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Daytona 2005, 5th place

Daytona Report: Chris Peris - Topline Printing Racing
March 18, 2005

Daytona: New bike, new team....great results

The first Yamaha across the finish line in the 2005 Daytona 200 was piloted by Chris Peris, the Calgary resident snaring fifth place in the 71-rider field.

Peris' debut in the two-hour-long race was a veteran performance and bringing the Topline Printing R6 home in the top five was the culmination of a winters worth of training.

"I knew that 68 laps at Daytona would be tough mentally and physically so I really trained hard over the winter," Peris admitted. A mix of bicycling, gym work and monthly races at Willow Springs put last-year's top-ten Supersport rider in great shape, and it all paid off March 12.

Peris comes off a great year with Valvoline Emgo Suzuki and credits that team with a large spike in his learning curve.

"I had a great Supersport team last year and the Valvoline guys were great to work with. I was always in contention to get in the top 10," said Peris.

Topline Printing put together a Yamaha program for the '05 season that adds Formula Xtreme to Peris' Supersport duties, putting the young rider in both 600cc classes. Max McAllister of Traxxion Dynamics came on board to handle suspension and chassis duties, while Willie Vass, of Vass Performance (the unsung tuner of Alberta) got the nod for his detail-oriented engine work. That team, along with the very fast and very calm rear-tire-man, Geoff Cesmat, knocked out three great pit stops to get Peris in and out of the Daytona pits in record time. The team's third stop was so quick, Peris didn't have time for a sip of water!

Also noteworthy, Chris Lapped all the riders up to and including 6th place - some many more times than that.

Earlier in Bike Week, Peris lined up in the 11th qualifying spot for Supersport and battled up into the top ten, eventually finishing 11th, within sniffing distance of ninth.

"Racing with Pascal Picotte and Danny Eslick was really great, those guys are fantastic riders," Peris enthused after the race."The weather really hurt everyone's track time and I think quite a few of us were on new bikes that need a bit more development."

Development is the goal of Topline's FX R6 before the race at Barber Motorsports Park, because the bike Peris ran into fifth spot at Daytona was in Supersport trim, including DOT tires.

"I knew our bike would be down on power compared to most FX bikes, but we weren't confident in making many changes because we didn't have a chance to test before the 200, Peris explained. "I love the Supersport R6 and knew it would be a good bike for 200 miles." Good enough for fifth place in America's most prestigious roadrace.


Topline will receive help from Yamaha Canada, Dunlop Tires, Hindle Pipes, Shark helmets, Traxxion Dynamics, Vass Performance, Nick Ienatsch, Flexi-Glass, Vesrah brakes, Penske shocks, Graves Motorsport, Pitbull stands, Dynojet, Over the Top.