Brea, CA, March 10, 2024 — Suzuki Motor USA and Team Hammer saw the 2024 MotoAmerica AMA/ FIM North American Road Racing Championship opener end in bittersweet fashion, highlighted by a runner-up finish in Saturday’s 82nd Daytona 200 to go along with the lap record and pole position the team secured earlier in the week. Suzuki GSX-Rs dominated the top ten, earning six of the top ten results in this year’s 200-mile contest.
Race Highlights:
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki
Supersport
- Tyler Scott stormed past the checkered flag in second position in the 57-lap Daytona 200.
- Richie Escalante missed second after running short of fuel on the final lap, still earning fourth.
- Brandon Paasch put in a steady ride to seventh.
- Teagg Hobbs battled up from 22nd on the grid to the top ten.
Twins Cup
- Rossi Moor improved to finish fourth in his second-career Twins Cup race.
Scott, who had separated his shoulder in a crash earlier in the weekend, said, “I’ve got to thank the whole Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki squad and my mom and dad and everyone for getting me here. The crew was amazing, and the pit stops went really smoothly. I had good pace and just kept putting laps down. It was unfortunate to see Richie run out of gas, but I’m happy with P2 even though I really wanted the win.”
Rounding out the Suzuki GSX-8R’s spectacular racing debut, Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor (92) battled to a strong fourth place finish in Daytona’s Twin’s Cup Race 2, giving the impressive new GSX-8R a top five places in the contest.
In the Daytona 200, Team Hammer’s Richie Escalante (54) led early aboard his Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki GSX-R750 and spent the majority of the contest applying pressure on the leader from second, showcasing the speed that earned him the new Daytona track record during qualifying. However, while he was robbed of a near-certain runner-up finish after running short of fuel, he managed to coast the machine across the line and took fourth.
An early-race incident damaged Escalante’s windscreen. He felt the reduced aerodynamics, in combination with pushing the pace to close the gap to the leader most of the race, caused the issue.
“For sure, I really wanted to win today,” Escalante said. “I felt really good. I just tried my best, lap-by-lap, pushing, pushing, pushing. I could see the leader right there and was pushing so hard to try to close the gap and fight for the victory. But I ran out of fuel. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose – it’s just a part of racing. I tried my best and want to thank my team. The Suzuki was great all week long.”
Two-time Daytona 200 winner Brandon Paasch rode a steady race earning seventh place in the 2024 Daytona 200.
“It was great other than some pit stop drama,” said Paasch. “It was a long race and out by myself for most of the time. It would have been good to get back on top again having won the race before, but it is what it is.”
Despite starting from the eighth row, Teagg Hobbs (79) clawed his way up from 22nd on the grid to earn tenth place after 200 high-speed miles.
“It wasn’t the greatest weekend for us,” said Hobbs. “We had some issues out of our control come up. I didn’t get up to speed and we didn’t get a lot of time to improve the bike. For the race, I did what I could to finish. I’m glad to get a top-ten result but we’re looking to be at the front. After the weekend we had, I’m happy to finish and ready to focus on the season.”
Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki’s Rossi Moor (92) continued his quick acclimation to the MotoAmerica Twins Cup series, battling for the podium and finishing fourth in his second race aboard the brand-new, Suzuki GSX-8R.
“In one regard, it was good to battle for the podium,” said Moor. “We didn’t have the pace yesterday to do it, but the team worked hard and made the bike even better for me today. I made a small mistake on the last lap when I wheelied coming out of The Chicane and that cost me a shot at the podium. The team did a great job here of closing the gap. We will keep working hard and see what we can do from here
