From an AMA Pro Racing press release:

Four-Way Battle for Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Championship at VIR

Pickerington, Ohio – Four riders come to the season-ending Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme final at Virginia International Raceway, Sunday, August 11, with a shot at the title. The top three, Damon Buckmaster, Jake Zemke and Jason Pridmore, are so close that it could be a winner-take-all race at VIR. For fourth-ranked Mike Hale, he’s holding on mathematically, but realistically would need all three of the series leaders to not finish at VIR to have a chance to take home the No. 1 plate.

For Yamaha’s Buckmaster, the Formula Xtreme Championship would provide vindication after he led the series almost the entire season last year only to have a mechanical failure in the penultimate round, which led to young John Hopkins taking advantage and beating Buckmaster at VIR to win the championship for Valvoline EMGO Suzuki. “Bucky” and his team also had to overcome a technical ruling in the middle of the season that saw the Yamaha R1/R7 hybrid he was riding deemed illegal for competition, which left Graves Motorsports scrambling to put together a new R1 for the remainder of the year. With the new bike, Buckmaster has gotten back atop the series standings after finishing second at Laguna Seca and winning Mid-Ohio last month.

Buckmaster is only two points ahead of up-and-coming Jake Zemke. Zemke has finished on the podium in all but two Formula Xtreme rounds on his Bruce Transportation factory-supported Honda CBR954RR, including taking a victory at Laguna Seca in July. Zemke is trying to put Honda back on top of the Formula Xtreme, a championship it dominated from 1997 through 2000.

Veteran Jason Pridmore, of Attack Suzuki, has worked his way back into the championship hunt this year after suffering a badly broken leg while leading the series in 2001. He’s scored two wins on the GSXR1000 this year, and is looking to earn his first AMA National title since winning the Superstock (then known as 750 Supersport) title back in 1997.

Texan Mike Hale is the long shot of the group. Back after several years away from motorcycle racing, Hale has gotten on the podium twice on the Erion Honda and scored enough points that he’s still hanging around to steal the wreath should the top three riders have big problems in the season finale. The other championships up for grabs this weekend include the Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock and MBNA 250 Grand Prix Series.

Corona Suzuki’s Jimmy Moore is in the driver’s seat in his bid defend his Superstock title. Moore needs only an 18th-place finish to wrap-up the title. Pirelli-sponsored Lee Acree is ranked second in the series and is the defending winner at VIR. Look for Acree to do what he needs to, win his third race of the year, to at least keep Moore honest. Tommy Hayden is at a disadvantage coming into VIR since he’s 36-points behind Moore, but that’s nothing new for Hayden, he’s been racing a Kawasaki ZX6 against the bigger 750s all season and still managed to stay in the chase all the way to the season finale.

Chuck Sorensen is in an even better position in to win his third MBNA 250 Grand Prix title. The Team Stargel Aprilia rider needs only a 24th-place ride to take home the championship. It could mark the first championship for Aprilia in the U.S.

Aaron Yates wrapped up the Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship at the last race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, so that race will be strictly for pride and final rankings. Yamaha’s Anthony Gobert is the defending Supersport winner at VIR.

For additional information contact VIR at (434) 822-7700 or visit www.virclub.com.