Team Suzuki Press Office - July 23.
Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing's Martin Cardenas visited the AMA Pro Superbike podium for the eighth time this season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California on Sunday.
Cardenas gave 100% and raced his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 to a well-earned third-place result at the renowned Northern California racetrack as Yoshimura Suzuki team-mate Chris Clark bounced back from some recent bad luck and carded a respectable 11th-place result.
Because AMA Pro Racing shared the paddock this weekend with the visiting MotoGP series, Yoshimura Suzuki had shorter practice sessions than normal and only one Superbike race instead of the usual two. Both riders made the most of their limited track time, however. For Cardenas, the weekend's 23-lap race saw him get a good start and move into a podium position by the half-way point and hold it until the flag.
"The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 was working pretty good from the start," said Cardenas. "And we improved through the weekend. But the race was very hard from the beginning. I was giving it everything I had and we wound up third and that was it. Now we're getting ready for Miller, which has been good for me in the past. I like the track layout a lot and I'm looking forward to that race."
Clark struggled a bit at the start of the race but made his way through the field as the event progressed. By the race's end, Clark had moved up to 11th position. This solid finish marks his best result since the opening round of the season.
"It was a long weekend with MotoGP," said Clark. "For me, the weekend started slow but got better as things went on. At the same time, we only had one race so it was tough to work through a bunch of stuff on the bike. But we're on the right track with the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and I feel like I'm improving every weekend. Communication with my crew is getting better and we're chipping away at it. I'm confident that it'll all come together and we'll get some good results as we go into the last few races."
The Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing team's next event of the 2013 AMA Pro Superbike Championship series is at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah on August 2-4th.
Laguna Seca Superbike Results:
1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Josh Herrin (Yamaha)
3. Martin Cardenas (Yoshimura Suzuki)
4. Danny Eslick (MJM Suzuki)
5. Chris Fillmore (KTM)
6. Geoff May (EBR)
7. Aaron Yates (EBR)
8. Larry Pegram (Yamaha)
9. Cory West (EBR)
10. David Anthony (Suzuki)
11. Chris Clark (Yoshimura Suzuki)
2013 Superbike Standings: CLICK HERE FOR POINTS
