The following is from Westby Racing…
Back to 100% fitness after being injured in a crash last year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Mathew Scholtz came into the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) for the MotoAmerica Dunlop Official Preseason Test looking lean, walking tall, and clearly showing he was ready to record some fast laps aboard his #11 Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike.
Out of eight practice sessions held during the two-day test, Mathew emerged as the fourth-fastest overall rider, with a best lap of 2:08.957 occurring during the penultimate session.
About the test, Mathew said, “Ending up fourth overall was really positive for me. We improved in every single session. The team, all the hard work that they’ve done during the off-season certainly paid off. I couldn’t be happier. After such a terrible injury that ended my season early last year, to come here after having minimal track time, it feels great. COTA has never really been a good track for me. It doesn’t suit the Yamaha, and for some reason, I really struggle here. So, to be towards the front-end of the field at this track, I couldn’t be happier. It gives me a lot of confidence going into the first round.
“We made a few changes today. Some of them worked, some of them didn’t, but we know what to do in different situations if we do run into any challenges during the season. At this test, we set all of our quickest times on tires that we would be racing with. We really focused on that, on consistency, and on our race pace. One-lap speed wasn’t really something we were looking for, but it was really nice to be at the top end. Also, it was really nice to look at the trap speed and see that we were up there in that category, too, because that was something that we were struggling with last year, and it’s going to make things a heck of a lot easier for me.
“I’m just really thankful to be back in the MotoAmerica paddock, and I’m looking forward to starting the season at my home race. We’ll see how we fare.”
Next up for Westby Racing is round one of the 2021 MotoAmerica Championship, which takes place at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on April 30 through May 2.
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