Opie’s Birthday at Barber Komodo-sponsored rider Opie Caylor returned to action this past weekend aboard his Scott Moore-painted Suzuki GSX-R750, during a combined WERA National Challenge Series and WERA Sportsman Series event at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. The weekend got off to a good start for Opie on Friday when, during the final session of the day, he posted a low 1:28 lap time that sandwiched him in between two AMA Pro Superbike top-10 regulars! “The track seems to be a bit bumpier than I remember it, but we’ll just keep working on the bike and get it working for that,” said Caylor. With Opie not competing in Saturday’s WERA National Endurance race, he used his 37th birthday to prepare for Sunday’ sprint races. That hard work immediately began paying off at the start of Opie’s first race of the day, Open Superstock. Opie got his Dunlop-shod GSX-R750 into to turn one ahead of all the bigger 1000s and put together the first lap of his career! With that start, he had a two-second advantage on lap one and continued to increase that gap all the way to 7.9 seconds at the conclusion of the race. Opie said “I knew that the only way to beat the 1000s around here is to get out front and run! I felt like I had the pace to compete if I didn’t get the holeshot, but it is so hard to race against the bigger bikes out of the slower corners. Luckily, I got the start I needed and got away!” Opie’s second race of the day, B Superstock, didn’t work out the same way at the start. Third off the line meant he had a bit of work to do. Methodically, Opie knifed his way to the front and took the lead on lap 4 of 6. He then opened up a small gap and was able to hold on for the win. Afterwards Opie had this to say, “I didn’t get the start I had hoped for but I didn’t panic. I just got settled in and started picking em off where I could and went to the front.” With only a one-race break, Opie’s crew consisting of Dave Krier, Wayne Degourney and Robert Bradley went to work on the bike. After cleaning the windscreen, filling it back up with gas and mounting a new rear Dunlop D211, Opie was ready to go for his next battle in Formula One. With a strong start, Opie filed into second place behind an AMA Pro Superbike front runner on Buell’s serious Superbike. Opie stuck to him on the opening lap and even put an outside/inside pass on the leader entering the last two corners before the front straight. The Buell motored back by and was back in the lead. Opie tried his hardest and was able to stay right on his heels until two laps to go. Opie took second but was not unhappy about his ride. “You know, I got second, but I’m not mad. Yeah, his bike is fast, but he’s riding the wheels off the thing in the corners, too. I’m happy because it gave me an opportunity to gauge myself against one of the best riders in the country, and to only get beat by 1.9 seconds or whatever it was, I’ll take it! I gotta say though, my little 750 was ripping with VP’s MRX01 race fuel in it. I didn’t get motored that bad!” Opie’s final race of the day was B Superbike and he took a convincing flag-to-flag victory to make his daily total of three wins and a second. From the podium, Opie said “All the Glory goes to God! I have never been to Barber Motorsports Park and had the weather be this perfect! He’s not only blessed me with that but all of my sponsors, too! If it weren’t for Dunlop or Komodo or VP or Arai, I couldn’t still be out here doing this stuff. Thank you!” And with that, Opie’s birthday at Barber came to a close. The next race for Opie will be the season-ending WERA Grand National Final, which is being held at Road Atlanta in October. Come out and support the racers and the sport they love! More, from a press release issued by Graves Motorsports: ZRising Star Benny Solis Continues to Shine Kennesaw, Georgia, Young gun Benny Solis, Jr. put in a stellar performance at last weekend’s WERA National Barber round. The former U.S. Red Bull Rookies Cup champion has won races at Barber before so his familiarity with the track was a definite plus. The fifteen year old California native and Graves Motorsports supported rider pulled double duty at Barber, contesting the WERA National four hour endurance race on Saturday and competing in sprint races on Sunday. Solis along with rider Ed Sullivan piloted their SE Composites / Graves Motorsports backed Yamaha R6 to third place overall and second in class in the endurance race. Solis and Sullivan could only be beaten by none other than the Team Zyvax / Graves Motorsports prepped Yamaha R1 of Chris Clark and Jason Disalvo and the Team Zyvax / Graves Motorsports supported Yamaha R6 of Dane Westby and Clinton Seller. In Sunday’s sprint races Solis gave a record-setting performance, setting the fastest 600cc time of the event (1:28:340). That lightning speed garnered wins in the 600 C Superstock Expert and the 600 C Superbike Expert classes. Perry Melneciuc of Project 1 Atlanta worked on Benny’s crew and had this to say of the young star, “I’m really proud of Benny; he rode really smart and knew what he had to do to take the lead. He stayed comfortable and rode a really great race.” On the endurance race Melneciuc added, “Benny also did an outstanding ride with Ed in the endurance series and I’m looking forward to seeing Benny in action at the GNF Finals at Road Atlanta!” Solis’ uncommon work ethic