Top Ten Extravaganza for RoadRace Factory/Red Bull In Atlanta Jake Gagne earned fifth for RoadRace Factory/Red Bull in Sunday’s AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race at Road Atlanta on Sunday and teammate J.D. Beach joined him with seventh place in just the team’s second race weekend. In SuperSport, Hayden Gillim was third and Tomas Puerta took seventh, so all four riders were seventh or better for the brand new team. Jake Gagne challenged on Saturday but crashed while contending. He was able to get his first Daytona SportBike top five on Sunday with a strong run. The former Red Bull Rookies Cup champ started on the front row and had nearly five seconds on sixth place at the checkered flag. “We ended up qualifying well since it was the first time I’d been there since ’08. I was pumped to be on the front row. That was really cool,” said Gagne. “My start on Saturday wasn’t so good but I picked it up and dropped some time. Right when I got back up to that group, I made a little mistake and went down. It was pretty big and I was a little sore but I didn’t really hurt anything. I got a better start on Sunday and I was up front and felt comfortable. The last three or four laps, I had a few moments and backed it off. After crashing, I felt I needed to get the fifth place and that would be really good. I’m happy with our start. The whole team is awesome and we’re having a lot of fun. I’m excited. We’ll keep learning and improving.” J.D. Beach took seventh in race two after ninth on Saturday. Beach built momentum over the weekend and found a quicker pace on Sunday. “We did a lot better than we have all weekend on Sunday and consistently did faster laps. We got the bike working better and I felt better in the second race. We learned a lot,” said Beach. “Next time, I will qualify better and try to get a good start and run with the front group. I had a good battle with two other riders and tried a move in the last turn but couldn’t make it stick. It was my best finish so far so let’s keep moving forward.” After fighting for third on Saturday, Hayden Gillim saw his shot at the podium end on Sunday when the race was red-flagged, which nullified his planned late-race charge. “We used the medium tire today and stiffened up the suspension and it was improved,” said Gillim. “I was in a battle for third and the red flag ended it before I wanted. We were trying to make a run for the podium and just came up a little short.” Tomy Puerta took seventh on Sunday. “It wasn’t my favorite weekend and we have some things we are working on that will for sure be corrected for Infineon,” said Puerta. “To get two top tens was important. I wanted to fight at the front but it wasn’t possible this time. We are working hard and learning a lot. We’re a new team for 2012 and I think we are going to be way better at Infineon and I want to fight for the podium in 15 days.” “The weekend was a typical race weekend with some dramas and challenges along the way. I can only hope things keep coming together like they are,” said RoadRace Factory/Red Bull’s Danny Walker. “Our guys are gaining confidence and learning and improving and I see this weekend as a win for us. We have some guys in a hurry to get on the podium. I’m happy for us and all the hard work the crew has put in. We have two guys in the top ten in DSB already and that’s amazing to me. Our SuperSport guys did their fastest laps in the second race, so you can tell we are making progress.” More, from a press release issued by Team Venezuela: Pietri leaves Atlanta with 23 points in his pocket After the second round of the AMA Pro SuperBike Championship was completed, Team Venezuela’s Robertino Pietri had earned 23 points and was ninth in the series, with 42 points. Pietri qualified his Suzuki GSX-R1000 in 11th. On Saturday the first race was red flagged and after the restart the Venezuelan rider battled in the middle group but a miscalculation entering Turn 10A sent him off the track and out of contention for a top-10, and he finished 13th. “It was a difficult weekend,” said Pietri. “The race results do not show the speed we had. In the first race both times I started very badly. In the restart I had been fighting for sixth position, it was a large group but I felt comfortable following. But when I started to attack I went straight at Turn 10A, a place where you arrive going almost 300 kph and that ended my top-10 chances.” During the Sunday warm-up the engine of Pietri’s racebike experienced problems and Team Venezuela had to bring out the spare bike. Pietri again started 11th on the grid and finished in 11th after another off-track excursion. “In the second race I started much better but we had to race with the spare bike because the engine broke in the racebike during the warm-up,” said the rider from Anzoategui, Venezuela. “It was hard because I hadn’t ridden the spare in practice. We were knocking on the door of the top 10 but the spare bike was harder to ride and from the start I knew that it would be a survival