Geoff May was the fastest, riding his Pirelli-shod Team M4 EMGO Suzuki GSX-R600 to the top of the leader board in Saturday morning’s Supersport practice for round two of the AMA Superbike Championship, at Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama. Chris Ulrich was the fastest rider in Saturday morning’s Superstock practice, on his Team RoadracingWorld.com Suzuki GSX-R1000, giving Pirelli the fastest spots in two of the four AMA Superbike series classes before final qualifying. May’s Pirelli-shod Suzuki set a time in Supersport practice of 1:29.739 on the 2.3-mile Barber racecourse, setting a pace nearly four tenths of a second faster than the second-placed rider in that Supersport practice session. May then put his Suzuki on row one during qualifying by setting the fourth fastest time. May made the most of his front row starting position with a Supersport podium finish, after turning his fastest lap on lap 12 of the 17-lap event, showing the consistency of his Pirelli tires. May’s third-place finish put him ahead of all other non-factory riders and it was the highest finish by any Suzuki racer. In Superstock practice on Friday, May was third fastest before nabbed a place on the front row with the fourth fastest time during qualifying, giving Pirelli two front row staring positions in the four AMA road racing classes. The Superstock final saw May ride his Pirelli-equipped Suzuki to a fourth-place finish. Kurtis Roberts joined Team M4 EMGO Suzuki for a two-event commitment in Formula Xtreme, beginning with the Barber round. This was Roberts’ first professional road race on Pirelli tires and he quickly became comfortable on the Italian rubber, going faster each time he was on track. Roberts qualified fifth for Formula Xtreme and moved into third by the race’s second lap, cutting a half second from the leaders in one lap. Roberts rode a steady race to nab third, giving Pirelli its first podium of the weekend. Even with two podiums the biggest news for Pirelli might have been in Superbike Race One. John Haner set a scalding time in Superbike qualifying to put him ahead of every other privateer in the field. Haner qualified his Pirelli-shod Team KWS Suzuki sponsored GSX-R1000 in tenth-place, on row three of the grid, for the Superbike doubleheader. In Race One Haner shocked the factory boys by jumping into eighth on the first lap, immediately ahead of two of them. By lap three Haner was in seventh. Haner battled with Ben Bostrom for the most of the race, never putting a wheel wrong and eventually passing him back and holding him off, showing how Haner was able to beat a factory effort, head-to-head, on the track. And able to do it on a privateer bike with Pirelli tires. The next fastest privateer finished Race One over 22 seconds behind Haner’s Michael Godin-prepared Suzuki. Pirelli Road Racing Manager Richard Moore said, “We knew coming in here we had new tires that could go the distance. We’re all thrilled with Kurtis adding a podium to Geoff May’s, giving us two in this event from Team M4 EMGO Suzuki. And with John Haner’s Superbike finish we feel like we won the race overall. Watching him battle it out, wheel-to-wheel, with top factory riders, and then come out ahead of a few of them, shows we’re well on our way to contending for the podium in every class.” More, from a press release issued by Team M4 EMGO Suzuki: MAY ON SUPERSPORT PODIUM IN BIRMINGHAM Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Geoff May claimed the second podium finish of the weekend for the squad at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL on Sunday. One day after Kurtis Roberts debuted for the team with a third-place finish in the Formula Xtreme race, May guided his Pirelli-shod GSX-R600 to third in the 17-lap Supersport contest. May was able to move up into third and fend off a determined challenge for the position late in the race. He edged a rival by just 0.216 seconds at the flag for the final spot on the podium. The Georgian impressed in the Superstock final as well, challenging the leaders while running in third for the opening seven laps. He eventually settled into a solid fourth-place ride. May said of the Supersport contest, “At the end of the race I just put my head down and said, ‘There’s no way he’s going to pass me. I’m not going to let anyone get by me today.’ I just held a defensive line and brought it home in third. It’s definitely a milestone getting on the box in Supersport for the first time. It’s a big accomplishment.” May also stated that the team’s strong early season form at two dramatically different racetracks bodes well for the remainder of the 2006 season. “I feel like we’ve shown we can go from Daytona, which is a horsepower track, to here, which is one of the most technical tracks in America, and that we’re able to come up with a good set-up and run well anywhere. I feel that at pretty much every track we’ll be able to be up like we were this weekend. This would be a good average for us this season.” Teammate Michael Barnes spent time in the top five during the Supersport race as well before ultimately finishing seventh. It was a solid outing for the Floridian who is still recovering from the knee injury he suffered at the Daytona season opener. Unfortunately, Shea Fouchek’s day didn’t go as smoothly. He was forced out of the Supersport final after completing just five laps. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki will be back in action next weekend as the series heads to California Speedway in Fontana, CA on April 28-30 for the third stop on the 2006 calendar. More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati: HODGSON FOURTH IN AMA SUPERBIKE POINTS AFTER BIRMINGHAM Leeds (Alabama): Parts Unlimited Ducati Team racers Neil Hodgson and Eric Bostrom finished fifth and sixth in the Sunday AMA Superbike contest from Birmingham, Alabama. Hodgson finished 4.511 seconds behind winner Ben Spies in the red-flagged 28-lap race, taking fifth in an eight-lap shootout and finishing in front of teammate and fellow Ducati 999 pilot Ben Bostrom. Neil is now fourth in AMA Superbike points after three races. “It was really a frustrating weekend for us because we expect more than this. As riders, I can assure you Ben and I are riding really, really hard, but we just aren’t seeing it in the lap times,” said Hodgson. “We really don’t have the answers right now. As for the restart, I decided to push things past the limit. I relaxed a little bit and said to myself, ‘I just might have to crash, but I have to step it up.’ In a weekend like this one, you don’t think so much about the championship so much. I might as well just go past the limit, to ignore the warning signs. I did and I went a little quicker.” “I’m just glad we get to race next weekend at Fontana because at least we don’t have to wait so long to get another shot at it. That track does suit our bike better and I had a good race there last year,” he said. Ben Bostrom was sixth, feeling better but still bothered by sinus problems. “Since I was sick and we were struggling anyway, we treated the weekend more like a test. We made big changes with every session. In the red flag, we made another change to the bike and found some more time and I was able to push a little harder. Neil and I ran together most of today and we were pretty evenly matched in most of the sections.” The Parts Unlimited Ducati Team will next race at California Speedway in Fontana, CA, April 28-30. Results: 1. Ben Spies, Suzuki 2. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 3. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 4. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 5. Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati 6. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati 7. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 8. Jacob Holden, Suzuki 9. Larry Pegram, Honda 10. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki Standings (after three races): 1. Ben Spies, Suzuki 107 2. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 99 3. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 88 4. Neil Hodgson, Parts Unlimited Ducati 78 5. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 76 5. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki 76 7. Ben Bostrom, Parts Unlimited Ducati 71 8. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki 64 9. Jake Zemke, Suzuki 52 10. Larry Pegram, Honda 52 More, from a press release issued by Millennium/KWS Suzuki: Millennium/KWS Suzuki makes a statement at Barber Millennium/KWS Suzuki sponsored by Ron Ayers Motorsports arrived at Barber Motorsports Park this weekend with a point to prove. The team had tested their Suzuki GSX-R1000’s with Pirelli at Barber the last week of March and felt they were as prepared as possible. “I am extremely happy with the progression of the tires, suspension, and motor package,” said team owner Kevin Hunt. “Pirelli has really stepped up their program and the lap times prove it. With our sponsors’ help we can run with the factory bikes.” John Haner put in one of the most inspiring rides of the 2006 season in the first Superbike race. Haner qualified in the tenth position with a time of 1:27.043. Haner got an excellent start, completing lap one in eighth place ahead of both factory Ducati riders, Neil Hodgson and Ben Bostrom. Eventually both factory pilots got by, but Haner put his head down and re-passed Bostrom on lap 20. Haner battled the last third of race with Bostrom and factory Suzuki rider Aaron Yates. Haner finished the top privateer in eighth position ahead of Bostrom when Yates beat him at the line by only a tenth of a second. After all of the success of Saturdays Superbike race, the team was extremely hopeful for good results from both Millennium/KWS Suzuki riders in the Superstock race on Sunday. John Haner qualified in the tenth position with a time of 1:27.700 and Matt Lynn in the thirteenth position with a time of 1:28.231. Lynn got an excellent start but was pushed off the track by another rider’s mistake in turn one and completed the first lap in last place, half a lap down. Unfazed by his bad luck, Lynn rode hard making up the half lap deficit and passing thirteen other riders to finish in the nineteenth position. Haner got a great start as well and was racing Jordan Motorsports riders, Jake Holden and Steve Rapp for seventh position when Haner crashed on lap five injuring his shoulder. Although nothing was broken, Haner elected not to compete in the second Superbike race of the weekend. John will be consulting a specialist this week to make sure nothing is seriously damaged. John Haner “The Superbike race on Saturday was good.” said Haner. “It was fun being up there battling with Hodgson, Bostrom, and Yates. My guys have been working their butts off and being able to test here with Pirelli helped a ton.” Haner went on to say that he was very disappointed for the team to have crashed and to have been injured in the Superstock race. “I think that if we could have raced the second Superbike race that we would have had a good chance at a top five, especially with the eight lap sprint to the finish.” John went on to thank his mechanics Michael Godin and Owen Garnett for all their hard work. Matt Lynn “The team worked so hard this weekend and I turned the fastest laps I have ever turned here,” said Lynn. “My mechanics Rick Matheny and Brian Stricker did everything they could to put me in a position for a good finish, but you can’t control everybody else on the track. I was glad to be able to get back on track and get some points.” Kevin Hunt (Team Owner) “Anytime you can beat a factory team in a heads up race is a good weekend. Both riders rode great this weekend and I could not be happier with everyone’s effort, riders and mechanics alike. The sponsors are doing their part as well with Pit Bull and Ron Ayers Motorsports helping out tremendously with some crucial pit equipment to make the mechanics job easier. We have some of the best sponsors in the paddock and they make this possible.”
Updated: Various Press Releases From The AMA Event At Barber Motorsports Park
Updated: Various Press Releases From The AMA Event At Barber Motorsports Park
© 2006, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
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