Team Suzuki Press Office – March 12. Yoshimura Suzuki Racing battled inclement weather and a rain-ravaged motocross-style track at the 10th round of the 2012 AMA/ FIM Supercross Series at Daytona International Speedway at Daytona Beach, Florida on Saturday night as Brett Metcalfe weathered the storm and raced his Suzuki RM-Z450 to a solid 10th place.
Although race day started out relatively dry, the bad weather was literally looming on the horizon, and, as a result, the riders had to make do with less practice time and abbreviated races. When the rain finally hit, it created a rutted, muddy mess of a track.
“Daytona was interesting,” said Metcalfe. “The weather really challenged us. The first practice was pretty good and in dry conditions. Then the rain came in and really changed the whole dynamics. We had a pretty tough track; it was muddy and very rutty. We were still able to do the jumps, but it was a tough little track.”
Despite the treacherous conditions, Metcalfe did what he had to do to bring home maximum points. In his heat race, he went down early but rallied to race his Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 to sixth position and transfer to the Main. In the shortened 16-lap Main Event, Metcalfe also suffered a get-off but remounted and put in a smart ride that allowed him to finish with a top-10 result.
“Practice went OK and I was feeling pretty comfortable,” said Metcalfe. “I was charging on the track and I had some attack in me. With a Main Event that’s muddy and you don’t know what’s going to happen, you really need a good spot on the start gate to do something, so I was still pretty confident going in. But on the second or third lap, I went down and I dropped back a bit. I just couldn’t get it going after that, and I dropped back a few more and finished 10th. The Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 was running good and made it through the whole race. The most positive thing was that we got through something that could have made us take a DNF.”
With Daytona safely behind them, Metcalfe and the Yoshimura Suzuki squad are looking forward to getting back to racing a more Supercross-style track at an indoor venue.
Said Metcalfe: “I just want to go back home and forget about this mud race, where you can’t really learn or take anything from it. We’ll just have a regular week at home and get ready for Indy next weekend. I’m looking forward to getting back to good racing and getting up there in the results.”
Team Yoshimura Suzuki Racing’s next event is the 11th round of the 2012 AMA/ FIM Supercross Championship on Saturday, March 17th, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Daytona Supercross Class Results:
1. James Stewart
2. Davi Millsaps
3. Kevin Windham
4. Marvin Musquin
5. Ryan Villopoto
6. Mike Alessi
7. Jake Weimer
8. Brock Tickle
9. Matt Goerke
10. Brett Metcalfe (Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450)
2012 Supercross Class Standings:
1. Ryan Villopoto – 221
2. Ryan Dungey – 192
3. James Stewart – 177
4. Kevin Windham – 143
5. Jake Weimer – 134
6. Davi Millsaps – 131
7. Chad Reed – 128
8. Brett Metcalfe (Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450) – 124
9. Justin Brayton – 121
10. Mike Alessi – 113