Motosix dominates at Motorsports Park Hastings as Aaron Clark Claims New Class Track Record!

MotoSix riders Aaron Clark and Dave Gallant beat the thick Nebraska heat to win and place on the podium at Motorsports Park Hastings with the MRA this past weekend.

Afternoon temperatures soared to over 100 degrees for the the MRA”s 5th round of the 2007 racing season, and both rider and machinery suffered in the intense heat. Both MotoSix riders placed on the podium in Saturday”s endurance races and were primed for Sunday racing action hoping to take home a large share of the manufacturer contingency on the table.

After claiming a new class track record laptime in Open Supersport, mechanical gremlins stuck Aaron Clark in the Sunday Open Superbike race. With Aaron”s backup bike out of commission, everyone scrambled to diagnose the root cause of the problem to help “Clarkie” retain the Race of the Rockies points lead. At the start of the MRA”s premiere race, Aaron made it evident the problem was successfully fixed as he jumped out to a sizable lead right from the start. Although challenged on the final laps, Clarkie was able to lead flag to flag and win the Race of the Rockies at Motorsports Park Hastings.

“These conditions were brutal but my Pirelli tires were well up for the challenge! We put on a slightly harder compound tire for this afternoon”s race, and even on the last lap I was amazed how much grip I had and how hard I could accelerate off the corners. I couldn”t be happier standing on top of the podium today and I am riding my hardest to extend my points lead and earn that elusive number 1 plate in this region” commented an exhausted Aaron Clark.

After putting in a strong 2nd place finish in Heavyweight Endurance on Saturday, Dave Gallant felt confident going into Sunday”s Heavyweight Supersport race. However, anytime top Pirelli rider Chad Lewin is in attendance, everyone knows it is going to be difficult keeping him from working his way to the front. Right from the start it was clear it was going to be a 3-way battle with Dave Gallant and Mike Applegate jumping out to an early lead on their Suzuki GSXR 750s. By lap two, Chad Lewin had latched on to the lead pair, and by lap four he had managed to slip by to take the lead. At the checkered flag, the lead pack had gapped the rest of the field with Dave Gallant in a strong third place position.

“I was hoping for more this weekend, but considering the heat and the depth of this field I am pleased with the finish. Most people had a difficult time with their brakes this weekend, but between the SBS dual carbon pads and the Braking rotors I could not have been happier. We just have to find a little bit more in our tire setup, and if we can do that I believe we will be able to take home some more wins. Hats off to Chad Lewin for this race however; he rode very hard and very well and deserves the win today” commented Dave Gallant of MotoSix Motorsports.

MotoSix rider’s Aaron Clark and David Gallant will compete next with the USBA at Miller Motorsports Park on July 28th and 29th.

More, from a press release issued by Michael Aron:

Date: July 8th 2007 Track: Thunderhill Raceway Class: Formula III (125 GP)

At the 4th race of the AFM series, #80 Michael Aron maintained his lead in the Formula III championship.

Starting in the pole position aboard the Mojotown.com Honda RS125, Michael shot off the line and opened up a 6-8 bike length lead by turn five. For the first three laps it looked like he had his first victory on the 125 sewn up, but #658 Jeremiah Carlson capitalized on a misread pit signal to eventually catch Michael on the front straight. By the time Jeremiah caught Michael, the two riders had opened up a lead over the pack that spanned the entire start-finish straight-away. Michael tried to regain the lead on the final lap but a lapped rider eclipsed his hopes of catching Carlson.

Pending the official posting from AFM, the 2nd place finish helped secure Michael’s number one position in the Formula III points chase to a 30+ points lead with 4 more events in the series.

More, from a press release issued by USGPRU:

Iso and Pyles Victorious at Road America

USGPRU East Round 4

The USGPRU joined the ASRA and Moto-ST roadrace series this weekend at the sun-drenched Road America racetrack in Elkhart Lake, WI. So far this season, the Rising Sun Cycles 125GP class has been dominated by 13-year-old PJ Jacobsen. The 250GP class has been a bit closer as Canadian Eddy Brunet played catch-up on the West Coast dominating Ryan Ferris.

