Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies Wins AMA Superbike Championship at Mid-Ohio LEXINGTON, Ohio (Oct. 1, 2006) Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies won his first-ever AMA Superbike Championship after cruising to a comfortable seventh-place finish at the last race of the season at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on Sunday afternoon. Spies’ championship is Suzuki’s 10th AMA Superbike title. “This has been an awesome season,” said Spies. “The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 has been great this year and I really have to thank my crew for working so hard for me all season. We had a small problem at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) when I broke a bone in my hand, but we’ve worked through it and brought home the championship. Now we know what to expect next year and we’ll just try to go forward and come back strong for 2007.” En route to capturing the 2006 championship, the 22-year-old Texan won an impressive 10 out of 19 races this season. Last year was Spies’ rookie AMA Superbike season and he finished in second-place overall. Prior to that, Spies captured the AMA Formula Xtreme championship in 2003, the first year that he rode for the factory-supported Yoshimura Suzuki team. “This is a great day for Suzuki,” said Mel Harris, American Suzuki Vice President Motorcycle/ATV Division. “When we first signed Ben three years ago, we knew he showed great promise. Although we expected championships from him eventually, we had no idea that he’d win the Superbike title in just his second year racing the premier class. It just goes to show that Ben Spies and the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 are an amazing combination.” For more information on Spies and Yoshimura Suzuki, please log on to www.teamsuzuki.com. More, from a press release issued on the behalf of Pirelli: At the final round of the AMA Superbike series, taking place at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio, M4 EMGO Suzuki rider Geoff May set Supersports’ fastest time of the day during Friday practice. Right next to May was his teammate, Michael Barnes, setting the second fastest time of the day, each rider using a set of Pirelli SuperCorsa Pro tires on their Keith Perry tuned GSX-R600s. Capping off Pirelli’s best-ever AMA road racing season in America, May took the Pole position for the Supersport race, with Barnes next to him in second on the grid. For Sunday’s Supersport race, Michael Barnes took the lead midway through the second lap, holding it until lap nine. The position was taken by eventual racer-winner Roger Hayden. Barnes earned second place with teammate Geoff May taking third, giving the M4 EMGO Suzuki team its fourth double podium of the 2006 AMA Superbike season, and their third in a row. These results have shown that with this one-team effort at the top of the field, Pirelli has tromped legions of factory teams. May secured second in the points for the Supersport season while Barnes was awarded third. Just a few places behind May and Barnes in Supersport practice was Michael Beck, the young sensation riding a Graves Motorsports sponsored Yamaha YZF-R6. Beck was sixth fastest on Friday, and finished seventh in the final after a race-long battle for fourth. The AMA Superstock class saw M4 EMGO Suzuki rider Geoff May earn sixth on the grid with his Pirelli Diablo Superbike Slicks. In the race, May battled his way up to a sound third-place finish, taking two AMA pro road-racing podiums in one day. Other Pirelli riders finishing in the top ten in Superstock were Chris Ulrich, taking eighth on his RoadracingWorld.com-sponsored Suzuki, and Matt Lynn grabbing tenth with his Millennium KWS Suzuki. This finish matched Ulrich’s other best of the season and contributed to his ninth-place in the championship. Ulrich showed consistency from end to end of the season, finishing every race and never lower than 15th. Right behind Ulrich were Pirelli riders Cory West and John Haner in 11th and 12th, also using Pirelli Diablo Superbike Slicks. In other AMA action at Mid-Ohio, Michael Barnes rode his Suzuki GSX-R600 to fifth fastest in Formula Xtreme practice and qualifying, while lowering his time by nearly .800 seconds. Michael Beck qualified tenth for FX on his Yamaha YZF R-6. Barnes edged the podium in the race by taking fourth, while Beck finished an fantastic ninth, for this young talent. Barnes took his M4 EMGO Suzuki to a hard-earned sixth in the points, despite missing the first three races of the season. Pirelli’s five podiums at Mid-Ohio bring the tire company’s season total of podiums to 16. More, from a press release issued on the behalf of Dunlop: Dunlop Motorcycle Tires Race Report: 2006 AMA Superbike Series, Round 11, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio The final round of the 2006 AMA Superbike Series took place at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, September 29 October 1, despite the best efforts of Mother Nature to derail the competition. The skies finally cleared on Sunday and at the end of the day the sun set on a fantastic race season for Dunlop’s riders. Yoshimura Suzuki’s six-time Superbike champion Mat Mladin won his 51st career victory but it was teammate Ben Spies who took the glory, winning his first AMA Superbike title at the tender age of 22. Erion Racing Honda’s Josh Hayes captured the Formula Xtreme title after a season-long battle with Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Eric Bostrom and Jason Disalvo. Though Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking collected the Supersport and Superstock titles