Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki scored a pair of top-ten finishes in the AMA Superstock race on Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. Robertino Pietri and Chris Ulrich were awarded sixth and seventh place, respectively, after the race was red flagged and called complete following 14 of the event's scheduled 17 laps due to a two-rider incident.
Venezuelan Pietri continued to show his speed with Pirelli's sticky qualifying tyres on his GSX-R1000 racebike, circulating with a fast time of 1:37.315 on Saturday to qualify fourth and log a second consecutive front-row qualifying performance.
Meanwhile, Ulrich struggled with mechanical woes during the session and could do no better than tenth with a best time of 1:38.659. The team's third rider, Colombian Santiago Villa, qualified in 17th with a best time of 1:41.866.
Pietri got away in fifth in the race with Ulrich ninth, but the two came together as the South American fell to eighth and the Californian closed in on his teammate.
A collision involving Jason Pridmore and Lee Acree stopped the race late and ultimately promoted Pietri to sixth and Ulrich to seventh in the final results. Villa matched his qualifying effort by finishing 17th in the race -- a fine result in a difficult race for the Colombian racer who spent his time off the bike at Infineon getting around on crutches because of his injuries from a crash earlier this season.
Following four rounds of the 2008 AMA Superstock Championship, Ulrich is tied for third in the points with 104. Pietri is sixth at 88 while Villa is 17th with 38.
Afterwards, Ulrich said, "For sure for me it was frustrating. It was difficult from the get-go. We had some problems we tried to work out and we tried some different forks. We went back to the standard stuff this morning and that's what we raced on.
"Qualifying was definitely really hard on me. I ended up tenth on the grid due to a mechanical problem we had with the shocks. A little part failed on it and ruined our qualifying.
"But on the bright side, 'Tino did a good job this weekend and sixth and seventh isn't too bad. We got a little bit of help, but we'll move on from here to Miller. This was a hard, hard weekend for me and I'm glad to get out of here with good points. Villa had a tough challenge this weekend but he put in a fine effort."
Ulrich admitted that his expectations have been raised as the team has continued to improve. "Last year this would have been a fantastic result for us. But this year we're leaving frustrated about the finish. We need to keep digging and I'm excited about what's to come. 'Tino goes really well at Miller and I go really well at Road America. I'm looking forward to our team leading more races and getting some more podiums this year. Hopefully, Santiago will continue to recover and we're trying to get him up to speed as well."
Next up for Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki is the combined AMA/World Superbike race weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT on May 29-June 1.
