From a press release issued by Pirelli:

PIRELLI PUTS THREE IN FONTANA AMA SUPERBIKE TOP 10, TAKES SECOND IN LeMANS 24-HOUR, WINS PORTUGUESE WORLD MX GP

(Rome, GA) Following on the heels of its Daytona 200 Superbike showing, when four of its riders finished in the top 10, Pirelli had three top-10s in each of the Superbike finals during the April 2-4 AMA doubleheader at California Speedway in Fontana, CA.

Prieto Racing’s Geoff May gave Pirelli the top privateer spot just as Jack Pfiefer did at Daytona with his fifth-place finish in Saturday’s first Superbike race. In fact, after the four factory riders single-filed through much of the race, May’s thrilling battle with Steve Crevier, Pirelli-mounted Larry Pegram, and Marty Cragill, became the race to watch.

Pegram’s seventh place, combined with a tenth from Empire Racing’s Opie Caylor gave Pirelli its three top 10s. Sunday’s Superbike race started out as a carbon copy of Saturday’s in every respect. But at the wire it was Pirelli’s May, Pegram, and Empire’s Lee Acree taking seventh, eighth, and ninth respectively.

Pirelli also put three in Fontana’s Formula Xtreme Top 10, with Larry Pegram’s sixth, Jacob Holden’s seventh, and Pirelli-newcomer Corey Eaton’s ninth.

Across the pond, the famed 24 Hours of LeMans – the first round of the 2004 Masters of Endurance series gave Pirelli a heartbreaking second place. Heartbreaking, because the Pirelli Yamaha GMT94 team, which had captured the pole and taken over the lead on Pirelli rain tires when the French weather turned ugly, saw their lead disappear in the 23rd hour when a clutch problem brought the bike back into the pits within a lap following its scheduled stop. It took 19 minutes to fix the problem, but the team got back onto the track for its second place finish. Kawasaki-mounted Bolliger Team Switzerland also gave Pirelli a fifth.

Pirelli’s domination of world motocross GP racing continued at last weekend’s Portuguese GP. Multi-world champion Stefan Everts and former champion Mickael Pichon swapped one-two finishes in the two MX1 motos, with Pichon taking the overall win by virtue of his second-moto win. It was his first win in 11 months. Both riders have been long-term Pirelli racers, and both opted for Pirelli’s “championship combo” of the Scorpion Pro front (formerly the MT83) and MT32 rears.


More, from a press release issued by Corona Extra Suzuki, in which 2003 Suzuki GSX-R750 Cup Winner Ben Attard morphs into “Suzuki Grand National Champion”:

CORONA EXTRA SUZUKI BACK IN THE FRAY AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY

Corona Extra Suzuki jumped back into the deep end of AMA Pro Superbike racing this weekend at California Speedway netting fine eighth place finishes in Superbike and Supersport. The Team missed the first round at Daytona while finalizing the expanded Corona program for 2004 and 2005 but pulled it all together at the last minute to be racing at Fontana.

In the Superbike qualifying, new team member and two-time Australian Superbike Champion Marty Craggill took a while to get up to speed on the bike he first saw on Thursday and first rode on Friday, qualifying on the outside of row four. Marty said, “I haven’t been on a race bike for almost seven months, so it will take a while to get it set up and back to speed. The bike works good so I think we will be in the hunt!”

In the first race of the doubleheader event Marty got a good start, moving from 16th to 10th by the end of lap one. He worked his way up to 7th by lap 14, dropping to 8th five laps later where he held his position to the end of the race. Craggill said, “I was riding tentatively and just getting comfortable and up to speed when it started to rain towards the end, and it got really slippery – I just decided to take it steady and finish!”

In race two, Craggill was quickly up to 9th by the end of lap one from his 16th start position. On lap three as he started charging the pack of four riders ahead of him, he lost the back end of his Suzuki GSX-R1000 in turn 5 and low-sided out of the race. Disappointed, Marty remarked, “I am really bummed. I was much more comfortable than yesterday and getting aggressive but the bike set-up needs to be different the more you push it. Still, we know for next time!”

Suzuki Grand National Champion Ben Attard also had a great first race in AMA Pro. Seeing the track for the first time and on a completely new bike that had only been finished prepping three days earlier, he qualified 16th. Attard said, “We only get a few practice sessions, so it’s tough to learn the track and how to set up the GSX-R600, which of course is completely new. I think we will do better in the race!”

How true! Ben got a good start and by the end of lap one was in 11th place. He moved into 10th on lap 9 and quickly into 9th on lap 11 and 8th by lap 12. He held the position comfortably to the end, a fine first result in the fiercely competitive Supersport class. After the race, Ben enthused, “I really enjoyed the race. I learned a lot about the bike and suspension – also, what the other guys are doing out there! Now we know a bunch of stuff to do for the next race at Infineon (April 30 –May 2) so I should do pretty good there!”