Suzuki International Europe’s Andreas Meklau has finished third in the IDM German Superbike Championship aboard his GSX-R1000 after finishing eighth and fourth at the final round at Hockenheim. Dominic Lammert (bwin Racing Suzuki) moved up in the overall rankings to sixth position with fourth and seventh places, with Gábor Rizmayer (Suzuki Hungary) eighth overall. Andreas Meklau: ‘It was clear that it was going to be a tough final and that the tyre choice would play a key role. Our main competitors had the advantage here. Still we ended the season successfully and we can be proud of our third place in the championship. The second race today was fun because it was a real battle.’ Evren Bischoff – Team Manager: ‘We ended the season very well after having bad luck with the weather during practice. Because of that Andy Meklau only took a second row start. All the more impressive is his placement in the second race. Gábor Rizmayer could also have been at the front if he hadn’t been involved in two starting collisions. However, his jump from 20th to 11th place shows what he’s capable of with the motorcycle.’ Heat 1: 1. Martin Bauer (A-Honda), 2. Jorg Teuchert (D-Yamaha), 3. Gwen Giabbani (F-Kawasaki), 4. Dominic Lammert (D-Suzuki), 5. Gabor Rizmayer (H-Suzuki), 6. Patrick Muff (CH-Suzuki), 7. Nina Prinz (D-Yamaha), 8. Andreas Meklau (A-Suzuki), 9. Gunther Knobloch (A-Ducati), 10. Kai-Borre Andersen (NOR-MV Agusta). Heat 2: 1. Gwen Giabbani (F-Kawasaki), 2. Jorg Teuchert (D-Yamaha), 3. Martin Bauer (A-Honda), 4. Andreas Meklau (A-Suzuki), 5. Nina Prinz (D-Yamaha), 6. Patric Muff (CH-Suzuki), 7. Dominic Lammert (D-Suzuki), 8. Dario Giuseppetti (D-Ducati), 9. Roman Stamm (CH-Suzuki), 10. Gunther Knobloch (A-Ducati). Final Championship Points: 1. Bauer 323, 2. Teuchert 305, 3. Meklau 226, 4. Daemen 199, 5. Stamm 152, 6. Lammert 98, 7. Giabbani 96, 8. Rizmayer 93, 9. Knobloch 89, 10. Andersen 85. More, from a press release issued by M2S Agency: Garrett Willis Crashes, Gets Back Up and Visits the Podium Again at AFM Thunder Hill The AFM series made its way to the Thunder Hill Park Raceway in Willows California and Garrett Willis and family were there for another racing weekend together. Coming into the weekend Garrett sat atop the point standings in the 600 Superbike and 600 Production classes and he hoped to keep it that way. First up was 600 Superbike. A decent start saw Willis in 2nd place and the on the 2nd lap entering Turn 6 (a 5th gear 120mph left hander) when a quick slide flicked him into a high side crash that launched him off the bike ultimately landing on his head and shoulders. Garrett got to his feet and collected himself and his motorcycle and eventually made his way back to the paddock. After some icing of his sore shoulder and collarbone, Willis remounted his Honda CBR600RR for the 600 Production race. Garrett came off the line in second place and took off in hot pursuit of the leader. On lap two Willis moved into the lead. While coming under pressure from perennial competitor Lenny Hale holding on proved to be incredibly painful and forced Garrett to settle into 2nd and ultimately finish there and salvage the maximum amount of points possible. Garrett Willis was happy to make it through the without serious injury and particularly grateful for the protection his Dianese leathers and Arai helmets afforded him. On the bright side Garrett said “the crash happened so fast I didn’t have to think about it for a long time but when I hit the ground the negative part of crashing became apparent.” Fortunately for Willis he was able to keep his point lead in both classes and looks forward getting back on the bike as soon as possible so that he can to add to his point lead. A visit to the Dr. later revealed some strained shoulder muscles but Garrett is expected to recover fully in two to three weeks time. The next race on the schedule for Garrett is a AFM round at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Ca on September 28th-29th. Garrett Willis would like to thank are the sponsors that support his racing and help him pursue his dream of being a professional road racer. More, from a press release issued by Skunk Racing: LENNY HALE KILLS IT AT AFM WINNING THREE RACES Thunderhill Raceway Park located in Willows, CA, was the host to the latest AFM round with some extreme heat and a freshly paved track surface. Hale aboard his 2008 Yamaha R6 had a commanding weekend and has brought himself back into contention for three championships in the series. Sunday began with 600 SBK where from the green flag Lenny and Garrett Willis broke from the pack immediately trading positions. After three completed laps Garrett had an unfortunate get off leaving Lenny a comfortable straightaway gap to second place for the remainder of the race. Hale then partook in 750 Production, but after the warm-up lap an unfortunate electrical problem forced him to pit. Hale stated “Yeah the thing was going crazy in the first race! Halfway through the corner it would just shut of like it wasn’t charging. I thought I was hitting my kill switch with my shoulder so i just kept starting the thing back up and racing. Then when I came in we noticed a couple wires had backed out of the rectifier and shorted to one another, completely melting the connector and