Giant-Slayer Pirelli Podiums in AMA Supersport at Mid-Ohio Just one short riser from a step on the podium was the ever-consistent Geoff May, at the finish of today’s Mid-Ohio round of the Superstock Championship of the AMA Superbike Series. May started from row two, fifth on the grid, and, following a red flag early in the race, locked into the middle of a five-bike train fighting for the win. As the race unfolded, May hung with the front three while two others faded, only to lose touch with the podium triple in the closing laps. May is now fourth in Superstock points with six fourths, a third, and a seventh, for the season. Leading the other Superstock riders who, like May, are on Pirelli Diablo Superbike Slicks, was RoadRacingWorld.com’s Chris Ulrich, putting in an impressive ride to take tenth after a hard-fought, race-long battle. Behind Ulrich were Millennium KWS’s John Haner in 11th, Hotbodies Racing’s Cory West 12th, and Ulrich’s RoadRacingWorld.com teammate Roberto Pietri, finishing 14th. Those riders each moved up from their respective qualifying positions of 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th, though not doing so quite as orderly as the results might indicate. Haner’s Millennium KWS teammate and new fast guy, Matt Lynn, fell while exiting the “keyhole” on lap two, his bike eventually hitting the cement wall on the outside of the track. Lynn was off the bike prior to its impact and was able to walk away from the incident. In the frenzied fray for the Supersport Championship are Geoff May and his M4 EMGO Suzuki teammate Michael Barnes, in third and second on the grid at Mid-Ohio. King of the race launch, Barnes, led the race early until it was red-flagged. This put Barnes on pole for the restart, which he again nailed, leading the grid into turn one and back over the start-finish line. Late in the race, Barnes was passed for the lead by Jamie Hacking and Roger Hayden, bringing home his Pirelli Diablo SuperCorsa Pro DOT race tire-shod Suzuki GSX-R600 in third place. May finished in fourth, just a few bike lengths behind Barnes. May is now fifth in Supersport points with Barnes following him in sixth, with the two riders sharing a total of five Supersport podiums, showing the consistency of the team and its riders. Millennium KWS Suzuki privateer Matt Lynn came back from his get-off in Superstock, earlier in the day, to finish tenth in Superbike Race Two. Lynn’s tenth-place finish also made him the third-highest placing privateer in the Superbike race. More, from a press release issued by American Suzuki: Yoshimura Suzuki Sweeps Saturday/Sunday Mid-Ohio Superbike Races 1-2!! –Next round, Virginia International Raceway in Alton, VA, Aug. 18 – 20, 2006– Round 8 AMA Superbike Series Lexington, Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Aug. 4 – 6, 2006 On Sunday, Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies won his 10th AMA Superbike race of the season at Mid-Ohio in Lexington by repeating his victorious performance from Saturday’s Superbike race. Also giving a repeat performance was his teammate and defending AMA Superbike Champion, Mat Mladin, who again finished in second place. Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates, unfortunately, crashed and was unable to finish the race. With this victory, Spies became the third rider ever to sweep a double-header AMA Superbike race weekend at Mid-Ohio. As luck and skill would have it, the other two riders who’ve swept such Mid-Ohio weekends were his teammates Mladin and Yates. “It was harder today than it was yesterday,” said 22-year-old Spies. “Mat and Miguel (Duhamel) picked up the pace. My Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is working awesome and I just tried to ride my own race. It’s good to see two Suzukis up here on the podium again.” The 26-lap race saw Spies get a great start and lead every lap to take the victory. With this win, he extended his points lead in the title chase. “The Superbike championship is the biggest thing in my mind and it has been all year long,” said Spies. “The Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 is working great and we just want to keep doing what we’ve been doing all season. The championship is what we’re shooting for and whatever else comes with that will just be icing on the cake.” Like Spies, Mladin also got a good start on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and battled for second place for most of the 26 laps. He was successful in the end and happy with the result. “It was a close race and Ben did a great job,” said six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mladin. “At the start, I had nothing for Ben and I had settled on coming in third. But then with about six or seven laps to go, I decided to have a run at Miguel. I never thought I’d have so much fun racing for second place.” Yoshimura Suzuki’s Yates had a tougher time in Sunday’s race. He had a rough start and was working his way through the field when another rider crashed in front of him. He was unable to get around the other rider and went down himself. “I didn’t get as good of a start as I needed,” said Yates. “It took me a couple of laps to start catching the leaders. But the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 was running good and I was able to get through the traffic. But then Ben Bostrom high-sided right in front of me and I tried to go inside but I didn’t make it.” Mat Mladin, Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, #1 2nd Place AMA Superbike 2nd Place — Overall Ben Spies, Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, #11 1st Place AMA Superbike 1st Place — Overall Aaron Yates, Team Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, #20 DNF Place AMA Superbike 6th Place — Overall AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers: 1. Ben Spies, Team Yoshimura Suzuki 2. Mat Mladin, Team Yoshimura Suzuki 3. Ben Bostrom, Ducati 4. Jake Zemke, Honda 5. Neil Hodgson, Ducati 6. Jason Pridmore, Jordan Suzuki 7. