CORONA EXTRA HONDA RACING ELLISON TAKES TENTH AND ELEVENTH AT BARBER DOUBLEHEADER James Ellison put in two strong rides to place his Corona Extra Honda Racing CBR1000RR SuperBike in tenth and eleventh places at the Barber Motorsports SuperBike doubleheader this weekend. Having had the benefit of testing earlier in the year James was able to get up to speed quickly in practice and qualifying. Changes in the bike since the test and a couple of mechanical hiccups left Ellison short on track time which handicapped his qualifying, settling for fifteenth on the grid, half a second slower than he had achieved in the earlier test. In the first race James was not able to get the best of starts, but did make up a couple of places on lap one and ending up thirteenth by the end of the lap. He then set about a spirited dice with the factory Kawasaki of Roger Hayden and the MV Augusta of Matt Lynn. Eventually he past both but by then was too far from the front pack to make up so settled for the top ten position. In race two a tire problem in the warm up lap meant a quick change on the grid before the start. Unfortunately the replacement was not much better which made Ellison ride conservatively to avoid a fall during the race. He said; “Early in the race the tire was very unpredictable and so I backed it down a notch!” As the race progressed, James found that when the tire started going “off” he could anticipate its response and actually gain confidence and go faster. He started moving up from his first lap fifteenth position eventually getting to eleventh, almost catching factory Honda rider Jake Zemke in tenth. All-in-all, a very good performance for the second race of the season! Ellison is currently eighth in the SuperBike Championship points order. In other Barber news, Balch and Bingham, the areas second largest law firm partnered with the Corona Team and the Barber Motorsports track to bring company personnel to the event for hospitality and to see the excitement of Superbike racing. The feedback – a great time was had by all! “RACING TO THE LIME” More, from a press release issued by Safety First Suzuki: Safety First Suzuki Completes Barber weekend Safety First Suzuki completed the Barber AMA weekend on both high and low notes. Riders Bobby Fong and Scott Ryan were new visitors to the track, finding the 2.3 mile Alabama circuit somewhat daunting. Kevin Hanson- Safety First Suzuki Team Owner “Bobby and Scotty struggled a bit this weekend since it was a new track to them. Scotty previously did a track day at Barber, but at the AMA level, it’s a whole new game for them. We made some progress and found some things that we can apply next week at Fontana where we tested earlier this year. I’m looking forward to the next round.” Bobby Fong: Barber Race Weekend Results: DNF- Supersport (30th overall), 16th- FX (8th overall) “I like this track, it reminds me a bit of my home track of Infinion. It’s a challenging track in trying to set up the gearing, suspension and proper lines, but towards the end of the weekend, it all came together. We are heading in the right direction.” Scott Ryan: Barber Race Weekend Results: 30th- Supersport (39th overall), 24th- FX (38th overall) “Most of the Midwest tracks I race at have little elevation change with the exception of Road America, so I needed to get used to all the blind uphill or downhill corners on this track. I did dial it in and lowered my lap times throughout the entire weekend. I am definitely looking forward to Fontana. I can see we are heading in the right direction. The results so far are not a good reflection of the level of effort we are giving as everyone on the team is working real hard to give me the best bike and Ron Wood from Michelin made sure that we had a supply of really good tires for the race. Case in point, I had the best rear tire that I have ever had this weekend.” Safety First Racing was formed in 2004 by police officer/racer, Kevin Hanson, based out of Chicago, IL. For 2007, Safety First Suzuki will be competing in the AMA Superbike series in the Supersport and Formula Xtreme classes. Checkout www.SAFETYFIRSTRACING.com to see the Safety First Suzuki line of apparel and casual wear. Kevin Hanson continues to educate elementary school aged children nationwide about the importance of helmet usage. More, from a press release issued by Monster Energy Kawasaki: Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Hacking and Hayden Finish in Top 10 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jamie Hacking finished eighth in the AMA Superbike Series on Sunday at the Barber Motosports Park in Birmingham, Ala. Teammate Roger Hayden bettered his position from Saturday’s race, finishing ninth. Coming off a crash in the AMA Supersport race just prior to the AMA Superbike finale, Hacking worked through discomfort and an aching shoulder. He moved quickly from a ninth-place starting position to eighth-place, where he remained until the checkered-flag. “I don’t know if I was 100 percent to go out riding after the crash in the race before,” said Hacking. “My shoulder was hurting and my whole body was pretty much sore. Overall, I think we had a better set up on the superbike today compared to yesterday.” Hayden showed speed aboard his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. “The superbike race was definitely better than yesterday,” said Hayden. “Next week, we have a few changes in mind for the bike and I should be feeling better than I did this weekend. I’m just happy to get some points and move forward to the race next week.” Hacking and Hayden will