In the Rising Sun Cycles 125GP qualifying, Nobi Iso set the fast time early in the session aboard his blistering fast Aprilia RS125. But PJ was able to pull out a late-session fast lap to claim the pole position.

Prior to the 250GP qualifying, Chris Pyles spent several sessions following his old teammate, Mike Himmelsbach around the racetrack. Apparently, this was time well spent, as Chris was able to set the fastest time and claim the pole position. Des Conboy rode his Celtic Racing Honda to a solid second place position. He was followed by Eddy Brunet, who had crashed early in the 250GP qualifying, but remounted and rode his battered machine for a few more hard laps before his motor expired.

For the Sunday race, Nobi Iso was determined to use the superior horsepower of his Aprilia to finally overpower the young superstar PJ’s Honda. Iso nailed the start and led the pack of 26 riders into turn one, but PJ was right on his rear wheel. Miles Thornton, Scott Smallwood, and Cassidy Heiser tried to keep pace, but quickly realized that there was no chance they were going to keep up with the madmen at the front. Iso seemed to be opening a bit of a gap on PJ for the first few laps, but once PJ found a rhythm, he reeled in Iso and made a pass for the lead. It was beginning to look like every other race these two have had all season. The back and forth battle ensued as neither was willing to let the other slip away. Iso led on the final lap and PJ was nipping away at every turn. Going into the ultra-high-speed carousel turn, PJ made a breath-taking pass underneath Iso to take the lead down the back straight. Iso tucked in tight and followed PJ up through the final turn. While PJ ran the defensive line, Iso positioned for the drive up the hill, and was able to motor by PJ to win the race by half a bike-length. Iso won his first national event of the season, and issued PJ his first loss of the year.

The battle for third came down to the last lap as Smallwood did battle with the pair of 13-year-olds, Miles Thornton and Cassidy Heiser. Smallwood trailed Thornton at the start of the last lap, and the pair seemed to be shaking Heiser finally. At the end of the back straight, Miles crashed out of the final podium slot and Smallwood went on take third place, followed closely by Heiser.

The 250GP race was a blow-out as Chris Pyles decimated the field of 27 bikes in a flag-to-flag victory. Pyles was clearly the class of the field as he had a margin of victory of more than 9-seconds over second place. The battle for second place though was not an easy one by any stretch. A four-way battle between Eddy Brunet, Mark ‘Big Man’ Kelly, Brent Lyskawa, and Des Conboy was keeping everyone on the edge of their seats as they would go three-wide down the front straight. On lap three, Des Conboy lost his front brakes at the end of the super-fast back straight. He crashed into turn 12, destroying any chance of earning points this weekend. Luckily, he was able to walk away from the high-speed crash. Brunet, Kelly, and Lyskawa continued to do battle right up until the final lap. Brunet was able to nurse his wounded Honda RS250 across the line barely ahead of the big Irishman, Mark Kelly.

Race results:

Rising Sun Cycles 125GP

1. Nobi Iso Aprilia RS125 2. Patrick Jacobsen Honda RS125 3. Scott Smallwood Honda RS125 4. Cassidy Heiser Honda RS125 5. Boyd Bruner Honda RS125 6. Tom Swager Honda RS125 7. Alex Lyskawa Honda RS125 8. Crystal Campagna Honda RS125 9. Merle Eschman Honda RS125 10. Mike Aboyoun Honda RS125 11. Allen Campbell Honda RS125 12. Robert Rawlins Honda RS125 13. Marc Whitney Honda RS125 14. Bruce Lind Yamaha TZ125 15. Mark White Honda RS125 16. Marcus Matthews Honda RS125 17. Brian McLaughlin Yamaha TZ125 18. Shannon Anderson Honda RS125 19. Robert Taylor Honda RS125 20. Robert Czerniak Honda RS125 21. Miles Thornton Honda RS125 22. Don Murfin Honda RS125 23. Billy Veatch Honda RS125 24. Brent Lyskawa Honda RS125

