This last weekend saw the Ferris brothers, Ryan and Kyle, dominating the USGPRU 250 Western Region Final at Miller Motorsports Park. Kyle had a VERY challenging weekend due to mechanical issues that saw him having to really maintain the faith that all would be well. Ryan was his usual cool calculated self, and held the fast lap in most sessions while continually getting his bike set to his liking. After Kyle’s primary bike gave up the crank in spectacular fashion, the team was forced to seek other options. Fortunately for us Bruce Lind had his 2003 TZ-250 available. (THANKS AGAIN BRUCE!) Ironically, Kyle had not fallen once the entire season yet was dropped 4 times by mechanical and oil in two days. Showing great resilience and faith, he kept coming back. Within 3 laps of riding the TZ, Kyle proceeded to set the fastest lap of all weekend in qualifying and took the pole position over his brother’s time. Having never started a race on the TZ, Kyle quickly watched the field disappear in front of him off the start. Over the next several laps he put his head down and rode thru the field to get into 3rd, before settling down to hunting Vince Rolleri for second. The mean while, Vince and Ryan were having a good battle, and actually touched coming off of the first corner of one of the laps. This opened a gap between the 2, but only a half a lap later Vince got by Ryan and held the spot for about 1 lap until Ryan passed him back. Bit by bit Kyle was catching up and then passed Vince for the second spot. He then proceeded to settle in for an “enjoyable ride” behind his brother until they both took the checkered flag in a 1-2 finish. We only got stronger as a team this weekend, and would like to thank everyone who was there helping out. We would also like to thank everyone who has helped throughout the season. The results find Ryan back in first for the USGPRU 250 national with a 28 point lead going into the final, and Kyle in 4th down 2 points behind Mark “Bigman” Kelly. Mid-Ohio should be exciting. We’d also like to congratulate Ryan for his West Coast Series Championship having achieved a perfect season with 5 1st place finishes in 5 events and Kyle for his strong 3rd place finish in the championship”¦especially considering he had never ridden a 250 prior to April of this year. See you all at the final. More, from a press release issued by CRA: Olivia takes Framstad Cup victory at CRA August weekend. Central Roadracing Association (CRA) August 25th and 26th 2007 at BIR. CRA welcomed our racers, staff, and fans back to Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, MN for our fourth event of the season. We experienced perfect weather and a large turn out of spectators for this great weekend of racing! Middleweight SS expert was won by Robert Jensen #52 on his Yamaha R6. Aaron Anderson #225 on a Suzuki GSXR600 taking first for the novices. Ultralight SS was won by Alex Freeman #177 on his Ducati Monster 620 for expert and Andy Martin #60 on a Kawasaki EX500 for novice. The Lightweight SS winner was Andrew Kruse #898 on a Suzuki SV650 for expert and William Kerns #238 in novice on a SV650 as well. Winners in Heavyweight SS where Robert Jensen #52 on a Suzuki GSXR750 in expert and Aaron Anderson #225 on a Suzuki GSXR600 in novice. Lastly the Unlimited SS victor was Robert Jensen #52 on a Suzuki GSXR1000 for our expert class. Saturday afternoon saw the return of our Trophy Dash races (18 laps) with the top five finishers from each weight group qualifying for the Framstad Cup, to be held first thing Sunday morning. Trophy Dash One consisted of GP1 and GP2 races. Taking the win in GP2 was Jeff Japs #38 on a Yamaha TZ250 in expert and in novice William Kerns #238 on a Suzuki SV650. GP1 winners expert Paul Jensen #888 on a Ducati Monster 620 and novice Tino Carmona #125 on a Suzuki GS500. Trophy Dash Two hosted the larger bikes of GP3 and GP4. GP4 was won by expert Robert Jensen #52 on a GSXR1000. GP3 winners expert Brian Hebeisen #5 on a Yamaha R6 and novice Tucker Dally #309 on a Yamaha R6. We hosted our annual CRA Formula 40 race for racers over the age of 40 to finish off Saturday’s races. This years winner was John Staska #152 on a Suzuki GSXR750. The CRA started their Sunday morning off with a bang. The Framstad Cup is a handicap staggered start race determined by previous laptimes, giving all bikes regardless of size a chance at the win. With all twenty racers piloting everything from a GSXR1000 to a GS500 finishing within 34 seconds of each other, it was a great race. This year the winner was Rob Olivia #418 riding a Honda CBR600RR. Following the Framstad Cup was our Superbike and GP races to close out the weekend. Dave Rosno #261 won the Supertwins race for expert on a Suzuki SV1000 and William Kerns #238 on a Suzuki SV650 for novice. The Middleweight SB expert race was won by Robert Jensen #52 on a Yamaha R6 and Tucker Dally #309 on a Yamaha R6 for novice while Heavyweight SB expert victory went to John Staska #152 on a Suzuki GSXR750 for expert and Aaron Anderson #225 for novice on a Suzuki GSXR600. Unlimited SB expert victory went to Robert Jensen #52 on a Yamaha R1. Ultralight SB and GP winner in expert went to Tony Peterson #14 onboard a Ducati Monster 620. Jennifer Jensen #383 took first in Ultralight SB on her Ducati Monster 