From a press release issued by Walt Sipp: Sipp has the Daytona curse strike again! Daytona, FL – Walt Sipp finished 14th in the opening round of the Formula USA Thunderbike Championship. Qualifying was held on Sunday morning due to a time shortage making for a full day. The day was full of ups and downs for the Blue Springs Harley-Davidson sponsored Buell rider. After his best Daytona qualifying to date; 7th 1:54.650 things appeared to be going well. “I’m real happy with the way the bike ran in qualifying. It looks like to curse has been lifted,” said Sipp. The curse looked to be a thing of the past through the halfway point in the race, “I was catching the 3rd place rider through the new, more technical infield. I knew my first Daytona podium was in sight.” That seemed to be the turning point though. Three laps from the end, the engine started running poorly and began dumping oil on the left side of the bike. He slowly started losing ground to third and fell into the clutches of a battle for fifth on the white flag lap. As he entered the new west horseshoe, the oil on the rear tire became too much and he low sided. After the help from the corner workers, he was able to pick the bike up and make it across the line 14th, albeit with no shift lever. After the race, Sipp found he had damaged his hand, “I stopped in the care center to get my pinky finger looked at. I basically ground the knuckle down to the bone. I had to head to Halifax Hospital for a small operation, but it will be fine for Road America.” Look for Walt and the Blue Springs crew to better there position at the next round April 22-24 at Road America. He will also be visiting Daytona again in October to see if he can finally conquer the curse! Find out more at ~http://www.waltsipp.com/~ More, from a press release issued by Buell: BILANSKY PUTS BUELL ON F-USA THUNDERBIKE PODIUM AT DAYTONA Five Buells in Top Ten with Hal’s Rider Finishing Third DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 6, 2005) – Hal’s Performance Advantage rider Dan Bilansky opened the 2005 Formula-USA Thunderbike season with a third-place finish aboard a Buell Firebolt. Bilansky was one of five Buell riders to place in the top ten of the 10-lap race at Daytona International Speedway. The race was won by Prieto Racing rider Michael Barnes on a Suzuki. Barnes was also the top qualifier for the race. David Yaakov was second, also on a Suzuki. Hal’s Performance Advantage riders Sam Rozynski and Joe Rozynski finished fourth and fifth on Buell Firebolts, followed by Richie Morris Racing/Daytona Harley-Davidson rider Clint Brotz, also on a Buell Firebolt. Darren Danilowicz finished seventh and Robert Fisher placed eighth, both on Suzukis. Nate Kern placed ninth on a BMW, and Jim’s Harley-Davidson/Buell of St. Petersburg, Fla. rider Tim Hall was tenth on a Buell Firebolt. Evo-Twin Racing/Harding Harley-Davidson riders David Estok, who won the 2004 Daytona Thunderbike race, and Bryan Bemisderfer, the defending F-USA Thunderbike champion, both had a disappointing race after qualifying Buell Firebolts second and third behind Barnes. Estok was running in second position with four laps to go when his clutch failed, perhaps a result of making three race starts, as red flags for accidents stopped the race twice on the first lap. Bemisderfer was slowed by a mechanical problem early in the race and was making laps for points when he was forced to retire on lap eight. Bartels’ Harley-Davidson/Newcastle Harley-Davidson rider Shawn Higbee qualified fifth on his Buell Firebolt, but crashed on the first lap of the final. The next event on the eight-race Formula-USA Thunderbike schedule is April 23-25 at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis. The Formula USA National Thunderbike series is a horsepower-to-weight ratio restricted class, open to a variety of production-based motorcycles. Buell-mounted riders competing in the eight-event 2005 Thunderbike series race for a share of the $70,500 contingency fund posted by Buell Motorcycle Company. To learn more about Buell motorcycles, visit your local Buell dealer today and experience the pure streetfighter attitude, style and performance only found on board a Buell. For the Buell dealer nearest you, pull into www.buell.com. More, from a press release issued by Plummer-Menapace Group on behalf of Pirelli: PIRELLI VERY PLEASED WITH DAYTONA F-USA/CCS RESULTS (Rome, GA) Pirelli comes away from the recently-completed Formula USA / CCS weekend in Daytona leading two of the four F-USA classes holding the top two slots in one, the top four in the other – and getting seven expert-class CCS wins, including two sweeps and two first-and-seconds. “We’re very pleased,” said Robert Henderson, Pirelli’s U.S. Road Racing Coordinator. “This is the way we wanted to begin the season on the charge. Not everybody posts their sponsors, so we might have even won more.” Michael Barnes, CAD Racing’s David Yaakov, Dan Bilansky, and Sound Waves/Parsi-IAP/Kenwood USA/Sirius Radio/Pirelli/ Hal’s H-D’s Sam Rozynski, respectively, gave Pirelli the top four positions in Formula-USA Thunderbike. