Team Higgins Powersports/Roadracingworld.com had a great weekend of racing with CCS at Summit Point over the July 4th weekend. Rider Jeff Wood was able to take four wins during the weekend, and set a new CCS club record on a 600 with a 1:12.9 lap time. The team used the weekend to help set up their Suzuki GSX-R1000 for upcoming AMA competition at VIR and NJ. While there, Jeff ran a few Kawasaki contingency races on his ZX-6R’s, taking home $4000 in prize money. “This was a great weekend for us, we made some excellent progress on the 1000 to get it ready for some big races. And made some Kawasaki money at the same time,” said Wood. “We have won 17 races in a row on the new 600, so I am really starting to feel at home on it. It took a little while to get it dialed in, but we are finally turning better laps than we did on our Yamaha R6 last season!” More, from a press release issued by Tom Tunstall Racing: Tough Weekend for Tunstall The latest rounds of the British Superbike Championships were held north of the border at Knockhill in Scotland last Sunday, with Huddersfield superbike team Hardinge Doodson Motorsport taking his fourth podium in as many meetings. Making a pleasant change, warm sunshine shone over the Fife circuit for much of the weekend however by the end of the qualifying and practice sessions Huddersfield racer Tom Tunstall was struggling to get the best from the tight and technical 1.27mile circuit. Having claimed 4th place of the Superbike cup runners Tunstall was still looking for improvements; “I got to a reasonable lap time early in the weekend but we’ve struggled to make much progress from there. I’m working very hard on the bike and we’re still trying to find a set-up that allows me to run the pace I need. Although we’ve changed quite a lot it hasn’t shown in the lap times but we’ll keep pushing and working on it”. The first of the days two 30-lap races proved to be a lonely affair for the Yorkshireman and once passed former Japanese Superbike Champion Atsushi Wantanabe on lap 11, Tunstall graduated to 3rd place of the Cup riders after series leader Gary Mason crashed out on Lap 22. Holding the position to the flag plus bagging more championship points with 13th place overall. With changes to front fork setting, electronics set-up and rear tyre choice for race two Tunstall was still unable to ride to his usual standard and struggled to match the pace of his rivals. Despite a poor start Tunstall worked his way back up to 4th place by the chequered flag. “The changes for race two unfortunately made the bike worse. The rear was coming around both into and out of corners more. It was still worth a shot as it’s important to understand the issues and the only way we can do that is to try different settings. It’s been a very frustrating weekend and it’s important to learn from the issues we’ve had. “But even after a difficult weekend we’ve come away with another podium, a load of points, and a lot more experience so we can’t be too unhappy!” With the season now at the half way stage Tunstall currently holds fourth place in the Mirror.co.uk British Superbike Cup Championship with only nine points separating him from third place. The next round takes place at Mallory Park in Leicestershire on July 19th. More, from a press release issued by Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies: The Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Finishes Second at Laguna Seca! Monterey, CA July, 2009 The Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team scored its first podium of the year with a brilliant second place finish by Chaz Davies. The race was a hard fought, epic battle that saw Davies fight all the way to the finish line. This is the team’s first podium finish of the year and Davies’ first podium finish since Daytona 2008. KWS Motorsports continued the development of the Millennium Technologies sponsored Factory Aprilia RSV1000R in the three weeks leading up to Laguna and used the first day of the event to test new parts and settings. Although the lap times did not show it on the first day the team learned a lot in the limited track time. In qualifying, Davies was right there with the leaders. Although he only qualified in the sixth position, he was only a few hundredths of a second out of the second position. Teammate Ben Thompson continued to struggle with his bike set-up and qualified in the 22nd position. The team continued to take steps forward with each session. In Sunday morning’s warm-up session Davies posted the fastest time. This gave both the rider and the team confidence for a good finish. Thompson also made progress over the course of the weekend, finishing the morning warm-up in eighteenth position. He would, however, need a good start to make up for qualifying. The Daytona SportBike race was held immediately after the MotoGP race in front of a huge enthusiastic crowd of almost 50,000 people and they were treated to an amazing race. The start could have gone better for both riders, as Davies was shuffled back to seventh in the first corner and Thompson made up only a few positions. Davies made up ground quickly and fell into a four-way battle for third place that saw riders going into Laguna’s tight turn two, three-wide and sideways all the way to the apex. Eventually something had to happen and Jason DiSalvo fell down, taking two other riders with him. This brought out a red flag, stopping the race, and then