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M4 SUZUKI'S DISALVO WINS NEW JERSEY SUPERPOLE
photo B. Nelson

Published: September 04, 2009 - TeamHammer.com

Team M4 Suzuki encountered both the highs and lows of racing at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Friday to kick off the 2009 AMA Pro Road Racing finale weekend.

Jason DiSalvo came up big once again to claim his sixth AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Superpole victory of the season, but his triumph didn't come until after the disappointing confirmation that championship hopeful Martin Cardenas' injured hand would prevent him from competing this weekend.

Despite qualifying sixth provisionally, New Yorker DiSalvo once again demonstrated his unparalleled ability to click off a lightning quick lap when needed during Superpole, jumping up to the top spot with a 1:23.839 lap aboard his Suzuki GSX-R600.

"I think it's going to be a really, really tight race," DiSalvo said looking to tomorrow. "The lap times have been super tight all weekend. It's just kind of blowing me away having 16 guys within a second of each other. In the practice leading up to this, we did a '23.9 on our eighth lap, and I called it for the session because my back had been hurting. I got a little nervous at the end of the session when all of these guys started bumping up there and we ended up, thankfully, seventh and still inside the top 10 to make Superpole.

"We just have to do a little more work to the bike tomorrow morning. Our settings are really, really good. We got a lot of work done yesterday during the practice. We have really good settings. I'm sure it'll be a good race, we'll try to lead off the start and see if we can't stay in the lead for the entire distance."

With Cardenas' title hopes out of the picture, Team M4 Suzuki will concentrate on helping DiSalvo close out a terrific season for the squad by capitalizing on his stellar qualifying effort to claim his first Daytona SportBike victory.

Saturday's 23-lap lap SportBike main event is scheduled to get underway at 4:10pm local time.
DISALVO FIGHTS BACK IN SATURDAY NEW JERSEY RACE
Published: September 5, 2009 - TeamHammer.com

Team M4 Suzuki's Jason DiSalvo fought back from an early race setback to finish in the top 15 in Saturday's AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

DiSalvo, who opened the race from pole after claiming his sixth Superpole victory of the season on Friday, went into the contest's opening corner too deep and ran off course moments after the race's start.

The New Yorker returned to the fray down in 35th position but put in an inspired ride aboard his GSX-R1000 to charge up to 13th position by the time he reached the checkered flag.

DiSalvo was the team's sole entry after seven-time SportBike race winner Martin Cardenas was forced to withdraw from the weekend due to injury.

"It's been a long time since I've blown a Turn 1 at the beginning of the race and now I remember why," DiSalvo said. "It's no fun. The whole race you're kind of riding around when you know you should be fighting at the front. Tomorrow we want to have a better start, better first lap, and see if we can run with those guys."

DiSalvo nearly stole away twelfth from rival Jamie Hacking on the final lap. He explained, "I would have been nice to get Jamie on the last lap. I don't think he saw me coming. He did like a 1:28 and I did the fastest lap of anybody on the track for the last lap, a 1:25 flat, and I crossed the line just four tenths behind him."

Jason has one more opportunity for victory this season with Sunday's 23-lap finale at NJMP marking the 2009 AMA Pro Daytona SportBike season finale.

"Tomorrow is the last chance," he said. "We'll see if we can't get a win for the M4 Suzuki guys and close off the season on a high note."
DISALVO EIGHTH IN NEW JERSEY FOR TEAM M4 SUZUKI

Published: September 06, 2009 - TeamHammer.com

The 2009 AMA Pro Daytona SportBike season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park turned out to be a virtual repeat of Saturday's stirring charge for Team M4 Suzuki and Jason DiSalvo.

After running wide in the opening corner of Saturday's 23-lap final, DiSalvo was pushed off in the same spot on Sunday, dropping all the way down to 28th position following the conclusion of the opening lap.

DiSalvo, who picked and weaved his way up to 13th from 35th on Saturday, was even more impressive today, guiding his GSX-R600 to a remarkable eighth-place result at the checkered flag.

"It was the same story as yesterday only today wasn't my fault," DiSalvo said. "Chaz Davies got in there pretty deep and I stood it up to avoid impact but we still go together a little bit. He got into my front tire and I just had no place to go really.

"It was very frustrating. I was sitting out there in the gravel trap thinking, 'I've got to do this again?' But I just put my head down and started picking guys off and was surprised to end up in eighth place. I didn't look at my board the entire race until the very final lap. I couldn't believe I was that high up and I was surprised the race was over that quick because I was in traffic shape the entire time. It made the race fly by.

"2009 is in the books so now we're looking forward to 2010."

DiSalvo, who finished fifth in the championship with 283 points, scored a class-leading six Superpole wins and earned six podium finishes of his own.

Cardenas and DiSalvo twice earned a 1-2 result for the team and were on the podium together on three occasions.
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