Press Release

Team Öhlins USA Riders Make the MX Mains at Budds Creek

 
Hendersonville,
North Carolina
: In just their second national, Team Öhlins USA young
guns again made it a two-out-of-three in qualifying for the Budds Creek
Motocross Mains, at the tricky track outside Mechanicsville, Maryland,
with riders Garret Toth and AJ Catanzaro earning a gate, while advancing
rider Michael Clarke gave it his best.
 
Toth took his Yamaha YZ450F to a 36th-place gate position for Moto 1, while Catanzaro captured the 40th fastest
time for a place on the outside edge of the stating gates. In the huge
field of 88 riders vying for a gate position, Clarke managed to best the
times of 26 riders, coming up a bit short for the exclusive field for
the Mains.
 
Despite
the races run in high heat of southern-coastal Maryland, again both
Toth and Catanzaro excelled at moving through the pack. Toth was tested
twice as he ended up last after the start and then last again when he
fell. Not giving up, Toth remounted to move up six places from where
he’d qualified, scoring 31st at the flag. Catanzaro started Moto 1 after an engine change and worked his way through traffic for a 25th-place finish. In Moto 2 each rider was hindered by the heat and humidity, maintaining position with Toth again earning 31st and Catanzaro managing a 26th-place finish, after running as high as seventh. Overall, Toth was credited with 32nd while Catanzaro closed the day with a 25th.
 

Michael
Clarke: “This weekend I was in the Group B practice and it was the
first practice group on the track. The track started out in good
condition and got worked in. I didn’t luck out with traffic in first
practice and never got to put in a good lap. Second practice was 15
minutes of qualifying. I kept trying to put in fast laps but always came
up to a slower rider and got held up. On the last lap of the practice I
went for it. I had to switch up my line to pass about 10 riders.
Unfortunately, I never got a clear track and the last lap was my
fastest, a 2:15.

“Despite
not qualifying, I was very pleased with the way the bike handled. It
had plenty of power and was hooking up good and staying on the ground,
especially on the down-hills where a rider can have his bike kicking him
if it’s not set-up properly. I know I have the speed and the equipment
so at the next round I’ll pull it together to get on the gate.”

AJ
Catanzaro: “Before the races we had to swap out a motor from the
practice bike into the race bike. I squeezed into qualifying with the
40th fastest time. In the first moto my start wasn’t great, but I worked
my way up to 25th. Overall my endurance felt good and I felt good on
the bike. In the second moto I had a better gate pick and got a
seventh-place start. I rode up front for a while, until my vision
started getting blurry and my body began shutting down. I had heat
exhaustion, so I was lucky to just finish out that moto. But it was
great to see that my speed is there and that I can run up front. For the
future races I’m really focusing on eating the right foods and
hydrating enough to make sure heat exhaustion won't happen again.  My
endurance will only get better and my results will only improve, so I'm
looking forward to the rest of the season.”
 
Garret
Toth: “I was pretty excited about qualifying. I made sure that I was
well hydrated before the race and then I got a good jump on the start,
but was on outside and ended up dead last. I worked my way up past guys
before I fell on a table-top jump and was dead last again. Then I worked
my way back up to 31st. In Moto2 I was suddenly completely
exhausted after only about four laps. We’re learning a lot and I’m
planning on finishing higher in the next motos.”
 
Öhlins
USA
distributes and services the world’s leading performance suspension
for automobiles, motorcycles, and ATVs. Öhlins develops its proprietary
and innovative suspension components at the highest levels of racing
from open-wheel car racing, to Moto GP, to off-road competition on two
and four wheels. Öhlins USA also provides training for service centers
and dealers. Öhlins USA can be contacted at: 828-692-4525;
 www.Ohlinsusa.com

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