Young Stirs Atlanta with Pole Position, Race Lap Record and Podium on Pirellis Rome, GA: Racer Blake Young led the initial start of the AMA Superstock race at Road Atlanta, lunching from his pole position on his Team M4 EMGO Suzuki GSX-R1000. Young’s lead would come to be the biggest seen all race long”¦ The race was red flagged after only a few laps. In the renewed battle for the lead Young made a small error in the last turn, giving up a tenth of an instant, which is about a hundredth of a moment. From there, Young ran down the two other riders trading places for the podium, putting in the fastest lap of the race and distinguishing himself as the only rider to achieve a race lap in the 1:25s. Jordan’s Geoff May won the race. Young was third, merely a scant breath behind the race winner, which is quantitatively equal to .169 of a second. In race-pace distance that’s about five feet. Team Fuel Suzuki’s Ryan Elleby put in an excellent ride to finish fifth, on get this — a bike tuned by racers!? Brian Stokes and Mike Reed are Elleby’s number-one and -two bolt spinners. Chris Ulrich continues his comeback to his winning form from his broken left hand, taking seventh on his Roadracingworld.com Suzuki, joining the other Pirelli Diablo Superbike Slick shod riders in the Superstock top seven. Ulrich’s teammate, and usual AMA Superstock front runner, Robertino Pietri, fell and was unable to continue. In the AMA Supersport race at Road Atlanta, M4 EMGO Suzuki riders finished fourth and fifth, with Martin Cardenas leading Cory West. Most impressive was that Cardenas rode his set of Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa DOT race tires into the top four from his fourth-row grid position, having qualified 13th. In a rare show of performance unrealized, normal front-running podium-placing riders Steve Rapp and Chaz Davies were taken out on lap one of the Supersport race’s first start, no fault of their own. After the red flag Davies restarted from the rear of the grid while Rapp was unable to restart. Safety First’s Bobby Fong was also involved in the incident and was unable to restart. M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Blake Young dropped out of the race with technical problems while running in third. Pirelli Tire North America specializes in the manufacture and marketing of high-performance tires for passenger vehicles, motorcycles and motorsports. An industry leader in technology and quality, Pirelli operates its highly advanced Modular Integrated Robotized System (MIRS) in Rome, Georgia, to better serve the North American OEM and Replacement markets. For more information please visit: www.us.pirelli.com, or www.us.pirellimoto.com. More, from a press release issued by American Suzuki: Rockstar Makita Suzuki Dominates Superbike Double-Header Weekend at Road Atlanta Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Spies, Mladin, Hayden sweep podium in Saturday & Sunday Superbike races Round 18 AMA Superbike Series Braselton, Georgia Road Atlanta August 29 – 31, 2008 Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing ruled the proverbial roost at Road Atlanta, following up Saturday’s AMA Superbike win with another such victory on Sunday afternoon in Braselton, Georgia. The all-Rockstar Makita Suzuki podium saw two-time and defending AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies in the top spot, with six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin in second position and teammate Tommy Hayden in third. Spies started the 25-lap race from pole position and ran in second to Mladin for much of the race before taking over the lead and capturing his first Road Atlanta Superbike win. This is Spies’ 28th career AMA Superbike win and his 10th such win of the year. Mladin led most of the laps before being overtaken by Spies, and this is his 14th AMA Superbike podium of the season, eight of which were wins. For Hayden, who led the first lap before settling into third place, this is his eighth Superbike podium of the year. Currently, Spies leads the AMA Superbike title chase, Mladin is in second place and Hayden is in ninth. Mat Mladin: “It was all we could do today to get second. We changed the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 quite a bit from yesterday and it felt quite good”¦ but with a few laps to go I just couldn’t hang on anymore and I wound up settling for second.” Ben Spies: “The race was good, I got a little better start than yesterday and was able to get past Tommy. Then Mat came by and he was in a good rhythm right off the bat”¦ Around lap 13 or 14, I started making a lot of mistakes and I wasn’t as comfortable as I’d been the day before, so I realized I needed to ride as hard as I could and what happened, happened. I saw Mat get balked by a few lappers and I put my head down and made the pass, and tried to stay pretty clean and bring it back. Luckily, with the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSXR1000, we had the speed to run a really good race.” Tommy Hayden: “I went a little better today on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000. At the