In the opening round of the 2009 AFM championship at Buttonwillow this past weekend, Cory Call put in a strong performance on his Dunlop-shod MDK Motorsports Suzuki to take the win in the Kal Gard Lubricants Formula Pacific race. Veteran Racer James Randolph stayed close early, but was forced to settle for second with his Pirelli-shod Suzuki as he was unable to make a move on Call. Third place went to Chris Siglin, charging through the field from his 4th row grid position on an ex-Ken Hill Suzuki in his return to road racing after a one-year sabbatical.

“You know when your cell phone is vibrating in your pocket, and you don’t want to look and see who it is?” said Call. “That’s what it was like with James behind me. I knew he was right there, and I didn’t want to look back! I wanted to dedicate this win to my buddy Forrest, who banged himself up at Laguna last week, as well as to my girlfriend — it’s her birthday! The Dan Kyle suspension on the MDK Suzuki worked awesome. We haven’t touched it since last season!”

“It was a good race, the bike worked well, but it was just really windy out,” said Randolph. “It was a survival race. If the front wheel got off the ground at all, the wind would make you almost lose it. I did my best to hang onto Cory. I had some sections where I was faster, he had some where he was faster, I just ended up second today, which works out pretty well for the points.”

“I didn’t have high expectations because I knew it was gonna be tough from the fourth or fifth row,” said Siglin, “but I can’t be thankful enough for being back on track after taking like a year and a half off. It feels great, Pirelli is behind me this year, and Berto Wooldridge has been a huge help by letting me ride one of his bikes. I’m just really looking forward to seeing what the end of this year brings!”

Elena Myers put in a pair of strong performances in the 600 classes, taking the race win in the restart-interrupted Pacific Track Time 600 Superbike race as well as the Keigwins@theTrack 600 Production race. Despite her impressive rides, Myers only allowed to keep her win in 600 Superbike due to a minor technical infraction, as the aftermarket throttle housing on her Kids: Don’t Smoke! Kawasaki was found to be in violation of AFM’s Production rules.

“I made a couple of mistakes after the first start, running over a couple of curbs,” said Myers, “but I was feeling pretty confident that I could catch Lenny. After the race was stopped, I had the killer restart and went right to the front. After that, it was like a dream race for me. I knew Lenny was right on my tail, but I only saw him show me a wheel like once. He told me after the race that he would have had me in one more lap, but well, you know how that goes!”

The next round of the 2009 AFM Championship takes place at Infineon Raceway on April 25-26.

AFM Round 1 Buttonwillow Raceway March 21-22, 2009 Unofficial Top 6 per Class

Kal Gard Formula Pacific 1. Cory Call 2. James Randolph 3. Chris Siglin 4. David Stanton 5. Michael Earnest 6. Lenny Hale

The Track Club Open Superbike 1. Cory Call 2. David Stanton 3. Harley Barnes 4. Martin Szwarc 5. Gabriel Santa Coloma 6. Jesse Carter

750 Superbike 1. Matthew Green 2. Lenny Hale 3. Peter O’Sullivan 4. Somy Hoffman 5. Craig Smith 6. Billy Scott

600 Superbike 1. Elena Myers 2. Lenny Hale 3. Matt Eccleston 4. Sebastiao Ferreira 5. Berto Wooldridge 6. Robert Tinagero

450 Superbike 1. Mark Elrod 2. David Wallis 3. Vik Anderson 4. Justin Mastalka 5. Andrew Silva 6. Jonathan Forman

250 Superbike 1. Richard Barnett 2. Ed Thompson 3. Mark McKinney

CT Racing Tires Open Production 1. Chris Siglin 2. Martin Szwarc 3. Wyatt King 4. Neil Atterbury 5. Ron Bunten 6. Patrick Corcoran

750 Production 1. Lenny Hale 2. Sebastiao Ferreira 3. Liko Miles 4. Ricardo Vizcaino 5. Wyatt King 6. Oscar Fernandez

600 Production 1. Sebastiao Ferreira 2. Robert Tinagero 3. Berto Wooldridge 4. Ricardo Vizcaino 5. Somy Hoffman 6. Jacob Rower