earlier in the season, spirited competition saw Kawasaki Road Racing’s Roger Lee Hayden and Disalvo collect the respective support class wins. For the 2006 season, Dunlop riders were virtually unstoppable, sweeping 41 of 51 possible podiums and collecting 428 of 510 top ten finishing positions for a remarkable 84 percent winning percentage. The Midwestern fall weather brought unseasonably cool and wet weather to the region on Friday and Saturday, forcing the repeated postponement of practice and qualifying sessions on both days. Despite the fact that Hacking had already wrapped up two titles and Spies had all but collected the Superbike crown, there was considerable anticipation for the last-race Formula Xtreme showdown as well as the Superbike qualifying heat races””a format not used by the AMA since the early 1990s. With the exception of the Formula Xtreme qualifying session on Friday, the Supersport, Superstock, and Superbike grids were all set by Sunday’s activities, which took place under sunny, 60-degree skies. Formula Xtreme Race The Formula Xtreme competition has been extremely close all season. Only three points separated Hayes, the series’ leader, from Bostrom coming into the final round. By virtue of his pole position and the point that goes with it, Bostrom assured a head-to-head contest for the championship. Hayes jumped into the lead on the first lap aboard his Honda CBR600RR and he was closely pursued throughout the race by Bostrom but he was never passed. Hayes won the race by 2.355 seconds over Bostrom and a trailing Disalvo to collect his second AMA championship (he won the Superstock ring in 2003) and Honda’s seventh FX title. “It’s hard when you’ve got to tell your boys and your family and your fiancé that, ‘I’m bringing this bike back on top or it’s coming back in the crash truck,’ said Hayes. “The bike was so good and we’ve been strong all weekend. The race went really good and Dunlop did such a great job. This was fun!” Hayes finishes the season with 358 points, followed by Bostrom with 351 and Disalvo with 342. Formula Xtreme Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 (7/10) 1. Josh Hayes – Honda 2. Eric Bostrom – Yamaha 3. Jason DiSalvo – Yamaha 5. Ty Howard – Honda 6. Ryan Andrews – Honda 7. Danny Eslick – Suzuki 10. Eric Wood – Honda Superbike Race The much-anticipated heat race format was abbreviated significantly by the weather, forcing the AMA to reduce the number of heats from four to two. Concern by a number of the riders about the condition of the drying track surface caused the factory pilots to sit out the two heats and they started the race behind the first ten privateers on the grid. In the race, the factory riders asserted themselves immediately as Suzuki’s Aaron Yates and then Honda’s Miguel Duhamel took turns in the lead. Yates was back on top when, on lap 11, a red flag forced a restart. Once again Yates raced into the lead and he held the position until Mladin surged around him on lap 20 and built a comfortable lead. He would win the race by 4.132 seconds, followed by Yates and Parts Unlimited Ducati’s Neal Hodgson. Meanwhile Spies, who needed to finish no better than 13th to secure the title, comfortably motored home in seventh. “This has been an awesome season,” said Spies. “The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 has been great this year and I really have to thank my crew for working so hard for me all season. We had a small problem at Virginia International Raceway when I broke a bone in my hand, but we’ve worked through it and brought home the championship.” Dunlop took the first 10 finishing positions as Spies ended the year with 649 points, followed by Mladin with 641 and Duhamel with 511. Superbike Race Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 (10/10) 1. Mat Mladin – Suzuki 2. Aaron Yates – Suzuki 3. Neil Hodgson – Ducati 4. Ben Bostrom – Ducati 5. Jason Pridmore – Suzuki 6. Tommy Hayden – Kawasaki 7. Ben Spies – Suzuki 8. Jake Zemke – Honda 9. Marty Craggill – Suzuki 10. Ben Thompson – Suzuki Supersport Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 (5/10) 1. Roger Lee Hayden – Kawasaki 4. Jamie Hacking – Yamaha 6. Ben Attard – Kawasaki 8. Blake Young – Suzuki 9. Tony Meiring – Suzuki Superstock Results: Dunlop finishers in the Top 10 (7/10) 1. Jason DiSalvo – Yamaha 2. Aaron Yates – Suzuki 4. Steve Rapp – Suzuki 5. Josh Hayes – Honda 6. Marty Craggill – Suzuki 7. Eric Bostrom – Yamaha 9. Ben Attard – Kawasaki Dunlop returns to the AMA Superbike road racing tour in 2007 for the first round at Daytona International Speedway. About Dunlop Tires Dunlop Tires is the largest supplier of original equipment and replacement motorcycle tires in the U.S. and the only manufacturer of motorcycle tires in North America. With North American operations headquartered in Buffalo, NY, Dunlop has been making and selling high quality tires in the U.S. since 1923. For more information, please visit www.dunlopmotorcycle.com. More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati: HODGSON BATTLES TO THIRD IN MID-OHIO SEASON FINALE, BOSTROM FOURTH Lexington (Ohio) 1 October 2006: Neil Hodgson finished off the 2006 season with a podium result at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and teammate Ben Bostrom was fourth to end the AMA Superbike season for Parts Unlimited Ducati. Hodgson ran strong in both ends of the red-flagged race, leading the event on lap 15. The Englishman challenged for the win on the Ducati 999 and in the middle portions of the race was especially strong in the “Thunder Valley” section of the track. “Today’s race was a good opportunity for us. We pushed hard