a re-start. The re-start worked out wonderfully for the Factory Aprilia team. In the first segment of the race Davies was battling for the last spot on the podium, but after the restart and some very aggressive passes in the first couple of laps Davies took the lead. He held the lead for five laps until Ben Bostrom slipped by with two laps to go. Davies managed to stay with Bostrom on the last lap, but was not close enough going into the final corner to make a move and had to settle for the 2nd position .0226 back. This is the team’s best result in AMA competition to date. Thompson made progress over the course of the weekend and had moved up to 15th position when he unfortunately suffered a mechanical problem and retired from the race. Chaz Davies “What a great race! The KWS guys put in a monumental effort to get the bike this competitive. Its a million miles from where it was at Daytona. I am very excited about the next four rounds. Our goal is to make the most of it and do what we can to win one before the season is over and the team starts working on the amazing new Aprilia RSV4.” Ben Thompson “We made some progress this weekend trying to find a setting I can work with. The race was going well and we were moving forward but we had a problem with the bike and I had to pull off. It’s been a rough couple of races but we are working on a solution and I am confident we will find it soon.” Kevin Hunt (Team Owner) “This is the culmination of an effort that started with four bare Aprilia chassis eight days before Daytona. It seems like forever, but it was only a little over a hundred days ago. When we started this, nobody knew how it was going to turn out, but we put everything we had into this and no effort or resource has been spared. The most rewarding things in life are when you put in what you know is your best effort and it pays off. We have eight more chances for a win this year and we are looking forward to each and every one. A huge thanks Michael Godin, Jimmy Le, Rocky Stargel, Marty Ashmore, Brian Nallin and Chip Spalding for all their hard work this year.” More, from a press release issued by The Syndicate: PIETRI AND ESP/ VENEMOTOS YAMAHA EARN TOP FIVE AT LAGUNA SECA July 7, 2009 (Reno, NV)”” ESP/ Venemotos Yamaha and their rider, Robertino Pietri, arrived at Laguna Seca ready to fight for a top position. With limited track time, due to the combined Motogp/ AMA weekend, the team worked quickly to find Robertino a setup that he was comfortable with around the technical Laguna Seca circuit. The team made progress in the second day heading into final qualifying. The new AMA Daytona Sportbike rules saw no less than fourteen riders in the 1:28 second bracket, with Cardenas being the only rider in the 1:27’s. Robertino was able to turn a lap of 1:28.884, just eight tenths slower than second place qualifier Ben Bostrom. At the rolling start of the Daytona Sportbike race, Pietri immediately went to work. With a qualifying position of just fourteenth place, he needed to get his head down and start making progress. Robertino was able to do just that, slicing through the evenly matched and highly competitive field as he made his way to the front. Chaz Davies and Ben Bostrom had gapped the field, but Robertino was able to make his way to the battle for third between Yamaha factory teammates Aquino and Herrin. At the finish line, it was Herrin, Aquino, and Pietri separated by just seven tenths of a second. Pietri’s fifth place finish all the more impressive in light of his fourteenth place grid position. The ESP/Venemotos Yamaha team will take their Laguna momentum into Mid-Ohio and are aiming for their first podium in 2009. Robertino Pietri: “I’m happy with fifth, but I keep thinking what could have been if we had a better qualifying position. My ESP/ Venemotos R6 is working really well and I can’t wait to get to Mid-Ohio.” Evan Steel: “Finally. We knew we had the rider and equipment to run top five and now we proved it. Laguna is a rider’s track and the machine has to be working really well to get around here. We knew Tino had the pace from practice and qualifying, but the field is so tight we were gridded fourteenth. I can’t believe how he tore through the field. This top five is all the more impressive because it was a dry race and he had to earn all those positions.” For Sponsorship inquiries contact Murph at Syndicate Motorsport Management, LLC: (+1) 831 464 3458 or email: [email protected] Team ESP/ Venemotos Yamaha: Evan Steel Performance is a small, personal, specialized shop located in Tucson, Arizona that deals with all aspects of motorcycle road racing. ESP bikes have had some of the highest trap speeds in their classes at AMA Nationals, as well as the highest top speed at start/finish at the 50th annual Macau Grand Prix. In 2008, ESP scored a very rare privateer podium at the VIR AMA National in the Superstock class with Chris Peris. ESP is open to any level of racing, from basic race prep to planning a season at the Nationals. ESP can be reached at (520) 294 3050 or www.evansteelperformance.com More, from a press release issued by Birchall Brother Racing: BIRCHALL BROTHERS ON PODIUM IN SPAIN After a tense and close battle at the front of the pack, Mansfield brothers Ben and Tom Birchall finished their F1 Sidecar world championship race in third place at the Albacete circuit in Spain at the weekend in round two of the Superside FIM Sidecar World