UPS AND DOWNS FOR CORONA EXTRA HONDA RACING AT LAGUNA SEASON FINALE Corona Extra Honda Racing Team riders Jake Holden and Matt Lynn had a season ending round to forget with get offs and run offs that put Holden out with fractures of his left foot and Lynn a thirteenth place finish in SuperBike. Both riders were entered in SuperBike and up to speed in double quick time. Holden posted a tremendous time for ninth on his SuperStock bike splitting the factory Honda’s of Hodgson and DuHamel. Lynn was getting his times down when a get off had him miss much of qualifying while the bike was repaired. He ended up in thirteenth slot. Jake put in a tremendous effort in SuperStock qualifying and was in second when a water hose broke sending off into the gravel but able to keep the bike upright. By the time he got out again he only had couple of laps and could not improve on his time. Come the race Jake got a particularly poor start and found himself back in the pack from his second on the grid position. He really put his head down and aggressively attacked the field moving up to fourth on lap two third on lap four, second on lap five and into the lead soon after but his pace would not last and he went down the next lap causing a red flag. Jake was transported to the medical center where injuries to his left foot sidelined him from the restarted SuperStock and SuperBike races. Jake finished the season third in the SuperStock Championship, a tremendous finish for the new-for-’08 Honda CBR1000RR! In SuperBike, Matt also rode with aggression working his way up the field from his thirteenth place start, twelfth on lap two, eleventh on three, tenth on six and ninth on lap seven. He held the position until running off in lap eleven put him back to sixteenth position. In a spirited ride he worked his way back up to thirteenth by the checkered flag. Lynn finished the champion ship in thirteenth position. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jordan Szoke Finishes Inside the Top-10 at Laguna Seca Monterey, Calif. Monster Energy Kawasaki replacement rider Jordan Szoke rode an outstanding race aboard the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R to finish ninth during the AMA Superbike season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. In the AMA Supersport class, Attack Kawasaki’s Chaz Davies rode to a fourth place finish aboard his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R. Great Ride Although he had little track time on the bike, Szoke showed great confidence and skill on the track. His times dropped every time he was on the track and rode a consistent race to finish inside the top-10 in ninth after starting on the outside of the third row. “I didn’t have huge expectations when I came here because I knew I would have minimal time to set-up the bike,” said Szoke. “One of my main goals was to keep improving and bring the bike across the finish. I feel I did well and I only wish I could do it again.” Little Track Time With only three times on the track before the 28-lap race, Szoke had minimal time to adjust to the differences of the ZX-10R factory bike compared to his bike back in Canada. A Dream Come True “If I had one wish, it would be to come here and ride this bike,” said Szoke. “If I had another wish it would be to come back and get more time and race it again. I had so much fun here. I was definitely trying not to go down but push as hard as I could.” Davies’ Race Coming off a good performance on Saturday, Davies rode close to the front-runners for most of the AMA Supersport race on Sunday. He felt much stronger than his race on Saturday and it showed with his fourth-place finish. “I’m still recovering from my injury so I haven’t been as strong as I want,” said Davies. “I was pretty happy with my performance since I started in eighth and felt pretty good most of the race.” Injuries Not on the track at Laguna Seca were Monster Energy Kawasaki teammates Jamie Hacking and Roger Hayden. Hacking was injured during qualifying on Saturday, while Hayden has been recovering from injury from a crash at Road Atlanta. Attack Kawasaki’s Steve Rapp rode Saturday’s AMA Formula Xtreme race, but didn’t feel strong enough for another race and did not ride the AMA Supersport race. Results AMA Superbike Series Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, Calif. September 28, 2008 AMA Superbike Class 1. Matthew Mladin, Henderson, Nev., Suzuki 2. Ben Spies, Longview, Texas, Suzuki 3. Tommy Hayden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki 4. Aaron Yates, Milledgeville, Ga., Suzuki 5. Neil Hodgson, Isle of Man, UK, Honda 6. Eric Bostrom, Malibu, Calif., Yamaha 7. Miguel Duhamel, Las Vegas, Nev., Honda 8. Jason Disalvo, Stafford, N.Y., Yamaha 9. JORDAN SZOKE, BRANTFORD, ONTARIO, MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI 10. Chris Peris, Calgary, Canada, Suzuki AMA Superbike Points Standings 1. Ben Spies, Longview, Texas, Suzuki, 652 2. Matthew Mladin, Henderson, Nev., Suzuki, 557 3. Jason Disalvo, Stafford, N.Y., Yamaha, 463 4. Eric Bostrom, Malibu, Calif., Yamaha, 445 5. JAMIE HACKING, DENVER, N.C., MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI, 421 6. Neil Hodgson, Isle of Man, UK, Honda, 419 7. Miguel