HALOF Racing rider Scott Jensen #61 Superstock 10th place finish- After a successful start to their campaign for the 2007 Superstock Series at Daytona with an 8th place finish, HALOF Racing backed it up with a strong 10th place finish at Barber Motorsports Park. Friday mornings practice was the first opportunity the team had to ride their all new Suzuki GSX-R1000’s. ” We got the bikes all prepared but didn’t have any time to test with them”, said team principle Rodney Rayborne, ” the all new Ohlins suspension is really awesome, their support and help is second to none and we appreciate all the help we have received from them and all our sponsors with the new motorcycle. We did what we came to do which was get some time on the bike, get some points, now we will get through the next round and then have some time to test. Scott is doing a great job riding and we hope to help him keep the great finishes coming all year.” After struggling at the start of the practice sessions the HALOF Racing team seemed to find speed as the sessions went on. Qualifying a solid 11th on the grid and only a few tenths behind the next 5 guys looked to make for a great race. “I’m super excited this year to be riding for HALOF Racing and I am happy to bring home another good finish,” rider Scott Jensen stated, “It’s different for me to be riding for a team like this that has a crew and so much support. I can’t thank everyone enough for their help and I hope that some strong finishes will be a good way to re pay them.” When asked the main differences between this year and past years Jensen said the list would be real long. “In years past being a solo privateer, a come out and do it on your own guy I never had new bikes at the beginning of the year. I usually had to wait for a crashed one to pop up somewhere cheap. Now riding with a team that gets some support from Suzuki, Pirelli, and Ohlins, as well as all the other sponsors, it gives me the chance to ride a fully race prepped bike and start somewhat on a level playing field as the other guys and again I just can’t thank all the companies and the team enough for giving me this chance.” Superbike race 1 19th, race 2 17th The team’s main focus is Superstock but with Jensen racing Superbike for so many years it’s hard to keep him away from that class. Scott said, “We are here this year to concentrate on Superstock but we had enough bits to build a Superbike and I hope to ride it as much as I can this year. I like the superbikes but the grid is as strong as I can ever remember. We missed the Superbike setup a little but it was still a great race. I haven’t been feeling well all weekend and especially Saturday after the Superbike race, I was so sick I almost couldn’t stand. “It’s all about seat time”, said Rayborne, “If we can get Scott as much seat time as possible by riding Superbike then we feel it is something we need to do. Not sure if we will run it the whole year yet, we will just have to play it weekend by weekend right now. We are going to work as hard as we can to keep pace with the bigger teams and make a strong showing all year.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Bridgestone MotoGP: Turkish GP Debrief Q+A with Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Sport Wednesday 25 April 2007 Bridgestone enjoyed its most successful race weekend to date at the Istanbul Park in Turkey, a circuit which has previously offered the tyre manufacturer one of its toughest technical challenges. All five Bridgestone teams featured strongly in free practice sessions and, although its rivals held an advantage in qualifying, it was riders on Bridgestone tyres who dominated the 22-lap GP, taking the first six positions to mark the first ever Bridgestone 1-2-3 in MotoGP. Bridgestone riders dominated the Turkish GP, how would you assess the weekend? “Istanbul Park has always been a track where our tyres have struggled for performance, so our expectations for the weekend, right up to Sunday morning, were realistic rather than optimistic. To take our first ever 1-2-3 and to see so many of our riders involved in such a thrilling race was a proud moment for us and definitely the highlight of our MotoGP involvement to date.” What areas of performance has Bridgestone had to focus on since last year’s difficulties? “The major problem we encountered in the past was not being able to generate enough grip and durability. The track has smooth asphalt with a low friction co-efficient, which has always been where our tyres struggle for performance. Over the winter, we have looked deeply into this area and appear to have found a good direction based on the results in Turkey. We acknowledge that other factors have played an important role in the Istanbul race, for example, the new tyre restrictions and the first lap crash which unfortunately took two riders on rival tyres out of the race, but overall I think we should be very pleased with our improved competitiveness and with the excellent results.” Were there any specific problems over the course of the weekend? “The results from qualifying show that we still need to work a lot on Q tyres