M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki’s David Anthony brought the heat in the face of triple-digit temperatures this weekend at Miller Motorsports Park. In the end, Anthony left Tooele, Utah, with his 7th and 8th top-five results of the 2015 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Supersport Championship.
The high-speed venue was expected to present something of an uphill climb for the Australian, but his Team Hammer crew evened the playing field by unleashing some additional horsepower from his M4 SportbikeTrackGear.com Suzuki GSX-R600 ahead of the round.
As a result, Anthony was able to showcase front-running speed in the lead up to the race, throwing down competitive lap times consistently and securing a spot on the second row with the 5th best time of qualifying at 1:54.463.
A tire balance issue on Saturday and a master cylinder problem on Sunday kept him from reaching his goal of two podium finishes, but he still managed to finish fourth in Saturday’s race and fifth in Sunday’s race.
“We came in expecting to struggle a little,” Anthony expected. “But my guys did some work on the bike and found us the horsepower we need to really challenge at the front. Qualifying went well — we were only fifth, but the times were right there. I was really looking forward to the races, but a couple little issues held us back from reaching our potential. Overall, the results are not bad, but it’s a little disappointing knowing we had the pace.”
Anthony and Team Hammer will have another shot at the podium in three weeks as the MotoAmerica championship shares the spotlight with the Superbike World Championship at Laguna Seca, July 17-19.
“Now that we’ve got a little extra power, we’re pretty excited about Laguna Seca and the rest of the season. We’re going to be back where we should be. It’s not going to be easy to beat the guys at the front, but we’re going to give it our best shot.”