start, I held the guys off a little longer and I was able to pull away from everyone else. Ben looked like he was making more of a push and got away from me. Then I got a big gap and was able to get through the lappers and bring it home.” More, from a press release issued by Ben Spies’ publicist: SPIES ATOP THE PODIUM AT ROAD ATLANTA Texan earns first superbike win at scenic Georgia circuit BRASELTON, Ga. Ben Spies showed a return to form Sunday by taking the second leg of the AMA Superbike doubleheader at Road Atlanta in a come-from-behind victory over Rockstar Makita Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Mat Mladin. It capped off a great weekend for Spies, who won the pole and then overcame a ride-though penalty for jumping the start in Saturday’s race (due to an issue with his bike’s launch control) before charging through the field to finish second. On Sunday Mladin was over three seconds ahead of Spies at the halfway point when the tide turned. At that point Spies began cutting large chunks out of Mladin’s lead. By lap 19 Spies moved into the draft of Mladin and wheelied over the crest of the back straight to take the top spot. Mladin hung with Spies for a few laps, but as the race progressed Spies pulled away and won by a solid 7.107-second margin of victory. It marked the first AMA Superbike win for Spies at Road Atlanta, a track he’s raced on since he was a 12-year-old amateur club racer. “I feel really good about finally getting a Superbike win here,” Spies said. “Had it not been for the problem on the start in Saturday’s race I think I would have had a good shot to win that one too. I’ve been racing here so long that I’ve gotten to know a lot of people in the area. It’s nice to be able to win one for all those who’ve been coming to Road Atlanta and following my career since I was a kid.” The victory marked a milestone of sorts for Spies. He now feels he’s turning the corner with the abdominal surgery wounds that were torn and aggravated with several near crashes in the interim. Doctors have told Spies he will heal fully from the resulting muscle tears, but it will take a few consecutive weeks of rest something he’ll get after the season is over. Sunday’s win prevented Mladin from breaking Spies’ consecutive AMA Superbike win streak record. Even if Mladin ultimately wins a pending appeal on his disqualification from the two races in Virginia earlier this month for technical violations, he’ll be left with a record of seven in a row, tying but not bettering the mark Spies established at Road America in June. Spies now needs only a 19th-place or better finish in the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Sept. 28, regardless of the outcome of Mladin’s appeal, to clinch his third straight AMA Superbike. Spies now readies for the highly-anticipated Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 12-14. It will mark his second wildcard ride and third MotoGP appearance. Spies was able to test at Indianapolis in July and said he’s excited about another opportunity to race against the top riders in the world. “I’m looking forward to going back to Indy and being part of history,” Spies said. “Some great things are coming together for next season and that’s got me excited as well. After having sort of a tough middle of the season, it seems that everything is finally falling into place.” More, from a press release issued by Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki: SEVENTH FOR ULRICH AT ROAD ATLANTA Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki battled through another trying AMA Superstock Championship round this weekend at Road Atlanta, but a determined ride from Chris Ulrich allowed him to climb three championship positions heading into the upcoming season finale. Still recovering from the hand injury he suffered at Road America, which subsequently ruled him out of two races, Ulrich clawed up from his third row, 11th-place qualifying position (1:28.099) to solidly contend in the race’s top ten. After running 11th prior to an early red flag, Ulrich got a strong restart, running as high as sixth. After mixing it up with Kurtis Roberts and Ben Thompson during the contest, the Californian came away with a hard-earned seventh-place result in the end. Unfortunately, teammate Robertino Pietri suffered another bout of bad luck, crashing on the opening lap after qualifying on the second row (8th, 1:27.306) while trying to pass some slower riders and getting off into the dirty part of the racing circuit. The Venezuelan suffered a possible separated shoulder in the fall. “This weekend was kind of typical of what’s been going on lately,” Ulrich said. “As my fitness improves, I’m able to pick up speed, but I’m still not all the way back yet, which is frustrating. I can only ride to my fitness level at the moment. “I got a good restart and passed a bunch of guys in the first turn. I was towing a few guys around, but I was missing some downshifts because my hand wasn’t able to keep up on the clutch. I just tried to hang in there and we ended up seventh. “As for ‘Tino, he fried his clutch on the warm-up lap. He