RIDERS DISCOUNT VESRAH SUZUKI’S JAKE LEWIS GETS HIS FIRST AMA PRO ROAD RACING VICTORY AT THE BIG KAHUNA ATLANTA. Jake Lewis, riding his Dunlop equipped Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R 600, captured his first AMA Pro Road Racing victory of his career by winning the second race of the SuperSport class doubleheader during the Big Kahuna Atlanta at Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA. Today’s race started out the same as yesterdays with Jake breaking away at the front in a 2 man battle for the lead and leading across the stripe the majority of the time. A red flag on lap 13 ended the race early and Jake was leading on the last lap that all riders completed awarding him the victory. With the victory and leading the most laps Jake collected 31 points on the day which now gives him 82 points in the SuperSport East season championship point standings and a 15 point lead over 2nd place. Jake Lewis Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki #85 “It feels awesome to get my first AMA Pro win at what I consider my home track! The whole race I was up front and felt really comfortable. The changes the crew made last night on the Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki worked really well in the race. The trophy and especially the surfboard for being the overall Big Kahuna of the weekend were sweet! All of my hard work and the help of a ton of people paid off today! I cannot thank everyone who has helped me get my first win, it feels great!” Breeann Poland Team Manager Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki “It is great that the Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki team was able to get a win in only the second round of the 2012 AMA Pro Road Racing season. I am so proud of Jake and his performance this weekend while being sick and under pressure. The Daytona SportBike class was not as kind to the team this weekend but Cory and Benny will rebound at the Great Clips West Coast Moto Jam at Infineon Raceway in 2 weeks. Overall the Big Kahuna Atlanta was successful for the team including Kyle Wyman’s podium finish and Taylor Knapp in National Guard Superbike.” In the AMA Pro Road Racing GoPro Daytona SportBike class the team did not have the same find of fortunes with Cory West crashing out of the race in the early laps and Benny Solis running just inside the top 10 finishing in 9th place. Cory is now 10th in the GoPro Daytona SportBike season championship and Benny is in 18th place. The Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki team is in 6th place 2012 GoPro Daytona SportBike team point standings with 39 points Benny Solis Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki #35 “We didn’t finish the race like we wanted to but over all it was better than yesterday. I got some points and we know what sections we need to work on with the set up. I ended up 9th, I’m not stoked on that finish but I’m excited for our next race because I’m confident it will go much better, Infineon is a great track too so that makes it more exciting. Other than that I just have to say thanks to the Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki team. They ran a great program and my crew worked hard on getting me what I needed on the track.” Cory West Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki #57 “That’s definitely not how I wanted to end the weekend! I had a good morning warm-up and felt very confident in the changes that we made to the bike last night. My start wasn’t as good as yesterday and I ended up being stuck in the back of the front pack. I was riding pretty aggressive to make passes on the brakes so I could get away with the leaders and then ended up high siding coming out of turn 12. It was a weird crash because it happened so late in the drive but luckily it wasn’t very fast. I have to thank my sponsors Shoei, Cortech, Held, and Sidi for keeping me safe in today’s miscue. I also want to thank my crew for giving me such a good bike this weekend and I’ll be ready for Infineon in two weeks time.” Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki supported Kyle Wyman, in the AMA Pro Racing Vance & Hines XR1200 race, came back from a crash on the warm up lap, which necessitated starting at the rear of the field on his back-up bike at the restart, to finish on the podium in 3rd place. Kyle is now in 2nd place in the XR1200 Season championship 5 points out of the lead. Taylor Knapp, riding his Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R 1000, in the AMA Pro Road Racing National Guard Superbike class was almost able to pull out a top 5 finish ending up 6th to complete the weekend for the team. Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki would like to thank their sponsors for the 2012 season: Vesrah, Riders Discount, MCJ Motorsports, American Suzuki, Nielsen Enterprises Suzuki, Parts Unlimited, Penske Racing Shocks, Traxxion Dynamics Fork Components, Yoshimura, Catalyst Racing Composites, Shoei, Cortech, Sidi, Held, Motion Pro, Sudco Int., Bazzaz, Factory Pro, Maxima Racing Oils, Adjustable-levers, Vicci, Vortex, DID Chain, Zero Gravity, GPR Stabilizers, Trek Bicycles, Suzuka Tire Warmers, K&N Filters, Full Spectrum Batteries, Redbull (Benny), Oakley (Benny & Jake), Roclun (Jake), Progressive Trail Design (Cory), 509 sunglasses (Cory and team), Andrew Swenson Designs and Drippinwet. More, from a press release issued by KTM North America: Fillmore Earns 7th at Road Atlanta Day 2 Braselton, GA The KTM/HMC Superbike Team ride of Chris Fillmore had another successful day of racing at the Road Atlanta course when he earned 7th overall in the AMA Pro Superbike Racing class on the second day of competition. Fillmore’s 6th and 7th place results over the two