THE PRAMAC RACING TEAM LEAVES CATALUNYA WITH SOME REGRETS BUT WITH GREAT HOPE The Grand Prix de Catalunya was the first opportunity of the season that the Pramac Racing Team has scheduled to place both its riders in the top ten position of the race. Unfortunately after Espargaro’s slip and the not very constant trend of Kallio, who have finished the race in twelfth position, had allowed the Team to only get four World Championship points. After the race was easy to see in the eyes of all the Team the regret of a lost opportunity, but at the same time a spark of hope for an exponential growth performance of young Catalan. Aleix certainly ended his race after just five laps from the start, but its results throughout all the weekend were very rewarding. During the warm-up in the morning he was able to bring his bike in fifth place, behind the official teams and first of the independent teams. Despite the result and the distance from the winner of the race, more than a minute of gap, Kallio had positive sensations for the rest of the season, he has found t he perfect physical form and the feeling with his bike can only go better. The hope is that on Sachsenring track, his favorite track, he will return to fight with the top riders of the league as he was able to do last year. Paolo Campinoti – Team Principal Pramac Racing Team “We knew that we where fast on Barcelona’s track, but I was greatly gratified to see one of our rider so close to the first position during all weekend sessions. Unfortunately I think his race has been penalized by Saturday’s qualifying session, starting the race in twelfth position, when you know that you can be faster than the riders ahead of you, did not allow you to feel comfortable. Aleix was trying to recover some position in the race and he stumbled into a slip. We are however very pleased with the growth that he was able to do in recent Grand Prix, he was pointing to a great result here and I’m sure that he could finish the race in the first seven position if he had not slipped. Mika has instead a very difficult weekend. Thanks to the work done with his engineers, he had reduced the gap from the first riders during Sunday’s morning warm-up, but despite a great start, he had failed to maintain contact with the first and in the last laps has consistently turned slower t han the rest of group. The hope is now that in the next Grand Prix, Aleix will confirm its growth and that Mika will return to conquest good positions. ” Aleix Espargarò – Pramac Racing Team “I had hope to achieve a good result on Barcelona’s track, my home track, in order to give a good result to my fans and my Team who have worked very hard to meet my needs. Unfortunately I wasn’t able. I heard a lot of affection in all the people around me after the slip, everyone saw that I was trying to do my best and everyone saw my disappointment after the slip. But we must always look ahead, learning from mistakes and take the positive things of what’s happening. I was able to run very close to the fastest riders and I was much faster than some experienced rider who have run for many years in this category: now I know that I can be able to fighting for a good position on all the tracks. For the next race I’ve got to conquest a better starting position during qualifying so that I don’t have to comeback other riders. I have also to do a better start, in Barcelona I have not lost positions at the start, the aim is now to be able to win some position. I will work hard to imp rove even on this aspects. ” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team “Barcelona weekend was very difficult for me and the end result is the proof of that. Despite the work made by my technicians that have done their best to offer me a balanced bike for this track, I could not have the rhythm that was necessary to get a better position. I was constantly a second slower than the riders in front of me. We have to quickly forget this race and return to focus intensely on what will be the next round at Sachsenring, in absolute my favorite track where I have won in the past and where I had some good results. I will do my best to turn my season that is so far inadequate with results. I have to do that for my Team that never miss their support in me. ” More, from a press release issued by Gerloff Boys Racing Team: Gerloff Boys Racing Team Successful at Grattan! The Gerloff Boys Racing Team journeyed northward to Belding, Michigan for Round 4 of the WERA National Challenge Series. Upon arrival, two of the team’s riders, Garrett Gerloff and Brian Stokes, worked quickly to learn the circuit. Since this was Garrett’s first trip to Grattan Raceway, each practice lap would be very important to prepare for Sunday’s races. In the 600 Superstock National, Gerloff found himself in a group of riders trying to break away from the field. Gerloff made his way to lead on lap 3, but a mistake in the “hairpin” turn caused him to lose the lead. Garrett finished the race in 4th position, disappointed with the result, but encouraged by the fact that he was able to increase his lead in the class’ point standings. Eager to improve on the first race’s finish, Gerloff rocketed off the grid into the lead of the 600 Superbike National race. This time, there would not be any disappointment! Gerloff ran several fast laps to gap the field. Once again showing maturity beyond his fourteen years of age, Garrett managed the gap and crossed the line in 1st position. Garrett’s race win extended his points lead in this class too. The last race of the day saw the team’s crew chief and mentor, Brian Stokes, in a four-way battle for the lead. Stokes’ race seemed to turn for the worst when