250GP

1. Chris Pyles Yamaha TZ250 2. Eddy Brunet Honda RS250 3. Mark Kelly Honda RS250 4. Brent Lyskawa Honda RS250 5. Geoffrey Maloney Yamaha TZ250 6. Daniele Lenarduzzi Yamaha TZ250 7. Mike Aboyoun Yamaha TZ250 8. Mark Stiles Yamaha TZ250 9. Patrick Dowd Yamaha TZ250 10. Bruce Lind Yamaha TZ250 11. Allen Campbell Honda RS250 12. Zachry Lee Honda RS250 13. Jim Bergey Honda RS250 14. Kory Gill Yamaha TZ250 15. Jeff Japs Yamaha TZ250 16. Andrew Edwards Yamaha TZ250 17. Brian Kwak Yamaha TZ250 18. Mike Wright Honda RS250 19. Michael Rajotte Yamaha TZ250 20. Chris Manfrin Yamaha TZ250 21. Aaron Stein Yamaha TZ250 22. Tom Swager Yamaha TZ250 23. Des Conboy Honda RS250

More, from a press release issued by Mike Solis on behalf of the AFM:

AFM Round 4 at Thunderhill

In the MDK Motorsports Formula Pacific race at Thunderhill Raceway, it was defending AFM number one James Randolph who took the win, coming out on top of a fierce, three-rider, flag-to-flag battle for the lead. With a fresh, bullet-fast motor in his Tigershark Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000, Randolph was able to draft and pass former AFM number one Dave Stanton to take the lead. But on the penultimate lap, Stanton made his move, putting his Mach 1 Motorsports Yamaha R1 up the inside of Randolph’s Suzuki into Turn 5, momentarily taking the lead before running wide on the exit.

Stanton’s bobble allowed Randolph to retake the lead and moved Pacific Tracktime’s Michael Earnest into second, as Stanton cautiously brought his Dunlop-shod R1 back onto the track surface. On the last lap, Earnest made his own attempt to take the lead in Turn 3 on his Dunlop-shod, Kyle Racing prepared GSX-R1000, pulling beside the defending champion about halfway through the corner. It wasn’t enough for Earnest, as Randolph held his line before going on to take the win. Earnest crossed the line in second, with Stanton third.

“Those guys made me work for it!” said Randolph from the winners circle. My motor was strong, and I have to thank Joe Proctor of Santa Rosa Superbikes for that. And those Pirelli tires sure stayed hooked up, didn’t they? I have to thank everyone who helped me out in this heat – the bike did the rest!”

Randolph’s Formula Pacific win was just one of three victories on the weekend for the Santa Rosa resident. Randolph started his day with a victory in the Take it 2 the Track Open Production race,with Stanton crossing the line in second and Ken Hill third. Later in the day, Randolph also took the win in the Fremont Honda Kawasaki Open Superbike race, with Martin Szwarc finishing second and James King third.

Chris Siglin also wrapped up his day with multiple victories, taking home a pair of runaway wins on his Arclight Suzuki GSX-R600. In the Suzuki of Oakland 750 Production race, Siglin took his first win of the day, with the GSX-R750 of second place finisher Scott Wilson well behind in second place. Siglin’s second win came in the Keigwins@theTrack 600 Production race, where he crossed the line well ahead of the R6 of second place finisher Richard Corey, who won the Pacific Track Time 600 Superbike race earlier in the day.

After spending over a season on out-of-date Suzukis, first year expert Ryan Gorman took his first AFM victory at Thunderhill, taking the win in the Scuderia West Formula 1 race his first weekend on a 2006 GSX-R750. Gorman managed to beat a number of experienced riders with national experience to the line, with Garry Combs finishing second on his Matsushima Peformance GSX-R750, and David Bell third on a Sportbike Dynamics GSX-R750.