620 for the novice and Joey Kasper #944 for novice in Ultralight GP on a Honda RS125. Middleweight GP expert race was won by Tony Kasper #122 on a Suzuki GSXR600 with Tucker Dally #309 on his Yamaha R6 in MW GP novice. John Staska #152 took the expert victory in Heavywieght GP on his Suzuki GSXR750 and Aaron Anderson #225 on a GSXR600 in HW GP Novice. Unlimited GP saw Robert Jensen #52 on his GSXR1000 take the win. Lightweight SB was Andrew Kruse #898 on a Suzuki SV650 for expert and William Kerns #238 for novice, also on a SV650. Lightweight GP wins for expert Jeff Japs #38 on a Yamaha TZ250, and for novice William Kerns #238 on a Suzuki SV650. Congratulations to all the racers and a huge “thank you” to our volunteer work staff that once again provided the best racing environment and service possible! For detailed results visit: http://cra-mn.mylaps.com Come join us September 14th-16th for our next race weekend at BIR. Sunday, Sept. 16th will be our annual 5 hour endurance race to end our season!! For more information please contact the CRA at www.cra-mn.com or call (612) 332-4070. More, from a press release issued by Littlewood Racing: Back into the points for Littlewood Racing After the extensive repair work needed to the RNR Coatings Suzuki GSXR 1000 from the previous round at Croft, the team were still finishing off the repairs to the bike an hour before the first free practice session at Cadwell. Despite this setback Gavin and the team made the start of the first session but quickly realised that the bike would need careful setting up to get it back to its previous handling performance. Gavin and the team had two qualifying session left to get the bike back up to speed but a series of small problems hinder their progress and Gavin could only qualify down in thirty first position which would need a lightning start if he was to propel himself into the points in the first of two races for the team over the bank holiday weekend. Race one was held on the Sunday and Gavin knowing he needed a great start could only mange a good one and moved two places up the field by the end of lap one. The Cadwell circuit is notoriously difficult to pass on but Gavin managed to make some more progress and by lap six the halfway point in the race he was up to twenty sixth place and closing on the riders in front of him. By lap ten Gavin had moved up another position in to twenty fifth which he held onto until the flag. Not the result he or the team were looking for but the bike problems in qualifying had left them with a mountain to climb just to get into the top twenty let alone the points over a twelve lap race distance. Race two was held on the bank holiday Monday and the Superstock Cup class were first out for another twelve lap race. This time Gavin did get the great start he needed and by the end of lap one he was in twenty third place. The great start had taken its toll on the clutch though and it began to slip as Gavin moved up the field. Despite this problem Gavin continued his progress and by the halfway point was sitting in eighteenth position just three places from the points. On the penultimate lap Gavin was sitting in seventeenth but a point finishing position was within his sights and so he put in a stunning last lap to take fifteenth place across the line to score the last point. Gavin Littlewood: We had an issue all weekend getting the bike set up as it was before and that’s why I qualified so far back. In the first race I got a really poor start and couldn’t make my way through the pack. Also maybe I needed to gain a bit of confidence back as well after recent events? In the second race I got great start only to find the clutch was slipping on the first lap! I managed to get through this though and ended up in 15th position over the line. If the clutch had not been slipping I think I could have passed quite a few more! Roll on Donington. The next round is at Donington Park on September 21/22/23. More, from a press release issued by Pirelli: Chris Hesse, drummer for the Gold and Platinum CD-charting band Hoobastank, has shown he takes his motorcycle road racing seriously when he wrapped his nervous fingers around the throttle of his Yamaha YZF-R6, shod with a set of sticky Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa DOT race tires, for his third racing event; this one at the Buttonwillow Raceway Park outside Buttonwillow, California. Prior to his races at Buttonwillow, Hesse competed in the WERA West round at California Speedway in Fontana, California, finishing 15th in B Superstock and 17th in C Superstock. Hesse said after the event, “My first race was best. There were accidents in every race and nearly all in turn one. So it was a bit of having to run everybody down in each race.” At Buttonwillow Hesse turned up the volume and in the WERA novice classes finished 7th in B Superstock, and 8th in C Superstock, C Superbike and Saturday’s Mediumweight Solo 20. Hesse said, like a true racer, “I had a great weekend. Buttonwillow seems to suit my riding style much better. My favorite race was the 20 lapper because even though I was wasted by the end, I still put in my best lap time on the last lap and I had time to catch ALMOST everyone I was faster than. If I hadn’t run off the track at one point I think would have caught them