Lenny Hale Wins 3 AFM Races At Thunderhill Raceway Lenny Hale bested windy conditions and stiff competition to win three races on his Yamaha YZF-R6 at the AFM event at Thunderhill Raceway, June 12-13, 2010. Hale won 600 Superbike, 750 Superbike and 750 Production, placed 2nd in 600 Production, and 4th in Formula One at the AFM’s fourth round of 2010. Hale is currently leading the AFM in overall points. In 600 Production, Hale got off the line with Tyler O’Hara hot on his heels. The two ran a very close race up to the fourth lap. “I was running my AMA takeoffs (tires), and this was a back up bike. The combination of the soft compound takeoff and stock motor just didn’t give me the drive I needed on the straights,” Hale says. Tyler O’Hara took first with Hale in second by 0.6 seconds. In 600 Superbike, Hale returned the favor, battling back and forth with O’Hara right up to the checkered flag. Lenny beat O’Hara by 0.256 seconds. “We were having a really good race, and I knew I had to get him on the front straight,” Hale says. “I set up to catch his draft out of Turn 15, and only broke out of the draft at the tower right before start-finish. I knew it was a little long to wait, but with the takeoffs and the high temperatures, I had to get the best drive I could. “Tyler is a really good competitor and I have a lot of fun riding with him. I spent the weekend riding my AMA takeoffs, and my main bikes are back east for Mid-Ohio, so the backup bike I was riding doesn’t have the suspension set up or the set up time on it that my other ones do. But we were able to get the work done, and I had a really fun weekend. “I want to say thanks to my sponsors, especially Ed and Gianluca from Factory Bodyworks, Kelcey from NJK Leathers, and the P.T.T. crew. Your help at the track and the support to my racing effort this year are helping me to do my best.” Hale’s sponsors include Dunlop, PSR, Garage Endeavors, Factory Bodyworks, Pacific Track Time, Repsol Oil, Arai Helmets, NJK leathers. The next round of competition for Hale will be June 5th-6th at Road America with AMA. More, from a press release issued by Vesrah Suzuki: VESRAH SUZUKI’S NICK MCFADDEN COMPETED IN HIS FIRST RACE ABOARD A 600CC MACHINE WITH WERA AT TALLADEGA GRAN PRIX RACEWAY LAST WEEKEND. Vesrah Suzuki development rider Nick McFadden raced a Suzuki GSX-R 600 for the first time this past weekend at the WERA Sportsman round at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway in Munford Alabama. Nick competed in the Mediumweight Expert Solo held on Saturday finishing 8th after starting at the back of the grid. Nick will be back in action aboard his Moriwakis this weekend with the USGPRU at Virginia International Raceway in Alton Virginia. He will be looking to improve his position in the point standings especially in the MD250H championship in which he currently lies in 2nd place for the East Coast and in 4th place for the National championships. Mark Junge Team Owner Vesrah Suzuki “Nick learning on a 600 is one of the goals for him as a development rider for this year and now that process has begun. I have to thank Evelyn and Sean Clark with WERA for agreeing to let Nick have this opportunity. I’m looking forward to this coming weekend as it will be the first USGPRU event I will be able to attend this year in support of Nick and his goals on the Moriwakis.” Nick McFadden #195 Vesrah Suzuki “It was a great weekend for me at Talladega. I have been wanting to race the 600 bike ever since riding coach, Travis Smith, let me ride one last Fall. Mark (Junge) and Tony (Pogue) worked on the seat for me at the Vesrah shop so I could get down into the bike better. I rode some test sessions this winter under the watch of the Vesrah team. Mark talked to WERA and I was allowed to race this weekend and then be evaluated. I would like to thank WERA for the chance to do this. It was the perfect birthday present for me, as I will have my 13th birthday this week.” “I felt like the riding went very well, with my times improving steadily over the two days of practice and racing, and the Solo race was fun. I was glad to last 20 laps in the heat. I was great to have Tray Batey back at the track with me. Thanks to Tray and