and battled,” said Hodgson. “We had a solid race and it was fun racing at the front. I enjoyed the competition and it would have been nice to get a win, but a third is a good result. It’s hard to believe the season’s over. From Laguna onward, we improved. We were more competitive every weekend.” Ben Bostrom took fourth place, making a remarkable leap up the leader board on the second start. Bostrom rocketed into third with an excellent launch from the second row and raced with the leaders before finishing fourth in the 26-lap race. “The bike was really good, and I thought it was good enough to have raced for the lead the whole time. On the second start, we improved our position because the Ducati 999 is a good starter,” said Bostrom. “We ended up fourth on the day, and we wanted more for the last race of the year but this was a solid race for us.” Neil’s result was his third podium finish of the season, and he ended 2006 fifth in the AMA Superbike Championship. Mid-Ohio 2 race results: 1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 3. Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati 4. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati 5. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki 6. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 7. Ben Spies, Suzuki 8. Jake Zemke, Honda 9. Marty Craggill, Suzuki 10. Larry Pegram, Honda AMA season points: 1. Ben Spies, Suzuki 649 2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 641 3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 511 4. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 484 5. Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati 469 6. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 455 7. Jake Zemke, Honda 447 8. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki 400 9. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati 10. Larry Pegram, Honda 352 More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office: Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies clinched his first AMA Superbike title aboard his GSX-R1000 at today’s final-round at Lexington’s Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as team mates Mat Mladin and Aaron Yates topped the rostrum. In a race that was red flagged, the young Texan finished seventh; he had to finish within the top 13 to clinch the series and record Suzuki’s fourth title in a row. The race was in jeopardy earlier in the day when a dispute amongst the factory riders, track management and AMA Pro Racing resulted in the factory riders boycotting the heat races. An accommodation was later reached that allowed them to race in the finale, though they had to start from the back of the grid behind the 10 privateers who raced in the heats. “This has been an awesome season,” said Spies. “The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 has been great this year and I really have to thank my crew for working so hard for me all season. We had a small problem at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) when I broke a bone in my hand, but we’ve worked through it and brought home the championship. Now we know what to expect next year and we’ll just try to go forward and come back strong for 2007.” En route to capturing the 2006 championship, the 22-year-old Texan won an impressive 10 out of 19 races. Last year was Spies’ rookie AMA Superbike season and he finished in second-place overall. Prior to that, he captured the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship in 2003, the first year that he rode for the factory-supported Yoshimura Suzuki team. “This is a great day for Suzuki,” said Mel Harris, American Suzuki Vice President Motorcycle/ATV Division. “When we first signed Ben three years ago, we knew he showed great promise. Although we expected championships from him eventually, we had no idea that he’d win the Superbike title in just his second year racing the premier class. It just goes to show that Ben Spies and the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 are an amazing combination.” Superbike Results: 1. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) 2. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) 3. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 4. Ben Bostrom (Ducati) 5. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 6. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 7. Ben Spies (Yoshimura Suzuki) 8. Jake Zemke (Honda) 9. Marty Craggill (Suzuki) 10. Ben Thompson (Suzuki) More, from a press release issued by Team M4 EMGO Suzuki: BARNES AND MAY CLOSE OUT 2006 ON THE PODIUM AT MID-OHIO Team M4 EMGO Suzuki completed a tremendously successful 2006 AMA road racing season with yet another stand-out weekend at the Mid-Ohio finale. Riders Geoff May and Michael Barnes combined to score three podiums and secure a pair of top-three championship rankings on the final day of the season. May and Barnes continued their incredible string of results in the highly competitive Supersport class aboard their Pirelli-shod Suzuki GSX-R600s. Starting from the top two positions on the grid, the two came home with their third consecutive double podium finish. Barnes, who led laps 3 through 8 of the 16-lap affair, held off teammate May to take the runner-up spot at the checkered flag, his sixth podium result of the year. Barnes’ fantastic finish saw him leap up from fifth to third in the final 2006 Supersport standings. Afterwards the Floridian said, “I had about a second on them for a few laps there. I tried to maintain and go for it, but we just didn’t have enough at the end. Hopefully we can get a little more work done over the winter. We’ve come