Michelin Team Pro Series Sanctioned by ASRA July 22, 2012 Blackhawk Farms Raceway South Beloit, IL Farrell, Ortega and Hofman Take it Home at Blackhawk Farms Raceway Jason Farrell showed why he is the lap record holder at his home track of Blackhawk Farms Raceway by besting his former team mate and fellow Kawasaki rider Brian Hall in the Michelin Pro Series SuperStock final. The duo left the start line in lock step but by the end, Farrell had worked his Farrell Performance ZX10 to a 5.593 second lead over Hall on his Schaumburg Audi Kawasaki. Third place was the Southeast Sales KTM ridden by 2011 ASRA SportBike Champion Joel Spalding. In the most interesting finish of the day, Dan Ortega’s victory on the MdRacingStp.com Yamaha was saved by a red flag on lap 7 of the 9 lap final in Michelin Pro SportBike. Ortega, who took command of the race on lap 2 and seemed to be pulling away for an easy win over the field, started to have a mechanical problem at the beginning of lap 7. This allowed Ricardo Valdez, Kevin White and Dave Ebben to come storming past Ortega’s ailing Yamaha in short order. Unfortunately, the fifth place rider Christian Meekma, had taken a tumble on the outside of turn seven bringing out the red flag before the field had completed the seventh lap. With the race declared official and scoring reverting to lap 6, the last full lap before the red flag, Ortega was declared the winner with Valdez, White and Ebben finishing out the top four positions. The Michelin Pro ThunderBike class turned in the most competitive event of the day as the top three riders spent the first 8 laps playing cat and mouse with each other separated by mere tenths of a second. While current point leader Walt Sipp led from the first lap, local hot-shoe and 2011 ASRA ThunderBike Champion Ray Hofman shadowed Sipp’s Bison Racing Buell until the white flag and them made his move. Sipp went wide in turn 6 and Hofman on the Sam’s Well Drilling Ducati put his track knowledge to work, diving under Sipp to take the lead. Not to be defeated so easily, Sipp tried to retake the lead using the outside line in turn 7 since Hofman was protecting the inside, but he couldn’t make it work allowing Todd Evans to charge up into second place on his 2 Boss Performance Buell. In Amateur action, it was Carl Soltisz taking both ASRA SportBike and SuperStock wins on his Yamaha R-6 while Bob Schneider won ThunderBike on his Buell 1200. The next round of the Michelin Pro Series sanctioned by ASRA will take place on September 1-2 at New Jersey Motorsports Park on the Thunderbolt Circuit. For more information, complete results and points, visit www.asraracing.com. The American SportBike Racing Association (ASRA) is the parent organization to the Championship Cup Series (CCS), the largest amateur motorcycle road racing organization in the United States with over 3,000 licensed riders. ASRA sanctions eight Michelin Pro Series and eight Michelin Team Challenge road racing events for 2012. The CCS Series sanctions 45 events at popular tracks around the United States, including Daytona International Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Road America, Heartland Park, and Virginia International Raceway among other fine venues. In 2012 ASRA and CCS will provide riders with access to millions of dollars of sponsorship awards through participation in its sanctioned events. Join CCS and ASRA in the greatest road racing experience available today. Race CCS! To learn more visit our website at http://www.ccsracing.us or call us at (817) 246-1127.