return to the AMA Superbike Series next week in Fontana, Calif. at California Speedway. AMA Superbike Championship Barber Motorsports Park — Brimingham, Ala. April 22, 2007 AMA Superbike 1. Mathew Mladin, Las Vegas, Nev., Suzuki 2. Ben Spies, Longview, Texas, Suzuki 3. Miguel Duhamel, Las Vegas, Nev., Honda 4. Tommy Hayden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki 5. Aaron Yates, Milledgeville, Ga., Suzuki 6. Eric Bostrom, Las Vegas, Nev., Yamaha 7. Jason Disalvo, Stafford, N.Y., Yamaha 8. JAMIE HACKING, DENVER, N.C., MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI 9. ROGER HAYDEN, OWENSBORO, KY., MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI 10. Jake Zemke, Paso Robles, Calif., Honda AMA Superbike Standings 1. Ben Spies, Longview, Texas, Suzuki, 103 2. Mathew Mladin, Las Vegas, Nev., Suzuki, 95 3. Miguel Duhamel, Las Vegas, Nev., Honda, 90 4. Tommy Hayden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki, 76 5. Jake Zemke, Paso Robles, Calif., Honda, 75 6. Aaron Yates, Milledgeville, Ga., Suzuki, 73 7. Jason Disalvo, Stafford, N.Y., Yamaha, 71 8. James Ellison, Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Honda, 63 9. Eric Bostrom, Las Vegas, Nev., Yamaha, 58 10. JAMIE HACKING, DENVER, N.C., MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI, 47 11. ROGER HAYDEN, OWENSBORO, KY., MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI, 42 More, from a press release issued by Millennium/KWS Suzuki: Millennium/KWS Suzuki has solid weekend at Barber Motorsports Park Leeds, AL April 2007 — Millennium/KWS Suzuki sponsored by Ron Ayers Motorsports had a very promising weekend at Barber Motorsports Park on their new 2007 Suzuki GSX-R1000’s. This weekend was the first opportunity the team has had to run their new bikes and without the benefit of testing time that the bigger teams enjoy, Millennium/KWS Suzuki was forced to sort the new bike at the race track. Despite the lack of set up time both riders turned their fastest times ever at Barber Motorsports Park on Superstock- spec bikes thanks in part to the tireless work from Tim Godshall at Penske suspension and the amazing performance of the Dunlop tires. The Superstock class is the focus of Millennium/KWS Suzuki and John Haner was able to qualify in the eighth position with a time of 1:27.495. Teammate David Weber was able to qualify right behind Haner in the twelfth position with a time of 1:29.254. In Superbike qualifying Haner was able to better his time, but not his position because he was on Superstock equipment in a Superbike class, with a time of 1:27.455 for seventeenth position. Weber also improved his time in Superbike qualifying with a time of 1:29.104 to start in the twenty-sixth position. Superbike race one highlighted the teams lack of development time. Weber had an electrical problem on the warm up lap and had to start the race from pit road two-thirds of a lap down. Even with such a disadvantage from the start, Weber showed perseverance and rode a consistent, smart race to finish in the twenty-fourth position. Haner got a great start and was running in the thirteenth position when he suffered a mechanical problem and retired from the race on lap five. The team was extremely hopeful for a good result in the Superstock race. With Haner starting on the second row and Weber on the third row chances for top ten finishes was good. Haner didn’t get the start he was hoping for but quickly put his head down and started working his way to the front. On lap five he passed MPT Suzuki’s Blake Young for fifth and started to run down Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies in fourth. Unfortunately on lap eight he went a little too deep on the brakes into turn five and crashed. Despite the hard fall Haner’s Komodo gear kept him safe and he was able to escape uninjured. Weber rode a great race to finish in the twelfth position, his best AMA Superstock finish to date. After the crash in the Superstock race, Haner’s crew rushed to prepare the bike for Superbike race two. Both Weber and Haner got good starts and started working their way forward. Haner ran as high as thirteenth place but faded to sixteenth at the finish. Weber continued his weekend long trend of putting in consistent, drama free laps to finish in the eighteenth position. John Haner I am pretty happy about the weekend. The bike is really fast and getting better every time we go out. To be this competitive the first time out on the new GSX-R1000 is extremely encouraging for our chances for the rest of the year. The Dunlop tires were amazing and I have to thank Tim and Shane from Penske for all their help. I also want to thank my crew for all their hard work. David Weber I had a great weekend. The new Suzuki GSX-R1000 is incredible and with the support we are getting from Penske and Dunlop we will be up front in no time. I want to thank my mechanics Rick Matheny and Matt Hill and the rest of the team. This is the best situation I have been in since I started racing and I can’t wait to get to Fontana and continue to improve. Kevin Hunt (Team Owner) I was very happy about this weekend. The team is working really well together and the bikes performed great considering this is absolutely the first time they have been on track. Rick Matheny, Matt Hill, Chip Spalding and the whole team has worked so hard to get us to this point, but I especially want to thank Crew Chief, Michael Godin. Michael has not taken a day off since February in an effort to get the bikes prepared for this weekend and can’t thank him enough. The 2007 GSX-R1000 is all new