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 8. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki 9. Jake Holden, Jordan Suzuki 10. Matt Lynn, Suzuki More, from a press release issued by Honda: Double Podium for Duhamel at Mid-Ohio American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel solidified his third place in the AMA Superbike Championship with a pair of podiums in the Honda Super Cycle Weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The all-time wins leader at Mid-Ohio with nine victories, Duhamel admitted he wasn’t in a position to add to that total, but he did run in second place and was ready to take advantage of any miscues by the leader on both days. On Saturday, he held second until the 24th of 26 laps when defending class champion Mat Mladin made the pass for the second step on the podium. Sunday, Duhamel reluctantly ceded the runner-up position to Mladin on the 18th lap after running into minor problems late in the race. Still, he ended the weekend with a more solid grasp on his third place in the championship after 14 of 19 races. He trails only Spies and Mladin and has a 29 point cushion on the fourth place rider. Teammate Jake Zemke followed Duhamel home on Sunday after falling in Saturday’s race while in fourth place less than five laps from the end. The crash was caused when the front forks bottomed out for a brief instant in one of the faster sections of the 2.4-mile road course. The team hoped to make an improvement for Sunday’s race, but it didn’t work as planned and Zemke struggled with traction on both ends. Suzuki’s Ben Spies won both races, with teammate Mat Mladin second both times. Miguel Duhamel, Saturday 3rd, Sunday 3rd Saturday Ben (Spies) disappeared and then Mat (Mladin) came by us and we were trying to hang onto him, see if we could make up a little bit on Ben. But the best we did is we stopped the bleeding a bit. After that, he pulled away, and our cards were pretty much played. I was pretty much done towards the end of the race. But it feels good to be up here. The bike was working good, and obviously we’re going to look at it tonight and try to make it a little faster. At Laguna (the previous round) we were a little disappointed. I was hoping to be on the box there too. But at least we were able to put it on the box, and hopefully we’ll be able to be at least closer, if not one or two steps higher, tomorrow. We have to look at some stuff. There’s still a few options left on our bike to make it a little faster. Maybe more than a little faster. Sunday I really wanted second. I thought it would be great that I had a little progression from yesterday. The bike was better, my lap times were faster, and Ben (Spies) was Ben. He was just out there and he rode great, congrats to him and Mat (Mladin). It feels good for me. We have the CBR1000, ride that hard the whole race and feel great at the end. Hopefully we can do a bit better. I think our bike is approaching those kind of set-ups that we’ve been looking for for a little while now. So obviously, this doesn’t hurt the old confidence and it’s going to definitely increase, I think, my chances to go harder. I think the team will be motivated, I’m motivated. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. I’m really, really excited about the rest of the season. Hopefully we can get a little closer to Ben and get a shot at winning this thing. Jake Zemke, Saturday DNF, Sunday 4th Saturday Actually, the second part (of the Superbike race) was better. The first part we were doing okay and it seemed like those guys were coming back to me a bit. Miguel (Duhamel) looked like he was struggling a bit with the rear and Mat (Mladin) looked like he was struggling with the front. On the restart, with just 10 laps left, I wanted to go to the softer tire but we didn’t have it on the same rim width that we’ve been running. It was on the wider rim so it took me two laps of that restart to get comfortable with it and we’d made an adjustment with the front end as well. It took a couple of laps but then I dropped right into the 25s and was pulling those guys back in before I lost the front there. Sunday Obviously we had a problem with yesterday and we knew we couldn’t go into the race with the same bike we had yesterday, so we kind of just took a stab at it and the bike was actually a bit worse today. I would’ve been better off having what I had yesterday and just fighting through the problems that we ended up having yesterday. We wanted to fix that and in doing so we made the bike quite a bit harder to get around the race track everywhere else and we still didn’t solve the problem of it being on the bottom. It was still hitting the bottom. After those guys got out in front, Mat (Mladin) and Miguel (Duhamel), they stayed the same distance. I was able to hold the pace once their tires went off a little bit, because I couldn’t get any grip from the front or the rear from the very get-go. Sunday Superbike: 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 4. Jake Zemke (Honda) 5. