With a large crowd of racers in attendance at the Road America Festival of Speed made for some great racing but also made for some delays in each days program. The first time “casualty” of the weekend was ASRA qualifying, when it became apparent that not all classes could get their sessions in before the mandatory 6:00pm deadline, officials decided to grid by points instead of splitting the classes. This happened again on Sunday afternoon when multiple red flags put the program too far behind to allow for the full number of laps to be completed, causing Pro ThunderBike and Factory Pro SportBike to be shortened to 5 laps from their original distance of 8 laps. Despite the lack of qualifying, Jeff Wood on the Bettencourt’s Yamaha 600 was joined by four different riders in the lead pack of Pro SuperBike as they rocketed into turn one. Mark Junge on the Vesrah Suzuki was joined by Matt Hall, Kris Turner and Royal Oak MI rider Garrett Carter as they tried to run down the current ASRA Champion. It didn’t take long until the four were working on second place instead of the lead, as Wood continued his record setting performance by setting a 2:20.596 time as the new class standard. Coming home second was Industries Racing Yamaha 600 of Matt Hall, followed by Garrett Carter aboard his Matsushima Suzuki in third. Kris Turner was able to hold off Vesrah Racing’s Mark Junge with his M4/Emgo Suzuki to take fourth place. The next test for the group was ASRA Pro SuperStock, and early on it looked like Matt Hall on his Industries Racing R-1, the only Yamaha in the field, might have something for the four-time champion. But leave it to Wood on the Suzuki 1000 from Bettencourt’s to get serious with a flying lap of 2:16.410 that gapped Hall by over three seconds at the finish. Hall was able to keep local favorite Andy Feuersthaler from Milwaukee WI in third with some heads up riding over the last half of the race. Feuersthaler was followed to the flag by Brian Boyd and Lloyd Bailey on their Suzuki 1000’s to finish the top five. After last months race at VIR, the crowd knew the real battle for supremacy in ThunderBike was going to be between Dave Estok’s Buell and the BMW of Nate Kern. The top two riders in the class wasted no time in getting down to business as Kern’s BMWExploer.com machine lead into turn one off the start followed by the Deeley Racing Buell of Estok. For the next four laps Kern and Estok swapped the lead all around the course, but every time they came to the flag, it was Kern by the smallest of margins. Behind the front duo, Dan Bilansky on the Hal’s Buell moved in to a comfortable third followed by Appleton Buell’s Paul James in fourth and former ThunderBike winner Ed Key on his Suzuki in fifth, positions they would hold to the end. On the final lap, Estok put the Buell in front going into turn one and held on until 100 yards short of the line when Kern slipped by for a .097 second margin of victory, the smallest m.o.v. in the class history. Estok also set the ThunderBike lap record with a 2:26.686 on lap four in his bid to get in front of Kern to the finish. The last race of the event was Factory Pro SportBike, and with time running out, Wood lost no time in establishing him self at the front, setting the new class record at 2:21.611 on lap two, and leaving a 4.372 gap back to Matt Hall in second. Kris Turner was able to move into third just ahead of DDS Racings Jeff Purk, the only two riders within a second of each other on lap four. That was the order when the red flag came out just after the lead group saw the white flag, sealing the third win and third lap record for Jeff Wood. Wood now leads ASRA Pro SuperBike, Superstock and Factory Pro SportBike points in his quest for four championships in a row in those classes. During post race inspection, Turners machine as .7 horsepower over the limit, so he was move back to 6th place, giving the final podium sport to Jeff Purk’s Yamaha. Next round is at Barber Motorsports Park on August 9-10. For complete results and current points, visit www.ccsracing.us. More, from a press release issued by Buell: BUELL 1125R WINS ASRA TEAM CHALLENGE RACE AT ROAD AMERICA Estok Finishes Second in ASRA Pro Thunderbike; Bilansky Sweeps CCS SuperTwins ELKHART LAKE, WIS. A near-stock Buell 1125R entered by Richie Morris Racing/Hal’s Speed Shop and ridden by Dan Bilansky and Clint Brotz won the ASRA Team Challenge endurance race, part