Another Outstanding Race Weekend for Slednecks Riders Josh Galster and Misti Hurst Lexington, Ohio- Slednecks Riders and California Superbike School Coaches, Josh Galster and Misti Hurst enjoyed another weekend of outstanding AMA racing at Mid Ohio Raceway, finishing with a 19th and 23rd place respectively aboard their 2007 Kawasaki ZX6’s. For Galster, this was his 6th straight top 20 finish in 600 Supersport this season, putting him in 17th place overall in the points standings and at the top of the charts for the Rookie of the Year award. Galster qualified in 26th position with a time of 1:31.1 and then hammered out 16 laps during the race, all consistently in the low 1:30’s to finish 19th. After a “non-ideal” start, Galster hung with a pack of slightly faster riders before a few mistakes on his part created a gap between them. After the half way mark, he began gaining on the rider in front of him but wasn’t able to get close enough to attempt a pass before the end of the race. “I wasn’t riding under perfect conditions as we definitely had a few issues this weekend,” commented Galster “but we were able to get them sorted for the most part. I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with Eric Dorn from EDR performance trying to find solutions, and we were at the track till late on Saturday night wrenching, but all in all, it was a good weekend.” Hurst qualified for both Formula Extreme and Supersport with a best time of 1:34.2 but opted out of Saturday’s Formula Extreme race after the 3 red flags in the Superbike race had her questioning the conditions of the track, and her spare bike was put out of commission by teammate Galster who needed to borrow a few critical parts. “Josh needed some parts off the spare,” explained Hurst “and I wanted to focus on the Supersport race so I opted out of FX. It was a good decision on my part.” After an excellent start in Sunday afternoon’s Supersport race, Hurst trailed a pack of faster riders, including her teammate, for a few laps before dropping back a bit and settling into her own rhythm and bringing her times down to 1:33.4. She was passed by one rider and rode the remainder of the race alone to finish 23rdposition. This puts her in 33rd place in the overall points standing. “I was hoping to have someone to really race against, but it was fun regardless. I worked on staying nice and relaxed and on some of the techniques Keith Code was helping me with over the weekend.” Said Hurst after the race. “I’m extremely happy with a 23rd place finish and want to thank my fiancée John Parker who worked tirelessly all weekend, all of our team sponsors and all of our fans. Josh and Misti remained in Lexington after the races and are currently coaching with the California Superbike School at Mid Ohio Raceway for the next few days before heading to Thunderbolt raceway in New Jersey for more coaching and then straight to Virginia International Raceway for the next round of AMA Supersport racing. For more information, please visit www.mistihurst.com, www.slednecks.com or www.superbikeschool.com More, from a press release issued by Rockwall Honda: UP AND DOWN WEEKEND FOR ROCKWALL HONDA’S AARON GOBERT Former AMA Superstock champion Aaron Gobert and Rockwall Performance had a tough weekend at Mid-Ohio, finishing eighth in the Formula Xtreme race and 13th in Supersport. Gobert, who won the Elkhart Lake Formula Xtreme race on his Honda CBR600RR earlier this year, qualified tenth in Mid-Ohio Formula Xtreme. The Australian worked his way up from 11th on lap one to earn eighth place at the red flag that ended the race with ten laps complete on Saturday. The stoppage took one and possibly more places away from Gobert as the last six laps were canceled due to the red flag. “We had a tough qualifying and it hurt us in the race,” said Aaron. “I was working my way up and was catching Danny Eslick and Garrett Carter when the red flag came out. The race was stopped and that left us in eighth place. The bike ran pretty well and we were a bit unfortunate that we didn’t get to run the full distance.” In Supersport, Gobert was hindered by a 15th place qualifying session. He rose up to 12th spot before crossing the line 13th. “We learned a few things on Saturday and I was pretty fast in warm-up but I crashed. In the race we had a good race with some young kids, Tommy Aquino and Michael Beck. We had good battle but we wanted to be closer to the front. We had a little problem on the last lap that kept us from finishing 12th.” “This weekend wasn’t exactly what we wanted,” said crewchief Gary Medley. “The bike seemed to have the speed. We were at the top of the speed chart in FX most of the time and right there with everyone else in Supersport. We have that, but we need to work on the handling. A lot of people had chatter in the front so maybe it wasn’t all related to our setup. The race track was changing dramatically from day to day. We’re ready to go to VIR and see what we can do. Aaron and all the mechanics are working hard and we’re to the point that we expect really good results each time out. We’ve made a lot of progress this year and we are hoping for more.” The Virginia International Raceway event is Aug 15-17. “I won my first-ever AMA race at VIR and also my AMA championship, so it is a special place for me,” said Gobert. “I can’t wait to race there again.” More, from a press release issued by Jessica Zalusky: Zalusky Finishes Strong at Mid-Ohio Jessica Zalusky finishes strong aboard her Yamaha YZF-R6 at the last round of AMA racing action at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, August 1-3. As the weekend began, Zalusky encountered a series of setbacks with mechanicals during practice, parking her bike near the keyhole area. After chasing a few mechanical issues, Zalusky qualified in both Supersport and Formula Xtreme with a best time of 1:34.453. On Saturday, a series of red flags and other setbacks in Superbike delayed the start of Formula Xtreme to an evening start. Part way through the race, a red flag was thrown to call the race and Zalusky finished respectively in 26th position. On Sunday, Zalusky’s practice was cut short with another mechanical, landing her and her bike in the keyhole area again. After swapping parts from her spare bike, Zalusky made it to the grid for Supersport. After a rough start, Zalusky was able to race at a consistent pace and dropped her times with a personal best time of 1:33.517. Zalusky finished the race respectively in the 24th position. “I definitely felt that we worked the bugs out of the bike and will be more than ready for Virginia,” Zalusky said following the weekend. Next on the schedule is the next round of AMA racing at Virginia International Raceway, August 15-17, 2008. Zalusky would like to thank her sponsors, crew, fans and supporters. If you would like more information on Jessica Zalusky, visit www.roadracinggirl.com