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DOUBLE PODIUM WEEKEND FOR WESTBY IN NEW JERSEY

September 9, 2012

M4 Suzuki's Dane Westby one-upped yesterday's battle up through the field with a runner-up finish in Sunday's AMA Pro Daytona SportBike thriller at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Once again opening his contest from the fourth row after absorbing a penalty in qualifying, Westby systemically picked his way forward in the once red-flagged race.

'The Wolverine' threw down an amazing 1:23.308 lap while making his GSX-R600-mounted charge, which was more than a half-second better than any other rider managed in the race and even faster than the pole time.

13th at the start, Westby stormed his way into the lead late and again found himself engaged in an intense three-way melee for victory.

The Oklahoman ultimately finished a superb second, just 0.053 seconds off the win at the checkered flag.

After collecting his eighth podium result of the 2012 season Westby talked of running down the leaders to put himself in contention: "I smelled blood in the water. They were pretty far away for a while and my guys were showing me I was making up about a half-second per lap. Gauging them on a couple different corners it didn't seem like I was making that much progress and then I was. I latched onto them. It felt good -- the claw came out."

Suzuki SportBikeTrackTime.com's Elena Myers' Sunday race also represented a virtual repeat of her Saturday result with another ride that showed more promise than the results indicated.

Elena stole the holeshot at the green light but had the benefits of her excellent launch erased by an early red flag. Following the restart, she found herself amidst an eight-rider pack challenging for the final podium position. However, she was ultimately shuffled down to eighth in the final results, which were set following a second red flag.

M4 Suzuki's Chris Ulrich backed up Saturday's Superbike 11th-place effort with another on the team GSX-R1000.

“All in all, a pretty good weekend,” said Team Hammer’s Keith Perry. “Dane was able to get on the podium both days and overcome a handicap he gave himself in qualifying. Chris was very steady out there and continued to improve in a very tough class, Superbike. Elena showed a lot of potential in her races and showed some good speed. Everyone’s leaving in good health and we’re looking forward to the next one in Miami.”

The 2012 AMA Pro Road Racing series will pick up in two weeks with the season's penultimate round at Homestead-Miami Speedway on September 21-23. 

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