Paul Schwemmer and Brett Ray teamed up to take the #37 Old Pros / R&R Racing Aprilia to a 3rd place podium finish at VIR. Paul took the bike out for the first practice, rode a few laps then pulled in and said it’s not running right. Brett got on the bike to check it out and only went a couple of laps. “The new PC III I had put on was way off. It was like a light switch either on or off. If you tried to ease the throttle on it would bog, bump and jump then pow, go,” Ray said. So he pulled in and said lets go back and see if we can fix it, besides it also needed some changes on the front end. The first low point of the weekend. This wasn’t a good start to the race weekend since neither Paul or Brett had ever ridden the AMA track at VIR and needed the track time. We got it back to the pits and made the changes we “hoped” would work, since the next time out was qualifying. Paul was the first to take it out to qualify. He was going to go about half the session then Brett would go and see what he could do. Before he even got a chance to get up to speed, Paul had a little incident while on the track, and well — the bike got crashed and that ended our session, another low point, but we were in the race. Oh good a high point. Back to the pits we go to get to work on fixing the bike. Lucky for us it wasn’t to bad. A brake lever, foot peg, handle bar, grips and some beat up body work was about it. We got it all fixed for the practice on Saturday morning. I took the bike out and everything seemed fine, except for the front tire. It was the same tire that got crashed and it was shaking violently. “Now that I think about it maybe we should have changed it. Other than that, it was great,” said Ray Brett said, Paul had injured his left hand and hurt his right wrist in the wreck and wasn’t sure if he would be able to ride or not. Again another low point. He decided he wanted to try and was going to start the race. He told me to be ready just in case he couldn’t. Well he only lasted a few laps before coming in. We got a splash of gas, I got on the bike and took off. I started thinking about riding almost 2 hours in the heat and making the tires last. With out much track time I decided to just set a comfortable pace, stay out of trouble and just last to the end of the race. As it turned out that was a pretty good game plan. As I rode around I watched rider after rider get caught out and go down. That put us in a very good position. We ended up in 3rd place for the race and 3rd in points. As we headed to the podium that was for sure the high point for the weekend. We would like to thank all the people without whose help we couldn’t be here: Aprilia USA, R-R-Racing.com, Level 10 contractors, No-Mar tire changers, Level One exhaust, EBC Brakes, Arai helmets, BG Oil products, Fly-N-Cycle.com, WhiteEagleLounge.com. More, from a press release issued by Paul Allison’s publicist: Paul Allison Doubles Up at Barber! Riding his Chronic Motorsports 2009 Yamaha R6, Paul Allison continued his winning streak and took home the top spot in the ASRA Factory Pro Sportbike and the ASRA Superbike classes at the Barber Festival of Speed at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. Paulie as he’s known by his friends was very happy to increase his points lead in both classes. “It was a tough weekend. I have put a lot of pressure on myself to improve at every race this year, and riding against guys like Brian Stokes has certainly raised my game. With the help of Mike Smith at Barber, I was able to really think about my total approach to racing this weekend and concentrate on how I could improve my lap times. There was some tight, close racing with Brian this weekend, but they were good, clean races and I really enjoyed them!” Allison is in his first full season as an Expert with ASRA, and despite his relatively new entry into road racing, his background in flat track and motard racing has helped him adapt quickly and start racking up some wins. After beginning the season on a 2007 Yamaha R6, Chronic Motorsports secured a 2009 Yamaha R6 in July and Allison has not looked back since. With wins at New Jersey Motorsports Park and Barber, Allison’s momentum is very strong and bodes well for the rest of the season. Leading the ASRA Factory Pro Sportbike series by 19 points, and leading the Superbike series by 67 points, Allison is looking forward to the final races at VIR in September and Daytona in October. He encourages family, friends and fans to stop by and visit him in the pits so he can say thanks for all the support! About Paulie Allison Based from his home in Cochranville, PA, Allison works in residential and commercial construction and tries to ride as often as he can when he’s not hammering, drilling, or pouring concrete on the job site. Paulie credits his family for the support needed to keep racing despite limited funds, and he’s very thankful for his sponsors this year that provide key products and services for his racing efforts. Sponsors include Chronic Motorsports, East Construction Services, Tucker Rocky, and CTR. About