and maturity helped him focus on the task at hand. “I messed up off the start just slightly which put me back to 3rd place, but I was able to overcome everyone pretty quickly,” said Solis. “Chris Lessing (Graves Motorsports factory suspension technician) and my crew chief Rick Boyles worked really hard on setup this weekend and that helped me to take the lead and come in for the win,” said the grateful youngster of his crew. Chuck Graves has a proven eye for young talent and has high hopes for Solis’ future. “Benny was able to close the 600 championship points gap with Garrett Gerloff to just two points coming into the final round at Road Atlanta,” said Graves. “The season-long battles have been really exciting to watch and Benny’s final times this weekend would have put him near the top of the box at an AMA event for this track.” Images of the event: ~http://www.gravesport.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=887&g2_page=2~ More, from a press release issued by Tim Reeves’ publicist: Bitter-sweet victory for Reeves at Magny Cours Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze had a bitter-sweet weekend of racing at Magny Cours, France in the final round of the World Sidecar Championship for although they won the race, they missed out on the title by just six points. The duo took their second win of the season, and their fifith successive podium, meaning they ended the year with 132 points but fifth place was enough to secure Pekka Paivarinta and Adolf Hanni the crown and it was, ultimately, fourth place in the opening two rounds that cost Tim his fourth title. Coming in to the final round, the gap between the pair was 20 points and Tim knew that the odds were well and truly against him but all he could do was go out there and try to win the race and leave the rest to fate. The opening practice session saw wet conditions but it had improved sufficiently for first qualifying and a time of 1m49.107s saw Tim and Gregory slot in to second place behind the wildcard pairing of Markus Schlosser and Thomas Hofer. However, Tim was simply biding his time and in the second and final session later in the day, he took pole position with a lap of 1m47.847s, edging out Schlosser by 0.075s. Paivarinta, meanwhile, had qualified in 5th and was very much taking the conservative approach. Saturday’s race again saw fine weather but a poor start saw Tim slip back in the early stages of the race although it didn’t take him long to be on the back of initial race leader Schlosser. Indeed, he hit the front soon after and promptly opened up a gap over his German rival. However, the race was soon stopped due to an incident meaning a new re-start. In a repeat performance, Tim again made a poor start but soon got up to 2nd and it didn’t take him long to overhaul Schlosser once more. He’d opened up a lead of almost 1.5s when the red flag was out again and the race would now be decided on aggregate times with a second 5-lap race now taking place. Knowing he had time in hand over Schlosser, Tim and Gregory sat right on his back wheel in the 5-lap dash and although he could take the lead in the twisty sections, Schlosser’s rapid engine meant he could blast by again along the straights. Tim therefore ensured he was as close to Schlosser as he possibly could be when the chequered flag came out and he was subsequently able to take yet another World Championship victory. Sadly for him though, Paivarinta had driven the perfect race, staying out of trouble, and fifth place saw him take his second crown whilst it was passenger Hanni’s first after almost 30 years of competition! Speaking afterwards, Tim said: “I did everything I possibly could this weekend and although it’s obviously been great to take another win, it’s a little disappointing to miss out on the title. I knew Pekka had a major points advantage and, ultimately, he would have had to have broken down for me to win but I just went for the win and am pleased that we achieved just that. We had a slow start to the year with the new Honda engine as we had a lot to learn in a short space of time and the two fourth place finishes in the first two races was what hurt us but once we got the bike working well, everything’s been spot on and we’ve been one of the strongest teams on the grid. It’s been great to finish the World Championship season on a high and also to finish as the top Brit in the table whilst Gregory’s proven what a superb passenger he is and it bodes very well for the future. Finally, I’d just like to say congratulations to Pekka and also to Adolf – having been in the sport for so long, I’m really pleased that he’s a World Champion at last.” Tim and Gregory now head to Anglesey for the next round of the Battle of Britain F1 Sidecar Championship with the meeting taking place on September 18-19. More, from a press release issued by Putter Power Media on behalf of Brock’s Performance: BROCK’S PERFORMANCE-EQUIPPED TIM HUNT WINS WERA SUPERSTOCK NATIONAL TITLE DAYTON, Ohio. (September 15, 2010) — Adding to the list of great riders who have lit up hundreds of win lights and brought a dozen national championships to Brock’s Performance at the highest levels of motorcycle dragracing, Tim Hunt delivered its first national roadrace title–in the Michelin/WERA National Challenge Series’ A Superstock Expert class. Riding a Hooters-sponsored GSX-R1000 equipped with a