Michelin Team Challenge Series A&J Recognition Solo Challenge Series May 31, 2009 Blackhawk Farms Raceway South Beloit, IL Round 4 Report Great weather greeted the 33 riders on the grid for Round 4 of the Michelin Team Challenge and A&J Recognition Solo Challenge at Blackhawk Farms Raceway. Temperatures in the mid-seventies and bright sunshine made for perfect conditions at the newly improved facility and the teams took advantage of it running near record times around the 1.95 mile road course. The facility managers at Blackhawk thinned the trees and moved the tree line back so riders could actually see the course better from turn one thru turn three, improving safety and giving the riders increased confidence for the event. This confidence produced the fastest Michelin Team Challenge every run at Blackhawk Farms Raceway. It was the A&J Recognition Solo Challenge winner Jason Farrell that set the pace for the 77 lap event, just as he had promised earlier in the day. “I’m gonna do my best to finish this race in record time,” said Farrell, “I’ve got the next race after the Challenge and I need all the time I can get to change tires.” Farrell took his Kawasaki around the 1.95 mile course for 77 laps in just over one hour and thirty-eight minutes, a full 3 minutes less than last years event. Coming home in second was Anthony Johnson followed by class points leader Ray Hofman. With another podium finish, Hofman stretches his point lead by 3 to 36 points over Aaron ‘Doc” Stein with four rounds left in the series. The GTO results from Blackhawk looked like carbon copy of Road America as the potent Hix Racing Team repeated their win followed by Probst Brothers and Wisconsin Racing. The Hix Racing Team of Ron Hix and Brian Blume also earned the Overall win by 24.688 seconds over Ben Probst’s Yamaha mounted team and 1 lap over third place Wisconsin Racing captained by Calvin Martinez also riding a Suzuki 1000. Central States Racin finished fourth, losing ground to Wisconsin Racing in the championship chase, now the Wisconsin Racing Team holds an 8 point lead over Central States Racin. In the GTU class it was Kurt Stock’s D2 Racing 2 Yamaha R-6 out of Missouri taking the win over the class leading Chester Auto Repair team of Alex Shaw and Eric Helmbach from Hackettstown NJ by two laps. Finishing third was the Wisconsin Racing GTU team of Martinez, Dave Ebben and Jeff Purk followed home if fourth by the RnR Repsol GTU from Sterling VA. The strong second place gives the Chester Auto squad a little more breathing room in the points standings between them and the second place RnR Repsol team. Chester Auto now has a 24 point lead at the halfway point of the championship. For the GTL class, it’s the Grease Monkey Racing Team on their SV650 repeating their class win at Road America and they continue to hold the top position in the championship. The New Jersey based team is now 13 points ahead of the Design Integrity Racing Buell, ridden by Joel Spaulding, Jay Smith and Robert Johnson, who finished second on a Buell. Bringing their SV650 home in third was the Wisconsin Sportbike Team of James Lilly and Jim Rodefer The series now heads back to a couple of strong tracks for the Grease Monkey Team and Design Integrity has it’s work cut out for them with only four rounds left in the championship. The next round of the Team Challenge Series will take place on June 20-21 at Virginia International Raceway during the 9th Annual VIR Festival of Speed. For more information, complete results and points, visit www.asraracing.com