all. I tried the soft compound Supercorsas on Sunday. They held up really well on that track even though I was still super beat from the previous day and couldn’t get my times up to par. Now that I think about it, that last lap of the solo 20 was my best time of the entire weekend.” Hesse attended his first riding school August 27-28, taking part in Jason Pridmore’s Star School at the Jennings GP track in Jennings, Florida. Hesse said, “I’ve gotten this far without even really asking someone a question about riding so I figured it’s time. I learned so much at Jason’s school that I had to limit myself to just three things to work on for the course: body position, picking the bike up quicker and RELAX!!! “Breathing is a basic human instinct that somehow goes right out the window when I’m really going for it. I literally stop breathing so much so that I start getting dizzy after a few hard laps. In order to get that oxygen I cut my speed and concentrate on relaxing every part of my body. I find then that somehow my speed increases without effort.” More, from a press release issued by Speedfreaks Yamaha: Podiums, high sides and DNFs for Speedfreaks Yamaha at Cadwell. The Speedfreaks Yamaha team had an eventful race weekend at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire. Australian rider, Anton Kokshoorn took a second place finish in the first Metzeler National Superstock Cup Race but crashed heavily in the second race. His team-mate, local rider Gary Johnson from Broughton also had a tough weekend in the Metzeler National Superstock Championship with set-up issues resulting in a DNF at his home round. Kokshoorn’s weekend had been shaping up well as he explained, “In free practice I was on the pace which I was surprised at as I’d not been at Cadwell for a year. I finished that session in fourth place. We decided to do some suspension changes ahead of qualifying but went the wrong way with it and ended up fifteenth!” They put things back to where they started for second qualifying and Kokshoorn got the result he had hoped for. “I didn’t feel too confident for second qualifying. I was running in eighth right until the last lap and then I jumped up to third,” he said. Once the racing got under way he was on top form, “I got a good start in the race and hole shotted it into turn one. I lead for the first couple of laps and then Dean Johnson came by. I couldn’t hold onto him as my tyres went off. Then I made a mistake at the hairpin and that let Norman Brunton through. I got back up to third and chased him and got him on the last lap for second place,” he grinned. Race two was a different story as he went on to say, “I got the hole shot and pulled a second lead and held it for six laps. Unfortunately, I high sided on the exit of the chicane at the bottom of the Mountain. I’ve broken my scaphoid, popped my collar bone out, bruised my lungs and broken two ribs.” It was a real come down after the success of race one. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck,” said the 19-year-old, “But I hope to be back on track for Brands Hatch.” Johnson on the other hand was plagued by handling issues all weekend due to the demanding nature of the Cadwell circuit. He completed qualifying in a lowly and uncharacteristic twenty ninth place. “We just couldn’t find a set-up that worked. We tried everything we could think of and it just wasn’t happening,” said a dejected Johnson. The team made some improvements over night and in morning warm-up he was up to twelfth place. However starting from so far back on the grid was never going to make for an easy race. He made steady progress up to twenty first place before getting over eager and running on at the Gooseneck. “I came back on track but the guys I had been chasing were long gone. I circulated for a little longer but decided to call it a day as I wasn’t going to achieve anything by staying out there,” he said, “I’m gutted that this happened at my home round, I really had been hoping for a top six finish, guess it wasn’t meant to be.” The Speedfreaks will be back on track at Donington Park on the 21st 23rd September. More, from a press release issued by MotoSix Motorsports: Aaron Clark and MotoSix Win and Set Lap Record at Miller Motorsports Park Aaron Clark of MotoSix Motorsports won the King of the Mountain race last weekend on the on the East Miller Motorsports Park course setting a new lap record in the process. Riding his Fay Meyers-sponsored 2007 Suzuki GSX-R1000, Aaron Clark qualified on the pole position for the premiere race of the weekend early morning. Not wasting any time, Aaron led the field into turn one at the drop of the green flag and was never challenged for the lead while building up a 37-second lead. In the process, Clarkie lowered the East Miller Motorsports Park lap record to a 1:34:11. “I have been working hard at leading races from start to finish at a lap record pace. We have found a new rear tire compound that has made a huge difference for us and the fast lap times were very smooth and easy to do. This east course really lets the SBS Brake Pads shine as well and overall I couldn’t be happier with the bike” commented Aaron Clark. MotoSix rider’s Aaron Clark and David Gallant will compete next with the MRA at Pueblo Motorsports Park September 1st through the 3rd.