to make up ground to our rivals. We brought a new rear qualifying tyre to Turkey which performed quite well, but still not enough to get our riders on to the front row. The post race test in Turkey resulted in yet more improvements in qualifying performance, which we hope we will be able to benefit from in China. The other question mark over the race weekend was with the durability of the tyres, since we were not able to truly simulate a race distance in free practice. We put a lot of laps on the tyres and were still able to see good lap times in practice, but the track conditions were improving all the time, so it was hard to assess the true consistency of the tyre. In the end, the tyres lasted very well and gave good pace over all 22 laps. Most of our riders set their quickest race laps near the end of the race with Chris Vermeulen setting the fastest lap of the entire race on the penultimate lap. His best time of 1m54.026s was actually the quickest lap of the whole weekend on race tyres!” Bridgestone tyres have performed well in the opening three races of the season and have helped Casey Stoner score wins in Qatar and Turkey, two circuits where Bridgestone has not been victorious in the past can Bridgestone now be confident at every track on the calendar? “We have been pleased with the competitiveness of our tyres in Qatar, Jerez and Istanbul, but it is a very long season with a variety of track characteristics still to come. The wins in Qatar and Turkey mean a lot to Bridgestone because they have never been easy tracks for us. We are working hard to develop the tyres on a continuous basis, at the same time putting into practice what we have learnt in previous seasons. We must never take good results for granted, because the MotoGP field is very competitive this season and the new tyre restrictions have greatly reduced the margin for error. China is another complicated circuit, but John Hopkins finished fourth there last season for Suzuki and I am hopeful that Bridgestone supported riders can make it onto the podium in this year’s race.” More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad: SUCCESS FOR BMW MOTORRAD AT LE MANS Woodcliff Lake, NJ – BMW Motorrad returned to world championship motorcycle racing with impressive results this weekend at the grueling Le Mans 24 hour race in France, culminating with a win in its class and a highly impressive 16th overall on the modified R 1200 S sports boxer. Despite a difference in horsepower compared with their rivals, BMW Motorrad Motorsport team riders Thomas Hinterreiter, Rico Penzkofer and Marcus Barth hustled the flat-twin around the 4.18-kilometre Bugatti circuit, entertaining 90,000 sun-soaked spectators with daring late-braking maneuvers and impressive speed through the turns. Throughout the 24 hours and 776 laps of the race, the bike’s twin-cylinder engine never missed a beat. Considering that the BMW R 1200 S has only had one shakedown test – and that most of the top teams didn’t suffer any serious misfortunes or retirements – finishing 16th overall was a tremendous result and one that will give the whole team a huge boost for the forthcoming season, according to Markus Barth. “This was an amazing result and it’s largely due to the way the whole team works together,” said the German rider who had originally been the substitute rider until an injury to Stéphane Mertens meant that Barth got the ride at Le Mans. “All three of us put in very close and consistent lap times and that made us very competitive. I am very happy with this result because, before the race, I thought that we’d do well to finish in the top 20, so to get 16th is super. I want to thank all the mechanics and everybody involved in the race effort because they’ve all played an important part in our success. Considering we were down on horsepower, I think we’ve done really well. I had no problems at all during the race apart from a bit of a sore neck, but I’m looking forward to celebrating this success with the rest of the team.” This was a view shared by Barth’s teammate Thomas Hinterreiter. “This World Endurance Championship race result is a perfect start and I’m so happy because I never would have believed that we’d finish as high up as we did,” observed Hinterreiter. “Le Mans is a very tough place to race and most of our rivals had much faster bikes, so to do what we did was great,” he added. “We knew we’d be at a disadvantage compared with the rest of the field, but this is all part of the challenge. I didn’t have any problems during the race and I actually felt that the bike was getting better as the race wore on! We’ve not had much time with the R 1200 S before coming to Le Mans, so this result makes me very, very happy.” Rico Penzkofer was also very pleased with the team’s performance and result in this race, one of the toughest on the endurance calendar. “I was thinking about a top 25 place before this weekend,” commented Penzkofer. “We did very well to finish 16th, especially as very few top teams crashed out or retired,” he remarked. “Our result was due to hard work and effort. The team has done absolutely perfect