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 6. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 7. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 8. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki) 9. Jake Holden (Suzuki) 10. Matt Lynn (Suzuki) Saturday Superbike: 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 4. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 5. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 6. Steve Rapp (Suzuki) 7. Jake Holden (Suzuki) 8. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki) 9. Larry Pegram (Honda) 10. Matt Lynn (Suzuki) Championship Standings: 1. Ben Spies (Suzuki) 501 2. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 456 3. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 387 4. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 358 5. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 354 6. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 335 7. Jake Zemke (Honda) 325 8. Jason Pridmore (Suzuki) 285 9. Ben Bostrom (Ducati) 284 10. Larry Pegram (Honda) 260 More, from a press release issued by Team M4 EMGO Suzuki: BARNES ON THE SUPERSPORT PODIUM WITH THRILLING MID-OHIO WEEKEND Team M4 EMGO Suzuki ended the Mid-Ohio AMA racing weekend on a high note on Sunday, claiming a podium position and three top fives on the day. Michael Barnes led the first nine laps of the once-red flagged Supersport final, twice charging into the lead at the green light aboard his Pirelli-shod GSX-R600. The Floridian put up a valiant fight to hold onto the top position before finally settling into third. The third-place result was Barnes’ third podium finish in the hotly contested class this season. Afterwards ‘Barney’ was quick to credit his team but added that they’re looking to finish even higher on the podium before the season is out. He said, “I just put my head down and tried to keep on doing what I was doing. I gave everything I could and this is where we ended up. We’ll keep plugging away and see if we can’t do even better next time. I’m real proud of my guys. The M4 EMGO Suzuki team and Pirelli tires have come along way this season and now we want to get on top of the box. We’re a little disappointed but we’re still working at it.” Teammate Geoff May finished one position further down the order, coming out on top of a three-rider battle for the fourth. Once he finally worked past two of his rivals, he used his superior pace to open up a solid gap to fifth by the time he took the checkered flag in the 16-lap affair. The team’s developmental rider, Shea Fouchek, gave the team three finishers in the Supersport race’s top 15. After qualifying in 22nd the Texan got up to 18th on the opening lap and eventually climbed his way to 15th by the race’s conclusion. May also finished fourth in the day’s Superstock race, his seventh top four of the year in the big-bore class. The Georgian made an incredible save while running with the leaders on lap 7. Unfortunately, his near-crash dropped him down a position, and while he quickly made it up and moved back into fourth on the very next circulation aboard his powerful GSX-R1000, his moment allowed the top three riders to slip away and prevent May from fighting for the win. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki will be back in action in two weeks time at Virginia International Raceway, on August 18-20 for the ninth of eleven rounds on the 2006 calendar. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: KAWASAKI RACING TEAM FINISHES STRONG AT MID-OHIO Roger Hayden posts another runner-up finish aboard ZX™6-RR Lexington, Ohio. Kawasaki Racing Team rider, Tommy Hayden, put forth a dedicated effort as AMA Superbike racing came to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, this weekend. Tommy and his younger brother, Roger, both qualified on the third row and ended up running just outside the top ten for the first 16 laps of Saturday’s Superbike feature until the race was red flagged due to a crash. At the re-start, Tommy launched his ZX-10R into sixth while Roger followed in eighth. As the laps clicked away, Tommy advanced into a battle for fourth with Aaron Yates and narrowly missed the position to cross the stripe in fifth while Roger finished eighth. The second race of the Superbike doubleheader on Sunday saw both Haydens starting from the third row again with Tommy running in seventh and Roger holding strong in 11th after seven laps. As the race neared the halfway point, Tommy slipped back into ninth while Roger maintained his position in 11th. The final portion of the 26-lap feature showed Roger advancing into tenth and closing the gap on Tommy. With four laps remaining, Tommy advanced into seventh and Roger moved up into eighth after two riders in the lead