“This was my first weekend on the new bike, and I just knew it was going to go well,” said Gorman. “Those guys were strong, but I was able to get my passing done in 2 and 3 – those new Dunlop N Tech tires really made it happen! This is only my second year of riding, but thanks to Michael Earnest of Pacific Tracktime, I learned quick!”

After several winning seasons on 600s, Andy Carman managed to win his first race on his GSX-R1000 at Thunderhill, taking the victory in the GP Frame and Wheel Open Grand Prix race over the GSX-Rs of second place finisher Martin Szwarc and third place finisher Michael Thompson. “Martin got the holeshot, and I just kind of followed him for a while and then stuffed him into 5,” said Carman. “After that, I just kept my head down, slicing and dicing my way through traffic. Jim Lindemann helped me set my bike up this weekend, and it’s much better now than it was. In fact, I’d say it was perfect. It used to tell me to back off, and I just tried to ride through it – I just thought it was me, ya know? I also have to thank my mechanic, Miss Riess she has really been helping me out!”

In the Formula 3 race, Mojotown.com’s Michael Aron was hoping to take his first AFM victory on a 125, returning to lightweight two-strokes after a season on an open-class Ducati. Aron opened up a huge lead early in the race, mistakenly eased up after misreading pit signals, allowing novice racer Jeremiah Carlson to swing past into the lead. Carlson went on to take his first ever AFM win, with Aron crossing the line in second, maintaining his class points lead.

“I remember coming off the line in around 5th spot, and making my way past a few guys to find that Michael Aron had a really big lead,” said Carlson. “I just put my head down, closed the gap, and was able to eventually outdrive him out of 15 to take the lead. It feels really good to finally win!”

One of the most intense battles of the day took place in the RaceOil.com Formula 4 event. Prior to the event, Jeff Hagan had been dominating the class, with a perfect season consisting of runaway victories in every round. But at Thunderhill, Hagan had his hands full with the SV650s of David Civiello and Zoom Zoom Trackdays instructor Dan Sewell, as well as the fast VFR400 of Keigwins@theTrack instructor Michael Lohmeyer. Hagan, Civiello, and Lohmeyer exchanged positions throughout the race, as Sewell gradually dropped off the pace. With Hagan leading late in the race, Civiello made one last move on Hagan, outdriving him out of Turn 8 to take the lead into Turn 9. Civiello held to take the win, the first of his racing career despite being a class front runner for years. Hagan crossed the line in second, with Lohmeyer third.

“That race was very complicated,” said Civiello. “Once I knew I could run with Hagan, I just wanted to stay with him. But then Lohmeyer joined in, and I was like ‘Damn, we don’t need any more guys at this party!” On the last lap, I just went through 8 as hard as I could, and took him into 9. I don’t want to get cocky about all of this, but man – it feels good to have ended Jeff Hagan’s reign of terror in Formula 4!”

With points leader Tom Montano absent from the grid, the Desmoto Sport Open Twins race became a contest between two riders – Craig McLean and Trackside Moto’s Pat Blackburn. McLean grabbed the holeshot, but his lead didn’t last long, as Blackburn managed to slip by in Turn 9 after McLean missed a shift. From there, Blackburn went on to take his first ever AFM win, with Matt Green taking second, and McLean third.

“We were a little tight on the start, and McLean just stuffed his fat butt in there to take the lead,” said Blackburn. “I got him coming out of 9, and thought he was on me for the next few laps, but my guys gave me the signal and we just cruised on in. Terry got me a good set of Dunlops for the race, and Cory Call of Pacific Tracktime has been showing me how to get around here fast – without him and Michael Earnest, I wouldn’t be out here!”

Despite running off track in Turn 3 in the first lap, WMRRA racer Cedric Smith was able to run away with the win in Formula Singles, storming away from his supermoto-equipped competition on his immaculately prepared Everett Powersports racebike – a 180 lb, 65 horsepower machine that uses an RS125 chassis and a CRF450 motor. Andre Benguerel took second on his 450cc Husqvarna, with Joy Higa third on her KTM580.

