... Tony Berlutti of Team Suzuki was seen working on Sebastian Tortelli's #103 RM250 at the Suzuki semi on Saturday. Was Tortelli gearing up to ride in Atlanta? Nope! In reality, Berlutti was in the process of converting Tortelli's bike over to fit Travis Pastrana who'll be doing testing this week on suspension and tires for his upcoming race return. “We never built a race bike for Travis this year because we didn't think he'd be ready,” said Berlutti. Now that he plans to race in St. Louis he'll inherit the injured Tortelli's RM250. Among the components being changed were the footpegs, triple clamps, seat, and bars in order to facilitate the taller body frame of Travis. Travis has been living and training with Suzuki's Davi Millsaps to get ready.
According to Travis, "Training's going great and I didn't feel rusty at all when I came back. After seven months off I jumped both triples and blitzed the whoops on my first lap before the bike was even warmed up on a track I had never ridden. The race will tell it all…good or bad I don't know yet."
Update! After checking in with Travis on Monday, we found that he's advanced his return to racing by a week, from the original plan of St. Louis, to next weekend in Daytona. He'll be on a 250.... |