Three Aces for Kelsey at NOLA Georgetown, Texas rider Danny Kelsey posted three wins during the inaugural event at NOLA Motorsports Park with WERA. A combined sportsman series and national event, the WERA event provided a great opportunity for Kelsey to experience the fast NOLA 2.7 mile track while participating in a national level event. RPSRaceTeam.com and Kelsey made the decision to participate in the event on Monday as the AMA teams were preparing for their first test of the facility. This only left the team two days to prepare for the race. As Kelsey and the team traveled to Avondale, La. to experience the well-known Louisiana hospitality, reports from AMA teams and riders through social media and phone calls brought light to the concern of significantly accelerated tire wear. As the team prepared for Friday practice, Michelin’s David Hirsch and Walt Schaeffer provided RPSRaceteam.com manager Marcus McBain a few recommendations to ensure that Kelsey would be able to not only string fast laps together with the Michelin Cup tires, but have the longevity required for Kelsey to learn the track as well as battle for every lap of his races. As Friday practice concluded, the team and Kelsey were both excited and disappointed. Kelsey learned the track quickly and was up to pace. The tire wear was phenomenal for the team. The numbers and suspension setup on the Penske Shock and GP Suspension Cartridges provided for the Michelin tires to come in looking like “new”. This really helped the team get the bike dialed in quickly. An error in the second of the three sessions had Kelsey go out with gearing that was “completely off” and he had to quickly push in the final session to continue to lower his lap times and be prepared to contest the weekend races. The first race up on the Saturday schedule was the combined WERA Sportsman B Superbike race with 28 riders taking to the grid. With some final adjustments providing additional performance, Kelsey took the green flag and quickly took the point in turn 3. As the race continued, Kelsey strategically paced the RPSRaceTeam.com GSXR-750 and took the win by 8.8 seconds. The WERA Sportsman B Superstock race was expected to be a really barn burner, and it left no one disappointed who watched the race. With the race starting cleanly, Jimmy Merck was leader on lap one with Kelsey in tow. Shadowing Kelsey was Nick McFadden who looked ready to pounce on any mistake by Kelsey or Merck. Kelsey looked for any advantage, but he was not able to draft down the straight despite a 150cc displacement advantage. Danny realized he was going to have to make his move on the last lap and have enough gap that Merck would not be able draft back by him in the run for the checkered flag. As Merck and Kelsey came up on a lapper, Danny made the decisive move, and was able to fend off Merck for the win. As team reviewed the notes from Saturday’s races, they were very pleased with the exceptional tire wear that allowed Kelsey to run several races on one set of tires. At the same time, Danny felt some better performance from the suspension would help him make the type of improvements that his competitors were making. The team and Kelsey absolutely felt that the pace for Sunday would be over a second faster and improvements had to be made. Kelsey was able to effortlessly match his fast race pace from Saturday in the Sunday race warm up. The team was very confident that Danny would have an opportunity to compete for more wins. B Superstock was the first race up and it would be a rematch of the previous event from Saturday. As the Green flag dropped Kelsey was not able to get off the line cleanly and entered turn one in 4th place. Compounding the problem was that he was “losing the front” immediately in the turn and was relieved to not crash. With a swarm of hungry riders, Danny had his work cut out for him. As he collected himself and adjusted his riding, Kelsey cleared the pack on lap 3. Unfortunately, Merck was on the gas and by the time Danny could focus on pursuing him, he had cleared the pack by 6.3 seconds. With only a few laps remaining, Kelsey realized that he would have to settle for 2nd. He was able to back off his pace and comfortably run to the finish in the number two spot. With Kelsey’s final race of the weekend coming up (B Superbike), a review of the data showed front tire was not staying up in pressure. McBain made some adjustments to the front tire pressure as well as compensate for a fading rear shock that was “quickly” built within the short time frame the team had to prep. The team and Kelsey felt he was ready to run up front again. As the flag dropped for B Superbike, Kelsey quickly moved to the front. As he began to pull away, James Dellinger was in tow and the two riders battled for 7 hard laps. The two riders generally never more than 0.5 seconds apart. On the final lap, Dellinger was looking for any opportunity to pass and as the riders came to turn 13, Kelsey went in deep on the brakes with Dellinger braking even later. As two riders turned in, it was apparent Dellinger had overtaxed the front end and was quickly off the track. Kelsey expecting the move avoided any of the aftermath and was safely through the turn and took the checked flag for his third win of the weekend. It was a rewarding effort for the team. On Monday, the team bike lay in pieces. When the decision was made to go to NOLA, it was a great effort by the team and sponsors to get Kelsey to the races. The effort provided a great opportunity for Kelsey to show he can learn a track quickly and be ready to win under any circumstances. For RPSRaceTeam.com manager Marcus McBain, it also was a chance to validate the ability to perform under pressure with winning solutions. Kelsey and McBain enter their 7th year working together, and the two working together as well as the closeness of the sponsors makes for a very special winning combination. RPSRaceTeam.com would like to thank its sponsors KMC