BREA, CA, (September 16, 2024) — The official MotoAmerica entries of Suzuki Motor USA (Suzuki) collected some serious trophy hardware at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend, scoring podium finishes across all three of its classes.
Race Highlights:
- Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki
- Superbike
- Richie Escalante finished on the box for the second time in his premier-class career in only his second weekend back from injury.
- Brandon Paasch enjoyed a strong weekend, scooping up two sixths and a seventh.
- Supersport
- Tyler Scott was in dynamic form, battling up front en route to second- and fourth-place finishes.
- Teagg Hobbs endured a difficult weekend in Austin.
- Joel Ohman continued to gain experience and speed as the weekend progressed
- Twins Cup
- Rossi Moor bravely fought back following a devastating Saturday crash to finish as the race runner-up on Sunday.
- Altus Motorsports
- Supersport
- Jake Lewis takes the Supersport Race 1 victory on his GSX-R750.
- RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines
- Twins Cup
- Rocco Landers had a weekend to forget in Twins Cup action but still wound up second in the final championship standings aboard the all-new GSX-8R.
Richie Escalante (54) has returned to form post injury despite low personal expectations.
It didn’t take long for Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki Superbike ace Richie Escalante to return to peak form after missing the bulk of the ‘24 campaign due to an injury suffered in the season opener. The Mexican raced near the front aboard his GSX-R1000R all weekend long, highlighted by a third-place finish in Race 1 that marked his second-career MotoAmerica Superbike podium. While he crashed out of fifth in Race 2, Escalante finished out the weekend with an excellent run to fourth in Race 3.
“I’m super happy to finish on the podium – especially this season where I wasn’t expecting to be able to do it,” Escalante said. “My goal was just to get back out there and race these final three weekends to prepare for next year. I love this track, and my bike and crew worked so well this weekend.”
Brandon Paasch (96) ran inside the top 10 all weekend on his GSX-R1000R.
Escalante’s premier-class teammate, Brandon Paasch, rounded out an all-around strong weekend for the Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki Superbike crew, stringing together finishes of seventh, sixth, and sixth aboard his GSX-R1000R.
“The second race on Sunday was really nice, running at the front end of the field,” said Paasch. “I didn’t have a lot left in the tank the last couple of laps, but I felt confident being up there. The bike felt good, and they weren’t getting away. That’s the closest I have been to the winner in a Superbike race although not the best result. We have one more event at my home track and maybe we can build on this.”
Tyler Scott (70) earned his spot on the podium on Sunday aboard the next-generation GSX-R750.
Scott said, “I wasn’t really happy with fourth – we’re trying to be on the top of the box, but today was a lot better. I have to give thanks to the whole Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team for all the hard work they put in over the second half of the season to get the bike dialed in. I couldn’t ask much more out of the bike today – I had a great feeling on it.”
Scott’s Supersport teammate, Teagg Hobbs, found the going considerably more difficult in Texas. Hobbs finished 16th on Saturday and then suffered a DNF on Sunday.
“We were having a problem slowing down the bike in both races,” Hobbs said. “I couldn’t slow down going into the corners, and I pulled in about halfway. I wasn’t able to ride around it, and we weren’t getting good data. We will work hard to get it fixed for the next race.”
The squad’s third Supersport pilot, Joel Ohman, continued to accumulate experience, twice improving upon his qualifying position in the races.
Ohman said, “I went 1.8 seconds faster than last year, and my race pace was better. We are still working on setup, and I didn’t feel I could fully battle with the bike yet. But we are improving and the lap times are the real story. We have a strong idea of what to address for New Jersey so we can still keep making more solid progress.”
Rossi Moor (92) proved to be unwavering this weekend with a spectacular crash on Saturday, followed by a second-place finish on Sunday.
Vision Wheel M4 Suzuki’s Rossi Moor showed serious grit, determination and speed aboard the Suzuki GSX-8R in Twins Cup action. Moor’s race on Saturday ended in prematurely due to a terrifying highside crash suffered while holding down second position. Undaunted, the young gun came back out on Sunday to earn a runner-up result. Doing so secured him fifth in the class’ final championship standings on the strength of four podiums.
“I’m still a little banged and bruised, but nothing ever stopped me,” Moor said. “It was a great race – it was definitely a hot one. I’m glad to be on the podium, and I can’t thank my team enough. It’s been a great year developing this bike. It’s been a bit up and down, but looking back on it, it was worth all the hard work we put in, especially finishing up with a second-place finish.”
Jake Lewis (85) utilized his Altus Motorsports GSX-R750 to get a win this weekend.RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines star Rocco Landers had a similarly difficult Saturday but was less fortunate in his hopes of a successful rebound on Sunday. Landers crashed twice in Saturday’s race, resulting in a DNF, while Sunday’s rematch saw him forced to retire due to mechanical issues. Despite the disappointing Twins Cup finale, Landers wrapped up the season ranked second in the points with four victories and seven total podiums.
Rocco Landers (97) had a hard weekend on track without finishing a race, but his strong season keeps him ranked in second for points.
“I had a small mistake in Race 1 that cost me a good finish, and we had a mechanical in Race 2. The team was great all weekend, anything that went wrong was on me. It was a great season, and the bike performed way better than I expected. It’s the most fun twin I have ever ridden. I learned a lot of great lessons this year and am looking forward to what the future holds.”
While the Twins Cup season is now complete, the official Suzuki Superbike and Supersport runners will conclude their season at the 2024 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship season finale, which will be waged at New Jersey Motorsports Park on September 27-29.
ABOUT TEAM HAMMER
The 2024 season marks Team Hammer's 44th consecutive year of operating as a professional road racing team. Racebikes built and fielded by Team Hammer have won 134 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National races, have finished on AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National podiums 373 times and have won 11 AMA Pro and MotoAmerica National Championships, as well as two FIM South American Championships (in Superbike and Supersport). The team has also won 137 endurance races overall (including seven 24-hour races) and 13 Overall WERA National Endurance Championships with Suzuki motorcycles, and holds the U.S. record for mileage covered in a 24-hour race. The team also competed in the televised 1990s Formula USA National Championship, famously running "Methanol Monster" GSX-R1100 Superbikes fueled by methanol, and won four F-USA Championships.
ABOUT VISION WHEEL
Founded in 1976, Vision Wheel is one of the nation’s leading providers of custom wheels for cars and trucks, and one of the first manufacturers of custom wheels and tires for ATVs, UTVs, and golf carts. Vision Wheel looks beyond the current trends and to the future in developing, manufacturing, and distributing its wheels. Vision’s lines of street, race, off-road, American Muscle, and Milanni wheels are distributed nationally and internationally through a trusted network of distributors. Vision Wheel also produces the Vision It AR app to allow users to see how their wheel of choice will look on their vehicle before purchase and installation. For more information on Vision Wheel, visit www.visionwheel.com.
For Suzuki road racing news, results, and team updates, visit suzukicycles.com/racing/road-racing.
For more information and updates on Team Hammer, visit teamhammer.com.