Duhamel, Las Vegas, Nev., Honda, 412 8. Tommy Hayden, Owensboro, Ky., Suzuki, 372 9. Aaron Yates, Milledgeville, Ga., Suzuki, 365 10. Geoff May, Gainesville, Ga., Suzuki, 357 22. ROGER HAYDEN, OWENSBORO, KY., MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI, 97 AMA Supersport Results 1. Blake Young, Wanuakee, Wis., Suzuki 2. Ben Bostrom, Malibu, Calif., Yamaha 3. Josh Herrin, Dublin, Ga., Yamaha 4. CHAZ DAVIES, KNIGHTON, UK, ATTACK KAWASAKI 5. Jake P. Zemke, Paso Robles, Calif., Honda 6. Cory West, Eureka Springs, Ark., Suzuki 7. Tommy Aquino, Saugus, Calif., Yamaha 8. Bobby Fong, Stockton, Calif., Suzuki 9. Martin Cardenas, Columbia, Suzuki 10. Michael Beck, Simi Valley, Calif., Yamaha AMA Supersport Points Standings 1. Ben Bostrom, Malibu, Calif., Yamaha, 361 2. Jake Zemke, Paso Robles, Calif., Honda, 330 3. Josh Hayes, Gulfport, Miss., Honda, 286 4. Blake Young, Wanuakee, Wis., Suzuki, 267 5. Josh Herrin, Dublin, Ga., Yamaha, 263 6. CHAZ DAVIES, KNIGHTON, UK, ATTACK KAWASAKI, 239 7. Cory West, Eureka Springs, Ark., Suzuki, 236 8. Aaron Gobert, Murrieta, Calif., Honda, 220 9. Michael Beck, Simi Valley, Calif., Yamaha, 190 10. Danny Eslick, Broken Arrow, Okla., Suzuki, 180 19. STEVE RAPP, MANHATTAN BEACH, CALIF., ATTACK KAWASAKI, 116 More, from a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing: Ben Bostrom wins 2008 AMA Supersport Championship DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Ben Bostrom wrapped up the 2008 AMA Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship presented by Shoei with a solid second-place finish in the last race of the season. The 34-year-old Californian carried a 24-point championship lead coming into Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. All he needed was 12 points-17th position-to put the title out of newly crowned Formula Xtreme champion Jake Zemke’s grasp. Starting from pole position, Bostrom’s plan was to watch the battle up front from a safe distance. Sitting in third, he had a front-row seat for a torrid battle for the lead between teammates Martin Cardenas and Blake Young. When Cardenas went off the track on the last lap, Bostrom inherited second, within striking distance of Young, but couldn’t make the pass. Bostrom’s path from dirt track to professional road racing was a smooth transition via the AMA Supertwins series, where he won a race in 1995. He secured the AMA Superbike title in 1998. Following a runner-up AMA Superbike performance in ’99, he went on to compete in the Superbike World Championship. In three seasons and 107 races, Bostrom took seven wins, stood on the podium another 14 times and placed as high as third in the World Superbike Championship. Returning to AMA competition, Bostrom combined his dirt and tarmac skills and prevailed in the winner-take-all final round of the 2004 AMA Supermoto championship. The new Supersport champion wrapped up this 11-race series with six poles, six wins and 10 podium finishes. Bostrom now has 16 AMA professional road racing victories in the record books. About AMA Pro Racing AMA Racing is the leading sanctioning body for motorcycle sport in the United States. AMA Pro Racing series include the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship presented by FMF, the AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited, the AMA Flat Track Championship, the AMA Supermoto Championship and the AMA Pro ATV Championship. More, from a press release issued by Rockwall Honda: AARON GOBERT SIXTH IN 2008 FORMULA XTREME POINTS Aaron Gobert and Rockwall Performance earned sixth place in the 2008 AMA Formula Xtreme championship with their results in the Laguna Seca season finale last weekend. Gobert finished the season equal with Chaz Davies for fifth place with 224 points after ten races with one win each, but Aaron ended up sixth in the final standings after the AMA needed to use the second tiebreaker to determine the final finishing order. “Ultimately, the goal was to put the bike up front as much as possible and do as well in the points as we could,” said Aaron. “This is the best result for the team so far and I’m happy for everyone involved. We’ve learned a lot this season. It was a good year and the program worked out nicely for us. The year had some real highlights. We had some good battles on the track and we won at Road America, which was the icing on the case. To walk away knowing we tried our best this year was important. We won a race and did well in the points and that’s something not everyone can say.” Gobert was also eighth in Pro Honda Oils Supersport on his Honda CBR600RR, earning top ten results in both championships this season. At Laguna Seca, Gobert finished ninth in Formula Xtreme and 11th in the red-flagged Pro Honda Oils Supersport race. Marcos Reichert finished 16th in Supersport as the Guatemalan racer made an impressive Laguna Seca debut. “The team had a good year,” said crewchief Gary Medley. “Aaron rode hard for us and winning at Road America was a great thrill we won’t ever forget. Marcos is a racer people should be looking out for in the future. He really showed me something in the limited time he was here this season. Our team owner Michael Worrell is a very enthusiastic person and we all thank