race. The last two times I left this track has been in an ambulance so I’m happy to go home healthy and with much information to further improve our bike. Greetings to all my supporters at home and thanks for the support!” The next stop of the AMA Pro Racing SuperBike Championship will be the third round, at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California May 4-6. Robertino Pietri is sponsored by PC 4×4 Store, Villa Riesling German Wine, ShariChips and the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela through MinDeporte. More, from a press release issued by Team KneeDraggers.com Triple Crowd Industries: Team KneeDraggers.com Triple Crown Industries defend their 2nd place SuperSport East points position. Team Owner Dave Brite: “The last time our team raced at Road Atlanta was 2009 and it was a difficult weekend. We came here trying to keep the riders calm, have reasonable expectations and do our job as part of the show. The crew from M1 did a great job for all of us. It was good to see the fans engaged and having a great time. “Stefano Mesa rode hard once again in SuperSport with two 5th place finishes. I am very proud of him as he has never been to Road Atlanta before. Stefano maintains his 2nd place position in points for SuperSport East. As for our DSB efforts, we have some things to work out for sure, but such is the nature of racing! We can’t let it get to us too much. We’ll go back and look at the data and see what we can improve on. We did make some changes after Daytona and we definitely improved on the program but it’s a process and we’re still working it out.” AMA SuperSport racer Stefano Mesa #37: “The competition was really great this weekend and the pace was very high, I had 2 good races with some good battles all race long. We closed the gap quite a bit to the leaders in race 2 but just didn’t have their pace this weekend. I am looking forward to Infineon and expect good things at that track. Thank you to my personal sponsors, Leo Mens Underwear, Addict by Bosi, Bell Helmets, Studio 299, Motoprimo, Sidi Boots, Vortex and everybody else.” AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike racer Austin DeHaven #56 finished just outside the top ten (two 11th place finishes) while riding with an injury to his right hand from a crash in Friday morning practice. A mechanical failure was the cause of the incident. Austin DeHaven: “It was not the weekend I was expecting, the crash on Friday really beat me up and put us behind as it badly damaged my main bike. The team did a great job and got me back out but we did lose some valuable track time. We have been struggling with set-up since Daytona so that extra time would have been very nice to sort out some of the new changes. We did however find a good setup in qualifying 2 and I was much happier with my race pace. I had good battles in both races, especially race 2 when near the end I think I changed position 4 of 5 times with a last lap pass coming under the bridge over the crest for 11th, I really enjoyed that battle” AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike racer Paulie Allison #20 was chasing set-up on Friday and Saturday which effected his qualifying effort. Paulie Allison: “It was a challenging weekend but I hung in there on Sunday and made up 7 positions. I am really looking forward to Infineon in 2 weeks, it’s a track I enjoy and I think we can go well there” More, from a press release issued by BYR/Fogi Racing: BYR/Fogi Racing’s Young Gets Up To Speed at Road Atlanta THORNBURY ONTARIO, CANADA April 24, 2012 BYR/Fogi Racing’s Ben Young put in an impressive effort at the second round of the AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike Championship despite a momentary off-track excursion in the first race of the weekend at Road Atlanta and a technical oversight in the second race on Sunday. Within the first few laps of Friday’s afternoon practice session the Scottish-Canadian pilot knew that getting up to speed as soon as possible on Road Atlanta’s 2.55 mile road course was key to achieving the goals he and the team had set for themselves. This was Young’s first time at Road Atlanta and he quickly learned that this was a very technical and demanding track. Experimenting with a variety of line choices, Young’s lap times dropped throughout Friday afternoon’s practice and first qualifying session. The team made some adjustments to the Tim Hortons-Sudbury/Yamaha R6 in preparation for Saturday morning’s final qualifying session. Young would end up starting 21st on the grid for the first race of the Big Kahuna Atlanta event. Young got a great start in Saturday’s race and he quickly advanced to 16th place with his sights on the riders just ahead of him. His lap times continued to drop however by mid-race a loss of rear-end grip triggered an off-track excursion onto the grass and heading for the wall. Thankfully the young pilot regained traction and managed to avoid the wall. Young quickly got back on track to finish a creditable 