YRT and Stauffer at Road Atlanta
Jamie Stauffer’s Road Atlanta outing proved a fruitful venture for the himself and his Australian crew, with consistent top 5 results throughout the weekend’s practice and qualifying sessions displaying his true talent
Jamie Stauffer’s Road Atlanta outing proved a fruitful venture for the himself and his Australian crew, with consistent top 5 results throughout the weekend’s practice and qualifying sessions displaying his true talent. A wildcard entrant for the round, Stauffer wasted little time in coming to grips with an all new bike, track and set of class rules.
The team had built an R1 to comply with the AMA Superstock specifications, and it was instantly competitive, netting Stauffer an incredible third in practice after just 22 laps. As an indication, regular AMA frontrunners Ben Spies and Ben Bostrom were just 0.8 seconds quicker than Stauffer, with years of experience in the series under their belts. Bad weather cut short track time for all competitors, which eventually resulted in practice times being used as qualifying times as well, meaning Stauffer would start from third on the grid.
The pit lane was buzzing with talk of the Aussie’s performance, who, with very limited setup time and experience, had blitzed almost all in his path. The wet weather gave way to cool and breezy conditions on race day, and the team had to rethink setup and strategy heading into the morning’s warm-up. Half-way through the session, Stauffer was held up by a slow rider on track and crashed trying to pass him. Fortunately, the damage was minimal, to both bike and body, and the team were confident that the R1 would be quick in race trim.
Set for a start, the different procedure involving a countdown of red lights to green saw Jamie off to a bad opening sequence of corners and he found himself back in 6th as the field began to sort itself out. To his credit, his fastest time yet on the Road Atlanta circuit actually was set in race conditions, and he settled into a consistent rhythm for the remainder of the 15-lap showdown. Once again a lapped rider played havoc with the frontrunners, this time tripping up Aaron Yates and gifting Stauffer a spot to finish 5th.
Stauffer and his team will now set about preparing for the series’ final round of competition, at Laguna Seca in just under two weeks’ time. The Yamaha Racing Team would also like to thank Yamaha Motor US and their factory team for their support of Stauffer and the Australian team’s efforts.
Road Atlanta, Superstock, Race 1.
1. Ben Spies, Longview, TX.
2. Ben D Bostrom, Malibu, CA.
3. Geoff May, Gainesville, GA.
4. Jake Holden, Eatonville, WA.
5. Jamie Stauffer, Kurri Kurri NSW.
6. Blake R Young, Madison, WI.
7. Gary Mason, Longview, TX.
8. Scott Jensen, Peoria, AZ.
9. David Weber, Alpharetta, GA.
10. Chris Ulrich, Lake Elsinore, CA.
