Michelin Pro Series May 3, 2009 Road America Elkhart Lake, WI
With temperatures in the mid-sixties and no rain in sight at Road America, the weather was not a factor in Round 3 of the Michelin Pro Series and the riders took advantage of it. After last week at Topeka it was a welcome change and Matt Hall from Missouri took his Kawasaki’s to victory lane twice, a definite improvement over his Round 2 performance.
As the SuperStock grid formed up for the first race of the day, the rest of the field didn’t know that was as close as they were going to get to the 26 year old Hall for the rest of the race. Brian Stokes on his Kawasaki 1000 took the holeshot but it was short lived as Hall got around him on lap 1 and proceeded to gap second place by 11.713 seconds at the end of the 7 lap contest. Hall, riding on Pirellis, ran the fastest lap every circuit not allowing a single rider to challenge for the lead. Stokes, the Georgia resident, came to the flag in second place, a 10 full seconds ahead of third place Brian Hall from Illinois. That made it a clean sweep for Kawasaki’s in the Michelin Pro Series SuperStock event, the first time the Green Machines have been able to accomplish that feat in ASRA sanctioned competition. Matt Hall now leads SuperStock by 1 point over Stokes, the result of the Pole Point from this weekends qualifying.
The ASRA SuperBike class featured many of the same racers from SuperStock plus a few new faces. At first it appeared the Oshkosh Wisconsin’s Jason Farrell was going to give Matt Hall run for the money as the two swapped the lead for the first few laps. Shawn Conrad made it three Kawasaki’s out front and did his best to keep up but the two front runners were more than the veteran could handle today. Farrell, called for a jump start, ignored the flag and was penalized 1-lap by ASRA officials, effectively taking him out of the race. This left Matt Hall out front and trying to repeat his disappearing act from the earlier race. With Farrell gone, it was Conrad, riding on Michelin’s and the Yamaha mounted Paul Allison left to duke it out for the runner-up position. At the end, it was Hall by 7 seconds over Conrad and 9 seconds over Allison. The win moved Hall within 14 points the Pennsylvanian Allison in the standings, but now the series heads to Allison’s home turf and Summit Point Raceway for the Memorial Day event there.
Mid-West standout Ed Key took the holeshot in ThunderBike but class point leader Dan Bilansky wasted little time in getting around the SV650 mounted Key. Bilansky, running on Michelins, turned up the wick and when Key retired with mechanical problem on lap 4, it was smooth sailing for the former ThunderBike Champion. Bilansky and his Buell finished 23 seconds ahead of the second place duel between Joel Spaulding, also on a Buell, and the Ducati of Greg Langman. Langman shadowed Spaulding to the finish and came up about .3 seconds shy, having to settle for third. Bilansky now has a solid 17 point lead over Spaulding in the Michelin Pro Series ThunderBike Championship for 2009.
When the field lined up for the Factory Pro SportBike final, they were facing the Matt Hall juggernaut and they knew it wasn’t going to be easy. This time Jason Farrell, who came off the line in 8th place, put his head down and did not let his fellow Kawasaki riders Stokes and Hall get away from him and took the lead at the end of lap one. It was a five bike battle for the lead for the next few laps until the top three, Farrell, Matt Hall and Stokes were able to gap the Yamaha mounted Allison. That left the three riders to hammer it out amongst themselves for the final laps and did they ever. All three took turns pushing who ever got the point until the last lap where Matt Hall snuck past Farrell to lead by .123 seconds over Farrell who nipped Stokes by .01 at the stripe. Unfortunately for Matt Hall, his Kawasaki tested 1.3 horsepower over the limit on the Factory Pro Dyno and that moved him back to fourth in the order. Then new third place rider Paul Allison had his Yamaha test 2.3 horsepower over, dropping him from the results and moving Matt Hall back to third place. The winner, Jason Farrell, got the both sides of the coin at this event. First, penalized for a jump start and having a second lace finish taken away, then getting a Factory Pro SportBike victory in front of the home crowd. Stokes, who finished second in the official results, now takes over the Factory Pro SportBike Championship lead by 8 points over Matt Hall.
The next round of the Michelin Pro Series will take place on May 23-25, 2009 at Summit Point Raceway in Summit Point, West Virginia. For complete results and points, visit www.asraracing.com
More, from a press release issued by Wisconsin Sportbikes:
Wisconsin SportBikes dot net Racing Triumphant at Road America
Wisconsin SportBikes Racing came away from the CCS/ASRA Michelin Pro Series weekend at Road America as big winners.
In Solo Challenge action, Ray Hofman extended his points lead with another win, while in GTL Team Challenge, Jim Lilly and Jim Rodefer as Wisconsin SportBikes Racing 1 brought home 4th, as Kevin Van Engen and Todd Murray followed in 5th as Wisconsin SportBikes Racing 2.
Ray Hofman continued his success in CCS action as well, taking first in Ex Lightweight Superbike Race 1, and 3rd in Race 2, as well as many other top 5 finishes.
Todd Murray enjoyed his first Expert win in Supertwins Race 2, after finishing last season as the regional Mid-West Amateur Supertwins Champion.
Kevin Van Engen made a successful return to racing after a few years hiatus, with a win in Am Ultra-Lightweight Superbikes, 3rd in Am Lightweight Superbikes Race 1, 2nd in Amateur Lightweight Grand Prix Race 1 and Race 2, and 3rd in Am Lightweight Superbike Race 2.
Tim Alsum made a return to the podium as well with a 2nd place finish in Am Heavyweight Supersport Race 2.
Jen Muecke raced in Femmoto Lightweight and Middleweight, and came away with 2nd place in Lightweight Race 1, and she won Race 2.
Jim Lilly, Team Owner, saw his first podium finishes ever, with 2nd place in Am Ultra-Lightweight Superbike Race 1,3rd in Am Lightweight Supersport, Race 1.
In ASRA Michelin Pro Series action, Christian Meekma brought home a 5th place finish in Superstock, and Ray Hofman returned a 9th place finish in Factory Pro Sportbike followed by Jim Rodefer in 14th.