DREAM START FOR LLOYDS BRITISH DUCATI The Lloyds British Ducati Supersport Team had a dream start to the season with a race win at the first round at a wet and windy Brands Hatch Indy circuit on Sunday 26th March. After 3 weeks testing in 27 degrees of sunshine in Spain, the conditions at Brands Hatch were quite a contrast, but to be expected. During Friday free practice, both Martin Jessopp and Stuart Easton used their track time to acclimatise themselves to the conditions, but Martin was caught out with a lack of grip and had a huge high-side coming out of clearways. Battered and bruised he went in to Saturday’s qualifying sessions and still managed to qualify within 1 second of Stuart, who was simply awesome after putting the Ducati 749R on pole position with the fastest time ever recorded for a Supersport bike of 1:47.168 seconds. Such is the competitiveness of the Championship; 1 second difference was enough to put Martin back to 17th on the grid, so it was a fantastic achievement when he brought his Ducati home in 14th place scoring 2 valuable points in the opening round of the season. Stuart Easton was back to his best throughout the weekend and after securing pole, he went on to put in the fastest lap of the race and win in convincing style. The back markers are always a problem on the short 47 second Indy circuit, but with Stuart’s new found focus they caused him little or no problems as he cut through them like a hot knife through butter. At one point he had a 4 second lead over his nearest rival, Cal Crutchlow, and went on to win the race by an unbelievable 3.2 seconds in front of Cal and 4.5 seconds ahead of Eugene Laverty on the Red Bull Honda. Stuart commentated after the race: “whilst we’re obviously very pleased with the result, it’s not come as a complete surprise. The whole Team have been working flat-out since Christmas to give me and Martin the best possible start to the season and we’ve now started where we left off at the end of last year. There are at least 6 guys out there who could win this Championship and, as Ken keeps reminding me, it’s going to be the one that wants it the most and I definitely want it more than ever before in my career. My plan for this year is to be on the podium at every round and if we can achieve that, we’ve got every chance of picking up the Championship trophy when we’re back here at Brands in October.” Martin was equally upbeat: “I could have done without the high-side on Friday, but I’ve gone round here nearly 2 seconds quicker than I’ve ever done before. The bikes have been fantastic all weekend, the conditions were very tricky, but I’ve got some points on the board and I know I can go much better on some of the tracks that are coming up so I can’t wait to get to Donington, which is a great circuit for the Ducati 749Rs. More, from a press release issued by WERA Motorcycle Roadracing: Big Turnout for WERA National Series Season Opener at Jennings GP Jennings, Fla. The WERA National Series began the 2006 season last weekend at Florida’s Jennings GP circuit, with over 300 sprint entries and 47 endurance teams for the two days of racing. Saturday’s six-hour WERA/Bridgestone National Endurance Series race saw 47 teams take the green flag. At the end of it, Vesrah Suzuki was in the lead by one lap. The Heavyweight Superbike class win also went to the team of John Jacobi, Tray Batey, Mark Junge and reserve rider Lee Acree, who did not ride this round. Red Star took the Mediumweight Superbike win, finishing second overall and two laps ahead of Heavyweight Superbike winners 5150 Racing. Ben Thompson and Brett Champagne have returned to Red Star, and are joined by former Army of Darkness rider Ben Walters this year. The Mediumweight Superstock class win went to Triple R Racing with Brian Stokes, Mike Reed and comeback kid Scott Harwell, who finished just 11.130 seconds ahead of class competitors Dalke Motorsports. Blue Ridge Performance took the Lightweight Superbike class victory. The competition was fierce during Sunday’s ten-lap WERA/Michelin National Challenge Series sprint races, and six riders took home hard-earned trophies in the expert class. The weekend also marked the introduction of qualifying on Friday for the Expert Superstock and Formula 1 classes. Robert Jensen proved that he knows how to handle a 1000cc motorcycle, winning both Open Superstock and Formula 1. Rising star Josh