Michelin Team Challenge Series Sanctioned by ASRA May 23, 2010 Blackhawk Farms Raceway South Beloit, IL Farrell Does it Again For the other 24 teams in the 3rd round of the Michelin Team Challenge it was a case of déjà vu as Jason Farrell took the lead on lap 2 of the 75 lap race and never looked back. Farrell, who is set for a wildcard ride at the World Supersport event at Miller next week, took the Overall win by more than a lap over runner-up and GTO winner Hix Racing. The final spot on the podium went to the “family affair” of Stiles Racing with Meghan Ryan, husband Scotty Ryan and Meghan’s father Mark Stiles handling the riding chores. For 2010 it took Farrell and his Speed Tech Kawasaki 600 only 1:34:06.205 to finish the event, four minutes faster than he ran in 2009. The class point leader and defending Team Challenge National Champion Chester Auto Repair Racing had to settle for 5th Overall on a back-up machine after engine failure at New Jersey Motorsports Park earlier this month left their BMW S1000RR parked for the weekend. That was good enough to hold on to the Overall point lead for the series and head for Virginia International Raceway felling good about their chances to repeat as champions. For the GTO class it was a repeat win at Blackhawk Farms for the Hix Racing Team with Ron Hix and Alan Feddersen on their Suzuki 1000, with a 3 lap advantage over class runner-up Chester Auto Repair on their Honda 600. With the second place finish, Cheater Auto Repair extends their lead in the GTO class over Gene Gilchrist’s GPG Racing, who finished 5th, to 17 points. The final spot on the GTO podium went to the Buell 1125R of Thrashed Bike Racing from Broussard, LA ridden by Tim Ivanoff, Laird Canfield and Joel Spalding. The third place finish for Thrashed Bike brings them to within 2 points of the third position in the standings currently held by Mid-Cities Motorsports. With 5 rounds remaining it’s a wide open race to the GTO championship from here. The big story in GTU was the fantastic ride by Jason Farrell on his Speed Tech Racing Kawasaki 600. With both the Overall and the GTU class win, Farrell earned $1025 in ASRA Cash Contingency to go along with his other contingency prizes for the event. With second spot on the podium going to Stiles Racing from Delavan WI, it seemed only fitting that the third position should be another team from the Badger state and FJL Racing was glad to oblige. It was James Roderfer Jr. on the FJL Honda that nailed down the final podium spot, finishing on the same lap as Stiles Racing but not really challenging the runner-up team. With three teams running in their first race of the year on the podium, the GTU point leader RnR Repsol suffered little damage to their title hopes when their Kawasaki went out with a problem on lap 23. This seemed the perfect opportunity for the Premier Racing Team of Daniel Dougherty and Adam Horton to make their move, but with multiple pit stops it seemed like they just could not get in the groove at Blackhawk Farms and they could only manage 7th place in the class. RnR Repsol still enjoys a 27 point lead but knows they must step up their game if they want to stay ahead of Premier Racing and.regain the GTU title for 2010. In the GTL class, it’s the Grease Monkey Racing Team on their SV650 repeating their class win from last season to remain perfect in 2010, 3 races and 3 wins. While they continue to hold the top position in the championship they are only 15 points ahead of the Born Cross-Eyed Racing Buell, ridden by Jay Smith and Robert Hofman, who finished second within striking distance of the win for the third straight event. Bringing their SV650 home in third was the Team Fru Fru of Greg Koilinski, Daniel Gizynski and Jeff Permanian from Buffalo Grove Il. The series now heads back to a couple of strong tracks for the Grease Monkey Team of Eric Helmbach and Alex Shaw so the Born Cross-Eyed guys have their work cut out for them with five rounds left in the championship. The next round of the Team Challenge Series will take place on June 19-20 at Virginia International Raceway during the 10th Annual VIR Festival of Speed. For more information, complete results and points, visit www.asraracing.com