group crashed. The pair would remain in their positions for the last few laps to cross the finish in seventh and eighth respectively. Roger also contested in Supersport on Sunday and found himself in fifth position at the start of the 16-lap feature. The 23-year-old Kentucky native became engaged in a fierce battle for fourth until the race was red flagged after four laps due to a crash. At the re-start, Roger quickly advanced into second place after two laps and rode incredibly fast throughout the duration of the event to score his fourth consecutive runner-up finish. Attack Kawasaki rider, Ben Attard, finished in sixth and his teammate, Damon Buckmaster, unfortunately crashed on lap 12 forcing him out of contention. Team Green rider, Jessica Zalusky, the sole female competitor in AMA Supersport competition, started on the back of the grid and despite some intense competition finished 25th out of 31 entries. In AMA Superstock Action, Attard put in a respectable ride aboard his Kawasaki ZX-10R and advanced from a 14th place start to finish 13th. Buckmaster started in sixth and unfortunately pulled out of contention four laps into the race with electrical problems. Zalusky also contended in the Formula Xtreme event on Saturday and toughed it out during the 16-lap feature to finish 24th aboard her ZX-6RR. Racing resumes when the teams head to Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Va., Aug. 1820, for a Superbike doubleheader. More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati: TOP FIVE FINISH FOR HODGSON AT MID-OHIO Lexington (Ohio): The Sunday race of the Mid-Ohio Superbike doubleheader saw both Parts Unlimited Ducati teammates compete for positions inside the top five, with Neil Hodgson taking fifth place on his Ducati 999. Ben Bostrom challenged for fourth position most of the race before a crash ended his day early. Neil fought through an exciting, close battle with Aaron Yates for much of the event. Hodgson held his rival at bay for much of the 26-lap distance. “It was a tough race. I was riding hard out there and battling with Yates for position,” said the Isle of Man resident and former World Superbike champion. “Certainly, we’re getting the bike to turn better and change direction better. I feel like we are making progress. We’re looking forward to racing again in Virginia.” Bostrom challenged for fourth place until an incident in the Keyhole ended his day four laps before the finish. “The crash was my fault,” said Ben Bostrom. “I thought we had a great bike out there but we were stuck behind (Jake) Zemke and had a hard time getting around him. I was a little frustrated with it and I knew there were only a few laps to go. I was also taking pressure from Yates, too. We passed a lapper in the Keyhole and I decided to get a good drive down the straight. I got into the throttle too hard and it threw me off, taking out Yates as well. Fortunately, we were both okay.” Bostrom, who was third quickest in the morning warm-up, felt a better result was in order. “I thought we had a bike that could contend for the podium today,” said the former series champion. “The rider needs to do a better job on the start, though. I love the way the bike is handling and I’m looking forward to the next races.” The Parts Unlimited Ducati Team will test at Road Atlanta this week. The next AMA races will be held at Virginia International Raceway, August 18-20. More, from a press release issued by ACT Racing: ACT RACING LEATHERS / GPR STABILIZERS SCOTT JENSEN ON A COMEBACK After an injury in the opening round of the 2006 AMA Superbike series at Daytona Jensens season was looking grim, Mid-Ohio could be the rejuvination that the ACT Racing Leathers/GPR Stabilizers rider needed. “Missing the first 5 races of the year hurt our bid at 2006 AMA Privateer of the Year award”, Jensen said, “But hopefully this weekend’s results will carry us through the year and into next where we will try it again”. The first few races back Jensen was plagued with problems, not being 100% at Infineon left Scott wondering if he could even finish the races, at Road America the long circuit proved a bit demanding on his injured shoulder, and then at the all new Miller race facility he was hit by another rider the previous week preparing for the AMA race. Not wanting to end his season the JQ Moto team repaired the bikes and had them ready in time for the AMA race where again pain slowed Jensen to a finish outside the top 15. “I’ve spent a few years racing the AMA Superbike series and have always been a top 10 – 15 place finisher”, says the Phoenix resident, “Being outside the top 15 is a blow to my spirit sometimes but I have to keep it going, thats the privateer way”. With two 12th place finish this weekend at Mid-Ohio Jensen proved he is back to 100% and with a little more riding time he will back inside the top 10. Hoping to impress some of the manufactures and sponsors in hopes to build an even better 2007 season he knew this was the kind of weekend he needed. “It’s absolutely great” he said, “Carrying momentum into the last 5 rounds will be very important, my Suzuki GSXR 1000 worked great and was fast, we made a great tire choice and I was able to run with some of the bigger teams for both races. Its nice to run up with teams