Team MSR/Pro Taper/Suzuki/Yoshimura
Revving it Up at the Starting Gate for 2007
Chino, CA - (3/7/2007) -Doug Gust and
Dustin Wimmer, duly dubbed the "Double D's",
are on their way to Pell City, Alabama to kick off the
season opener for the ATVA GNC. With a new look, new sponsors,
new mechanics, and a new rider – everyone involved
with the team is jumping at the bit to get out there and
watch it all come together.
Most of you recall the highlight of last season when
Gust and Wimmer were battling down the short stretch
to the checkers at Englishtown for a nail-biting finale
to the WPSA season. With the addition of Wimmer to the
Suzuki squad, 2007 has every promise of being the most
exciting season ever on four wheels.
Returning to the WPSA as champion, Doug Gust is stoked
about seeing his former rival in yellow. "I'm really
looking forward to an all out contest with Dustin. Now
that we're both on LT-R450s with all the same bells
and whistles, it will be a match race out there and
it's going to get exciting."
First year factory rider Dustin Wimmer is also gunning
for a win. "I've been training hard in the off-season
and am ready to race. I intend to come out strong in
Pell City and not look back." Lap times during
training sessions show young Wimmer to be on the gas.
But then again, so is Gust. With Gust turning 40 this
year and Wimmer still one year shy of 21, there will
be fans out there who will just be rooting for their
own demographic.
Ace Yoshimura engine builder Ryan Cox has been busy
making ever-larger horsepower numbers in the off season.
"It's been a challenging development season,"
Cox said. "In addition to the normal engine development,
we also have a lower Db pipe requirement (99Db) mandated
from AMA. The new sound level sent us to the dyno's
but we worked out a good combination that the riders
seem to like."
Off-season races showed the LT-R450 Suzuki's plenty
competitive. Wimmer pretty well decimated the competition
at the first ITP Quad Cross event at Glen Helen with
the Yoshimura built motor powering him away from his
competitors.
Suspension man Ricky Strickland has been dialing in
the already great handling Suzuki as well. "These
things work so well that there's not much more we really
need to do. The Fox shocks and Walsh suspension pieces
work so well together that it makes my job easy. The
two riders like different set ups, but we got the things
working like slot cars."
Suzuki main man Rod Lopusnak is excited about getting
this team in action. "We're really excited about
the new direction of the team. Jeremiah is doing an
incredible job as team coordinator, the new mechanics
are top notch, and Dustin joining the team is just awesome.
We're really excited about defending WPSA and being
back on ESPN 2 as well as racing in the GNC series."
In addition to Team MSR/Pro Taper/Suzuki/Yoshimura,
Lost Creek Cycles has been added as a Suzuki support
team and Joe Haavisto will be joining Jason "Dunk"
Dunkelberger. Kevin Mummah's new team will be called
Team Lost Creek/Yoshimura/Suzuki.
You will also find young Russell Shumaker near the
Team pits this year. For the third year, Russell be
a Suzuki factory support rider and will be racing in
some A Class races and some select Pro Class events.
Russell was the Four Stroke A Class Champion in 2006
and third in the Production A Class, walking away with
17 podium finishes between the two.
The semi got a paint job in the off-season and is ready
for action. Yoshimura's Brant Russell explains that
it was a lot of work, "We had a lot of maintenance
on the rig this year. We had to replace the D-rails
in the floor, fix some cabinets - the usual stuff. Plus-
we repainted the whole thing and put new graphics on,
to reflect the new sponsorship with Pro Taper and MSR.
There will be some surprises coming up in the near future,
so look for the truck to change a little bit more."
More to come.
www.yoshimura-rd.com
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