him for fielding the team. The crew did a fantastic job of upping their game for this year and the team got their best results ever. As a group, we worked together and made some progress against tough competition.” “I want to thank Chad, John, Cliff, Matt, and Gary, plus all of the people on the team and back at the shop who helped us this year,” said Gobert. “Also, a big thanks to Michael Worrell and all our sponsors for making it all happen and giving us good support this season.” More, from a press release issued by Millennium KWS Suzuki: Millennium/KWS Suzuki Finishes Fifth at Laguna Seca Monterey, CA Sep 2008 — Millennium/KWS Suzuki sponsored by Suzuki of Orangeburg had a great weekend at the last AMA Superbike round of the year. Rider Ben Thompson finished fifth in Superstock and eleventh in Superbike at Laguna Seca capping off what has been an up and down year for the Millennium Technologies sponsored KWS team in fine fashion. The last AMA Superbike round is a shortened event with only two days of track time compared to the usual four. Despite the lack of track time, the Pit Bull Sponsored Millennium/KWS Suzuki GSX-R1000 was fast right off the truck. Thompson was consistently among the top ten in the Superbike and Superstock practices. In Superbike qualifying on Saturday Thompson was able to put his Dunlop shod Suzuki on the fourth row with a time of 1:26.780. Superstock qualifying on Sunday morning saw the young Alaskan rider go even faster with a time of 1:26.246 for sixth position and a second row start. Ben Thompson got a great start to the last Superbike race of the year passing the entire third row for ninth position going into Laguna’s famous turn two. Thompson put his head down and turned his fastest laps leading a four ride group that included Jordan Szoke on a factory Kawasaki, Chris Peris, and Matt Lynn. After twenty-eight laps Thompson brought the LeoVince sponsored Suzuki home in eleventh place. The Superstock race was actually a two part affair. The first segment of the race was stopped when Corona Honda’s Jake Holden crashed out of the lead. In an effort to meet the live TV window for the Supersport and Superbike races, the Superstock race was rescheduled for the end of the day. This would mean that Thompson was going to have to ride two races back to back. The final segment at the end of the day would be a short ten lap sprint and Thompson was starting from the same position one the second row. Once again, Thompson got a great start moving up to fourth. Thompson would go back and forth with Canadian star Chris Peris for the entire race to finish in the fifth position, only .2 seconds behind the former World Supersport rider. Despite missing two rounds at the beginning of the season with two broken hands suffered in a crash at Fontana, Thompson was still able to finish the Superstock season tenth in points. Out of ten rounds the team was able to score five top ten finishes and two top fives. Ben Thompson “It was a really good weekend. The bike worked great all weekend and the Dunlop tires were amazing. I just want to thank the team for a great year. Kevin Hunt, Michael Godin, Chip Spalding, Dustin Cyr, and Rick Matheny all worked super hard and did everything they could to give me the best equipment possible. I also want to thank the sponsors, especially everybody at Millennium Technologies and my personal sponsors at Bell, Fieldsheer, Puma, and K&N Filters. Thank you all! Kevin Hunt (Team Owner) “Great weekend! Ben rode awesome and went faster every time he got on the track. The team worked really hard and I can’t thank them enough for all their hard work. The sponsors make all of this happen, Millennium Technologies, Suzuki, Dunlop, Suzuki of Orangeburg, Pit Bull, LeoVince Exhaust and all the rest. We can’t thank them enough.” More, from a press release issued by T3 Racing: T3 RACING TRIUMPH TRIPLE CHALLENGE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 9 SILVERSTONE: 26 – 28TH SEPT 2008 The final round of the championship crowns two champions. T3 Racing’s Triumph Triple Challenge Championship moved to Silverstone Raceway’s Circuit for the final round of the series and combined with Bennett’s British Superbike Race weekend. Luckily, the racing god’s lifted the veil of rain for perfect weather on Sunday. Race 1: Josh Wainwright started the race on pole, took the holeshot and led Mark Cheetham who was in 2nd position and Lance Carey in 3rd. Wainwright held the lead until lap 7 when he crashed out towards the end of the lap, leaving Carey to take over 1st position, as he had passed Cheetham on lap 6. Then on the very next lap, Carey crashed out in the infield giving Cheetham the lead again, with Fisher moving up to 2nd from 4th and hard charging young gun John Simpson moving up to 3rd, when he had started 9th on the grid. The last lap was a dice between Simpson, Cheetham and Fisher. The Triumph Triple Challenge is a spec series, made up of identically prepped, near stock Triumph 675’s, running on Michelin tyres. Each race is actually two races in one. One race is made up of the Michelin Young Guns, for racers aged 16 to 24 and the TDG Cup is for those racers aged 25 and up. Fastest lap, Race 1, was by Lance Carey at a 1:34.253, on