of the three-day American Sportbike Racing Association (ASRA) Road America Festival of Speed held over Independence Day weekend. Bilansky and Brotz completed 38 laps of the four-mile Road America course to take the overall win and to lead the GTO class. James Gang/Hoban Bothers Racing/Appleton Buell riders Paul James and Jeff Johnson completed 37 laps to take the Team Challenge GTL class win and finish fifth overall on a Buell Firebolt XB12R. Bilansky said the RMR/Hal’s Buell 1125R turned in a strong performance despite being raced in mostly stock trim. “This is a bike we built for me to use in sprint races, and we decided to use the Team Challenge to shake it down,” said Bilansky. “We were using the stock Pirelli Corsa III street tires and even the stock brake pads, with racing bodywork, dry break refueling system, and a slip-on muffler as the only mods. It worked really well, in fact it’s probably the best-handling motorcycle I’ve ever raced at Road America.” The ASRA/CCS races were witnessed by hundreds of Buell owners attending Buell 25th Anniversary events held at Road America during the weekend, including demo rides, autograph sessions with Buell racers and an opportunity to ride in a parade lap session around the 4-mile track. More than 500 Buell owners were registered for the historic event. Estok Second in Pro Thunderbike For the second race in a row, Deeley H-D/Buell Canada/Ruthless Racing rider David Estok turned in a strong performance on a Buell XB12R borrowed from another team and rode to a close second-place finish in the ASRA Pro Thunderbike National at Road America. With his primary and back-up race bikes down with mechanical problems, the Deeley team borrowed a Buell XB12R from the Hal’s H-D/Buell/Hal’s Speed Shop squad, fitted Estok’s suspension and bodywork, and put the defending Thunderbike champion on the starting grid. At the start, Estok joined a group at the front that included BMW rider Nate Kern, H-D/Buell of Frederick rider Bryan Bemisderfer, Hal’s H-D/Buell/Hal’s Speed Shop rider Dan Bilansky and Bison Racing/Eagle H-D/Buell rider Walt Sipp. Kern led the first lap and started to open a gap on the group of Buell riders, but by lap three of the five-lap race Estok had set a new Thunderbike track lap record, reeled in the BMW and passed for the lead as the pair exited the first turn. “I was not familiar with the clutch on the Hal’s bike, and I got a terrible start,” said Estok. “Then it took me a lap to get comfortable on the bike. Kern was faster on the long straights but I could out-brake him into the turns, so I focused on braking to close the gap.” On the last lap of the race, Estok passed Kern again in the first turn. Kern took back the lead on the downhill straight leading to turn five, only to see Estok retake the lead as the pair exited Canada Corner. Kern was able to draft past Estok on the long straight to the finish line to take the win by .097-seconds, the closest finish in ASRA Thunderbike history. “I got a really good drive out of the last turn, but he had the draft and I couldn’t hold him off,” said Estok. “I’d really like to thank Dan Bilansky and the Hal’s team for loaning me the bike. I may have to trade purse money with him.” Bilansky finished third, several seconds behind Kern and Estok. James Gang/Hoban Brothers Racing/Appleton Buell rider Paul James was awarded fourth place after Sipp was penalized for jumping the start of the race, and Bemisderfer was penalized for exceeding the class horsepower limit. Suzuki rider Ed Key finished fifth. After five events, Kern leads the Thunderbike series with 162 points, followed by Estok with 132 points and Sipp with 115. The next stop on the eight-race ASRA Pro Thunderbike schedule is the Barber Festival of Speed, August 9-10 at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Ala. Buell Riders Win Six CCS Sprint Races In MotoSport.com Championship Cup Series (CCS) twin sprint races at Road America, Joel Spalding rode a Buell XB12R to take two wins in Amateur Thunderbike. Dean Hagemann won Expert Lightweight F40 on a Buell XB12R. Bilansky rode a Buell 1125R to take two wins in Expert SuperTwins, and Estok won on Saturday in Expert Thunderbike. To learn more about Buell motorcycles, visit your local Buell dealer today and experience the pure streetfighter attitude, style and performance only found on board a Buell. For the Buell dealer nearest you, pull into www.buell.com.