plug. Oh well, that will happen I guess” The rest of the day seemed to come easy to Lenny. After lunch he mounted up and won the 600 Production race by three seconds over an injured Garrett Willis. Fellow Skunk Racing Team Rider Frankie Garcia challenged Hale for the opening laps but his stock Honda 600RR was no match for the built bikes of Lenny and Garrett. Frankie would later secure third place, only to have it taken away by an engine failure in the closing laps. The final race came down to 750 SBK. Hale hole shotted and after a brief dice on the opening laps proceeded to walk away with another straightaway win over built 750’s. Despite the engine size deficit Hale was able to pull a lead and put it on cruise till the checkered. Following the weekend Hale commented “Well I guess this was a good one, a bit unexpected but cool none the less. We finally got a decent engine in the bike after milking around stock engines for half the year which made it easier for sure. Not as much fun, but easier.” More, from a press release issued by ASRA/CCS: Wood and Bemisderfer Win Big at Summit, Kern and Wood Lock Up ASRA Titles ASRA Pro Series Championship Cup Series September 7, 2008 Summit Point Circuit Summit Point, WV Coming in the seventh round of the ASRA Pro Series, Bryan Bemisderfer had a season to forget. Between the equipment failures on and off track, Bemisderfer and his Harley-Davidson of Fredrick Buell had missed 4 of the first six rounds of the championship, leaving him and his crew to wonder if the bad times were ever going to end. Well, on Sunday Bryan put the bad memories away and rode the race of the year to get his first victory of the season. Since the remnants of Hurricane Hanna had washed out qualifying, Bemisderfer was forced to start behind championship leader Nate Kern on the BMWExplorer.com BMW and Dave Estok on the Deeley Buell, making his job that much harder. From the start Kern and Estok wasted no time getting out front of the field, Kern led the first two laps, then Estok pushed his Buell into the lead for the next three while Bemisderfer went to work on getting past Kern for second. It was short work for Bemisderfer after dispatching Kern on lap 5, it only took one more circuit before he took the lead from Estok and never looked back, finishing with a new lap record of 1:16.507 and a 1.2 second margin of victory over Estok and Kern. Kern, by virtue of his third place finish, locked up his first ASRA Pro ThunderBike National Championship, the first time any manufacturer other than Buell has captured the title in 7 years. Looking to complete another dominate performance, Jeff Wood on the Bettencourt machines looked to be unstoppable as the Massachusetts rider set new lap records in two of his three events for the ASRA Pro classes. Wood started the day on his Suzuki 1000 with a SuperStock record of 1:11.796 on his way to a 2.6 second victory over second place Tim Bemisderfer, aboard the Atwell Racing GSXR 1000. Missing from the battle was Robert Jensen who was forced to ride his Butler Machine GSXR 750 when a fork problem on his Suzuki 1000 rendered the machine unusable. Jensen finished 11 seconds back in third position, a great job considering his machine was 25 horsepower down from the other participants. Wood’s victory netted his second consecutive SuperStock crown. Next on the schedule for Wood was the ASRA Pro SuperBike event, where his Bettencourt’s Yamaha R-6 has been the dominate force all season long. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, the results were the same as Jeff was able to hold off Jensen on the Butler Machine R-6 to win race number two and lock up his fourth consecutive ASRA Pro SuperBike Championship. Dave Rose, riding the Castles and Cottages finished in third to make it a Yamaha sweep of the podium. The final event of the day had Wood looking for his fourth straight title in the premiere Factory Pro SportBike class and he wasn’t about to let anyone get in his way. From the drop of the green flag, the Bettencourt Yamaha rider took control and immediately set off after a new lap record. From lap two he was below the existing record until he reached his fastest time, a 1:13.205, on lap 5 of the 8 lap final. All Jensen could do was hang on to second as Wood finished the event with a 3 second advantage, capturing his fourth ASRA Pro Factory Pro SportBike title. Following Jensen in third was Sam Gaige from Rochester NY, but his Yamaha tested .7 horsepower over the limit, costing him three positions. That penalty moved Mike Selpe into third for his first ASRA podium. Selpe was on a Suzuki GSXR 600, breaking the Yamaha stranglehold on the Factory Pro SportBike podium. ASRA Pro Series would like to congratulate Jeff Wood on his outstanding accomplishment of four consecutive SuperBike and Factory Pro SportBike Championships and his second consecutive SuperStock title securing him another three championship season. Way to go Jeff! ASRA Pro would also like to congratulate Nate Kern for giving BMW it’s first ASRA Pro Series championship and welcome him into the family of ASRA Pro ThunderBike Champions. Job well done Nate! Final round action for the ASRA Pro Series is October 16-19 at Daytona International Speedway, for more information check out the details at www.ccsracing.us.