Michael Barnes was the fastest rider during TTXGP qualifying Saturday at the Great Clips West Coast Moto Jam at Infineon Raceway.
Barnes lapped the 2.32-mile layout in 1:47.553 on his Lightning Motors machine. Barnes outpaced his new teammate Tim Hunt, who was second-fastest with a 1:54.730 in spite of it being his first time riding at the undulating road course.
Steve Rapp was third-fastest with a time of 1:57.133 on just his second lap on his Brammo Empulse RR, but on Rapp’s fourth lap he suffered a big crash and injury that has ended his weekend on the Brammo and his Motorcycle-Superstore.com/LeoVince/Attack Performance AMA Pro Superbike.
“Right before the [AMA Pro] Superbike race,” Rapp told Roadracingworld.com, “the guys from the TTXGP came over and said, ‘Hey, Steve Atlas crashed and got hurt and he can’t ride the bike. Would you be willing to ride it?’ I wasn’t sure what I should do. We talked about it. They seemed like they really wanted me to do it, and I thought I could help them out a little bit and see where it leads. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees in racing.
“It looks like there was some fluid leaking out of it, and it highsided me. I wasn’t even turning. I was just going down the back straight. Going into Turn Seven, I just rolled out of the throttle, and it just backed around on me and highsided the crap out of me.”
Rapp said doctors at the track’s medical center weren’t sure if he dislocated bones or fractured bones in his right wrist, but “either way I can’t ride tomorrow, which sucks,” said Rapp. “These guys [Motorcycle-Superstore.com/LeoVince/Attack Performance] have been helping me out so much. That’s just racing. What can I say? I can’t blame anybody. I was just trying to do what I thought was the right thing at the time, but it wasn’t.”
The Brammo team left Infineon Raceway Saturday night before Roadracingworld.com could contact them seeking comment.
Great Clips West Coast Moto Jam/TTXGP Infineon Raceway Sonoma, California May 5, 2012 Qualifying Results (as provided by TTXGP):
TTXGP Class: 1. Michael Barnes (Lightning), 1:47.553 2. Tim Hunt (Lightning), 1:54.730 3. Steve Rapp (Brammo), 1:57.133, crash 4. Steve Atlas (Brammo), no time recorded
eSuperstock Spec Class: 1. Martin Szwarc, 2:10.342 2. Kenyon Kluge, 2:13.893 3. Jason Lauritzen, 2:14.161 4. Jennifer Everson Lauritzen, 2:18.858
Update:
Steve Atlas posted the following to his Facebook page late Saturday evening:
“Been a lot of dif stuff floating around about my crash and cond etc. I high-sided coming out of the tight right [Turn Seven] after the back straight. It was a pretty big one and according to the bikes data I did nothin dif than the lap prior so we’re still not sure what caused it. As for me, it took the wind out of me, ground off the end of my right index finger, and compression fractured my T2-T8 vertebrae in my upper back. And while it sounds bad I’m actually feeling okay and should only be out 4-6 weeks so don’t count us out just yet! It’s a relatively long season with two races during each round so plenty can happen and you can bet I will be back riding ASAP. Thanks for all the well wishes!”