he ran off-track on lap 5, but Stokes refocused and worked hard to regain lost time. As other riders suffered misfortune and slowed, Stokes ran his fastest laptimes of the weekend to finish the race in 2nd position. Stokes’ finish moved him into 1st place in the WERA Superbike class point standings. Gerloff Boys Racing Team leaves Michigan leading three class championships. The next round of the series will be July 30th through August 1st in Summit Point, West Virginia. Thank you to all the team’s sponsors who have made this successful start possible. More, from a press release issued by Seton Interceptor Yamaha Racing: BSB Round 5 Knockhill – Seton Interceptor Yamaha Racing The Knockhill circuit in Scotland hosted Round 6 of the British Superbikes championship on the 4th July. After hot footing it from Mallory park, only the weekend before, the Seton Interceptor team were ready for action at the short but technical Scottish circuit. Superstock rider Ben Grindrod was on the sidelines with a broken heel, giving moral support to Supersport riders Helge Spjeldnes and newest signing Alex Lowes. Practice went well with Helge learning the circuit for the first time and Alex looking comfortable in 12th place. Qualifying, however, didn’t run to plan for the Colchester based team. Helge found it hard to pick up the pace and ended up in 31st place. Alex had a torrid time with a technical issue forcing him to pull out of qualifying on the 3rd lap of each session, 2 seconds off his time from the previous day. This put Alex 32nd on the grid. The team had to put in some long hours of hard graft to move the bikes forward but by Sunday morning the bikes were ready. The rainy weather decided to play a big part in race day proceedings delaying morning warm up and ultimately cancelling some races. The Supersport race however went ahead but was shortened to 15 laps from the planned 25. Warm up had gone well for both riders with the bikes behaving faultlessly, filling the riders with confidence. The 15 lap race was in very wet conditions which we had a great set up for. Helge made steady progress throughout the race and finished in 22nd place with a very creditable performance. Alex was in the zone before the race and quickly set about making progress. By the end of lap 1 he had elevated himself from 32nd on the grid to 15th place where he stayed until the safety car came out on lap 4. This bunched up all the riders and a focused Alex capitalised on the situation. When the safety car pulled in he picked off bike after bike in a brave and daring fashion. With 2 laps to go Alex was up to 4th place with 3rd and 2nd less than 0.5 seconds ahead when the race was stopped. The result was declared at the last time the riders crossed the finish line dropping Alex to 5th. Still a fantastic result for the team. Team owner Phil Seton said “It was a great shame the race was cut short robbing Alex from a beach side podium. Alex has now shown what he and the Seton Interceptor team are capable of beating the factory Yamahas. We are at Snetterton on 18th July for the next round where I think we will be able to achieve our full potential and hopefully taste some Champagne!” You can keep up to date on the teams progress on our Facebook page “Seton Interceptor Racing”. Seton Interceptor Yamaha Racing would like to say thank you to the following sponsors for all their support Bike Interceptor, Seton Tuning, Panther Security Systems, Yamaha, Pirelli, Sparmax, Norske Skog, Asker MC, SPS, Aspire, Trodrud Engineering, TK Cope Moto, Motul, RST, HM Quickshifters, Esjot, Revolution Signs, Powder coatings Northern, Moto Coat, Motul, GPR, PFM, Venhill, Powerbronze, NGK, DID, SBS, K-Tech, Profibre, MHP, Sigma, GBRacing, Colchester Engineering Systems, ASNU and Costaeye.com. More, from a press release issued by Graves Motorsports: Team Zyvax’s Graves Spec Yamaha R6 wins Overall first place during the Grattan WERA endurance round – leaves its big brother the in the dust! Kennesaw, Georgia – Team Zyvax created their own fireworks on the track during the 4th of July WERA Endurance weekend races at Grattan Raceway in Belding, MI. Despite the big power of the team’s Yamaha R1, the little brother Yamaha R6 stood out as the champion in all out lap times during the shortened endurance race. Perfect weather and perfectly prepped bikes and riders could not outweigh the less than perfect track conditions at Grattan Raceway last weekend. Track surface issues and resulting clean-up efforts caused cancelled practices on Friday and a shortened endurance race on Saturday. Taking it all in stride, guest rider Jason Disalvo with team riders Dane Westby and Clinton Seller put in careful but lightning quick laps on their Team Zyvax / Graves Motorsports prepped Yamaha R6. With the help of his uncatchable R6, Westby bought his team an early thirty-seven second lead and set the pace with the fastest lap time of the race. Despite poor track conditions, Westby was a full second quicker than the fastest lap of the same race in 2009 set by Tray Batey. “I just went crazy from the beginning; flying off the jump, landing at the apex and flicking it in,” said Westby after his first stint, referencing the famous Grattan Jump. He also commented on the track saying, “It was getting better each lap. Turn three was okay if you stayed way inside and turn two is still a little sketchy.” Ben Bostrom and Chris Clark astride their Graves Motorsports prepped / Team Zyvax Yamaha R1 had their work cut out for them. Both Zyvax R1 riders were new to Grattan Raceway and they too were forced to deal with the loss of track time. Even more challenging was hooking up the more powerful R1. Bostrom and Clark