Safety First Suzuki came away from Daytona with a great finish in the Daytona 200. After learning that the team wouldn’t have their 2008 Suzuki GSXR’s in time to prepare for Daytona, the team resorted to prepping their 2007 racebikes. I’m really proud of how hard all of these guys worked and the sleepless nights they put in getting these bikes ready,” commented team owner, Kevin Hanson. “Basically, I have an entire new crew for 2008 that had never really worked together before this weekend. For us to end up with a 7th place finish with Bobby Fong in the 200 with the work that still needed to be done after we got to Daytona is a great reward for the effort that all of these guys put in this weekend. It was a typical Daytona. It either goes really good or really bad. Just getting the semi to Daytona was taxing with fuel caps frozen on the tanks, a blown trailer tire and then Michael finally getting the transporter to the track and the rear door won’t open and then we blow a fuel line on the generator…I think our trailer was possessed!” exclaimed Hanson.

Supersport: Bobby Fong 11th / Gabor Rizmayer 21st

After having a race long battle with a pack of riders and countless passes, Bobby Fong just missed out on a 10th place finish to Danny Eslick by getting drafted at the line. “I knew I wanted to be behind Danny going into the last lap, however when we came out of the chicane Danny sat up and I slowed as well to stay behind him. However, we were side by side looking at each other and I didn’t know how far Gobert was behind us. So I just put my head down and went for it and Danny got me at the line,” explained Fong.

Making his first trip ever to the United States, Hungarian rider, Gabor Rizmayer, didn’t fare as well at Daytona. “I struggled all week with trying to find the right feeling in the front in Supersport,” commented Rizmayer. “I am not happy with my result at all and want to do much better in Formula Xtreme. In Formula Xtreme the feeling in the bike is good, in Supersport is not so good,” explained Rizmayer.

Kevin Hanson commented on working with Gabor this weekend. “He is definitely a very talented and very smooth rider from his 250 GP background. For whatever reason, he got the bad luck this weekend. I was really impressed with how fast he went at Daytona for his first time here and limited track time on a new bike and different tires and suspension components than he’s used to riding. I know he was struggling in Supersport, but Gabor was doing the same lap times as Bobby in FX throughout the weekend. I think it’s going to be a really good year because Bobby definitely worked hard in the off season and it showed. Once we get Gabor comfortable, I think these two are really going to do some great things in Supersport this year,” stated Hanson.

Formula Xtreme: Bobby Fong 7th / Gabor Rizmayer 58th

The start of the race was met with mixed sucess. Bobby Fong was able to get a great start and get into the top ten on the first lap from 20th place. However, Gabor Rizmayer was taken out on the first lap in the International Horseshoe by one of the BMW’s. “I started the race and got to the second turn when I saw a motorcycle sliding towards me. I tried to avoid it, but was unable to and crashed. I was able to get back in the race, but the motorcycle was leaking oil from something that happened during the crash with the other motorcycle. I was very dissappointed that my race ended so early. I will do much better at next race!” commented Rizmayer.

Fong weighed in on his best finish in Formula Xtreme. “The team did a great job preparing our bikes and I just tried to ride as hard as possible during the race. I’m really bummed that I missed 5th place because I came in for my second pit stop and drove past my pits and had to go back out and do another lap. I was looking at my pit speed on the monitor making sure I didn’t speed and went right past my guys! I know 5th would have been even better, but I’m still really happy with 7th place. My Michelins lasted the entire race and the front was still good at the end after 69 laps,” commented Fong.

Team owner, Kevin Hanson, summarized the weekend. “We were under the gun to get everything ready and all of these guys worked their tails off. I think it was a combination of things that added to our success this weekend. Our riders are really talented and our entire Suzuki GSXR 600 package has improved. We are using Arata exhausts this year which have impeccable quality but provide a huge linear power curve that gives us more torque off the corners, a great motor program and suspension components with Penske’s new 8770 shock and the Traxxion gas fork cartridges and new tires from Michelin. I think everything has stepped up this year along with a great crew that is motivated. We already know the 2008 GSXR600 is a great improvement over the old model and we went out there and finished great on 2007 equipement. I think we are going to impress some people this year,” stated Hanson

Safety First Suzuki will return to Chicago to start preparing their 2008 GSXR600’s and test before the next round. Gabor Rizmayer will fly back to Budapest and test in Spain next week for Suzuki on the GSXR1000 Superbike in preparation for the German Championship before returning to test with the team prior to Barber.