Herrin’s performance is once again the benchmark for the 600 classes thanks to his wins in both 600 Superstock and 600 Superbike. Jeff Walker was the only other expert rider to earn two victories, winning both Lightweight Twins Superstock and Formula 2. Opie Caylor was victorious in 750 Superstock after starting the race on the pole. Jensen came within five seconds of Caylor despite missing qualifying and having to start from the back of the grid. Taylor Knapp got his first Heavyweight Twins Superstock victory, finishing just 0.188 second ahead of defending champion Tray Batey. Keith Marshall built up a lead and held onto it to win 750 Superbike. In the novice classes, only one rider was able to take multiple wins, and Seth Starnes dominated the field with four of them. His victories came in Open Superstock, 750 Superstock, 600 Superbike and 750 Superbike. Isinovy Calvo won 600 Superstock by nearly two seconds. In the twins classes, Blake Dircks won Heavyweight Twins Superstock and Chris Slay was at the front of the Lightweight Twins Superstock field. Miles Thornton won Formula 2. The WERA National Series has just two weeks before round two gets underway at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway from April 7-9. More information about WERA can be found online at www.WERA.com, including a link to complete race results. More, from a press release issued by Dalke Motorsports: Dalke Motorsports leads off with a solid start for a 2006 title defense in the opening round of the WERA National Endurance Series at Jennings GP, Jennings, Florida. The team featured returning riders Brian Dalke (Team Owner), Wrenn Smith, Giovanni Rojas, Josh Smith-Moore and newcomer Daniel Parkerson. The team decided to use last year’s Championship winning 2005 Suzuki GSXR600 and left the new 2006 Suzuki in the trailer because of it’s late arrival and lack of development time. Team riders Brian Dalke, Giovanni Rojas and Wrenn Smith split two Friday practice groups to shake out the cobwebs from the off season and get the bike dialed in for the race. After consultation with Thermosman Suspension’s Mike Fitzgerald the team made some changes to the rear shock so the bike would steer better and finish the turn better. With that done, Saturday morning practice was used to get Josh Smith-Moore some time on the bike and the track. Dalke Motorsports finished ahead of the anticipated season regulars and put valuable points in the bank for their 2006 Middleweight Superstock title defense last weekend. The 6 hour season opener at Jennings Raceway offered pleasant sunny weather in sharp contrast to last year’s rain, flooding and hail. Unfortunately the race was marred by a near record number of red flags causing Dalke’s lead to evaporate and allowing the Triple-R team to take the lead late in the race. Dalke’s Giovanni Rojas put the team into a solid lead during the first hour. After a flawless pit stop Brian Dalke took over and held the lead over the charging Triple R team of Brain Stokes, Scott Harwell and Mark Reed. With the second red flag of the day, late in Brian’s stint he decided to let Wrenn take the restart and run till the fuel light came on, or the rear tire gave out. Wrenn managed to stay in the lead until the fuel light came on and came in for tires and fuel. The crew worked a perfect pit stop, fueling the bike and changing both front & rear tires in less than 1min 45seconds and putting Wrenn back out just behind Triple R’s Scott Harwell. After another red flag restart Wrenn dogged Harwell through the remainder of his stint and came in to give the reins to Josh Smith-Moore. Another great pit stop and Josh was able to retake the lead. Josh worked hard to maintain the lead but Triple R’s Brian Stokes was just a little too quick and passed Josh just before the final red flag of the day. With a few minutes to regroup and work out the strategy, Crew Chief Richard Smith-Moore put Giovanni back on the bike for the 30 minute dash to the end. ‘Gio’ swapped the lead back and forth with the Triple-R bike in an exciting battle during the final minutes. When the checkered flag flew the Dalke bike was in a solid second position in class, just 11 seconds off the lead bike. This season opener podium finish leaves Dalke Motorsports in a strong position for the Championship points battle. Dalke Motorsports also announces their new website at www.dalkemotorsports.com .