Brock’s Performance CT Series™ Dual Full Titanium exhaust system, the La Vergne, Tennessee rider sealed the eight-race championship series one round early. Hunt leads Tim Bemisderfer by 30 points going into the final event of the season, the WERA Grand National Finals, which begin on October 7. Hunt has racked up 20 regional championships since 2006, but this is his first multi-race national title, which he took with one win and six other podium appearances.” When I started racing motorcycles in 2005, I never imagined that I’d win a major title like this, but it wasn’t easy,” Hunt said. “I won championships in midgets and sprint cars. That was just for fun. I didn’t get serious until I did my first track day on a bike. Then I was hooked. “After taking my racebike to Brock’s Performance early this year to have a custom fuel map built to suit my motor and the pipe, I immediately felt the difference and experienced substantial gains on the track.” Brock’s CT Series™ Dual Canister Full Titanium exhaust system provides a nicely balanced look. Beautifully crafted from exotic metals, it has the same ground clearance and cornering capability as the single-can CTs, with a pair of carbon-tipped megaphones that provide increased horsepower, incredible style and terrific sound. Brock’s Performance president and national-championship-winning dragracer, Brock Davidson, said, “It’s difficult for me to put into words how proud I am of Tim and Team Hooters. Seeing the success they had immediately this season, I knew that good things were to come. “When we set out to design the CT series exhaust, the criteria was simple: Create a class-leading system that could do it all. It would have the most ground clearance possible for drag racing, cornering clearance for national-caliber roadrace capabilities and the best look and a distinct sound. “Then I looked toward the engineers at my manufacturing company, Nojima Japan, for blending my concepts with their roadracing expertise. Since their exhaust recently finished fourth in the Suzuka 8 Hours round of the FIM World Endurance series, they clearly have world-class knowledge. I’m very fortunate to have such valuable technical partner,” said Davidson in summing up his company’s latest milestone. Expanding upon 25 years of sportbike dragracing innovation and success on the quarter-mile, Brock’s Performance is proud to be involved with Tim Hunt and the Hooters roadrace team. For more information on Brock’s Performance exhaust, BST wheels and other products, please visit BrocksPerformance.com. More, from a press release issued by Team Velocity Racing: TVR/EBC Brakes Yamaha Strengthens Points Position with Fourth at Barber LEEDS, Ala. “” Chuck Ivey, Scott Brown, and James Vanderhaar wrapped up the penultimate round of the 2010 WERA National Endurance Series season with fourth in the Heavyweight class. Saturday’s four-hour race at Barber Motorsports Park solidified TVR/EBC Brakes Yamaha’s standings in the championship. With just one round remaining, TVR/EBC Brakes Yamaha sits at second in the Heavyweight championship and third overall. “The series has been very competitive this year, and the team has really stuck together and we’ve run well at every race,” says team owner Ivey. “That consistency has paid off with second in class, which puts us in great company with Graves/Team Zyvax and shows the experience of TVR.” That experience showed during Friday’s practice sessions at Barber, where Ivey, Brown and Vanderhaar worked to get the TVR/EBC Brakes Yamaha YZF-R1 set up for the track. “We’ve definitely been making more and more changes as the year has gone on. We’ve all gotten comfortable with each other and are able to make changes to get the bike working better,” says Vanderhaar. Those setup changes proved to be perfect at the start of Saturday’s race. Ivey ran as high as fifth overall and third in class during the second hour. As the temperatures soared, though, track conditions changed dramatically and handling become an issue. Nevertheless, the riders soldiered on to finish seventh overall and fourth in Heavyweight. The points amassed during the race have helped TVR/EBC Brakes Yamaha strengthen their championship position. “We rode a clean race and the pit stops were flawless. We stayed out of trouble and maintained our points position,” says Ivey of the race. The Michelin tires were also a benefit, with the front tire lasting the entire race despite the high temperatures. For the team, staying consistent has been a key factor all season, and it will be equally important when they head to the season finale at Road Atlanta on Friday, October 8. “I think we’ve come a long way. As the season has progressed, we’ve all gotten on the same page,” says Brown. “However, we’ve got to ride better than we did in Birmingham. We all struggled a little bit. I’m looking forward to going back to Road Atlanta and going faster.” “We need to have another solid weekend and a consistent finish,” says Vanderhaar. “We can’t afford to have any major mishaps. We’ve had a great year, finishing every round and minimizing any issues we’ve had. We just need that to happen one more time.” TVR’s sponsors include EBC Brakes, Michelin, Yamaha, Aiken Motorcycle, XES Leather, MotoHeaven.com, Arai, Vortex, EK Chains, VP Fuels, and Dyno Jet. Keep up with the team’s season and find pictures online at www.TeamVelocityRacing.com.