Touring Sport Ducati Gains Championship Lead Touring Sport Ducati took first and fifth place in the SunTrust MotoGT race at Road Atlanta on Saturday, moving the reining national champions into the points lead. Rider’s Frank Shockley and Ryan Elleby fought hard for the win on the team’s PS1000LE A-bike, Pete Friedland and Brad Phillips riding a solid race to finish fifth on the B-bike despite a stop-and-go penalty. Poled in third place, Shockley began the first stint of the two-hour endurance race, taking the lead in just three laps. But a brief off track excursion took him back to fourth with a hard battle ahead for first. He had fought his way back to second when the red flag came out to signal oil on the track. The leading Kawasaki team pitted during the enforced slow pace, moving the Ducati into the lead and when the red flag was lowered Shockley swapped with Ryan Elleby who, despite having no prior time on the bike, retained the lead to the checkered flag. For a while it looked likely both teams would finish on the podium but Friedland and Phillips were forced back to fifth place after a mistake in turn 12, a corner that was already their nemesis. Friedland high sided at the same corner in practice after hitting a slower rider who had confused it for the pit-in lane. The crash damaged the bike’s fairing and bent one of the Öhlins forks. Luckily Öhlins USA’s head quarters are just a few hours from the track and the team managed to get the fork fixed and back to the track 50 minutes shy of qualifying. The team heads next to Barber Motorsports Park, on the first weekend of May, where they hope to improve on their championship lead. More, from a press release issued by Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki: STRONG FINISHES FOR ULRICH AT ROAD ATLANTA Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki’s Chris Ulrich came away from the Road Atlanta round of the AMA Pro Road Racing series with a pair of finishes just outside the top ten to add to his 2009 American Superbike campaign. The Californian qualified his GSX-R1000 in 12th on Friday with a best lap of 1:28.616, a performance that effectively established the standard for the weekend to come. Ulrich put in an 11th place ride despite battling with an imperfect set-up in Saturday’s 50-mile contest. The team made significant improvements overnight and he upped the pace in Sunday’s 20-lapper, but he got caught up in traffic on the opening lap as the leading group made an early escape. The end result was a 12th-place finish. Ulrich explained, “We just didn’t have the pace on Saturday that we hoped to have. I was bottoming the forks quite hard and that was it. I missed on the set-up a little bit. We improved on the set-up overnight and improved on the lap times, but we didn’t improve enough. “We just needed a little bit more. The pace in the second race was faster but it wasn’t fast enough. Off the start in the second race I got stuck behind (Aaron) Gobert on the first lap and lost the gap to the group. If I could have stayed with them it would have been a lot better. “We’ve just been around 12th all weekend and stuck in no man’s land. We’ve got to make some improvements with everything. Now that we’ve got some time, we’re going to go home and get our ’09 bike and try to step up our game.” Russ Wikle looked capable of scoring another podium finish for Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki at Road Atlanta, building upon his third-place run in the Daytona AMA Pro SuperSport season opener. Wikle qualified second on the grid with a time of 1:32.426 aboard his Suzuki GSX-R600 and ran in contention for podium position during the race’s opening stages. However, a rain shower caught out several of the front-runners, including Wikle, bringing out a red flag. Unfortunately, his machine was too badly damaged in the fall to make the restart. The 17-year-old managed to impress in the weekend’s twin Daytona SportBike contests, picking up a pair of 18th-place results in the deep category after qualifying 24th (1:33.369). Colombian Santiago Villa improved upon his 32nd-ranked SportBike qualifying position (1:35.434) to finish 27th on Saturday and 20th on Sunday. Ulrich said, “It was just super bad luck for Russ. In the SportBike class he put in two solid top twenties in, which is good for a developmental rider. He was really competitive in SuperSport but just had bad luck. “Santiago is hovering around twentieth and that’s good. As long as he keeps doing top twenty we’ll be happy.” Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki will be back in action on May 1-3 for Round 4 of the AMA Pro Road Racing series on May 1-3. More, from a press release issued by Team M4 Suzuki: TOUGH END TO WINNING WEEKEND FOR TEAM M4 SUZUKI Team M4 Suzuki endured double frustration in Sunday’s AMA Pro Daytona SportBike final at Road Atlanta. The squad entered the day hoping to repeat Saturday’s victorious effort but misfortune caught up with both Saturday race winner Martin Cardenas and Superpole winner Jason DiSalvo. DiSalvo broke free of the pack alongside Jake Zemke during he race’s opening half, the two sitting out front with a two-second gap over third place by lap 6 of 20. Zemke crashed out of contention on lap 8, leaving the New Yorker all alone out front on his Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600. However, soon after his rear tire showed signs of fading and took a further turn for the worse a couple of laps later. DiSalvo did what he could to maintain the best pace that he could. He nursed his way to an eventual seventh place finish, collecting valuable championship points along the way. “My tire just went off really bad,” DiSalvo said. “It was good until right around when Jake crashed and then it tanked after that to the point where I could barely get my knee down. It was actually a hard compound so they took it back for analysis. “I pushed as hard as I could the whole time but it was pretty slippery at the end and I had some big moments. I was just happy to get away with some points after yesterday’s disappointment.” Cardenas’ plans for a double victory disappeared almost from the start, as he went off course shortly after the green flag and was forced to battle he was up from outside the top twenty. The Colombian made a spirited charge up to tenth but a mechanical problem ended his day early on lap 13. “It was a bad race today,” he admitted. “I started okay and I was moving to the front. But I missed the first corner and went back to like 20th position. I was gaining positions again and made it up to tenth but I had problems and the race was over for me. “Still, we leave here with a win. Even though today didn’t go well, we are happy with that and we’ll try to do even better at Barber and be good in both races.” DiSalvo is now fourth in the Daytona SportBike championship with 74 points while Cardenas is sixth with 51. Kris Turner picked up a top-five result in the once-stopped AMA SuperSport final. The talented youngster from nearby Chattanooga, TN was running second in the early going aboard his GSX-R600 before a red flag was shown after multiple riders, including Turner, crashed on the suddenly damp course. Turner rejoined the fray and carried on in the runner-up position for several laps before ultimately finishing fifth, missing out on a last-lap bid for fourth by a scant 0.188 seconds. Turner is sixth in the SuperSport East title race with 23 points following two races. Team M4 Suzuki will head to Barber Motorsports Park for Round 4 of the 2009 AMA Pro Road Racing series on May 1-3. More, from a press release issued by Honda: Holden takes two top ten finishes from a difficult weekend at Road Atlanta Corona Extra Honda’s Jake Holden captured two top ten finishes on a difficult weekend on the first true road course of the season at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. Riding in place of the injured Neil Hodgson for the second race in a row, Holden was never comfortable riding the Honda CBR1000RR Superbike on the tortuous, up and down 4.1-kms., 12-turn track north of Atlanta. Difficulty finding suitable gearing made the weekend more troublesome, with Holden forced to use gears he wouldn’t normally use in several of the tracks’ slow corners. The 2009 technical rules don’t allow changes to the gearbox, only to the front and rear sprockets. The gearing problems cropped up early in Saturday’s Superbike race, held in sunny, warm conditions, the best of the weekend. Holden found himself having to use first gear rather than second, which he used on his Honda CBR1000RR Superstock machine last year. The compromise adversely affected his drive onto the tracks’ long straightaways, which prevented him from using the Honda’s peak power. It added up to a tenth place finish on Saturday. Sunday he was one spot better and closer to the winner. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) won both races. Teammate Tommy Hayden and Geoff May (Suzuki) filled Saturday’s podium. On Sunday teammate Blake Young earned his first podium with May again third. Now the series has three weekends off before fourth round of the championship at Barber Motorsports Park outside of Birmingham, Alabama. Jake Holden, 10th, 9th It was difficult. We had very little track time; I think one dry practice session. I mean, the Superbikes from last year have different transmissions than this year’s, so it was a little tough for us to find a good gearing set-up for this track, because I was having to use first gear in four turns; turn three, turn seven, turn 10 and turn 12, so quite a few turns. I ran second gear through the turns last year. I had a hard time getting used to that. So we went looked to my gearing from last year on the Superstock bike and I picked up a little time. But I would touch the limiter on the back straightaway, so it’s a little difficult for us to find a good gearing set-up with the limited track time. We had the gearing changed to what I ran last year and picked up the pace a little bit, but I’m disappointed with (Sunday’s) finish. It’s just a lack of time on the track with the new bike. The bike was a lot better than yesterday. These guys worked hard, we got a good set-up from race one. And we just kind of pushed from there and got a decent, but I guess we just didn’t have what it took to hang with those guys and get up with that battle. The pace looked a little quicker. I could see the pack in front of me for more than half the race. They weren’t too far ahead; I just didn’t have any more time to cut on the track. Team principal Tim Saunders We were struggling for most of the weekend; the gearing was a problem which we struggled with last year and with the extra power of the Superbike getting it to work I don’t think Jake was comfortable. He wasn’t happy all weekend. He tried the best he could. We got two top tens and that wasn’t bad. More testing time would’ve helped and, again, it was a new bike, new track for him, new track with the bike. We did the best we could and Jake rode as hard as he could. We’re happy with coming away with no problems and two top ten finishes. Hopefully Neil (Hodgson) will be back for Barber and hopefully he’ll be fit and I know he’ll be looking forward to getting some good results. Sunday Superbike: 1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 2. Blake Young (Suzuki) 3. Geoff May (Suzuki) 4. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 5. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 6. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 7. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki) 8. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 9. Jake Holden (Honda) 10. Larry Pegram (Ducati) Saturday Superbike: 1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 3. Geoff May (Suzuki) 4. Blake Young (Suzuki) 5. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 6. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 7. Larry Pegram (Ducati) 8. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 9. David Anthony (Suzuki) 10. Jake Holden (Honda) Championship Standings: 1. Mat Mladin (Suzuki) 157 2. Tommy Hayden (Suzuki) 112 3. Geoff May (Suzuki) 92 4. Blake Young (Suzuki) 89 5. Josh Hayes (Yamaha) 77 6. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha) 71 7. Larry Pegram (Ducati) 64 8. Aaron Yates (Suzuki) 62 9. David Anthony (Suzuki) 48 10. Taylor Knapp (Suzuki) 44 More, from a press release issued by American Suzuki: Rockstar Makita Suzuki Sweeps Road Atlanta Superbike Weekend Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mladin, Young finish first & second, with National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s May in third Round 3 AMA Superbike Series, Race II Braselton, Georgia Road Atlanta April 3 -5, 2009 Suzuki followed up Saturday’s all-Suzuki podium sweep with another such feat on Sunday afternoon in the second of two AMA Superbike races at the Suzuki Superbike Showdown at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin again got a great start on his GSX-R1000 and led all the laps to take the win, which means the six-time AMA Superbike Champion celebrated his 77th career AMA Superbike victory. Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate Blake Young followed Mladin home for a second-place result. This is Superbike rookie Young’s best result so far in the premier class. Rounding out the second all-Suzuki podium of the weekend was National Guard Jordan Suzuki’s Geoff May, thanks to an impressive third-place finish. Finally, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden followed his fellow Suzuki teammates home in sixth position. Mat Mladin: “I had a bit of a tumble in practice this morning and, as usual, my Rockstar Makita Suzuki team got the bike together for me and ready for the race. It was a good race for us, we had a bit of a crack at it and put in some good