Safety First Suzuki continues to make progress at Utah. The team had a great weekend other than the end result of rider Bobby Fong crashing out of the Supersport race in 6th place.
Team owner, Kevin Hanson commented on the weekend. “We rolled it out of the truck and didn’t really touch a thing on the bike. That has been the beauty of using the Traxxion Gas Cartridges in the forks and new Penske 8770 shock. We hardly make any changes to the bike anymore other than a spring change. It allows Bobby to just focus on riding,” stated Hanson.
“Overall, we really had a great weekend with a lot of breakthroughs. Bobby has been struggling with getting a little excited during qualifying and not qualifying as well. This weekend he put it together and qualified 5th on a race tire without any help from anyone else. We know he has the speed to run up front, now it’s our job to keep working on his racecraft that involves everything besides going fast in order to put it on the podium. That’s the part that most people don’t understand. There are so many things for a young rider to learn to win races that don’t involve twisting the throttle. Thankfully, Bobby soaks everything up like a sponge that we throw at him and this kid is going to be a really, really good racer,” explained Hanson.
Supersport Qualifying: 5th place
“I just tried to relax and not get all revved up. For some reason, I’ve been psyching myself out when it came time to qualify. My rider coach, Owen Weichel, has really helped me get past that mentally and I went out this weekend and just did it on my own. I’m pretty stoked about that!” stated Fong.
Supersport Race: DNF (Crash)
“I’m so bummed for all of my guys. They worked really hard all weekend and then I tossed it in the race. The bike was perfect and my Crewchief, Don Finelli, did a great job of getting the bike setup where we really don’t change anything when it comes out of the truck,” said Fong.
“I just pulled a boneheaded kid move in the race. I got a good start and was sitting in fourth place riding comfortably and not really pushing it. Rapp dive- bombed me going into a corner and pushed me wide and Eslick got by as well. I got a little anxious trying to re-pass them and I don’t know if I clipped the curb or something, but I totally lost the front and chucked it. Thankfully, I’ve got some really good gear because I keep pounding my Taichi leathers into the ground and these things are still together without any tears or anything,” explained Fong.
“I just need to relax more and focus on putting an entire race together. I’m not used to running this far up front, but at the same time it’s getting a lot easier to do the times. If you look at the times, I had the fourth fastest lap of the race and could have put it on the podium today. I really want to thank my mechanics Richard Cherney, Mike Neely and also Mike Morris. These guys gave me a great bike and I really wanted to reward them with a good result,” stated Fong.
The team heads back to Safety First Racing headquarters at their shop in Arlington Heights, IL for an open house Tuesday, June 3rd before heading to Road America.

Additionally, Hungarian rider, Gabor Rizmayer, will be returning from racing in the German Championship in Europe for Road America.
Safety First Racing was formed in 2004 by police officer/racer, Kevin Hanson, based out of Chicago, IL. For 2008, Safety First Suzuki will be competing in the Supersport class in the AMA Superbike series. Checkout www.SAFETYFIRSTRACING.com to see the latest line of apparel and performance products from Safety First Racing. Kevin Hanson continues to give away Bell bicycle helmets to elementary school children nationwide and educate children about the importance of helmet usage.