Vesrah crewman Danny Freels for their help to get me going on the Vesrah Suzuki GSX-R 600 this weekend. I hope to review this weekend with Mark and Tray and improve each time we can go out on it.” Vesrah Suzuki and Nick McFadden want to thank all of their sponsors for their support for the 2010 season Vesrah, American Suzuki, Rockstar Energy Drink, Nielsen Enterprises Suzuki, West Side Heavy Hauling Inc, Dunlop Tires, Traxxion Dynamics Fork Components, Arai Helmets, Graves Motorsports, Hotbodies Racing Bodywork, Sudco Int., Bazzaz, Factory Pro, Maxima Racing Oils, Vortex, DID Chain, Penske Racing Shocks, GPR Stabilizers, Trek Bicycles, GP Tech, Active & Road Rage Designs More, from a press release issued by Chris “Opie” Caylor’s publicist: Opie Conquers all at Talladega Komodo sponsored Opie Caylor returned to Talladega Gran Prix Raceway this past weekend for a WERA Sportsman Series event where Suzuki money was up for grabs. Following two wins in two starts during a WERA National at Talladega back in April, Opie was looking to continue his winning ways. And he did just that. Opie started the sweltering-hot weekend off by winning the Heavyweight Solo 20, onboard his Dunlop-shod Suzuki GSXR 750, over up and coming rider Jimmy Merck. It was a calculated race for Opie as he stalked Jimmy until lap thirteen. Once he made his move, Opie lowered the pace and set off for the checkered flag. Opie said, “I just did what I had to do. It was so hot and I wanted to conserve as much as I could. I waited until late in the race to make my move and fortunately I was able to make a pass stick and win!” On Sunday, Opie picked up right where he left off the day before. The first race of the day was A Superstock and Opie wasted no time getting to the front despite a fourth row grid position. Off the start, Opie made a couple of key passes and was in to the lead by lap 2. “Racing against 1000’s on a 750 is tough!” Opie said. “I knew that I needed to get into the lead as quickly as possible and try to set a quicker pace and control it from the front”. Opie did just that as he took his second win of the weekend over AMA regular Tim Hunt by nearly four seconds. On more equal ground in B Superstock, Opie looked to be the favorite for the win, but had a fight on his hands from youngster Jake Lewis. Opie was third off the line behind Jimmy Merck and Jake Lewis. With the races being only eight laps, Opie knew that he had to get going quickly. He passed Jake Lewis going into turn two then set off after Jimmy Merck. “Once I got on Jimmy’s back wheel, I knew that I had to make a decisive move and then really go! It was a combined Expert and Novice race and I wanted to be sure that I lead through traffic.” As it turned out though, it was Jake Lewis that was shadowing Opie through the closing laps. “After realizing who it was, I changed up my game plan a bit. I started riding defensive by blocking the inside line and in turn slowed the pace down. I knew Jake’s bike wouldn’t out accelerate my 750 and it allowed me to conserve some energy for the Formula One race”. Opie’s strategy paid off and he got his second win of the day. The third and final race of the day for Opie was Formula One Expert. Starting from the third row, Opie got a great launch and immediately went to work on cutting through the field. As it turned out, Opie found his way into the lead much quicker and easier than he expected. “On a point and shoot track like Talladega, I knew that I had my work cut out for me. I feel that if I can get my 750 through everybody on 1000’s and into the lead by lap three, I’ve got a chance to win it.” Due to a couple of miscues by some of his competitors, Opie had the lead by the end of lap one! He turned lap times in the high 57’s and low 58’s and took his third win of the day by just over three seconds. After the awards ceremony, Opie said, “It feels really good to get all of these wins this weekend. It was unbelievably hot but my Dunlop tires were so hooked up! The extra power that my 750 makes running VP MRX01 Racing fuel helps me to be competitive with the 1000’s. And this heat takes so much out of you that if it weren’t for the excellent ventilation in my Komodo Leathers and my Arai Helmet