Team M4 EMGO Suzuki dug deep on Sunday at California Speedway to complete another successful weekend despite the stiff challenge of AMA competition. Without the luxury of testing at the Southern California track prior to the race meeting, set-up issues dogged the team right from the start.
Rather than panic or get frustrated, the team steadily pushed forward and ultimately put in a solid performance that kept their AMA Superstock championship aspirations very much alive.
A day removed from a Formula Xtreme podium performance, Vincent Haskovec gave a gritty effort to secure his second consecutive fifth-place Superstock finish aboard his fire-breathing GSX-R1000. Those two rides combined with his season-opening Daytona victory currently see the Czech Republic tied for second in the class championship with 88 points.
Afterwards, Haskovec said, “It’s getting very tight and we’re staying in the game. This is definitely not our favorite place; right out of the gate it was a struggle. I was happy to really improve over the weekend and get a decent result. The beginning of the race, someone stuffed in front of me and I had to stand it up and four guys went by me. It was a tough race. What was left on the track, I took. I went for it and gave it everything I got.”
Geoff May had a tougher time in Superstock, crashing but remounting to soldier on to 18th. The Georgian regrouped to put in a fine ride in the following Supersport final, claiming a very solid eighth-place result aboard his Pirelli-shod GSX-R600.
Team Crew Chief Keith Perry commented, “We struggled here all weekend and still came out in the top five in Superstock. I feel pretty good about that. Naturally it’s not a podium, but we keep saying over and over that we just got to keep plugging away and getting those top fives — that’s our goal. And we were able to do that.”
“Everybody kept their heads down,” he continued. “We had some adversity and it’s easy to get frustrated with all that and cause even more problems on yourself. But the guys continued to work hard and came through again this weekend.”
Team M4 EMGO Suzuki will next race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma California May 13-15.
