As the global racing community descends on California’s Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Ducati’s AMA star prepares to defend his recent Superbike victory.
This coming weekend marks the seventh round of the AMA Pro Racing American Superbike Championship; held in conjunction with the United States Grand Prix. Ducati Corse’s MotoGP squad has flown over to participate in the World Championship event, enabling the AMSOIL sponsored Larry Pegram to shine in front of the 1098 R’s Bolognese fabricators.
The last race, held in Elkhart Lake, Wis., was an epic duel. When the dust settled, Pegram and the Ducati 1098 R beat Suzuki’s Mat Mladin, only the second time anyone has done so this year. The Foremost/Ducati/AMSOIL squad has had a few weeks off to refresh their 1098 R’s, and Pegram is looking forward to a good performance at Ducati North America’s second “home” track.
“The win at Road America has really boosted my own and the team’s confidence. We are hungry to win more races and I hope the streak continues at Laguna Seca,” commented Pegram. “Massimo Capanna and his crew have been busy preparing for weeks now, and I’m ready to race.”
The AMA Superbike race will take place Sunday at 4:15, following Saturday qualifying at 1:00. The Daytona SuperBike class presented by AMSOIL will also race at Laguna Seca this weekend. AMSOIL is the Official Oil of AMA Pro Road Racing.
This coming weekend marks the seventh round of the AMA Pro Racing American Superbike Championship; held in conjunction with the United States Grand Prix. Ducati Corse’s MotoGP squad has flown over to participate in the World Championship event, enabling the AMSOIL sponsored Larry Pegram to shine in front of the 1098 R’s Bolognese fabricators.The last race, held in Elkhart Lake, Wis., was an epic duel. When the dust settled, Pegram and the Ducati 1098 R beat Suzuki’s Mat Mladin, only the second time anyone has done so this year. The Foremost/Ducati/AMSOIL squad has had a few weeks off to refresh their 1098 R’s, and Pegram is looking forward to a good performance at Ducati North America’s second “home” track.
“The win at Road America has really boosted my own and the team’s confidence. We are hungry to win more races and I hope the streak continues at Laguna Seca,” commented Pegram. “Massimo Capanna and his crew have been busy preparing for weeks now, and I’m ready to race.”
The AMA Superbike race will take place Sunday at 4:15, following Saturday qualifying at 1:00. The Daytona SuperBike class presented by AMSOIL will also race at Laguna Seca this weekend. AMSOIL is the Official Oil of AMA Pro Road Racing.
Cover Boy
With Pegram's recent win at Road America, he and his Foremost Insurance/AMSOIL/Ducati have been gaining a lot of media coverage, including the front cover on the industries top magazines, Cycle News and Road Racer X. Here are those cover shots:
Television Coverage
This weekend's AMA Pro Road Racing at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca will be the first races to air on SPEED in a new, same-weekend programming format that was announced last month. SPEED's decision to return to same-day or same-weekend coverage of AMA Pro Road Racing has been welcome news for series competitors, promoters and, most importantly, motorcycle road racing fans.
After a brief experiment in the first half of the year with the Saturday evening studio program AMA Pro Prime Time, SPEED is returning to same-weekend coverage of AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited and AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL racing beginning with the action from Laguna Seca this weekend. The AMA Pro Road Racing action can be seen Sunday, July 5 at 9 p.m. PT (late Sunday/early Monday, July 6 at Midnight ET). T
"Plain and simple, this move was a reaction to the fans," said Rick Miner, SPEED Senior Vice President of Production & Network Operations. "Naturally, they wanted to see the races as close to real time as possible. As the longtime television destination for motorcycle racing in North America, we will continue to work very hard with AMA Pro Road Racing and other sanctioning bodies at all levels to move through the current economic challenges in a collective effort to deliver great racing to the fans."
Enjoy your Fourth of July holiday and we'll see you at the track.