work and the team spirit has been super throughout the weekend. This is a great start to the season and it gives us plenty of confidence for the next race.” Director of BMW Motorrad Motorsport, Berti Hauser, was delighted with the team’s first official outing and believes that Boxer fans can expect more of the same throughout 2007. “After five years of the Boxer Cup, we wanted a new challenge and we also wanted to give something back to the fans,” commented Hauser. “We wanted to participate in a major race but knew we couldn’t do Superbike with this bike (because of the regulations) so we chose what is probably the toughest discipline of all – endurance!” “Le Mans is probably the most famous and also the toughest endurance race on the calendar,” Hauser added, “and with many strong teams participating, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. However, I never expected we’d finish in the top 16 and I am both happy and delighted with this performance. The team’s motivation and spirit has been super throughout and this result is a great reward for everybody’s hard work and commitment. We’ve learned so much just from being part of this race and we’ve got a lot of ideas to work on that I know will help us improve the bike even more for the next challenge.” Results 1. S.E.R.T. – 818 laps. 2. S.E.R.T. – 818 laps. 3. Kawasaki Motor France – 817 laps. 4. Yamaha GMT – 811 laps. 5. Yamaha Austria Racing – 810 laps. 16. BMW Motorrad Motorsport – 776 laps. Open Class 1. BMW Motorrad Motorsport – 776 laps. More, from a press release issued by Damian Cudlin: SOLID START FOR CUDLIN & YART AT LE MANS Australian Damian Cudlin has kicked off his 2007 World Championship campaign with the Yamaha Austria Racing Team, finishing a gritty 5th at the season opener in Le Mans on the weekend. In front of over 100,000 screaming fans, the Le Mans 24hour race saw a record breaking race pace under the clear blue skies of France. The YART line up of Cudlin, Jerman and Scarnato rode a solid race, running as high as 2nd in the early stages, to eventually finish 5th only 8laps down on eventual winners Suzuki after 24hours of racing in arguably the toughest road race on the planet. “I don’t think I need to tell you how tough this race was”¦” joked Cudlin. “There are points in this sport when you question your own sanity. Usually at about 4 in the morning!” “I guess our story was really about being just outside of par in a few areas compared to the teams that beat us. We had fuelling problems, handlebar issues and a brake drama that cost us 4th spot, but I also really need to ride a bit faster to stand a chance of winning this year and beating Suzuki. Igor and Seb did great, the YART R1 worked well, and I gave it all I had but it just wasn’t good enough this weekend. I hope I can turn it around next week in Spain.” Team Manager Mandy Kainz was also left feeling slightly somber after the race, although is positive his squad can improve as the season progresses. “Everyone knows we didn’t come here to finish 5th, and after such positive testing it was disappointing not to finish on the podium, but congrats to Suzuki, Kawasaki and GMT for running a stronger race than us. It looks to me that this championship will be fought between SERT, KRT and ourselves, so at least we have some good points on the board and a platform to build on in Spain next week.” Kainz said. Round 2 of the World Endurance Championship will be held at Albacete in Spain on the 4/5th of May. More, from a press release issued by Bazzaz Performance: Bazzaz Performance Congratulates Team Jordan Suzuki for Barber Superstock Win Chino, CA April 25, 2007 Jordan Suzuki scored its breakthrough win this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, with a great ride by Aaron Yates. To make the victory even sweeter, Aaron’s teammate Jake Holden crossed the line just 1.2 seconds behind to take second place (another first for Jordan Suzuki) making it clear that the Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzukis were the bikes to beat on the weekend. Yates took the pole position in qualifying and proved that it was no fluke by winning Sunday’s Superstock race. Yates got the holeshot and never looked back, while Holden quickly moved from 5th position to ride shotgun for Yates for the remainder of the race. In the end the Jordan Suzuki riders finished 7 seconds ahead of 3rd place Factory Yamaha rider Ben Bostrom. Yates is now tied in the championship points for first place with Yoshimura Suzuki racer Ben Spies. Bazzaz Performance congratulates and thanks Aaron, Jake, and the whole Michael Jordan Motorsports crew for a great result and all of the technical feedback. “Although results in racing are very much in the here and now, the reality is that it takes years of cumulative work and dedication to achieve even a single win,” Ammar Bazzaz said. “In a series as competitive as the AMA it was a great milestone for the team, and also the for the sport”¦ Nice work guys!” Stop by and see the Bazzaz Performance sponsored Jordan Suzukis this weekend at California Speedway as the AMA Superbike Championship rolls into town.