Tulsa, OK – April 20, 2022 – Round two of the 2022 MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship starts this Friday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. Rider Mathew Scholtz, along with the entire Westby Racing team, are extra-motivated for this round since it’s considered a home track.
South African-born Mathew now lives in nearby Acworth, Georgia, and Westby Racing team manager Chuck Giacchetto and crew chief Ed Sullivan also live in the Atlanta area. In addition, Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. is headquartered in nearby Kennesaw.
And, if that’s not enough motivation, Mathew and the team are coming off two strong, second-place finishes at the Circuit of The Americas two weeks ago and are rolling into Road Atlanta where they won the first MotoAmerica Superbike race of the season last year, and then followed that up with a second-place finish in race two.
Last year’s start propelled Mathew and the team to a runner-up finish in the season championship, and they are on pace to hopefully improve that result by one in this year’s championship chase. After all, the 2022 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship is the ultimate goal.
“I’m really looking forward to the Road Atlanta round this weekend,” Mathew said. “It’s a home race for me and some of the team, and it’s always great to have that special motivation from having friends coming to watch me race. Also, it’s a track that I’ve done really, really well at in the past.
“Coming off two second-place finishes at COTA, we put up a pretty good fight at what I would consider to be a ‘Ducati’ track with all of the tighter corners onto longer straightaways there. I think, now that we’re headed to the more ‘American-based’ tracks, it’s going to help the Yamaha, and we’re going to be much more competitive. I’ve always had a good feeling about Road Atlanta.
“After COTA, we were looking at changing one or two things with the bike, and we have a pretty good direction that we want to follow with the setup. I’m just really excited to get to the track. The weather looks like it’s going to be ideal, so I can’t wait to get out there and see how we measure up on a track that suits me and the bike. I’m looking to have a really strong showing.”
Superbike final qualifying is on Saturday morning at 10:15 a.m. ET, Superbike race one will go green on Saturday afternoon at 3:10 p.m. ET, and Superbike Race 2 is on Sunday afternoon also at 3:10 p.m. ET. Both races will be broadcast on Fox Sports 2 (FS2) this weekend, with race one airing Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET and race two airing on Sunday night at 6:30 p.m. ET.
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