Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Mike Solis

Honda R&D test rider Jeff Tigert took his third consecutive AFM Formula Pacific victory of the 2003 season, on his Suzuki GSX-R1000. The race came down to the last turn of the last lap, when second-generation racer Tigert put a bold pass on James Randolph and his Lion Racing GSX-R1000 to take the lead and the eventual victory. Randolph finished a fraction of a second behind Tigert to take second, with Ken Hill in third.

Tigert is the son of 1970s AFM star Bob Tigert.

Hayward Kawasaki Motorsports co-owner Hill was the ironman of the weekend, riding a Ducati 998 on Michelins to a win in MaxMoto Open Twins in addition to the third place in Formula Pacific, and riding his Kawasaki 636cc ZX-6R to victory in Strictly Sport 750 Superbike and 750 Production.

Michael Earnest’s undefeated season in AFM 600cc racing ended over the weekend, with a broken chain cracking open his bike’s engine cases and eliminating him from the Werkstatt 600cc Superbike race. Andy Carman went on to take the win on his G-Force prepared CBR600, the first of his six-year club racing career after a number of second places. Matt Weathers, son of actor Carl Weathers and manager of Cycle Gear in Pleasanton, finished third.

Results follow:

2003 AFM Roadracing, Round 4
Thunderhill Park
Willows, California
June 15, 2003

Mach 1 Motorsports Formula Pacific
1. Jeff Tigert (Suz 1000)
2. James Randolph (Suz 1000)
3. Ken Hill (Duc 998)
4. Robert Mesa (Suz 1000)
5. Kim Nakashima (Suz 1000)
6. Mark Smith (Suz 1000)

Formula I
1. Hawk Mazzotta (Apr 1000)
2. Steven Engelbrecht (Suz 750)
3. Scott Wilson (Suz 750)
4. Scott Winders (Kaw 600)
5. David Bell (Apr 1000)
6. Peter O’Sullivan (Suz 750)

Formula II
1. Jeff Beck (Hon 250)
2. Michael Aron (Yam 250)
3. Dante D’Ambruoso (Yam 250)
4. Phillip Torres (Yam 250)
5. Shawn Herrera (Apr 250)
6. Philip Snowden (Hon 250)

Pinky’s Pizza Formula III
1. Daniel Jones (Hon 125)
2. Carlos Neves (Hon 125)
3. Michael Jarrard (Hon 125)
4. Jonathan Schendel (Yam 125)
5. David Vecht (Hon 125)
6. Jeffrey Lim (Hon 125)

Zooni Leathers Open Superbike
1. James Randolph (Suz 1000)
2. Mike Raab (Suz 1000)
3. Robert Mesa (Suz 1000)
4. Jeff Tigert (Suz 1000)
6. Richard Slejmar (Suz 1000)

Open Production
1. Peter Doyle (Suz 1000)
2. Bryan Londo (Suz 1000)
3. Matthew Harvey (Suz 1000)
4. Jose Quintanar (Yam 1000)
5. David Robinson (Suz 1000)
6. Thomas Bolles (Suz 1000)

Strictly Sport 750 Superbike
1. Ken Hill (Kaw 636)
2. Steven Engelbrecht (Suz 750)
3. Jeremiah Johnson (Suz 750)
4. Scott Wilson (Suz 750)
5. Jon Bawden (Suz 1000)
6. Stephen Martin (Suz 750)

750 Production
1. Ken Hill (Kaw 636)
2. Robert Kennedy (Suz 750)
3. Gary Jaehne (Kaw 636)
4. Jeremiah Johnson (Suz 750)
5. Kenan Rappuchi (Suz 750)
6. Sean Crane (Kaw 636)

Werkstatt 600 Superbike
1. Michael Earnest (Yam 600)
2. Andy Carman (Hon 600)
3. Lance Williams (Yam 600)
4. Robert Campbell (Kaw 600)
5. Doug Venezia (Hon 600)
6. Kevin Backovich (Suz 600)

Honda Milpitas / Computrack 600 Production
1. Andy Carman (Hon 600)
2. Robert Campbell (Kaw 600)
3. Matthew Weathers (Suz 600)
4. Doug Venezia (Hon 600)
5. Garth Dillon (Suz 600)
6. Aaron Coulson (Yam 600)

