Michael Jordan Suzuki: VIR Report

AMA SBK

Michael Jordan Motorsports (MJM) holds onto third place in the championship points race after completing round eight of the 2010 AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike Championship held at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Va., this past weekend.

Brett McCormick, Aaron Yates’ replacement rider, raced to sixth place on Saturday and a season’s best fourth place on Sunday. National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Jake Zemke had a tough weekend, scoring eighth place finishes both Saturday and Sunday.

Aaron Yates attempted to make his comeback this weekend from the injury he sustained early in the season. Yates practiced Friday and qualified eighth on Saturday but was not quite physically ready to compete.

On Saturday, Michael Jordan Motorsports’ McCormick started in eleventh and made his way up to sixth place by the second lap. Beyond a bit of a battle during the latter stage of the race, McCormick was able to maintain his position, finishing sixth.

On Sunday, McCormick’s good start quickly put him up into fourth position. He was able to hold that position, finishing in a season’s best fourth place. McCormick currently sits in ninth place in the championship points race.

Brett McCormick says: “That is now my best finish. So I’m really happy, super-pumped with the team this weekend. They worked hard, and keeping me around when Aaron was here obviously worked out in the end because he wasn’t able to ride, so it was really cool. (It was) my first time here and doing pretty fast laps, and the last race of the day I was super consistent. I was able to do them the whole day and I’m pretty happy with my finish.”

On Saturday, National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Zemke started in tenth and ran as high as fourth early in the race. Zemke ran in fifth for thirteen laps before falling back to finish in eighth place. Sunday played out much the same, as Zemke ran as high as third, but eventually slipped to another eighth place finish. Zemke still remains third in the championship points race heading into the next event at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Jake Zemke says: “These last couple races since Ohio we’ve been struggling quite a bit. So we definitely need to get back on track and finish up the season with a bang. I was pretty confident that we had some things figured out coming in here this weekend and things just seemed to get worse. We’re looking for some rebound here and to get to New Jersey and Barber and finish off the season strong.”

During the weekend, Zemke’s National Guard Suzuki GSX-R1000 was proudly sporting the state patch of the Virginia Army National Guard. The corresponding National Guard state patches will be placed on Zemke’s Suzuki for the remainder of the 2010 season.

Look for the 2010 Michael Jordan Motorsports team at their next event at the New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ on September 3-5, 2010.

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