such a long ways with Pirelli and we want to continue making those types of improvements this winter and next season.” “Finishing third in the championship is great,” ‘Barney added. “I’m ecstatic about that. It’s a pretty good accomplishment after not having been able to race Daytona after an injury. I’m really pleased. That means both Geoff and I are top three and that’s great for the team. I’m wanting us to keep up the hard work we’ve been putting in this winter and win some races next year. As great as it is getting on the box all the time, this is getting frustrating getting so close. We’re ready to win some races.” May’s third-place finish was his fifth Supersport podium of ’06, which allowed him to claim second in the season’s rankings. “I’m definitely happy,” he said. “The goal is to finish first and for me, coming into my second year riding 600s, that was a big task. We wanted to win some races and be in the hunt for the championship. Coming in second is pretty good. If you can’t be first, second is pretty dang good. We’re happy, the crew is happy, and it’s pretty motivating for next year coming out in second. Hopefully we can just go forward from here.” Georgian May came back later on Sunday to also finish third in the Superstock race aboard his GSX-R1000, his second podium of the season in the big bore category. Afterwards he remarked, “In the Superstock race I gave everything I had. I was hanging it out, standing on the pegs and spinning the thing up. I had a good time — it was like riding dirt bikes in the backyard. It’s been a wild weekend and to end up with two podiums is really nice.” Barnes gave Team M4 EMGO Suzuki a fourth top-five finish on the day in the Formula Xtreme final, piloting his GSX-R600 FX racer to a lonely fourth place result. He took sixth in the class’ final standings on the basis of solid and consistent placings throughout the year. More, from a press release issued by Honda: Climate: Sunny Temperature: 20 degrees Honda Wins Formula Xtreme Championship For the third year in a row, a Honda CBR600RR took the top spot in the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship. Following two years of domination by American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel, Erion Honda’s Josh Hayes stepped up and took the 2006 crown in a nail-biting finale at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The 11-race championship came down to a winner-take-all final, with Hayes up to the challenge. The Mississippian quickly moved to the front of the 16-lap final and controlled the pace, leading all 16 lap en route to the race win and his second AMA championship. “It’s awesome,” two-time Formula Xtreme champion Miguel Duhamel said. “Obviously, Kevin Erion’s crew did a great job and Josh [Hayes] did a terrific job. They learned a lot and came out and won the championship and proved that CBR600RR is the class of the field in Formula Xtreme. That bike is a wonderful machine and I was proud of Josh going out there and the Erion guys did a wonderful job.” Duhamel had less luck than his fellow Honda rider in the red flag-interrupted AMA Superbike Shootout. The American Honda team was racing their Honda CBR1000RR’s with traction control for the first time after a successful test in California. Tire problems in both the first and second parts of the race slowed Duhamel, but couldn’t deny him third in the AMA Superbike Championship. Teammate Jake Zemke also had traction problems after getting shuffled to the back of the pack by the actions of another rider. Neither of their problems were the result of the tires themselves, but a lack of set-up and practice time caused by inclement weather. The teams had only a brief practice session prior to the race to find a race set-up and pick a race tire. Miguel Duhamel, 16th Place For me this weekend it would have been almost too much to ask with everything we had on the agenda and the shortened amount of time we had here, to go out and win. It was a really good test. We learned a lot, obviously. We need to look at all the data and look at what actually transpired and how come we had a tire issue. It’s just a big learning curve and I’m happy and proud of the guys that they had the fortitude and knowledge to bring it out so quick. We’ll have to do a lot of laps in winter testing and it’s going to be a different crew and a different objective for next year, I can tell you that. Jake Zemke, 8th Place We made an educated guess [on the tire] and the other problem is that with our little practice session we wanted to run the tire we thought we were going to race on and we did that. We had that tire on three rims and we only had four rims on the width we needed – because we’re running a little bit narrower than what we normally would run and it didn’t work out so well. We got caught out. We knew the other tire wasn’t going to be any better and we couldn’t run on the same tire and what we tried wasn’t the right thing. That’s part of it. Superbike: 1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 2. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 3. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 4. Ben Bostrom (Ducati) 5. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 6. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 7. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 8. Jake Zemke (Honda) 9. Marty Craggill (Suzuki) 10. Ben Thompson (Suzuki) Championship Standings: 1. Ben Spies (649) 2. Mat Mladin (641) 3. Miguel Duhamel (511) 4. Aaron Yates (484) 5. Neil Hodgson (469) 6. Tommy Hayden (455) 7. Jake Zemke (447) 8. Jason Pridmore (400) 9. Ben Bostrom (391) 10. Larry Pegram (351)