Leeds, AL
consistent Burgess stands solo for ADR Fly Racing at a tough weekend at Barber MSP
June 22 2011
Barber Motorsports Park was the set for the 5th round of the AMA Pro National Guard Superbike Championships in Birmingham Alabama last weekend which saw Team ADR Fly Racing compete without team anchorman, #25 Aussie Dave (Anthony) leaving rookie AMA Superbike racer #33 Jordy Burgess to learn the ropes of Barber MSP and represent the Team on track, completing the weekend with 14-15 for the two races finishes despite facing some tough conditions in the wet and the heat.
The challenges faced by ADR did not finish at the track, Financial constraints for the team saw a major re-shuffle of personnel and duties for round 5, with Burgess’ crew chief Shaun Higginbottom being relieved by the experienced team owner and rider David Anthony for the round.
After a solid Qualifying result upon making his Barber debut of 14th position, Race 1 saw a dry start to the race until the fifth lap when a rain shower bucketed down, halting proceedings and forcing a re-start where the decision was made to gamble the race on Dunlop Slicks tires with the hopes of a drying track in the early stages of the race. This decision proved to be a luckless one, with a dry line appearing too late in the race which saw Burgess finish in a solid 14th place and having the second fastest lap of the race behind BMW’s Steve Rapp.
Sunday saw very hot conditions on track for Race 2 in which the Australian rookie #33 rider Burgess got off the line in a sluggish manner, leaving him once again to chase back from the back of the pack to gain 15th to finish off a consistent set of results for the weekend.
Burgess’s Comments:
“This weekend has been a tough one with both the unfavorable conditions and having to learn another track on the Superbike. The pressure was on this weekend to try and do my best to represent the whole team, as Dave was working behind the scenes with me as my new Crew Chief.”
“Race one was a tough call on the wet restart and i decided to run the slicks which was a gamble. I’d always chosen Wets in similar situations so that was a learning curve on its own and unfortunately the track took a little longer than expected to dry out which meant i was having to nurse the bike around some of the corners at what seemed like grandma pace!”
“Another bad start off the line in race 2 really hampered me. It’s something i’m working on is getting off the line on the Suzuki as its really holding me back from learning off the more experienced riders as i get left in the pack behind the top 10. We are dedicating some time to address this at an up and coming test so hopefully we come back in force for Ohio and keep pushing hard.”
“I want to thank the whole team for their efforts for this weekend, it was really tough going with reduced personnel and a real team effort to make this weekend run smooth.”
Dave Anthony’s comments:
“ All in all, Im proud of what we achieved this weekend. The current situation we are in meant i had to do some major reshuffling for this round and i’m thankful it ran smoothly and Jordy continued to put in big efforts on the bike to keep moving forward and gaining valuable experience along the way.”
“It was tough sitting it out this weekend however helping Jordy is my priority and the show must go on. The next round at Ohio will be a battle but i think the improvements we are making to the bike will help us start off fast and improve our standings.”
Team ADR Fly Racing wants to thank all of its Loyal sponsors including: Fly Racing Road and MX Apparel, WPS, Two Brothers Racing, Teterin Engineering, Race Tech, Ultra Grafix, Trackoholics, EBC Brakes, K&N Filters, GPR, Cycle pirates, Spider Grips, Pit Bull, Dummond Tech Oils, Liquid Performance, KiwiAerospace, Rev’it Leathers, ARAI and XPD boots.
Round 6 of the AMA Pro National Guard Superbike championships will be held at Mid-Ohio raceway on July 8-10th.
E-mail: rob@gadgitek.com