MotoJava 450 Superbike
1. Michael Lohmeyer (Hon 400)
2. Ross Wells (Yam 400)
3. Phil Douglas (Hon 400)
4. Richard Moore (Yam 400)
5. Eddie Lee (Hon 400)
6. David Mones (Yam 400)

450 Production
1. Ross Wells (Yam 400)
2. Evan Harsha (Yam 400)
3. Robert Gardiner (Yam 400)
4. Ian Gilles (Yam 400)
5. Terry Cheney (Yam 400)
6. Edward Yoast (Yam 400)

Scuderia West 250 Superbike
1. Cliff Farrar (Yam 250)
2. Sean Crane (Yam 250)
3. Jove Shapiro (Yam 250)
4. Brian Bartlow (Apr 250)
5. Hamid Otsmane (Yam 250)
6. Shawn Herrera (Apr 250)

Aftershocks Suspension 250 Production
1. Chris McGrail (Hon 250)
2. Vlastimil Kotyza (Kaw 250)
3. Phil Douglas (Kaw 250)
4. Yoav Damti (Kaw 250)
5. Steve Chan (Kaw 250)
6. John Prelock (Kaw 250)

Formula 40
1. Steven Engelbrecht (Suz 750)
2. Jimm Groshong (Hon 929)
3. Kenan Rappuchi (Suz 750)
4. Gary Jaehne (Kaw 636)
5. Scott Baker (Suz 1000)
6. Alexander Vanzella (Suz 600)

Super Dinosaur
1. Jon Bawden (Suz 750)
2. David Crussel (Kaw 750)
3. Sean Wise (Hon 500)
4. Robert Blum (Hon 750)
5. David Jevans (Nor 750)

Open Grand Prix
1. Rob Mesa (Suz 1000)
2. Kim Nakashima (Suz 1000)
3. David Kunzelman (Suz 1000)
4. James King (Suz 1000)
5. Garry Combs (Suz 1000)
6. Jimm Groshong (Hon 929)

MaxMoto Open Twins
1. Ken Hill (Duc 998)
2. Hawk Mazzotta (Apr 1000)
3. David Bell (Apr 1000)
4. Jon Bawden (Suz 1000)
5. Bud Anderson (Hon 1000)
6. Alex Florea (Hon 1000)

650 Twins
1. Jason Butler (Suz 650)
2. Kurt Spencer (Suz 650)
3. Kevin Crowther (Suz 650)
4. Felipe Cabezas (Suz 650)
5. Matthew Lai (Suz 650)
6. Lynn Werth (Suz 650)

500 Twins
1. David Mones (Suz 500)
2. Bobby Lee Broussard (Suz 500)
3. Peter Rooney (Kaw 500)
4. Finnian Murray (Suz 500)
5. Boris Clifford (Kaw 500)
6. Robert Crossom (Kaw 500)

Zoom Zoom Racing Formula Singles
1. Jeffrey Jones (Yam 700)
2. Gerry Piazza (Yam 600)
3. Richard Capps (Yam 600)
4. Christopher Keane (BMW 650)
5. Derek Branstrom (Yam 600
6. Steven Sommer (Hus 600)

More, from a press release issued by Mojotown:

Michael Aron Takes Another Close Second in AFM Formula II at Thunderhill

Thunderhill Raceway, Willows, CA
Fathers Day Weekend, 2003

In another dramatic Formula II race, Michael Aron showed that running up front was not a one-time thing.

Starting on the front row on the orange Mojotown.com Yamaha TZ250, Aron made an immediate charge at the start. The first two laps had several riders charging after the points leader #63 Jeff Beck. By the end of the third lap, the top three started to break away from the pack and Michael was running in third.

Beck led the entire race with Brian Hoffman in second until a deep brake move in the last lap put Michael into the second place position. Shortly after Michael’s move, #197 Dante D’AMBRUOSO joined the top three hot on the pursuit of Aron. With only half a lap to go Michael turned up the heat and put in the fastest lap of the race, a full second faster than the leader, but it wasn’t enough to catch Beck at the line.

“I knew I had to do it on the last lap” says Aron. “Jeff and I traded laps in the last event and I wanted it to come right down to the wire again, but I couldn’t quite get there. I guess 0.423 seconds was just out of my reach today…It will have to wait until next time!” With only a handful of races left in the AFM season, Michael finds himself in 3rd position for the championship.

Michael Aron is the owner and director of Mojotown.com, a multi-media design agency located in downtown Mill Valley. He lives in San Rafael with his wife Anya and two Jack Russell terriers.