it would have been really hard for me to stay focused enough to do what I did here this weekend.” Opie Caylor’s next race is a WERA Sportsman Series Regional event at Road Atlanta later this month. More, from a press release issued by EDR Performance: EDR Performance takes wins in AFM and MRA. Thunderhill Raceway in Willows California was the site for round 4 of AFM racing. Michael Earnest took his EDR Performance Built Pacific Track Time GSXR1000 from the 3rd row to the lead on lap 1 in the AFM’s highly competitive Formula Pacific. In what was one of the best races of the season, Earnest ran a best of 1:48.8, only 4/10th off the outright lap record and the only competitor in the 1:48s over the weekends extremely high temps. This was Earnest and EDR Performance’s 2nd win in what most consider the toughest class in the west. “It was great to win again in AFM, last round we struggled with an electrical gremlin that we fixed at last minute but Mike caught shifter on curbing while going for the lead and we ended up with a dnf, so to come back and win from the 3rd row really shows Mike’s talent and the bikes performance, especially considering the competition in AFM with guys like Stanton, Call, Siglin, Randolph and others it’s incredible” said Eric Dorn of EDR Performance. Michael was beside himself after the race stating “That the best race, I mean I can’t say enough about Jeff Tigert and Chris Siglin, even the rest of the competitors, we got some of the best racers in the country. Eric made a last minute tire call that had me worried but it ended up really working out for us, I cant thank him for his engine and help, Barry and Dave for the GP suspension, Dunlop tires, EBC, Pit Bull, my entire Pacific Tracktime crew and of course my wife, Bess” Fellow PTT rider Ken Casey also took victory, winning Open Production aboard his EDR built GSXR1000. This was Ken’s first win and with his fastest lap of 1:53.6 being over 2 full seconds faster than the competition, he won convincingly. In the 750 Supersport and Superbike classes, Kevin Nekimken riding his EDR built GSXR750’s took two very impressive 2nd places with Kevin leading both races in the beginning. EDR’s Eric Dorn said “To see Ken get his first win was just great, then to see fellow EDR/PTT teammate Kevin leading two races and end up on the podiums in his first expert year, was impressive. I can’t explain how great of a weekend it was for us.” Meanwhile over in Colorado at Highplains Raceway, Slednecks Racing/California Superbike School’s Josh Galster took his EDR Performance built ZX-6R to an impressive 5 victories, taking first place in MW SS, MW SBK, HW SS, HW SBK, Race of the Rockies GTU and finished off an impressive weekend with a strong 3rd place on in the 1000cc Race of the Rockies GTO class. More, from a press release issued by Evan Steel Performance: Tony Kasper shines at overcast Brainerd weekend At a cool, overcast and sometimes wet C.R.A. event at Brainerd International Raceway Tony Kasper took five wins in five starts on his Dunlop shod, 24-7 Speed Co./Speedcell/E.S.P. Yamaha R-6’s. Better still, he turned the overall fastest lap of the weekend, just .15 hundredths of a second off Rob Jensons 600 lap record for C.R.A. and faster than all the 1000cc bikes on the weekend. Tony Kasper— “I really want to thank my dad for all of his hard work, and also Jim at On Track 4 Him for getting me a tire deal, it feels great to be back on Dunlops! I think with some decent weather and track conditions we have a great shot at getting the club 600 track record which is a goal of mine for this season. Also thanks to Jason Bryant, Josh Kaufmann, and Evan Steel, those guys have really been helping me out and we are making great progress. Next stop for us is the Mid-Ohio AMA event, I am really looking forward to seeing where I stack up compared to the best riders in the country!! Evan Steel— “I have been working with Tony for a couple of years now, and he is really coming on strong this year. We have raced at four different tracks this year so far, and he has been at or under the 600cc track record at three of them! Now we head for Mid-Ohio, where Tony can continue to learn and improve by riding with the pros.”