that have support by the manufactures and have a budget a bit bigger then mine, shows that I still have the skill and desire to race superbikes. My goals for 2007 is that elusive Privateer of the Year award. Scott would like to thank all of his sponsors and mainly Bob Bright of GPR Stabilizers. Bob is here to support all the GPR Stabilizer riders and users, but he helps Jensen as much as possible at the track from tire changes to red flag pitstops. More, from a press release issued by Safety First Racing Suzuki: Safety First Suzuki Racing Reflects on Mid-Ohio AMA Round Team Safety First Suzuki was happy to leave Mid-Ohio with their 100% finishing rate intact for all 2006 Supersport and Formula Xtreme events through Mid-Ohio last weekend. The Komodo Gear sponsored team overcame some large hurdles that made the hard earned points accumulated by riders Chris “Opie” Caylor and Tony “the Tiger” Meiring that much more appreciated. The first obstacle was a right shoulder injury that Tony Meiring incurred while testing the weekend prior at a CCS weekend in Michigan. A club rider “t-boned” the Tracy, CA rider, which slammed him into the ground. “He just got spooked and stood the bike up and ran right into the side of me. I went from full on left lean angle to a full-on slam into the ground on my right side.” The injury to the rotator cuff and surrounding shoulder soft tissue area tissue prevented Meiring from riding at his full physical potential during the AMA weekend. “Quick transitions were really hard to do” stated Meiring. Team Doctor, Dr. David Boll, worked diligently throughout the four day race weekend to rehab “The Tiger” with some cutting edge chiropractic sports medicine services. Opie Caylor also had an incidental low-side in Saturdays Supersport Qualifying. “It was to be my lap”¦.” the Marietta, GA rider quoted “Looking over the sheets, I had my fastest splits on that lap, until I just lost the front within yards of getting that lap in.” “I’ve got to say, the Komodo leathers really saved my hide. I slid for what seemed like forever at over 100 mph and didn’t have a scratch or even a bruise to show for it. On top of that, my Komodo leathers only had minor damage from the high speed get-off”¦those leathers are just indestructible.” Formula Xtreme on Saturday evening had both Safety First Riders embattled in a four way race throughout the entire 16 laps, with Meiring taking the checkered in 10th place and Caylor in 12th. Sunday’s Supersport race became much more eventful. A first lap bumping session in front of Meiring and Caylor caused both of them to lose hard earned opening lap positions. Topping it off, Opie Caylor also lost his clutch as a result of the initial start. The red flag that temporarily halted the event allowed the Safety First team, headed by 4&6 Racing Jim Rashid and Opie’s long-time mechanic, Craig “Huey” Stewart, to jump into action to change the clutch in time for the restart. More on-track incidents in front of both riders forced them to work their way up through the field, with Meiring ending up in 13th and Caylor in18th place. “Tony also had a near high-side that he was able to save, but fighting it did re-injure his shoulder. He did lose some spots from the near high-side, and the end result was some of the progress we made on his injured shoulder was lost. We’ll get some more diagnostic testing done this week and I’ll correlate rehabilitation with his California based doctors and trainer so he’ll be 100% by VIR” commented Boll. The team’s goal of having both riders in the top 10 for both classes is still on target. Safety First has its riders in 6th (Meiring) and 8th (Caylor) placing for FX with Supersport having their riders in 8th and 10th overall respectively. “We have scored points in every round. I am proud of the team we have put together and continue to move forward every weekend”¦”¦this weekend was challenging.” noted team owner Kevin Hanson. Next up for the team is the Virginia International Raceway Round near Alton, VA on August 18-20th. More, from a press release issued by Jason DiSalvo’s publicist: SIXTH CONSECUTIVE POLE IN FX CLASS Stafford, New York’s Jason DiSalvo spent the weekend competing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the AMA Superbike Championship. With the weather being hot and muggy, Jason was able to continue his streak of pole positions in the Formula Xtreme class. In the race Jason ran with the front group making a valiant effort to move up a position in the last lap running wide and ultimately finishing third on the podium. This podium finish maintains Jason’s lead in the Formula Xtreme Championship. The 1000cc Superstock class found Jason starting from a front row position having qualified third fastest. At the onset of the race Jason ran second until a red flag caused a restart. With a less than stellar start the second time around, Jason found himself running fifth, then experiencing a tire problem finished sixth maintaining his third place position in the 1000cc Superstock Championship. The team moves to Road Atlanta for two days of testing before the next race at Virginia International Raceway August 18, 19 and 20, 2006. You will be able to watch Jason in the Formula Xtreme on Tuesday, 8/8/06 at 4:00pm on the Speed Channel.