Michelin Team Challenge Series A&J Recognition Solo Challenge Series May 1, 2009 Road America Elkhart Lake, WI Hix Racing Defies Economic Woes When the week started Ron Hix wasn’t thinking it was going to be a very good one. Faced with losing his job and his racing budget Hix originally withdrew from the Road America round of the Michelin Team Challenge, but was convinced later by his team to go for it. As the 32 bike field got underway, a crash in turn 5 and an ensuing fire put a stop to things before the first lap could be recorded, and the delay changed the race from 44 laps to a timed event lasting just two hours. With a brilliant holeshot on the restart from row 3, Hix and his teammate Brian Blume set the pace until they pitted their Suzuki 1000 on lap 20 for fuel and the mandatory rider change. This handed the lead to the A&J Solo rider Jason Farrell, who kept the lead until his stop on lap 24, which then put the Probst Bros. Racing team at the point with 11 laps to go. The Probst team’s brought their Yamaha R-1 down pit lane for a stop on lap 27 and that was all it took for Hix Racing to re-assume the lead. Hix Racing, riding on Pirellis, took the checkered flag 57.583 seconds ahead of Ben Probst and his teammate Matt Winnacker who finished second overall. Finishing on the last step of the Overall podium was the Wisconsin Racing Team and lead rider Dave Ebben, making it two Suzuki 1000’s on the box. These teams were all in the GTO class, making it a clean sweep for the big-bores at Road America. The third place finish by Wisconsin Racing moves them up to the point lead for the GTO class, just 5 points ahead of Central States Racing, whose crash on lap 22 left them out of contention for the win. In the ultra competitive GTU class, it was Team Stiles riding a Michelin-shod Yamaha to the win and fourth place in the Overall standings. Meghan Stiles was forced to cut her stint short because of a problem with her leathers after 12 laps, and handed the bike over to her teammate Scotty Ryan as the GTU class leader. Ryan had his work cut out for him as he rejoined the race in third place behind Chester Auto Racing, GTU winner at Carolina Motorsports Park, and Hot Muffler Racing Team out of Chicago Illinois. Chester Auto pitted their Kawasaki four laps later and Ryan put the Team Stiles R-6 back on point for the remainder of the race. Chester Auto came home in second, ridden by Alex Shaw and Eric Helmbach, and the RnR Repsol GTU team of Jason Gibbens and Rachel Sasse brought their Kawasaki to the finish in third. Chester Auto continues to lead the GTU class standings with a seventeen point lead over RnR Repsol The Grease Monkey Racing Team on a Suzuki SV650 got their first win of the season in the GTL class at Road America after finishing second at Daytona and fifth at Carolina. The New Jersey based team of Helmbach and Shaw, also riding with the Chester Auto Team, finished a lap ahead of the second place Design Integrity team of Joel Spaulding and Jay Smith on their Buell. The final podium sport was taken by the Ducati 1000 of A&T Racing, with Jim Berard, Roy Hefner and Hernan Martinez doing the riding The win put Grease Monkey team into the point lead by eight points over Design Integrity and RnR Repsol GTL, just eighteen points behind the class leader in third. For the A&J Recognition Solo challenge, it was pit strategy that brought Ray Hofman from Waupun Wisconsin to the front. Hofman’s two quick stops kept him on the lead lap while the single lengthy stop for Anthony Johnson from West Peoria Illinois dropped him a lap down from the winner. Speed Tech Racing’s Jason Farrell, after leading in the early going and turning the fastest lap of the race at 2:26.716, made numerous trips on to pit lane to sort out issues and was still able to bring home a third place trophy. With his second win in a row, Hofman increases his lead to thirty three points over former CCS Mid-West Champion Aaron “Doc” Stein and forty two points over Anthony Johnson. The next round of the Team Challenge Series will take place on May 30-31, 2009 at Blackhawk Farms Raceway in South Beloit IL. For complete results and points, visit www.asraracing.com