British riders Harry Truelove and Richard Cooper make a return under the Team Mohamed’s banner with the newbie being Daniel Linfoot for this weekend’s ‘Clash of Champions’ at the South Dakota Circuit.
After arriving on Wednesday last, the three British riders got down to business on Thursday morning, testing out the track and assessing how fast they can possibly go over the weekend.
Linfoot, who is the fresh addition, comes as a result of the absence of regular face Matt Truelove.
According to the 31 year-old, it looks to be an exciting track. “Feels good. It is always nice to learn a new track. I did 15-20 laps just to get familiar with where the bumps are, where to break. It is quite enjoyable, it tight and technical.”
Based on his research on the local competitors, he stated, “I know you have quite a strong local field. I’m looking forward to racing with them. It is going to be a whole new experience for me.”
The younger Truelove says he is happy to be back in Guyana and looks forward to an exciting duel with the locals and his fellow countryman.
“It has been really good, getting back used to the bike again…the track is always good fun to ride,” Truelove stated.
He added, “Dan [Daniel Linfoot] is a very good rider; he is very fast at home on the super bike so hopefully I can stay close.”
The 23-year-old further felt the locals are seemingly ‘throwing in the towel’ too early, noting they are of good calibre. “Some of them seem to accept defeat early, but if they keep progressing they will become as fast as you…so you don’t want to be too overconfident coming because you are setting yourself up for a fail. I think everyone has it in them to be fast, so it should be some good racing.”
Cooper, who will ride Super Stock, is eyeing Matt Truelove’s lap record of 33.3 seconds.
“One of the main objectives is to claim the fastest time this weekend and hopefully I can repay that compliment to Team Mohamed’s and I am sure they will be very grateful of it.”
He added, “It is nice being back here. I know where the track goes now and how bikes would feel. Something we didn’t do last year was play around with the setting too much, but as any rider does when they leave the circuit, they always look to do better.”
Matthew Vieira, Kevin Persaud and Nikhil ‘Mad Max’ Seereeram, along with USA rider Ian Beam should complete the Super Stock competitors for this weekend’s meet.