Chronic Motorsports Located in Deer Park, NY, Chronic services all of a sport bike rider’s needs including aftermarket parts, engine tuning, and suspension setup. More information is available at www.chronicmotorsports.com About East Construction Services East Construction Services has been building commercial and residential properties for over a decade. Based in Allentown, PA, East Construction also provides eco-services such as solar water heating and home/ business energy efficiency inspections. More, from a press release issued by Brian Stokes’ publicist: Stokes Wins A.S.R.A. National Championship! The American Sportbike Racing Association made its eighth stop of the season at the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park facility in Leeds, Alabama August 15th and 16th. The world-class facility was a perfect host to a busy weekend of racing for many racers including Stokes Racing’s, Brian Stokes. The A.S.R.A. national races, combined with a “twin-sprint” weekend for the Championship Cup Series (C.C.S.), gave Stokes an opportunity to compete in 15 races. Riding his Duponte & Lipton, attorneys-at-law, sponsored Kawasaki ZX 6R and ZX 10R, Stokes was able to challenge for the lead in all 15 races. All of the A.S.R.A. Michelin Pro Series races featured great racing. In the Factory Pro Sportbike and Superbike classes, Stokes and Paul Allison provided a great show for all in attendance. Both races saw each rider lead laps and swap positions for the lead. In the end, Stokes scored two close second place finishes. When asked about the races, Stokes commented: “Both races were good, clean, races. I thought I had the Superbike race won, but I ran wide in the right-hander and Paul snuck-up the inside of me. In the Sportbike race, I made a mistake in turn two that cost me a couple of seconds. I tried to make a run, but couldn’t chase him down.” The A.S.R.A. Superstock race saw Stokes on his Kawasaki ZX 10R battle with Sean Dwyer on a Suzuki GSXR 1000. Going into the race, Stokes had been able to open a large gap in the class points standing. With a race win, Stokes could clinch the class championship. As the green flag flew, Stokes and Dwyer quickly moved away from the pack. The duo raced closely throughout the eight lap event with Stokes controling the pace of the race. Brian was able to achieve his main goal of the weekend as he crossed the finish line first and wrapped-up the 2009 A..S.R.A. Superstock class championship! Stokes said, “It feels great to wrap up the championship early. I won four of the races and finished second three other times, so I definitely feel I’ve earned it. I’m glad Michelin tires and Kawasaki have supported this series with contingency money. As other manufacturers dropped out, they continued their support, so it feels good to win the class championship on a ZX 10 with Michelin tires.” Stokes’ “ironman” weekend of racing culmonated with 11 race wins, four second place finishes, and the 2009 A.S.R.A. Superstock championship! Stokes Racing looks to build on last weekend’s results at the next round of the series, which will take place in Alton, Virginia September 19th and 20th. Stokes Racing would like to thank the following sponsors: Duponte & Lipton, attorneys-at-law; Triple R Racing; Michelin Tires; Kawasaki; Smith Powersports; Arai Helmets; Chicken Hawk; HFD1 Motorsports; LeoVince Exhaust; Ohlins Suspension; Maxima Oil; Parts Unlimited/ SBS brakes; Pit Bull; Rev-It Leathers; Prime Collision; Pro Flow; RK chains; Sharkskinz; Sidi Boots; Vortex, XXX Fuels; and ZeroGravity screens. More, from Jeff Wood’s publicist: Higgins Powersports / Roadracingworld.com’s Jeff Wood turns heads with Top Ten finish at Virginia International Raceway Jeff Wood and his Higgins Powersports / Roadracingworld.com (HP/RRW) 2008 GSX-R 1000 entered Round 10 of the AMA Pro Racing championship with two goals in mind: to showcase the ability of the longtime club racer and crack the top ten of the premiere American Superbike class. They succeeded on both accounts with Wood, on a clearly underpowered 2008 privateer machine, causing a stir in the paddock all weekend long with his Superpole performance (P8) on Friday and then following that up with a impressive 10th place finish on Saturday before moving just one spot back on Sunday to finish 11th. The AMA Pro Racing weekend at VIR marked the third consecutive weekend of National-level racing for the Northeast rider with Wood having competed in the WERA National series both weekends prior at Summit Point WV and VIR respectively. The final weekend proved to be the most challenging with bike issues plaguing the HP/RRW effort throughout the weekend causing Wood and mechanic Glen Piro to stay up late into the night Saturday swapping engines. With the additional help and support of a number of top-teams is in the paddock the privateer machine was able to make Race 2’s start and finish out the weekend. RACE ONE – 10th place The first race of the Round 10 double-header saw Wood fourteenth (P14) into turn one after mistiming the new AMA starting