this year and companies like Catalyst Racing Composites, LeoVince, GP Tech, and Pit Bull have gone the extra mile to make sure we had the parts we needed to race this weekend. Thanks to all involved and I am looking forward see what John and David can do at Fontana next week. More, from a press release issued by Shift: AMA ROADRACING REPORT CORY WEST Check out privateer roadracer Cory West’s latest report from Round 2 of the AMA Supersport and Formula Xtreme Championships at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. By Cory West Since my last report back in March, I’ve managed to keep myself pretty busy. I’ve been helping out Roadracing World magazine part time and getting to ride a variety of street and dirt bikes. I’ve been pretty excited about coming to Birmingham for the races at Barber Motorsports Park, even though I knew things would be tough since I’ve only been there a handful of times. I had a horrible red eye flight that left San Diego at 7:00 pm and didn’t get me to Birmingham until 10:00 the next morning. I can usually deal with that stuff pretty well, but when I got to the track on Thursday I was pretty well exhausted. Our plan was to ride the Thursday promoter practice, but I decided to get some much needed sleep instead. Going into the first practice session on Friday I felt fully charged and ready to go. I did manage to get up to speed pretty quick but I ended the Supersport session in 16th position so I definitely needed to get going a bit faster. Chuck and I made a few changes to the bike and got the thing handling better through some of the real long corners and started dropping small amounts of time each practice session. I rode in both 600 Supersport and Formula Xtreme and the extra track time was really helping a lot. At the end of Friday I had to qualify for the Formula Xtreme race that was set for Saturday and I felt like I got going pretty well. I ended up 11th fastest which was my best qualifying effort to date so we were pretty happy about that. Just to clue everyone in on our program if they didn’t already know, we are focused mainly on the Supersport championship. To have a highly competitive FX bike would cost us way too much money and we are definitely a privateer effort, so we run in FX on our Supersport bikes and use the track time to help prepare us for Supersport battle. Saturday was a busy day with two practice sessions in the morning, our Supersport qualifying session after lunch and the FX race at the end of the day. We had some issues early in the day trying to find a good Pirelli tire that we were going to use for our race tire. We started doing some longer runs on some tires but we were still trying to put in some fast laps on softer tires to bump us up on the leader board. The Supersport qualifying went really well with Pirelli stepping up huge with a special qualifying tire for the last 10 minutes of the session. I was running off and on in the top 10 throughout the session but when the factory guys started throwing their qualifying tires on I started getting bumped down the order. When we used our tire, I instantly dropped a full second off my fastest time and we ended up 11th fastest again. The FX race was good for us but I felt a little disappointed after it was done. I got a good start and had worked my way up to 5th place after about 6 laps and then started having tire troubles. There were places where I was stronger than the guys I was riding with but there are two very long right hand turns at Barber and I was getting killed through both of them. I got passed by 3 people and they slowly just started to inch away from me. It was frustrating but at the same time I knew we had just made the wrong choice with our rear tire and I needed to just hang on to the position I was in. So I ended up 8th which is my best AMA finish to date but I knew I could’ve finished higher with the right tire under me. So for Sunday’s Supersport race I knew right away what tire I wasn’t going to use! I did some consulting with some of my competitors that are also on Pirelli tires and just felt them out on what they were planning to do for the race. After I talked around a bit I decided on something different and just had my fingers crossed hoping that it was the right choice. My start wasn’t the greatest start I’ve ever had but I was in the hunt with a big group of riders. Everyone started to spread out a little bit and I was around 10th place with a good battle going with Blake Young and Danny Eslick. Between the three of us, we must have passed each other twenty times in 17 laps! I did have a much better tire under me for that race and I was trying to conserve as much as I could until I really needed it. On the last lap I was sitting in 10th place and we all caught a lapped rider coming onto the back straight. Danny and Blake kind of got held up a little bit, while I got a very good run on to the back straight and just managed to get by both of them with only three corners to go. I protected the inside through the last few corners and held them off for another 8th place finish. I was definitely more enthusiastic about my hard earned finish in the Supersport race and now I’m sitting in 8th place in points going into the California Speedway round. Barber is a pretty tricky track to figure out but the team was happy with my results and I’m glad we got through it in one piece. I feel like we are getting stronger each event and I’m really hoping for some top 5 finishes. I’ll keep you updated and let you know how next weekend’s race at Cal-Speedway turns out! www.shiftracing.com