“That move in Turn 3 was a total brainfart,” said Smith. “Just a lack of track knowledge. This track takes a lot of laps to figure out, and this is my first weekend out here!”

In the 250 Production race, Sue Urquhart was able to take her first AFM victory on her Dunlop-shod Ninja 250, passing Charles Leca out of the last turn on the last lap to take the win. Leca finished second, with Warrant Metlitzky third.

“I got stuck behind a lapper at one point, but that just made me get my game on!” said Urquhart. “I was sorry to see Adam pull off with a mechanical – he had been riding really well this season. I’ve had a lot of problems with my motors the past few weeks, and Kelly Winkelbauer has been working hours and hours to get things sorted for me. There’s no way I could do this without him!”

The next round of AFM action takes place August 19th at Infineon Raceway.

AFM Round 4 July 8-9, 2007 Infineon Raceway Unofficial Results

MDK Motorsports Formula Pacific 1. James Randolph (Suz 1000) 2. Michael Earnest (Suz 1000) 3. David Stanton (Yam 1000) 4. Ken Hill (Suz 1000) 5. Martin Szwarc (Suz 1000) 6. David Bell (Suz 1000)

Fremont Honda Kawasaki Open Superbike 1. James Randolph (Suz 1000) 2. Martin Szwarc (Suz 1000) 3. James King (Suz 1000) 4. Shawnery Hardin (Suz 1000) 5. Harley Barnes (Suz 1000) 6. Scott Schwanbeck (Suz 1000)

R Tech Fuels 750 Superbike 1. Scott Wilson (Suz 750) 2. Garry Combs (Suz 750) 3. Ryan Gorman (Suz 750) 4. Peter O’Sullivan (Suz 750) 5. Kim Nakashima (Suz 600) 6. Craig Ayers (Suz 750)

Pacific Track Time 600 Superbike 1. Richard Corey (Yam 600) 2. William Scott (Yam 600) 3. Spencer Stuart (Yam 600) 4. Zenzo Tazawa (Suz 600) 5. Brant Wiwi (Yam 600) 6. Matt Eccleston (Yam 600)

Alpine RV 450 Superbike 1. Mike Lohmeyer (Hon 400) 2. Mark Elrod (Hon 400) 3. Richard Moore (Yam 442) 4. Bob Simmons (Hon 400) 5. Phil Douglas (Hon 400) 6. Jonathan Forman (Suz 500)

250 Superbike 1. Andrew Duafala (Yam 250) 2. Joe Rust (Yam 250) 3. Johnny Radavero (Yam 250) 4. Sean Pagel (Apr 250)

Take it 2 the Track Open Production 1. James Randolph (Suz 1000) 2. David Stanton (Suz 1000) 3. Ken Hill (Suz 1000) 4. Martin Szwarc (Suz 1000) 5. James King (Suz 1000) 6. Mike Thompson (Suz 1000)

Suzuki of Oakland 750 Production 1. Chris Siglin (Suz 600) 2. Scott Wilson (Suz 750) 3. Garry Combs (Suz 750) 4. Craig Ayers (Suz 750) 5. Kim Nakashima (Suz 600) 6. Spencer Stuart (Yam 600)

Keigwins@theTrack 600 Production 1. Chris Siglin (Suz 600) 2. Richard Corey (Yam 600) 3. William Scott (Yam 600) 4. Brant Wiwi (Yam 600) 5. Zenzo Tazawa (Suz 600) 6. Jeff Gagne (Yam 600) 

450 Production 1. Mark Elrod (Hon 400) 2. Dave Wallis (Hon 400) 3. Joe Carpenter (Hon 400) 4. Andrew Silva (Hon 400)

250 Production 1. Susan Urquhart (Kaw 250) 2. Charles Leca (Kaw 250) 3. Warren Metlitzky (Kaw 250) 4. Thomas Dorsey (Suz 400) 5. Adam Klinger (Kaw 250) 6. Russell Munn (Suz 400)

