Army Of Darkness Extends WERA/N2 Championship Points Lead with Win At Road Atlanta.
After a tumultuous 4-hour endurance race that was shortened by red flags, a controversial rain delay, and another red flag, AOD emerged from the chaos in the lead taking their first win of the season and extending the championship points lead with one race remaining in the season.
AOD’s usual rider line up of Ben Walters, Chris Peris and Cody Wyman was augmented by the addition of veteran superbike racer Geoff May.
AOD Lead Mechanic Melissa Berkoff observed, “It is always a pleasure to get to work with an analytical rider like Geoff. He comes to the bike with a wealth of experiences and he had some valuable feedback that not only helped with the race package for this weekend but helped the team with some new ideas.”
The race began with legendary champion Josh Hayes leading Hayden Gillim with AOD stalking in third. A series of red flags and unconventional weather delays jumbled the running order to see AOD jumping into first place with perfectly executed pit strategy and fast consistent riding by Peris and May. With May steadily extending the lead it looked like the race was heading to a final shootout between TSR and AOD but a rider bizarrely lying down next to the track ended the race early leaving AOD to extend their championship points lead.
Geoff May offered, “The bike was really good right out of the trailer and we worked to try to adapt the engine mapping and suspension set up from the last race at long, sweepy PittRace to the point-and-shoot Road Atlanta. I was familiar with the strengths and characteristics of the Pirelli slicks so we were really able to set the bike up to match the tires’ strengths. I, like many racers in the US, have watched AOD win championship after championship and it was a real pleasure to get to work with such a group of dedicated enthusiasts. I also really enjoyed getting to talk over riding strategies with Chris and Cody.”
With AOD having raced in the US since 1993 there are bound to be a lot of alumni racers. At Road Atlanta, all the top heavyweight teams had a AOD alum rider with Taylor Knapp at TSR and Josh Hayes at BHM.
AOD is sponsored by: Army of Darkness, Pirelli, Yamaha Champions Riding School, Yamaha, Industry13, Chicken Hawk, Wood Craft, Hindle, Supersprox, Thermosman, N2, WERA, Roadracing World.