650 Production 1. David Raff 2. David Wallis 3. Kevin Holman 4. Thomas Dorsey 5. Alex Florea 6. Rober Van Loben Sels

RaceBikeRentals.com 250 Production 1. Richard Barnett 2. Mark McKinney 3. Zoe Rem 4. Lisa Mazurkiewicz 5. Kristopher Daniels

GP Frame and Wheel Open Grand Prix 1. Cory Call 2. Martin Szwarc 3. Craig Smith 4. Gabriel Santa Coloma 5. Harley Barnes 6. Neil Atterbury

Scuderia West Formula 1 1. Craig Smith 2. Peter O’Sullivan 3. Billy Scott 4. Matt Eccleston 5. Eric Gulbransen 6. Berto Wooldridge

Formula 2 / USGPRU Qualifying 1. Brian Hoffman 2. Richard Denman 3. Peter Lenz 4. Erik Kolstoe 5. Bennie Taylor 6. Joe Roberts

Formula 3 / USGPRU 125 Qualifying 1. Benny Solis Jr. 2. Peter Lenz 3. Ryan Matter 4. Jake Lewis 5. Bennie Taylor 6. Joe Roberts

Formula 4 1. William Fox 2. Dan Sewell 3. Donald Babb 4. David Raff 5. Rick Ford 6. Jay Kinberger

Desmoto Sport Open Twins 1. Matthew Green 2. Craig Smith 3. Patrick Blackburn 4. Eric Gulbransen 5. Bud Anderson 6. Scott Schwanbeck

Mike Rosa State Farm 650 Twins 1. Will Fox 2. Dan Sewell 3. David Raff 4. Donald Babb 5. Jay Kinberger 6. Rick Ford

500 Twins 1. Allen Erkman 2. Vik Anderson 3. Guy Hyder 4. Jonathan Forman 5. Robert Clifford 6. Jake Kimball

Formula Singles / USGPRU MD250H Qualifying 1. Benny Solis Jr 2. Jake Lewis 3. Luis Morales 4. Lex Hartl 5. Joe Carillo 6. Ed Thompson

Teresa McKinney Realtor Formula 40 Heavyweight 1. Peter O’Sullivan 2. Pat Blackburn 3. Sherwick Min 4. Pete Demas 5. Bud Anderson 6. Ron Bunten

Formula 40 Lightweight 1. Donald Babb 2. Brad Woods 3. Allen Erkman 4. Kevin Holman 5. Guy Hyder 6. Thomas Dorsey

Super Dinosaur 1. Michael Boyer 2. Guy Hyder 3. Peter Gabrovsky 4. Terence Geoghegan

USGPRU 125cc 1. Benny Solis Jr. 2. Jake Lewis 3. Ryan Matter 4. Peter Lenz 5. Bennie Taylor 6. Joe Roberts

USGPRU 250 GP 1. Bennie Taylor 2. Peter Lenz 3. Joe Roberts 4. Marcelo Del Guidice 5. Phillip Krenn 6. Bartett Meeker

USGPRU MD250H 1. Jake Lewis 2. Ryan Matter 3. Benny Solis Jr. 4. Lex Hartl 5. Luis Morales 6. Barrett Meeker

Vintage 1. Tim Silva

Clubman Heavyweight 1. Adam Dufficy 2. Randy Lopez Jr. 3. Eric Morris 4. Seth Walters 5. Martin Kajdas 6. Jefferson Galatro Jr.

Clubman Lightweight 1. Peter Lenz 2. Robert Ababurko 3. Jim Boswell 4. Robert Van Loben Sels 5. Bobby McCourt 6. Conan Dooley

Clubman Middlweight 1. Carey Shaughnessy 2. Frederico Ignacio De Almeida 3. Paul Capps 4. Gustavo Gama 5. John Stewart 6. Shane Muntean