Larry Pegram Discusses his American Superbike Victory
Team Foremost Ducati 1098R owner and racer Larry Pegram was interviewed by Road Racer X magazine following his victory in the 2nd race at the Road America round of the 2009 AMA American Superbike Championship. This was only Larry’s second career Superbike win coming 10 years after his inaugural victory also on a Ducati. He discusses his race victory, the Ducati 1098R, and his prospects for the rest of the season.
Larry is of course excited by his victory and encouraged by the pace of his bike which is theoretically even more potent that Haga’s and Fabrizio’s factory Ducatis in World Superbike since the 50mm intake restrictor is not required in the US series. One of the most interesting parts of the conversation refer to Larry using data to adapt his riding style to the needs of the bike, something many riders struggle with. Larry argues that the 4 cylinder superbikes require a more 250 style approach with high mid corner speed whereas the Ducati’s greater mid-range torque allows him to get on the gas earlier and harder which necessitates a different cornering line.
“…we’ve been able to look at the data a lot more and sit down and say, “Hey, not only is the bike doing this, but you’re doing this; you’re doing this on the entrance, and you’re losing this on the exit.” So one of the things I’ve done this year is change my riding style a lot. At the beginning of this year, before I started working with these guys, I thought you can’t really teach an old dog new tricks; this is the way I ride, and I’ve ridden this way my whole life. Well, they showed me that I can change and go faster. Our motorcycle is made to go into the corner, get it turned, then accelerate hard out with the bike pointed more straight. A lot of the guys on the four-cylinders ride a different style because they’re bikes are more 250-type style where they want to carry more corner speed and don’t have the torque our bike does.”
The Ducati factory also seems pleased with the perhaps unexpected victory in the US given Mat Mladin’s dominance of the series so far this year and are beginning to offer more assistance now that the package is a proven winner.
“Everybody over there seems really happy. I think they were a bit surprised that we won, because everybody was under the assumption that Mat wasn’t going to get beat this year in a straight-up fight, and when they found out that we beat him and beat him straight up, they were very impressed. And now they’re even more involved in our program.”
Pegram is clearly pumped form his victory and confident that some of the tracks coming up such as Kansas and New Jersey will also suit the Ducati.
I’m not saying we’re going to win every race, but we’re going there with the intention to win every race.
That’s the spirit Larry. ducatinewstoday will be rooting for you and it will be a whole lot easier now that Speed has committed to same day coverage of the American Superbike races. You can read the entire interview on Road Racer X.
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