procedures causing the #19 Higgins Powersports / Roadracingworld.com Suzuki to get a late launch. Undaunted however Wood put his head down and pushed his way through the field until he found himself behind the factory Honda of former World Superbike Champion Neil Hodgson. Wood followed the powerful factory bike for a number of laps before finally making a daring move on the brakes into Turn 1 to make his way past the #100 machine. Once past Wood quickly built up a comfortable gap which was fortunate as his GSX-R ran out of gas coming out of the final corner and was forced to coast across the finish line with the #19 machine just making it across in front of Hodgson for the final Top 10 position. “Race went pretty good all things considered.” said Jeff Wood “I definitely didn’t do myself any favors by botching the start but I didn’t expect the light to come on and go off that fast! Once we got through turn one though I just got into a rhythm and kept trying to move forward. Got behind Neil for a while and that was cool to chase a World Champion like that and it wasn’t easy to get by that factory machine. Finally got past and just put a little gap there and lucky it was large enough to keep me in tenth when I ran out of gas! We’re still running the 2008 map that came with the bike that’s for different fuel and the thing is just way rich so we’ll see if we can get it sorted for race two. Overall I’m pretty happy with the result and to run with these guys and we’ll see how it goes in the next one.” RACE TWO – 11th place Race two saw the HP/RRW team take to the grid on a entirely new machine. Wood and Piro were up long into the night changing out motors in a quest to find more power and made a bevy of setup changes to the #19 machine. All was untested however as a kinked fuel line in Sunday mornings warm-up cut power down to 119hp and had the bike spending more time in the pits than on the track as the team frantically tried to deduce the reason for the poor engine performance. With the assistance of a few competitor teams the #19 rolled onto the second row on Sunday ready to tempt fate. Wood was ready this time as the green flag flew and the 2008 Suzuki went into turn one in excellent position. By lap two Wood had remarkably moved into sixth position and looked poised to upset a number of teams as the race progressed. The untested setup changes struck shortly after however as the Higgins Powersports / Roadracingworld.com entry struggled with cornerspeed as the race progressed and the star-studded competition began to move forward. Wood hung on however for the team’s second respectable finish of the weekend and finished the race just off the Top 10 with a eleventh place finish (P11). “Got a great start this time so that was a nice improvement” said Wood. “The bike felt okay on the opening laps and I ran some mid 26’s and then it just became a real struggle as the tires got fully up to temp. We changed everything on the bike coming into the race, gearing, ride height, springs, motor, you name it and we didn’t really get to test it in practice. Either way we still finished up in good position (11th) and with a field this strong and the number of good bikes on the track you can’t get too upset about that. We’ve had a good weekend here and I’m happy with the results as I think we’ve shown what we’re capable of. I’ve got to take a minute and say thanks to all the guys who helped us out, you know who you are, especially the Roadracingworld.com crew. Thank you.” The Higgins Powersports / Roadracingworld.com rider then followed up his weekend actives by appearing on the nationally-syndicated motorcycle show “Pit Pass Radio” on Tuesday the 18th. During the ten minute long interview Wood was asked about this weekend at Virginia International Raceway, what it’s like racing as a privateer ‘bounty-hunter’, and his goals for the future. Pit Pass Radio averages over 80,000 listeners per show and Wood’s interview is available for download on the Pit Pass Radio website (http://www.pitpassradio.com). Team Higgins Powersports / Roadracingworld.com is proud to partner with: Higgins Powersports, Roadracingworld.com, Dunlop, Maxima, LeoVince, Dynojet, Penske, Vesrah, Woodcraft, Armour Bodies, Vanson Leathers, Arai, TCX, Held, Street & Competition, GMD Computrack, Sprocket Specialist, SRE, Zero Gravity, K&N, Rob’s Dyno Service, LD Designs, and AestheticRain About Jeff Wood: Jeff Wood is a second-generation roadracer based out of the New England region. From 2005 to 2008 Jeff won an astounding and unprecedented 11 National American Sportbike Racing Association (ASRA) Championship titles and is current National #1 plate holder for the Championship Cup Series (CCS). Wood is also the co-owner of the Penguin Roadracing School, the United States’ oldest motorcycle roadracing school. For more information on Jeff Wood please visit: http://www.facebook.com/jeff.wood.racing More, from a press release issued by East Coast Powersports: The #10 East Coast Powersports Moto GT2 entry and riders Trey Yonce and Kenny Rodriguez would like to thank