Run 1 Racing Friday report

Slow Start Drops Run 1 Racing’s Miles Thorton to 11th in SuperSport Race

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (March 11, 2011) – Miles Thorton will get a second chance Saturday to capitalize on being the fastest qualifier in AMA Pro Racing Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport competition at Daytona International Speedway when he again starts from the pole position in the second race of the 2011 season.

Friday’s first race was best quickly forgotten. A slow start doomed Thorton to an 11th place finish aboard his #72 Yamaha YZF-R6 Run 1 Racing team entry. After turning in an incredible qualifying lap of 1:54.888 Thursday, the 16-year-old high school student from West Point, Ga., was simply late off the starting line Friday. He fell back to 12th place on the first lap around the 3.51-mile Daytona International Speedway long course.

Thorton quickly lost the draft of the leaders, especially Thomas Puerta of Columbia, who had started fourth – directly behind Thorton – but jumped around Thorton into the lead before the field cleared pit lane and went into turn one.

“I was late!” said an obviously disappointed – and furious – Thorton. “Once I lost the draft, I was doomed. I don’t want to do anything right now.”

Thorton wound up finishing 23.9 seconds behind Puerta’s Yamaha. He made up only one position during the 10-lap sprint race, when another rider went down on lap seven.

Thorton will need to regroup and rein in his emotions before Saturday’s second SuperSport race. Under AMA Pro Racing rules, Thorton will again start from the pole position Saturday.

Injured Salenius Withdraws from SuperBike Race

Run 1 Racing’s Skip Salenius voluntarily dropped out of Friday’s AMA Pro Racing National Guard SuperBike race at Daytona International Speedway after just four laps due to an injury suffered during qualifying earlier Friday.

“There is no pain, but I don’t have any movement in my wrist and that made using the throttle difficult,” he said. “I was just in the way and didn’t want to be the guy causing problems for other riders.

“I will ice it down tonight and see how it feels for tomorrow’s race.”

Salenius got hit and went down hard near the end of qualifying earlier Friday. His #63 Yamaha R1, sponsored by Karma Tequila, was easily repairable, but his right wrist was swollen. He used a power drill to drill a hole in his right thumb nail to relieve the pressure and drain some blood.

“I might have a hairline fracture and there’s something wrong with my thumb, but it’s nothing serious,” Salenius said. “I just don’t have any movement.”

Salenius had qualified 21st and if he is able, that’s where he will start again Saturday in race two.

Pascarella Ends Up 16th in Daytona 200 Qualifying

Run 1 Racing’s other 16-year-old rider, Joey Pascarella of Vacaville, CA, improved his best lap by more than two seconds during qualifying Friday to earn the 16th starting position for Saturday’s Daytona 200 feature race, which will be televised live on Speed TV at 1:15 pm.

Pascarella posted a best lap of 1:53.546 = 91.945 mph aboard the #825 Run 1 Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 Friday.

“The bike is getting better and better every lap,” Pascarella said. “I am excited about the race. It’s going to be a long race, and I’ve never done an endurance race or made a pit stop during a race, so that’ll be interesting.

“I figure I will need to go hard in the beginning, ride smart during the middle (of the race) and then go for it at the end. “

Richards DNQ for SuperSport Race

Friday was another disappointing day for Run 1 Racing’s Antoine Richards of Bermuda. He failed to qualify for the SuperSport race after a terminal mechanical problem with his Suzuki GSX-R600 forced him to withdraw after only two laps of qualifying.

On Thursday, Richards was hampered by a broken throttle cable and only got in two laps.

-source: run 1 racing