Controls, Komodo, Lone Star Track Days, GP Suspension, Dynojet, DP Brakes, LP Racing, Hotbodies, Arata, Penske, Vortex, WRW Racing, Sam’s Cycle Salvage, Michelin, and Island Racing Services for their continued support. For more information about Danny Kelsey and RPSRaceTeam.com, please visit www.RPSRaceTeam.com. More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad Motorsport: BMW S 1000 RR dominant at the Red Bull Ring. The BMW Teams in the IDM fought it out among themselves for the top positions at the Red Bull Ring another podium for BMW in the French series. Munich/Spielberg/Magny-Cours, 2nd July 2012. The success story continues: the fourth round of the International German Motorcycle Championship (IDM) at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg (AUS) was once again dominated by the BMW teams receiving direct assistance from BMW Motorrad HP RaceSupport. They monopolised the podium after both races in the IDM Superbike class and continued the run of victories enjoyed by the BMW S 1000 RR in this fiercely competitive championship. Race one was won by local favourite Michael Ranseder (AUT) of Team Technogym Racing Austria Fritze Tuning, who was joined on the podium by Erwan Nigon (FRA) from Team Van Zon alpha Technik-BMW and Jörg Teuchert (GER) of Team Wilbers BMW racing. In total, six RRs finished in the top ten. In the second race, BMW riders occupied the first five positions. This time Nigon finished ahead of Ranseder with Gareth Jones (AUS) of Team Wilbers BMW racing finishing third to claim the final spot on the podium. Teuchert followed in fourth place, with Gisberth van Ginhoven (NED) of Team RAC Racing BMW in fifth. Nigon’s team-mate Oss Vos Arie (NED) completed the top ten. Young RR rider Lucy Glöckner (GER) also put in another strong performance to finish twelfth and eleventh. Lucy is contesting her first full season in the IDM Superbike class with Team Wilbers BMW racing. BMW has a firm grip on the top places in the overall IDM Superbike standings. Ranseder leads with 151 points, ahead of Nigon (137), Teuchert (127) and Jones (107). In the Manufacturers’ Championship, BMW has extended its lead over the chasing pack. The Bavarian manufacturer now has 335 points to its name, followed by Honda with 132 points in second place. A BMW Motorrad HP RaceSupport-assisted team also celebrated a podium finish at the fifth race weekend of the French Superbike Championship FSBK in Magny-Cours (FRA). Sébastien Gimbert (FRA) of Team BMW Motorrad France finished runner-up in the second race, just 0.9 seconds behind winner Julien da Costa (FRA / Kawasaki). “After this weekend, you have to say that the RR, combined with our partner teams and excellent riders, seems to be setting the benchmark at the moment,” said Berthold Hauser, Head of BMW Motorrad HP RaceSupport. “We at HP RaceSupport know the requirements of the BMW teams better than anyone, and have aligned our support with these demands. The excellent close cooperation has improved what was already a really successful package. These results are emphatic proof of this. Congratulations to Michi Ranseder and Erwan Nigon on their wins, but also to all the other guys on our RR on their great results. Lucy Glöckner also deserves a mention. Compliments to the way she has established herself in what is a man’s world. Congratulations also to our partners in France on the second place in Magny-Cours. It goes without saying that we also followed the strong performance of BMW Motorrad Motorsport at the World Championship event in Aragón: congratulations to the entire factory team on two fantastic races.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Team Kawasaki SRC closer to the 2012 French Superbike and Supersport titles Newsflash, 2 July 2012 Julien Da Costa and Grégory Leblanc have increased their points advantage past weekend, at the famous Magny-Cours race track. Both riders are now very close to winning the 2012 FSBK Championship. Julien Da Costa took his ninth race victory (out of ten races) on his Ninja ZX-10R this weekend in Magny-Cours. There were no other riders who could contest his dominating form troughout the weekend. In race two the Kawasaki SRC rider could have given away victory, but he decided to go for the first spot of the podium anyway.’I knew it was not compulsory for me to win, but I just wanted it. It’s always an advantage when you show to your competitors that you will never give up. With a 66 points lead now, I’m quite confident for the next race before summer break. We have to be focused on the next round and after that we can speak about hauling in the tittle, for sure.’ Grégory Leblanc took another win too, in race two of the Supersport series. The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R rider was really delighted at the end of the race and observes his number one standing with great pleasure. ‘We did the job that was expected from us and we are now in a strong position for winning the title. If everything runs under control in ten days for Dijon’s race, I’m pretty sure we can clinch the title two races before the end of the season.’ Kawasaki SRC team manager Gilles Stafler looks slightly different at the situation, but he understands the excitement of his riders very well. ‘For sure it’s something we have to look at, but the team shouldn’t focus on the title that much at the moment. Let’s make the next race as good as this one and then for sure we can talk about the 2012 championship. I think my team, the mechanics and of course my riders deserve it.’ The next round of the French Superbike Championship will be held at the circuit of Dijon, on the 14th and 15th of July The Superbike standings after the 5th 2012 round : 1 DA COSTA Julien KAWASAKI ZX-10R 220 Pts 2 GIMBERT Sebastien BMW 163 Pts 3 DIETRICH Guillaume BMW 133 Pts The Supersport standings after the 5th 2012 round : 1 LEBLANC Gregory KAWASAKI ZX-6R 212 Pts 2 MASSON Etienne KAWASAKI ZX-6R 119 Pts 3 PERRET David YAMAHA 111 Pts