GP Frame and Wheel Open Grand Prix 1. Andy Carman (Suz 1000) 2. Martin Szwarc (Suz 1000) 3. Mike Thompson (Suz 1000) 4. Christopher Weiss (Suz 1000) 5. Scott Schwanbeck (Suz 1000) 6. Shawnery Hardin (Suz 1000) 

Scuderia West Formula 1 1. Ryan Gorman (Suz 750) 2. Garry Combs (Suz 750) 3. David Bell (Suz 750) 4. Scott Wilson (Suz 750) 5. Peter O’Sullivan (Suz 750) 6. Craig Wierman (Suz 750)

Mazda Technologies Formula 2 1. Jeffry Hanford (Hon 250) 2. Shawn Herrera (Yam 250) 3. Dan Cook (Yam 250) 4. Brian Hoffman (Hon 250) 5. Dante D’Ambruoso (Yam 250) 6. Kelly Winkelbauer (Yam 250)

Formula 3 1. Jeremiah Carlson (Hon 125) 2. Michael Aron (Hon 125) 3. Dave Heinricks (Hon 125) 4. Steve Magri (Hon 125) 5. James Eckerman (Hon 125) 6. Elaine Ou (Hon 125)

Race-Oil.com / AMSOIL Formula 4 1. David Civiello (Suz 650) 2. Jeff Hagan (Suz 650) 3. Michael Lohmeyer (Hon 400) 4. Dan Sewell (Suz 650) 5. William Fox (Suz 650) 6. Oliver Rowen (Suz 650)

Desmoto Sport Open Twins 1. Patrick Blackburn (Duc 1098) 2. Matthew Green (Duc 999) 3. Craig McLean (Duc 1098) 4. Mario Gonzales Jr (Duc 1098) 5. Phil Douglas (Apr 1000) 6. Martin Ayala (Duc 000)

Foremost Insurance 650 Twins 1. Jeff Hagan (Suz 650) 2. David Civiello (Suz 650) 3. Dan Sewell (Suz 650) 4. William Fox (Suz 650) 5. Christian Sommer (Suz 650) 6. Jeff Frost (Suz 650)

500 Twins 1. Jonathan Forman (Suz 500) 2. Leonard Barker (Kaw 500) 3. Eric Karl Schiller (Kaw 500) 4. Michael Emmons (Kaw 500) 5. Warren Metlitzky (Kaw 250) 6. Norman Smith (Kaw 250)

Formula Singles 1. Cedric Smith (Hon 450) 2. Andre Benguerel (Hus 450) 3. Joy Higa (KTM 580) 4. Thomas Dorsey (Suz 400) 5. Russell Munn (Suz 400) 6. Clay Hassinger (ATK 598)

Teresa McKinney Realtor Formula 40 1. Mike Thompson (Suz 1000) 2. Bud Anderson (Suz 1000) 3. Jeff Hagan (Tri 675) 4. Spencer Stuart (Yam 600) 5. Rick McDaniel (Suz 1000) 6. Jeff Smith (Suz 1000)

Super Dinosaur 1. Paul Kieffer (Kaw 750) 2. Noe Pulido (Yam 400) 3. Timothy Silva (Suz 750) 4. Michael Emmons (Kaw 500)

Clubman Heavyweight 1. Carl Thompson (Suz 100) 2. Steven Daughetee (Suz 988) 3. Nick Hayman (Duc 749) 4. Rafal Chojnacki (Yam 600) 5. Keith Tashiro (Suz 1000) 6. Jose Flores (Yam 1000)

Clubman Middleweight 1. Jesse Carter (Suz 750) 2. Kris Weide (Hon 600) 3. Sergio Sanchez-Chopitea (Yam 600) 4. Jason Stanislawczyk (Kaw 636) 5. David Foster (Suz 600) 6. Oscar Fernandez (Yam 600)

Clubman Lightweight 1. Christian Sommer (Suz 650) 2. Allen Erkman (Suz 650) 3. Carlo Maravilla (Suz 650) 4. Ben Swiggett (Suz 650) 5. Ari Henning (Suz 650) 6. Justin Tortosa (Suz 650)