LTD Racing’s Puerta Quickest in DIS Saturday-morning SuperSport Practice

Daytona, FL (Oct 17, 2009) – LTD Racing’s Tomas Puerta set the quickest time in the Saturday morning practice session at Daytona International Speedway for this weekend’ s National Championship Shootout to determine the AMA Pro SuperSport National Champion. Teen racers Huntley Nash and Joey Pascarella also earned the top five in the only SuperSport session of the day. Jake Gagne continued to improve his times this weekend in his first-ever race at Daytona.

Puerta was quickest in the 20-minute session at the 3.51-mile version of the famous American track and the combined SuperSport/MotoGT session made for an interesting drafting partner for Puerta on the way to 1:52.545. “Josh Hayes was out there and I got to ride with him. I drafted him to set the best time,” said the Colombian racer. “I feel much better than yesterday because we got some more track time and I learned more. Now I am racing in the eight-hour race today so I will get plenty of laps in. Then I want to relax and be ready for tomorrow and and hopefully finish on the podium in the SuperSport race!”

Huntley Nash improved to fourth position on Saturday. The Georgian posted a time of 1:54.721, good for fourth quickest despite cool conditions in Daytona. Nash used his same tires from Friday to get ready for race conditions. “I was fourth and we tried something different with the bike. I was having grip problems at the rear of the bike going up on the banking and at the chicanes. The changes the team made worked,” said Huntley. “I used some different lines in turns 1, 3, and 7 and it seemed to help, too. I think it made it more comfortable and easier to ride. All the riders were about a second off our lap times and I think we’ll drop by the same amount in sunnier conditions. If I can stay consistent and keep in the draft, I think we can have a really good race on Sunday.”

Joey Pascarella was fifth at 1:54.894, even though he felt he did not get his ideal lap in on Saturday morning. “I only got about five laps in and the track was really cold and really slick,” said the Californian. “I just got a feel for the track in those kind of conditions. I didn’t feel like throwing it away in practice. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and I really want to win one of these things. We were close in March and I am glad I have another shot at it.”

Jake Gagne’s best lap was 1:56.934 and the Californian continues to learn at his first time at the difficult Florida speed bowl. “It hasn’t been my best weekend, to be honest. It’s getting better but I have to figure out this track and bike combination. We have one more practice and then the race, so I need to figure it out pretty quick,” said Jake. “I have struggled so far but it’s good to race at Daytona and see what it is all about.”

Sunday’s 12-lap, 40-mile race begins at noon.