championship. Throughout the free practice period Ben and Tom were up at the front of the pack and took provisional pole position with a flying lap of 1m 35.583s just a tenth of a second away from the existing lap record that was set by Steve Abbott and Jamie Biggs as long ago as 1999. Qualifying saw the Mitchells of Mansfield sponsored pair running in second place for most of the session and this time they posted a fast lap time of 1m 34.633s which bettered the lap record by over a second. But the times were close and they ended up in third place just 2/10th of a second away from pole to start the 20-lap affair from a front row grid position. Morning warm-up saw the brothers put in five scorching laps to record the fastest time of the session with a lap time of 1m 34.296s once again well under the existing lap record. As the 20-lap race got underway the top three outfits pulled away from the pursuing pack with the Birchall boys in close formation with reigning world champion Pekka Paivarinta and his new passenger Adolf Hanni. They exchanged places throughout the 20 laps but were beaten over the finish line by a mere two tenths of a second by the flying Fins and had to be content with third place. “We battled for the lead over the first 10 laps,” said Ben Birchall. “It was a good, close race from start to finish but at the half way stage of the race we encountered a slight problem with the front tyre and decided to go for a safe third place sooner than push too hard with the tyre issue. We had a good old battle with Pekka and Adolf which was really enjoyable and they beat us across the line by the smallest of margins.” The third place means that Ben and Tom relinquish their joint lead with Paivarinta and drop back to second position on 61 points just four championship points behind their rivals. The next round is at Sachsenring in Germany where Ben and Tom will have two bites of the cherry with two races to contest. The races take place as a support to the MotoGP round at the circuit over the weekend of July 19 after which the brothers will return to the UK to ride the F11 machine in a non- championship race to be held at Donington Park on July 25th again as a support race to MotoGP. More, from a press release issued by Michael Jordan Motorsports: MONTEREY CA (July 6, 2009) Michael Jordan Motorsports’ Aaron Yates matched his 2008 USGP performance, putting his Jordan Suzuki superbike on the podium once again at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday. The Michael Jordan Motorsports rider notched his second consecutive third place finish in front of 46,679 sun-drenched in Monterey, California, after also finishing third at Round 6 at Road America last month. Yates has now reached the podium three times this year, matching the three podiums his MJM counterpart #54 Geoff May has already collected this season. May and his National Guard Jordan Suzuki team had a challenging Round 7 of the AMA Pro Racing Championship, ultimately finishing in ninth position during Sunday’s contest. 3rd PLACE – Aaron Yates, Jordan Suzuki No. 23 After starting today’s National Guard American Superbike race from sixth position on the grid, Yates moved forward through the field and soon found himself embroiled in a spirited battle with Ben Bostrom and Josh Hayes. After moving past the factory machines of #2 and #4, Yates settled into third position during the closing laps of the shortened 18-lap race. Drama ensued in the final corner, however, as Hayes moved past Yates to briefly take P3 before the veteran Yates sliced the #23 under Hayes on the exit and powered the GSX-R to the line for the final rostrum spot. “It’s real nice to be back on the podium and make it a Suzuki sweep at Laguna Seca,” said Yates. “I was hoping to challenge for the lead after our good result in warm-up, but I just didn’t have the same front-end feel during the race. We’ll take another podium though, no doubt. A big thank you to my Jordan Suzuki team for all the hard work they put in this weekend. The GSX-R 1000 had what it takes to finish 1-2-3 here at Laguna and it was a nice finish in front of all these great fans.” 9th PLACE – Geoff May, National Guard Jordan Suzuki No. 54 Racing his National Guard Jordan Suzuki over the 4th of July weekend had special meaning for Geoff May, as he knows he represents much more than himself when he takes to the track. The #54 rider had higher than normal expectations for himself this weekend and came into Round 7 ready to go. Though not for lack of effort, that elusive set-up never materialized for the rider and crew and May finished Sunday’s race in ninth place. Running as high as P7 at one point, May struggled with his unbalanced bike, which contrasted greatly with his ultra-smooth riding style. May soldiered on throughout the 18-lap affair and brought his National Guard Jordan Suzuki home inside the top 10. “Of course I’m not happy with my finish. I really wanted to get a good result for the National Guard this weekend,” said May. “We just didn’t have the set-up all weekend long and it was a struggle. The guys worked hard all weekend for me, long into the night, but we just didn’t put it together. I want to thank my crew for all the work, the fans for coming out, and the National Guard on this 4th of July weekend. I want redemption and I’m real fired up right now for the next race.” Yates and May are now tied for sixth in the Championship with 173 points each.