lap 4, which was 3 tenths quicker than pole. Finishing order “overall” for the race was Simpson, Cheetham, Fisher, Cringle, Sim, Imberg, Venebals, Rowbottom, Jones, and Turco, rounding out the top 10. Top 3 for Michelin Young Guns Race 1 – John Simpson, Tom Fisher, Mark Cringle Top 3 for the TDG Cup Race 1 – Mark Cheetham, Jack Sim, Danny Imberg 2008 Overall Champions: Michelin Young Gun Champ: Mark Cringle TDG Cup Champ: Jack Sim For more information on the Triumph Triple Challenge go to www.triumphtriplechallenge.com More, from a press release issued by Shift Racing: With beautiful weather and great action anticipated in what was called the end of an era for AMA Supersport and AMA Formula Extreme, Beck Racing was prepared to finish the season with a bang and string of good races. Michael put in two great runs at Mazda Raceway in Monterey, taking his Beck Racing, Graves Motorsports backed, and Premiere Home Entertainment sponsored Yamaha R6 to top-ten finishes in both Supersport and Formula Extreme and claiming a strong 9th place finish in the AMA Supersport Championship standings. From the first session to the last, Michael had times that were promising of top finishes in both classes. On Saturday during Formula Extreme qualifying, Beck earned a 2nd row spot which was a perfect start to the racing weekend. Later in the day Beck spent the entire race battling with purpose built FX bikes on his significantly less modified Supersport machine. When the checkered flag flew, Michael found himself in 7th position, just a mere 3 bike lengths behind 6th place. “It’s always fun to go out and race in this class”, said Beck. “These guys have bikes that are faster than mine and have some real good suspension. I think racing with them and beating some of them is just a testament to how good this R6 really is in stock form. My dad and Noam (owner of Driven Performance), did a great job and I am excited about tomorrow.” During Sunday’s Supersport race, Beck battled with 4 other riders all the way to the end to claim a stellar 10th place finish, just .2 seconds out of 9th. “It was a hard fought race to the end”, stated an excited Beck. “But we gave it all we had. The Graves backed Premiere Home Entertainment sponsored R6 performed great today, I just hoped for a little better finish. I have to say thanks again to my Dad and Noam for all their hard work this weekend. I think we gave it all we had and came away with two solid top-ten results. I just want to thank everyone who helped me this year to go racing and run in this series. My parents, Graves Motorsports, Yamaha, Premiere Home Entertainment, Dunlop, Driven Performance, Shift, Puma, Shoei, and just everyone. I’m hoping to be able to come back again next year with even better results”. More, from a press release issued by M2S Agency: Garrett Willis Soldiers Through Injury for Double Win at AFM Infineon After spending the past three weeks rehabilitating what was diagnosed as broken collarbone a few days after his crash at Thunder Hill on September 6th Garrett Willis went to this past weekend’s AFM round at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma California not knowing if he would be able to ride or not. Garrett’s first race of the day was 600 Superbike which he started from the pole position, he was able to put the best spot on the grid to good use to hold onto first place going into the first turn. The collarbone felt relatively comfortable for the first few laps but as the race went on the level of pain increased but Willis was able to ride through the pain and hold on for the win. This result gave him a 25 point lead in the class Championship. Next up was the 600 Production class where again Garrett was starting from the pole position. He was able to secure another first place start and led the race. This time his injury was painful immediately and he was forced to fight the distraction of the pain through the entire race but he was able to accomplish the task at hand and was rewarded with his second win of the day and a 36 point lead in the class Championship with one round remaining in the series. After race Garrett expressed his gratitude to Lee’s Chiropractic Health Center and Dr. Terry Lee who treated his injury and helped get him into good enough condition to race this weekend. “I don’t think I could’ve have done it without Dr. Lee’s help, his treatment really helped relieve the discomfort after the injury and helped me progress in a few short weeks to the point of being able to ride successfully this weekend. I owe him a big thank you.” The next race on the schedule for Garrett is a AFM round at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in Buttonwillow, Ca on October 18th-19th. Garrett Willis would like to thank are the sponsors that support his racing and help him pursue his dream of being a professional road racer: American Honda, Pro Honda Oils and Chemicals, Honda Riders Club of America, Mach 1 Motorsports, Pirelli, Leo Vince Exhaust, Keigwins@theTrack, A&A Racing, Rod Lake Racing, Jett Tuning, Dainese, Arai Helmets, RJP Racing, Mike Wymer Performance and SuperMoto Engineering. Please visit www.garrettwillisracing.com for information and updates on Garrett Willis and his racing.