18th. “Today’s race was a hard one!” said Young. “I had a huge moment that had me heading for the wall and I lost a few positions trying to keep the bike upright. Overall it was a good race and I learned a lot about this very tough track.” Looking to maximize the bike’s set up the BYR/Fogi Racing team made a gearing and suspension change in preparation for the second race of the weekend which seemed to once again help Young improve his lap times in the morning’s pre-race practice session. The young resident of Thornbury Ontario Canada got another impressive start in Sunday’s race placing him in 17th with a pack of six riders within reach. After the halfway flag the group split from Young but in the closing laps Young began to pull closer to the group just ahead of him until he was sidelined by what he originally thought was a fuel pick-up issue. Team Manager Scott Young explains. “In an effort to minimize the overall weight of the bike we opted to run only as much fuel as we thought we needed to finish the race. It was a gamble and unfortunately it didn’t payoff.” Although Young was unable to complete the second race of the Big Kahuna Atlanta event he was satisfied with his progression throughout the weekend. “I ran my fastest lap of the weekend on my last lap.” added Fogi Racing’s 18-year-old apprentice. “I’m happy with that and how my Yamaha R6 ran, it’s just a shame that we couldn’t have ended the weekend on a high.” More, from a press release issued by Lucky Management: The 2012 Daytona 200 winner is back and means business. Following his exceptional performance at Daytona, Joey Pascarella jumped on another bike with no prior practice and was able to bring home two top 10 finishes at the Big Kahuna Road Atlanta round 2 of AMA Pro Road Racing. Race 1 on Saturday saw a lot of action where Joey was caught in a 4-rider group for 8-11th positions ultimately winning the battle and crossing the line in 8th. Smaller groups split up the field in Sunday’s race where Joey took his 2nd top ten finish placing him 4th in the championship after the weekend. Scoring valuable points for the season, the SGA/KATRA Racing – Yamaha Champions Riding School team is headed to testing this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park to fine tune the Graves Motorsports machines in preparation for Joey’s home track event at the Great Clips West Coast Motojam at Infineon Raceway May 4-6th. A great group of people have come together to support Joey Pascarella’s GoPro Daytona Sportbike championship campaign. How can you not love an underdog that jumps on new-to-him bikes, works with new teams, and keeps bringing in results. Quite possibly the most noticeable style and personality in the paddock, Joey Pascarella is here to stay and we couldn’t be happier to have him just the way he is. More, from another press release issued by Lucky Management, on behalf of Team Rotobox/Nexx: Bryce Prince is an exceptionally determined young racer. A mechanical DNF had cut Prince’s Daytona 200 debut short, but he’s anything but defeated. Training hard since the end of last season, Bryce came to the 2nd round of AMA Pro Road Racing’ Big Kahuna event at Road Atlanta with the bit between his teeth. Bryce went to work right away qualifying 16th on a 30 rider grid. Not satisfied with that position, He then dropped his lap times in race 1 on Saturday to take the checkers in 12th place. Prince told the Team Rotobox/Nexx crew that he felt his Graves Motorsports prepped Yamaha R6 had more in it and was confident he could drop his times further on Sunday. In race 2 he did just that holding 11th position for a number of laps until a near-highside inhibited a strong drive down the long back straight where a small group drafted by in the closing laps. Bryce still finished 15th earning more championship points and turning his most improved laps of the weekend in race 2. The team is very pleased with the improvements Bryce has made and are looking forward to a strong showing at the next round at Infineon for the Great Clips West Coast Moto Jam. Team Rotobox/Nexx would also like to welcome the team’s new sponsors: GOLDfren Brakes – A proven leader in the braking world with numerous championships in the dirt world, GOLDfren is bringing their championship-winning formula to road racing. Riders in Moto2, Moto3, World Supersport, and now AMA Pro GoPro Daytona Sportbike & AMA Pro MotorcycleSuperstore.com Supersport all use GOLDfren pads, discs, and brake lines confidently. NCompass Marketing – Donnie Graves of NCompass, a top-flight global experimental marketing firm with several Fortune 500 companies on their roster, has come on board to develop unique opportunities with NCompass’ well-known clients. Adopt-A-Pet – One of NCompass’ clients, Team Rotobox/Nexx is proud to be sporting Adopt-A-Pet stickers designed by the iconic street artist Shepard Fairy (aka OBEY). With over 4 million pets killed annually simply due to overpopulation, Adopt-A-Pet provides a great alternative that saves cute cuddly lives!