laps. Around lap 10 or 11, I was trying to figure out whether I should keep pushing it, but my boys get a bit nervous when I do that. I figured I’d pushed my luck today enough already so I just decided to have a bit of fun at the end of the race.” Blake Young: “I got a good start on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 and after a few laps, Geoff (May) came by with some good pace. I definitely jumped in and tried to see where he was a little bit better than me. I’ve got to give a ‘heads up’ to my guys for giving me the best motorcycle I’ve had all weekend long. We never took a step back at all this weekend, everything was going forward.” Geoff May: “Today my start was a little worse than yesterday. I was worried I was going to get run over and just end my day right there. I just put my head down again and we really had the National Guard Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 set up for the end of the race and we really worked hard on giving it a little extra at the end of the race.” Tommy Hayden: “I didn’t get the best of starts and I was a little far back and started working my way through the field. But I had an issue where I ran off the track and I lost a couple of positions and a little time. I was able to run the pack back down, but I just struggled passing today. I could run the pace pretty easy but I was having trouble being aggressive and passing. It’s a bummer because the results weren’t great but it could’ve been worse. We’re still second in points and we’re going to Barber next, and that’s one of my favorite tracks.” Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing will race next at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, on the weekend of May 2-4, 2009. More, from a press release issued by Penny Nicolai on behalf of Team Hurtbyaccident.com: CZAIA & GALLAHER MAKE HISTORY AS THEIR TEAMHURTBYACCIDENT.COM TAKES THE WIN IN THE AMA PRO RACING SUNTRUST MOTO-GT SERIES Braselton, Ga – Well-known Florida personal injury and accident attorneys, Czaia and Gallagher, P.A., made history today as their TeamHurtByAccident.com took the victory in the first AMA Pro Racing SunTrust MOTO-GT Series event at Road Atlanta. Grabbing the Checkered by a margin of victory of 14.267 seconds, team riders Armando Ferrer and Rodolfo Ramirez fought an excellent battle for the entire two-hour event. Powering off the startline from the pole position, they immediately took the lead and ran in first for most of the race. “After suffering a broken radiator at Daytona (Round One of the Series), everyone on the team was more than determined to take the win,” explains Ramirez. “Our pit stops were great, our Czaia & Gallagher Suzuki GSX-R600 ran perfectly. We got hit with a stop and go penalty for a pace car infraction which caused us to lose the lead. But it wasn’t long before we were back out in front. Then there was a Red Flag for oil on the track and that threw our strategy right out the window. However we have a really good crew and they worked it out so we could get the job done.” Recalculating fuel mileage, the crew kept the team out as long as possible to widen the gap. Pulling in the pits for a splash and go and a rider change from Ferrer to Ramirez. “We lost a couple of spots,” said Ferrer, “but we knew the leader had not pitted and calculated that he would run short of fuel before the end of the race. And, that is precisely what happed.” “We are really pleased with the results,” said team owner C.J. Czaia. “And I am extremely proud of our entire team. Our win today moved us into 4th place in the point standings, just 15 points out of the lead and we now have a good shot at winning the championship. This is the first time that the MOTO-GT Series has raced at Atlanta and that makes winning doubly special.” In addition to their win in GT-1, TeamHurtByAccident.com also took a 5th place finish in GT-2 with pilots John Linder and Robert Fisher. Headquartered in Bradenton, Fla., with offices in many Florida cities, Czaia & Gallagher P.A. is one of the larger personal injury and accident law firms in the state of Florida. Extremely involved in community activities, they are dedicated to supporting numerous causes including the March of Dimes Bikers for Babies, Family Health Centers, Herocare, Healthy Start and AFCAAM to name just a few. In addition, they are strong supporters of Biker Nights held around the state. Utilizing both their racing program and appearances at Biker Nights one of Czaia & Gallagher’s goals is to educate Florida motorcycle riders of their rights. Be sure and follow TeamHurtByAccident.com as they go for the championship