Sunnyvale, Calif., April 30, 2021 – MotoAmerica kicked off its 2021 season with day one at Road Atlanta in the Honos Superbike category with Ducati riders Loris Baz and Kyle Wyman both posting competitive times across the day’s two sessions.
Baz and his Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York Ducati Panigale V4 R SBK took third overall in both Free Practice 1 and Qualifying 1 after a mammoth 38 laps as the French ace became accustomed to the rigors of Road Atlanta, ending the day a mere 0.523 behind Yamaha’s pacesetter Jake Gagne.
Wyman’s day saw the Arizona resident card a pair of sixth places in FP1 and Q1, as he and the newly rebranded Panera Bread Ducati team get to grips with a new, higher specification of Ducati Panigale V4 R than he rode in 2020.
FP1 Final Standing
P1 – Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) 1:24.494
P2 – Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:24.636
P3 – Loris Baz (Ducati) 1:25.271
P4 – Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) 1:25.984
P5 – Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 1:26.197
P6 – Kyle Wyman (Ducati) 1:27.189
Qualifying 1 Final Standing
P1 – Jake Gagne (Yamaha) 1:23.746
P2 – Mathew Scholtz (Yamaha) 1:24.105
P3 – Loris Baz (Ducati) 1:24.269
P4 – Bobby Fong (Suzuki) 1:24.810
P5 – Cameron Petersen (Suzuki) 1:25.571
P6 – Kyle Wyman (Ducati) 1:25.798
Loris Baz (Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York – Ducati #76)
“Overall today was really good,” Baz enthused after Friday. “It’s tough to learn a track during a race weekend, especially this kind of track, but I’m super happy with how today went. My Ducati is a beast! It has also been good working with the team, even if we don’t know each other so well because this is only the second time we have all worked together.
“I did a lot of laps this morning, a lot a lot of laps, just trying to learn and improve, and I really didn’t expect to be in that good of a position on the first day. I still have areas to improve—I’m losing five tenths in the first section and I’m five tenths away in the standings, so I’ll work on that and be ready for race one.”
Kyle Wyman (Panera Bread Ducati – Ducati #33)
“Towards the end of the second session we got to put in some fast times,” Wyman said, who put in a total of 26 laps across both sessions. “We were just trying to get our heads around the new bike but we got about 11 good laps in at the end of the day, so we’re feeling good out there.
“The bike is absolutely all new for 2021. There’s a new tank, swingarm, seat, forks, and for us to end the first day of the year in P6 was a good result. We’ll go back tonight and go over the data and be ready for qualifying and the first race tomorrow.”
Race one for the opening round of the 2021 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship starts at 3:00 pm EDT
