Team M4 EMGO Suzuki flashed their potential again today at Daytona International Speedway as the opening round of the 2005 AMA season came to a close. With Thursday’s AMA Superstock victory still fresh in everyone’s minds, the squad gave the full factory teams even more reasons to be concerned even if luck wasn’t exactly on their side Saturday.
Geoff May scored a fantastic eighth-place finish aboard his Pirelli-shod Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the opening round of the 2005 AMA Superbike Championship. May soundly defeated a pair of full factory riders and several more factory-supported Superbike pilots with an impressive ride aboard Superstock-spec machinery.
If not for some misfortune at the start and struggles with the wind in the chicane, May could have placed even higher.
Afterwards, the Georgian said, “The race went well, but I got a horrible start. A rider in front of me wheelied and bogged the bike of the line. He then went to the left right in front of me so I had to shut off. That put me a little further back than I hoped to be. I picked a few guys off working my way up, but by that time the leaders were gone. I just put my head down and went as hard as I could.”
He continued, “The wind kept picking up harder and harder as the race went on, and I started having problems getting off into the chicane. I messed it up three times. The first two times I lost the front and just picked it back up and ran through the dirt on the inside. The last time was with about two laps to go. I just went straight through it. I ended up getting eighth instead of seventh because of it.”
Early on in the 64th running of the prestigious Daytona 200, Vincent Haskovec closed right in on three factory machines leading the way and threatened to pull another upset like his Superstock victory of just two days earlier. Haskovec ran in the lead pack and was nearing the first pit stop of the race. Unfortunately, a mechanical problem ended the Czech Republic native’s race early, preventing Team M4 EMGO Suzuki from showing their full capabilities on the day.
“The team worked so hard to give me the horsepower I needed from my GSX-R600,” Haskovec said. “But that’s just the way it goes in racing. I’m really proud of the effort we gave this weekend, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish the rest of the year.”
The next race for Team M4 EMGO Suzuki is April 22-24 at Barber Motorsports Park.
