbike, I think everyone is happy.”