everyone that made VIR a memorable race. “Finishing second in the Big Kahuna event was an amazing experience” is all both Trey and Kenny can say. VIR is the team’s home track and they went into the round with high hopes of a podium finish and maybe even a win. This would not of been a reality without the help from East Coast Powersports, GNC Nutrition, KWS Motorsports, Ken Roberts Auto Glass, SPEARS Enterprises, Wings ETC and the crew. The crew was amazing and flawless! New Jersey will be next challenge and the spirits are high. More, from a press release issued by Pirelli: Hall Sets Lap Record at Gateway Raceway on Pirelli Tires Rome, Georgia: Multi-time motorcycle road-racing champion Matt Hall set a new all-out motorcycle lap record this weekend at Gateway International Raceway, located in Madison, Illinois, across the river from St. Louis, Missouri. Racing in the Championship Cup Series (CCS), Matt Hall rode his TWC Racing 2009 Kawasaki ZX6-R, mounted on a set of sticky Pirelli Superbike Slicks, to a new lap record of 1:05.033, taking about four tenths from the previous record. This record, set on Gateway’s 1.6-mile road-racing course, was verified by Brandon Mudd, the track’s Director of Public and Media Relations. Hall is no stranger to lap records, setting two previous ones at Heartland Park, Topeka, Kansas and Gateway International Raceway. Chris Jensen, Pirelli North America Racing Manager, said, “Matt just keeps getting faster and faster and we’re ecstatic that he’s proving that Pirelli tires are giving him the confidence to prove his speed. With tires, like with any good relationship it’s all about feedback; the tires needing to tell a rider how fast he can go. Matt and his tires have a great relationship.” Pirelli Tire North America designs, develops, manufactures, and markets tires for passenger vehicles in both the original equipment and replacement markets, as well as marketing tires for motorcycles and race cars. Located in Rome, Georgia, Pirelli’s Modular Integrated Robotized System (MIRS) employs state-of-the-art technology to manufacture tires for both export and domestic markets. For more information please visit: www.us.pirellimoto.com. More, from a press release issued by Corona Extra Honda Racing: CONSISTANT FINISHES FOR CORONA EXTRA HONDA RACING AT VIR Corona Extra Honda riders Jake Holden and Neil Hodgson put in solid performances at the hot and humid Virginia Internal Raceway this weekend. Both riders struggled with traction problems but still Jake came away with seventh and tenth place finishes, Neil eleventh and eighth. As usual both Neil and Jake got up to speed in the first on-track session posting 5th and 12th respectively. Hodgson turned a time of 1:26.129. Holden posted a time of 1:27.510 after having gearing problems throughout the session. In qualifying, both went into Super Pole. Hodgson improved upon his morning times with a 1:25.807 for 6th. Holden posted a flyer on his last lap moving him from 12th to 9th to guarantee his spot. He also improved upon his morning time with a 1:26.139. Superpole saw Hodgson improving for 5th on the grid after posting a 1:26.431 on Friday afternoon. Teammate Holden had problems and had to settle for the 10th starting position after posting a time of 1:26.980. Times for all riders were slower than the times posted in basic qualifying. In race one of the double header, both Neil and Jake fought through from bad starts to move up the race order. Holden followed Hodgson across the stripe to complete lap one in 12th place. Both riders passed Jeff Wood during the next lap. Holden then got around his teammate on lap three but gave up a position to Knapp. Geoff May crashed on lap 4 to move both riders up a position. Larry Pegram then ran off track on lap 5 to move both riders up another position. Holden managed to get around Laverty on lap 8 to take 7th. Hodgson gave up 10th to Pegram on lap 10 and managed to take back that position during the next lap. Holden’s battled with Knapp and took the 7th position on lap 12. He held that position until the end of the race. Hodgson held 10th until being passed by Wood on lap 19. He held 11th until the end of the race. Holden turned his best lap time of 1:26.612 in lap 13. Hodgson turned his best lap time 1:27.231 in lap 7. Both Corona Extra Honda Racing riders got off to a good start during the Sunday round. Neil Hodgson finished lap one in 8th and battled with Ben Bostrom over the next two laps swapping position each lap. On lap 4 both Hodgson and Bostrom passed Jeff Wood. Hodgson then gave up a position to Taylor Knapp on lap 6 and Aaron Yates on lap 7. He managed to catch and pass Matt Mladin bringing home an 8th place finish but not before he took a 150 MPH excursion through the grass for the entire length of the straight check out the Speed broadcast to see the terrific save Neil made! Holden crossed the line at the end of lap one in 10th. He held that position until giving up a spot to Knapp on lap 3. Two lap s later Holden managed to pass Wood and then held 10th until the end of the race.