2WF.com - Online and on the Gas - Ulrich 4th in Daytona Superstock

Ulrich 4th in Daytona Superstock

Posted by Staff
Sunday, 09 March 2008
ULRICH FOURTH IN DAYTONA SUPERSTOCK Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki opened their 2008 AMA Superstock campaign in stellar fashion at Daytona International Speedway. Chris Ulrich and Robertino Pietri guided their Pirelli-shod GSX-R1000s to a pair of top-ten finishes, including Ulrich's fourth-place result, equaling Pietri's finish last season at Miller Motorsports Park as the best AMA result in team history. The Californian Ulrich had to battle hard to earn his top-five placing, nearly running off course at the start of the second lap and dropping to tenth position. Ulrich sliced his way back up the pack in the short 13-lap contest and finally found himself in a late-race dogfight to the checkered flag with Michael Barnes and Chris Peris. Ulrich moved into fourth with just over two laps to go and held strong thanks to some successful high banks strategy. He took the flag just fractions of a second ahead of his rivals, 0.04 seconds ahead of Peris and 0.047 seconds ahead of Barnes. Venezuelan Pietri got his season off to a solid start as well, claiming eighth place just over two seconds behind Ulrich. Pietri showed his speed during the race, posting the fifth-best lap of the race at 1:39.114. Following his fantastic season opening ride, Ulrich was in a positive mood while reviewing the race and looking ahead to the rest of the season. He said, "I came through at the end of the first lap and almost ran off the track. I was all the way out on the white paint in Turn 1. I got a big draft and I thought that I was in big trouble. Then I started passing people, one guy here, one guy there. All of the sudden I was past Peris and saw Barnes. I was like, 'Wow, I'm catching Barnes and I'm catching the leaders too.' "I got Barnes and just put my head down really hoping he'd hold Peris up. I got by him and saw +0 on my board. I looked back going to the white flag and thought, 'If he doesn't pass me now, he's not passing.' In the infield and in the chicane I just made sure I got a really good drive. Peris pulled up next to me but I pulled it down to the yellow line. He wasn't getting by. Right at the line I felt someone sucking on my draft but we just got to the line first. It was close but we got fourth. It was a great finish. "It's very good to start the season on a high note. The crew was very happy. I ran really fast the entire time. It's taken me a while to get back to the level where I feel I should be but I'm very optimistic about the season. I changed a lot of things during the winter and I feel pretty good. In '06 we were hoping for top tens, last year it was top fives, and now we feel we will be fighting for podiums and the top three in the championship." Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki will head to Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, AL for the second round of the 2008 AMA Superstock Championship on April 20-22. From team Roadracingworld.com

< Prev		Next >