day weekend mark his most successful racing weekend of his AMA Pro Superbike Racing career. “I am so thankful to the whole KTM/HMC Team for all of their hard work so far this season,” remarked Fillmore. “Every race gives us more seat time on the bike and we continue to make great progress. I am very happy and confident that we will break into the top five soon.” Fillmore started in the same position as the day prior on the third row. He had a decent jump off the line and was sitting in 9th by the end of the first lap. He made a pass on lap two to move into 8th place. He then became involved in a close battle with Larry Pegram, Taylor Knapp, Chris Clark and Steve Rapp for 6th position. Around the halfway mark he dropped to 9th when Knapp was able to move around him. Two laps later he rebounded and passed Clark to regain 8th position. With four laps to go he was able to make a pass on Rapp to take over 7th. He remained in close battle with Rapp throughout the remaining laps and was able to come out ahead to earn 7th for the day. “The racing is always more exciting when its close and it was fun to be in a battle with those guys throughout the race today. I am looking forward to an action-packed season,” stated Fillmore. Next Event: Infineon Raceway May 4-6, 2012 Overall Results 1. Josh Hayes 2. Blake Young 3. Josh Herrin 4. Roger Hayden 5. Larry Pegram 6. Taylor Knapp 7. Chris Fillmore KTM 8. Steve Rapp 9. Danny Eslick 10. Chris Clark 11. Robertino Pietri 12. Chris Ulrich 13. Geoff May 14. Johnny Rock Page 15. Jordan Burgess 16. Reese Wacker 17. David Anthony 18. Jake Holden 19. Ben Bostrom 20. Shawn Higbee More, from a press release issued by Harley-Davidson: O’Hara Wins AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 at Road Atlanta, Kyle Wyman Charges from Back of Grid to Podium Braselton, GA (April 23, 2012) Bartels’ Harley-Davidson’s Tyler O’Hara converted pole position to a race win in the second round of the AMA Pro Racing Vance & Hines XR1200 series Sunday at Road Atlanta to earn his second career victory in the class and the championship points lead. O’Hara survived an opening lap red flag incident that forced fellow front row starter Kyle Wyman (KLR Group/Vesrah) to restart from the back of the grid on a backup motorcycle, and challenges from his Bartels’ Harley-Davidson teammate Michael Barnes and 2011 XR1200 championship runner-up Steve Rapp (Harv’s Harley-Davidson), each of whom led laps early in the race, to earn the hard-fought win. “What a race today. Rapp passed me in a place I didn’t think I could be passed coming out of [turn] one. I just followed him and learned a couple of things that helped me out for when I got back in the lead, and Barney was there the whole time keeping us honest,” said O’Hara, who led eight of the race’s 10 laps and held off Barnes for a 0.626-second margin of victory. Wyman, who posted the fastest lap of the race with a 1:39.722, rebounded to an unexpected third place finish after Rapp pulled off with a mechanical problem with two laps to go. Wyman’s race was spoiled by a crash on the opening lap of the original race start caused by oil from another machine that cracked its primary case during the warm-up lap. Unable to repair his primary motorcycle during the red flag period, he was forced to restart the race from the back of the grid. “Apparently someone dumped something on the sight lap because it wasn’t there before,” Wyman said. “They sent us out to race any way and I got the worst of it. I went down hard and it hurt but all I could think about was getting back to pit row and figuring out how to continue racing.” Further back in the order, Harv’s Harley-Davidson’s Travis Wyman emerged ahead of Longevity Racing’s Barrett Long and Shane Narbonne (Suburban Motors H-D) to claim a strong fourth place finish from his seventh place starting slot. Ben Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D), Michael Corbino, Gerry Signorelli, and David Estok rounded out the top ten finishers. Final Results: 1. Tyler O’Hara (Bartels’ H-D/Scrubblade), 10 laps 2. Michael Barnes (Bartels’ H-D/Scrubblade), +0.626 second 3. Kyle Wyman (KLR Group/Vesrah), +6.532 seconds 4. Travis Wyman (Harv’s H-D), +9.280 seconds 5. Barrett Long (Longevity Racing), +9.384 seconds 6. Shane Narbonne (Suburban Motors H-D), + 9.585 seconds 7. Benjamin Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D), +19.414 seconds 8. Michael Corbino (XP Motorsports/Rossiter’s H-D), +23.685 seconds 9. Gerry Signorelli (Kuryakyn), +24.179 seconds 10. David Estok (Trev Deeley Motorcycles), +25.635 seconds 11. Darren James (Ruthless Racing/Deeley), +26.161 seconds 12. Josh Chisum (Bartels’ H-D/Scrubblade), +33.088 seconds 13. Russell Proctor (Shenandoah H-D), +55.984 seconds 14. Paul James (Hoban Cycle/Woodstock H-D), +1:15.395 seconds 15. Aaron Borello (Air Ground Express), +1:17.150 seconds 16. Jeremiah Johnson (BE-EV.com/New Roc H-D), +1:17.338 seconds 17. Steve Rapp (Harv’s H-D), 8 laps, mechanical 18. Matthew Heidel (Online Paddock/Down Home H-D), 7 laps 19. Paul Schwemmer (Peter Brady/Level 10 Contractors), DNF 20. Brice Cooper (Woodstock H-D), DNF 21. Nicholas Hansen (Suburban Motors H-D), DNS XR1200 Championship Points 1. O’Hara, 57 2. K. Wyman, 52 3. Barnes, 47 4. T. Wyman, 33 5. Estok, 29 6. Corbino, 27 7. D. James, 26 8. Signorelli, 25 9. Carlson, 22 10. Chisum, 21 The next round of the Vance & Hines XR1200 series is May 5-6 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. Company Background Harley-Davidson Motor Company produces heavyweight custom, cruiser and touring motorcycles and offers a complete line of Harley-Davidson motorcycle parts, accessories, riding gear and apparel, and general merchandise. For more information, visit harley-davidson.com.