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Vincent Haskovec and Barnes put Pirelli one-two in Superbike. In addition, KWS Racing’s Lee Acree posted a second in Formula Sportbike, and M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Geoff May crossed the line in second in the Sportbike final, but was listed as third pending the result of a protest. In the weekend’s CCS racing, Pirelli swept the top three spots in Unlimited GP Expert with Haskovec, May, and Hotbodies Racing’s Cory West, and Unlimited Superbike with Haskovec, West, and Hotbodies’ Heath Small. And it was Pirelli first and second in Unlimited Supersport Expert with May and Haskovec, Lightweight Supersport Expert with Yaakov and Nate Kern, and Lightweight Superbike Expert with David Estok and Yaakov. As you’ve read, David Yaakov and his CAD-Racing Suzuki SV-650 had a huge weekend. Besides his results already reported, he gave Pirelli two big wins in Lightweight Superbike and Lightweight Supersport. The lone Pirelli amateur who posted his sponsors, Andrew Robert Moates, from Casselberry, FL, won the Unlimited GP Amateur race on his Dri Rite / Full Spectrum Racing / Pirelli / EBC / VP Fuels / Hotbodies / Lockhart Phillips-sponsored Suzuki GSX-R750. All of DOT-class racers were mounted on Pirelli’s latest Supercorsa PRO race radial about which more news will follow. More, from a press release issued by Hal’s Performance Advantage Buell: This past weekend was very successful for rider Dan Bilansky and team Hal’s. Qualifying was scheduled to take place on Saturday, however Dan’s Thunderbike class was delayed because CCS had the track time for qualifying prior to them. Dan now found himself having to qualify on Sunday morning-the same day as race day. He had to face colder air, which didn’t give him the ideal conditions, as he would’ve liked had he been able to qualify the evening prior. Knowing that track time would now be less, Dan decided to keep his old tires on and qualified 8th. Come race time, Dan was grid in the second row on the outside. On the first hole shot coming out of the third turn, Jerry Wood on a Ducati high-sided; and within the same lap in a prior turn, Shawn Higbee high-sided. These two incidents needless to say produced the red flag to temporary stop the race for cleanup. Once the track was cleaned, all bikes were re-grid just as they were at the start of the race. When Dan went to hole shot, now for the second time, his bike went into a false neutral meaning that he had to get his bike immediately to 2nd gear due to a mechanical/rider error that did not allow him to shift down to first! Dan was now in 25th place after all the bikes had passed him. On the first lap, going into the chicane, there was a wipeout of bikes. You guessed it, another red flag. This time around after the third start, Dan managed to get himself up to 7th position after turn one. During the remainder of the race, Dave Estok’s bike broke, and Dan continued to pick off the bikes ahead of him, one by one, where he went through the first 3 or 4 laps, ultimately getting himself up to 3rd position. He wasn’t able to gain on 2nd position, so he decided to pace himself, leaving a good gap between him and 4th. Dan secured 3rd place giving him a great start in points as he begins the 2005 season. Dan says, “I found that both my bikes, which are identical as far as chassis and chassis set-up goes, handled well throughout the race. I am very comfortable with both of them and everything seems to be on the up and up!” Terry Galagan, crew chief for Mike Ciccotto in the AMA Formula Extreme class, did some post race calculations upon Dan’s return. Terry discovered that three of Dan’s competitors had the same motors identical to Dan’s (that were also built at Hal’s Speed Shop). The gear ratios on these bikes were 22 for the front sprocket and 44 for the rear, producing 149.1mph at 7,000rpm. Dan’s bike, with the only difference being Hal’s V-Force Induction (Ram Air) was a ratio of 22 front sprocket and 40 rear producing 164mph!!! That’s 15mph faster! Hal’s V-Force Induction is available to all of you exclusively through our Speed Shop (Racers, give Hal’s Speed Shop a call and find out about special race discounts).