BMW rider remains fourth in Stock 1000 points standings, second in Superbike Cup
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 22, 2020
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Travis Wyman Racing team worked until the early hours of Friday morning to get its BMW S 1000 RR ready to race at the Sept. 18-20 MotoAmerica Superbikes at Alabama event, and rider Travis Wyman rewarded the team with positive results even while enduring more mechanical gremlins.
Though the tight, twisty 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park track had proven to be a set-up challenge to the team in past years, Wyman put in his best-ever qualifying performance at Barber on Friday. He also scored his sixth top-five finish of 2020 in Stock 1000, as well as his sixth and seventh top 10s in Superbike this year despite clutch slippage problems on Saturday and Sunday. Wyman’s results allowed him to hold onto second place in the Superbike Cup standings and fourth place in the Stock 1000 Class championship points.
Though the team had hoped to complete repairs to its bike’s original engine and transmission before shoving off for Birmingham, additional parts were needed that the team could not obtain until late Thursday afternoon. Steve Weir, crew chief, and Alex Torres, team mechanic, were up until about 3 a.m. Friday completing the repairs and swapping the engine into the team’s 2020 BMW S 1000 RR. The results paid off on Friday, as Wyman finished Stock 1000 qualifying in second place.
On Saturday, Wyman began experiencing clutch slipping issues early in the Stock 1000 race, which curtailed his ability to get good drive out of Barber’s 17 turns. Despite a mediocre start, Wyman was able to salvage a fifth-place finish. Later on Saturday, Wyman was forced to started from the back of the Superbike grid, as the team did not get the bike out on track on time due to its making minor repairs to the clutch system. Though still down on drive out of corners, Wyman stormed through the back of the field, working his way up to ninth place in seven laps. Wyman spent the rest of the race battling for ninth place and missed out of finishing ninth by 0.003 seconds.
On Sunday, the team’s BMW S 1000 RR had more clutch issues, which caused Wyman to get a poor start in the Stock 1000 race, as well as have trouble getting off the line in that race’s restart. Wyman finished the re-started race in sixth place but ended the day on a high note when he finished ninth in the Sunday Superbike race.
The team has a two-week break before the penultimate round of the 2020 MotoAmerica season, which takes place Oct. 9-11 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Ind. The team hopes to have its S 1000 RR back to top form for the Brickyard’s road course, a track Wyman has raced on several times.
Travis Wyman / No. 10
“I can’t thank my team enough for their tireless work that made this weekend happen for us. Steve and Alex were on their A-game from the time we rolled into Birmingham, and I wouldn’t have been on track at all this weekend if it wasn’t for their efforts on Thursday. Barber had not been a good track for us in the past, so getting second place in qualifying I think really shows what our BMW is capable of. I’ve never felt this comfortable on a motorcycle at this track as I did this weekend, and our results here give us a lot of confidence for next year. In the last two weekends, we’ve found great set-ups at tracks that we used to struggle at.”
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Marino Communications 