switched to his second bike but got caught out when some slower riders in front of him broke early and he was forced onto the inside part of the track and crashed.” Looking ahead to the season finale, Ulrich said, “I’m looking forward to it. I’ve got a whole month to get fully and completely healthy and I’ve got an endurance race between now and then. I’m only one point out of fifth so I’m planning on showing up there and dropping the hammer.” Heading into the September 27-28 2008 AMA Superstock Championship season finale at Laguna Seca, Ulrich is ranked sixth with 183 points — just one point off of his stated goal of a top-five championship finish. Pietri is ninth with 164 points. More, from a press release issued by Team M4 EMGO Suzuki: YOUNG EARNS SUPERSTOCK PODIUM IN ATLANTA Team M4 EMGO Suzuki rounded out a stellar weekend at Road Atlanta with yet another podium finish in Superstock and a pair of top-five results in Supersport. The team came into Sunday with high hopes after leading practice on Friday and claiming a pole position and podium on Saturday and the team’s riders, Blake Young, Martin Cardenas, and Cory West, did not disappoint. Polesitter Young quickly made his way into first aboard his Pirelli-shod GSX-R1000 in the Superstock final, but the race was stopped due to a red flag. At the restart, May found himself in the middle of a three-rider dogfight for the win with rivals Aaron Yates and Geoff May. While running a close third, Young suffered a major moment, very nearly crashing in turn 12 before making a spectacular save. The Wisconsin native lost of couple of seconds due to the mishap, but he put his head back down and started erasing the gap. Blake managed to close back into within 0.169 seconds of the victory at the end, finishing third, his fifth podium result of the Superstock season. He sits fourth in the Superstock championship race with 233 points and one round remaining. Young spoke of his near crash, admitting, “It was pretty big. I figured I was going to wreck and I was picking where I was going to land in the gravel trap. The bike just basically saved itself — it just happened. I tried not to miss a beat get right back on the gas and get going again. “After that happened I only had about two laps to go and those guys had about 15 bike lengths on me. If we would have just had another lap, I think we would have been there and had something for them. “I’ve got to give thanks to my guys. My crew worked real hard for me and we got on pole. They never gave up all weekend long.” Young looked like he might finish even better in the Supersport race, storming up from the third row and into third position by lap 7 of 13 while quickly making up ground on the leaders. Unfortunately, his machine suffered an electrical problem on lap 9, ending his day early. Teammates Cardenas and West were able to do the team proud in Young’s absence, however. Colombian Cardenas came up from the fourth row to finish fourth, while West gave the team a second finisher in the top five by placing fifth. Despite his disappointment on Sunday, Young is ranked fifth in the championship with 231 points while West is seventh at 211. Cardenas has climbed to 11th with 134 points even after missing three mid-season rounds due to injury. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki will conclude the 2008 AMA season on September 27-28 at Laguna Seca in Monterey, CA. More, from a press release issued on behalf of Honda: AMA Superbike Championship at Road Atlanta Sunday August 31, 2008 Weather: Hot, sunny Temperature: 30-degree ambient Duhamel takes fourth at Road Atlanta American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel came within one position of finishing on the podium in Sunday’s Superbike race at Road Atlanta, while teammate Neil Hodgson had a frustrating weekend in the American south. The pair started the penultimate round of the AMA Superbike Championship behind the curve after less than satisfying Saturday qualifying runs. Both veterans found themselves starting from the third row for the pair of 25-lap Superbike races on the slightly revamped 2.56-mile, 12-turn road course north of Atlanta. Following Saturday’s seventh place finish, the team made a number of minor adjustments that added up to a more comfortable ride on Sunday for the French-Canadian who calls Las Vegas home. His more successful finish was Sunday’s fourth behind Tommy Hayden (Suzuki), the older brother of Repsol Honda’s Nicky Hayden who finished third. Hodgson’s Saturday race ended with an engine failure on the first lap. Hodgson called on his years of racing two-strokes to pull in the clutch before the rear wheel locked up in the hard braking left hander at the end of the track’s longest straightaway. On Sunday, a problem with the front brakes cropped up early and Hodgson was forced to severely alter his corner entry on a track with a number of hard braking downhill corners. He finished seventh, riding mostly by himself. Road Atlanta was the third race in five weeks in the eastern U.S. Now the team returns to its California workshop to re-group for the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on September 28. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) beat teammates Ben Spies and Tommy Hayden on Saturday, with Spies beating Mladin and Hayden on Sunday. Miguel Duhamel 7th, 4th It’s amazing the little changes we made from Saturday to Sunday. Saturday, when we ran the full fuel load and I went out, the bike was really hard, really heavy, slow transitioning and it just got me out of my rhythm and I couldn’t feel a whole lot. I suspect I was too low in the fork stroke. I took more risks yesterday than today. Today we changed suspension a little bit. We changed a little bit on the computer. Helped it a little bit. Just little things and today it was fun to ride out there. I could’ve done a double-header out there no problem. Yesterday, I was pretty beat. The team did a great job and gave me a fast bike. It’s so much fun to come back to the pit after racing; even though we did not win, did not get a podium, we really rode as hard as we could. Today (Sunday), I got a good start, got in there, passed (Jason) DiSalvo on the brakes, passed a few guys and I was behind Eric (Bostrom). I was hoping Eric was going to bring me to Tommy (Hayden). I wouldn’t call it fading, but Tommy was starting to lose a little bit the gap. And then I got by Eric. I think I could’ve read everybody’s thoughts, going, ‘Ah, Miguel’s in front of me. I’m going to have to pass him.’ I’m like, ‘Not so fast. I have a plan.’ So I just wish I could’ve got closer to Tommy. He just seemed to get that gap and if I made a little mistake he’d gap me a little more and when I got close I think he got the board and got going again. It would have been interesting if I could’ve been right with him and then try to emulate his lap times. Maybe I would’ve ended up giving him a run for third. Neil Hodgson DNF, 7th Really frustrating, obviously, to go out so early on with a problem with the engine. Just one of those things, I guess. It almost felt like a two-stroke, like it seized. It just went silent as I got into the turn ten braking area on the first lap, which is quite busy anyway, the first lap into there. Just at the end of the straight, just locked up. Locked, had to pull the clutch in. Luckily, I did a few years on two-strokes, so automatic reaction, really, to pull the clutch in. I’d fallen on that bike on Friday in between six and seven. I touched the paint and as soon I hit the brakes we were on the paint and it washed out. We rode it in the morning and it was OK. We had big problems, actually, really big problems with the front brake from about lap three onward today (Sunday). I don’t know what went on, but it was like a brick; there was no movement in it. I’ve never just hit my front brake so much. I know Miguel’s (Duhamel) had some problems in the past and I didn’t know if he were making it up, because I’d had no problems. So it was my first proper experience of it just not working at all. Longest race of my career, that. I had nothing, just riding around. Engine-ten. Team Manager Ron Heben Actually, it was a quite inspired ride by Miguel. Really happy with the ride he put in. After Saturday’s result he was a little disappointed. Thought he had a pretty decent race, just needed to make a couple small adjustments and they looked at the data in the morning and Dunlop provided a good tire and we were really happy with what Miguel had. Neil was kind of disappointed because he wanted to be right up there too. They both had pretty decent starts, considering how qualifying went. But he had a little issue on his own with something on the motorcycle that stopped him from being up there too. So we’ll go back and get ready for Laguna Seca. Sunday Superbike: 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 3. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 4. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 5. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 6. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 7. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 8. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 9. Matt Lynn (Honda) 10. Geoff May (Suzuki) Saturday Superbike: 1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 2. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 3. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 5. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 6. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 7. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 8. Geoff May (Suzuki) 9. Ben Thompson (Suzuki) 10. Matt Lynn (Honda) Championship Standings: 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 620 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 519 3. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 440 4. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki) 421 5. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha) 420 6. Neil Hodgson (Honda) 393 7. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 388 8. Geoff May (Suzuki) 357 9. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 343 10. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 288