Press Release | February 27, 2009
The following is from Daytona International Speedway…The only thing that wasn’t new for Jason DiSalvo during Friday’s Team Challenge race at Daytona International Speedway was his podium finish.DiSalvo, rider of the No. 40 Suzuki for the M4 EMGO Suzuki, kicked off his 2009 racing season riding a new bike for a new team and managed to take the checkered flag in the Solo Division of the Team Challenge.”Based on lap times from this morning I felt pretty comfortable about it,” DiSalvo said. “When (Celtic Racing’s) Michael Laverty came by me, I figured that I really didn’t have much chance to stay with him but thankfully my team made up the time difference exponentially in the pits.”While the Team Challenge was only DiSalvo’s second time ever on the Suzuki 600, he was able to dominate the rest of the competitive field.”I’ve learned the bike, but I haven’t perfected it yet,” DiSalvo said. “The bike and I are still in the early stages of our relationship.”The 24-year-old DiSalvo finished third in overall points in 2008 AMA Superbike championship standings and finished third in the opening round at Daytona. However, after the 2008 season, DiSalvo and his factory Yamaha YZF-R1 team parted ways and DiSalvo was without a ride until early January.”Usually we’re signing a deal by at least November,” DiSalvo said. “I remember spending Christmas at my wife’s parent’s house and thinking, ‘you know, it’s Christmas time and we don’t have a ride.’ “DiSalvo was able to pull out a win Friday afternoon that will hopefully set the tone for his remaining races during Daytona 200 Week By Honda, which includes the 68th Daytona 200 By Honda on Friday night, March 6th.He’ll continue competing during this weekends’ CCS and ASRA events before the AMA Pro Racing portion of events kicks off on Wednesday.”It’s good,” DiSalvo said. “I still have a couple more races tomorrow that I have to get behind me and try and get some wins in those. We’ll just try and go for a clean sweep the week before the 200.”