had to adapt to track conditions and work hard to get horsepower to the track. “The R6 has loads of grip!” said a slightly envious Bostrom at the end of his first stint, “Dane just left me! But I was having so much fun learning each hole on the track. It got more exciting every lap.” Former AMA Champion Kurtis Roberts’ scheduled guest ride with Bostrom and Clark was shelved by the shortened race, forcing the team to adjust their race strategy. Unfortunately the adjusted strategy left Roberts without a stint in the race. Team Zyvax marked the halfway point of the season at Grattan by solidifying the first place championship positions of both the R1 and the R6 in their respective classes. In overall championship points the Zyvax Teams are first and second with the R1 holding a narrow four point spread over the R6. “What a race!” exclaimed ecstatic team owner JB Layman, “The little R6 finished on top over the big R1. The riders adapted to the changing track conditions and were able to get the most out of the bikes. This is our team’s best performance so far.” Team Zyvax is sponsored by Zyvax, Inc., Graves Motorsports and Dunlop. Check out www.teamzyvax.com for team news and details. More, from a press release issued by LeoVince USA: Yuki Takahashi’s stunning win gives Tech3 and LeoVince their premiere Moto2 victory. Yuki Takahashi and the Tech3 Racing team devastated the field today to earn their maiden victory in Moto2 at the incredibly challenging Catalunya circuit in Spain. Andrea Iannone was the only rider in Sunday’s race to stand in Takahashi’s way, but eventually Race Control gave Iannone a ride through penalty having passed under a yellow flag and failing to give up the position gained. This mistake left Takahashi with a comfortable lead of nearly three seconds on lap 16. Despite the temperatures and the demanding concentration required to run alone at the front, Yuki Takahashi was able to claim his first win since the German 250cc Grand Prix in 2006. The historic win for Tech 3 Racing moved Takahashi into eighth place in the overall rankings. This in an incredible win for LeoVince, as the full titanium pipe that the Tech3 team uses for their Moto2 bikes was designed, tested and built in Monticello D’Alba at the LeoVince factory and headquarters. Tim Calhoun, Executive Vice President of LeoVince USA said on Monday, “I am excited that Tech3 and LeoVince were able win a race so early in the development of this series. We are proud of our efforts in developing this exhaust as it is such an important piece in the competitive package of these Moto2 bikes. We feel fortunate to have such a great development partner like Tech3, the hard work of Yuki Takahashi and the entire Tech3 Team has validated our efforts in the development of Moto2 exhausts and continued positioning as one of the world¹s premiere exhaust manufactures”. To learn more about LeoVince USA, and their entire product range visit www.leovinceusa.com More, from a press release issued by Jentin Racing: HEARTY RIDE FROM JENTIN RACING-BMW MOTORRAD’S STEVE BROGAN AT LAST WEEKEND’S KNOCKHILL ROUND A gale-lashed weekend at the Scottish circuit ended without the wins that Jentin Racing-BMW Motorrad were hoping for. The team was in a good position following qualifying – with Liverpudlian rider Steve Brogan putting the team’s S 1000 RR on pole position in the Mirror.co.uk BSB-EVO class, despite still suffering with a swollen wrist and fractured vertebrae following a crash at MalloryPark. But despite his can-do attitude and strong performance, it was not to be. A troubled first race – delayed by two red flags – saw Steve sixth in class and 22nd overall. The second MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship race got underway despite worsening weather conditions including high winds and increasingly strong rain – with gusts reaching 70mph – but was red flagged in the interests of safety and the weekend’s racing ended early. Rider Steve Brogan said: “We got a good start and got going well in race one but it was red flagged soon after. So we came into the pits and got ready to go out again. I got out and into the mix but the rear tyre got chewed up really early and from there I started going backwards through the pack. “From the second restart in race one, my tyre was shot. The sheer power of our bike and the way it comes in tore it up in the wet – I was wheel-spinning early on. And I was very cautious of my injuries. I had my back x-rayed over the weekend and found out I have a fractured vertebrae – which sounds nasty and it is painful, but I can still ride and the medical team cleared me to race. So my plan was to get some points and try to beat Hudson to reduce his championship lead. “The second race was cancelled and I was a bit relieved. It’s being added to the bill for the next round at Snetterton. I really like the track and I think the two long straights will really work in favour of our bike. Added to that the fact that I’ll have more time to recover between the rounds means that I’m very positive about our chances. I just want to thank our boys on the team who did a fantastic job in some truly awful weather. Now, on to Snetterton!” The cancelled race means that Round Seven – Snetteron on 16-18 July – will be a triple header with one race on Saturday and two on the Sunday. Brogan will be spending some time in the lead up to Snetterton inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber on the Isle of Man. The team hopes the therapy – which promotes rapid healing by increasing the amount of oxygen in the blood – will speed up the rate of his recovery and give Jentin Racing-BMW Motorrad the best possible start for the next round.