Tunstall Storms at Silverstone Doodson Motorsport racer Tom Tunstall charged through from the back row of the grid to make it eight point scores in a row at Silverstone, the penultimate round of the British Superbike Championship. The newly revised Silverstone Arena GP circuit presented a fresh challenge for the Doodson Motorsport team; with only one corner remaining from the old “international track” the learning curve was steep, as Tunstall explained: “The track is mega – wide, fast, and flowing and a lot different to other UK tracks where there a lot of stop/start heavy braking. It reminds me of some of the European tracks we raced on in world Supersport.” “From both a riding and bike set-up point of view it requires a different approach and with each lap we’re learning and progressing.” The improvements continued in qualifying as Tunstall claimed 17th on the grid with a lap speed averaging 101.04mph. “There’s still areas where I think we can improve and we’re going to try a different set-up in warm up. My consistency is good and I’m sure I can lap faster” Race one originally started on a dry track, after only a few laps rain started to fall bringing out the red flag. The team worked frantically to modify the settings to suit the changing conditions, however a mistake meant that Tunstall missed the pit lane opening and was forced to the back of the 31 rider grid. In greasy and difficult conditions the Yorkshireman fought hard as he charged through the field. With a top 10 pace he passed Stuart Easton and Hudson Kenaugh in the closing laps to claim 15th at the flag. “Obviously it was frustrating to start from the back, but I’m happy with how I turned it around. The conditions were pretty tricky, as it started to dry everyone’s tyres shredded but I kept it smooth and worked my way through… “It was a lot of fun to be honest it’s a shame there wasn’t more laps!” The rain continued to fall and a delayed race two was held in full wet conditions. Tunstall appeared to struggle in the opening laps, but once up to speed the Doodson backed rider picked off a few places taking 17th at the finish, and afterwards explained; “We changed the setting for the second race and for the first couple of laps I really struggled for grip and had some big moments. Initially I thought it was down to the changes but after a few laps I realised there was oil on the track. I got my confidence back but there were some big gaps and it turned out to be a fairly lonely race”. “The tracks great and I’m happy with my riding especially in qualifying and the first race. It’s hard to believe we’ve only got one race left this year… Onto Oulton now and we’ll continue to work hard to finish the season on a high” The final round of the 2010 series takes place over the weekend of 9th/10th of October and is a triple header with one race on the Saturday and two races on the Sunday at Oulton Park in Cheshire. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Yamaha secures victory in the AMA with the YZF-R1 Team Graves Yamaha rider Josh Hayes wrapped up the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) Superbike championship on his Yamaha R1 at the Barber Motosports Park in the USA on Sunday. The win, which was Hayes’ first career championship victory, is also the first victory for Yamaha in the American premier road racing class since 1991 when Thomas Stevens took the win. The championship came down to the wire with Hayes needing a second in the first race and a top eight finish in the second to secure the title, beating rival Tommy Hayden by 12 points in the final standings. Meanwhile Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 rider Josh Herrin finished third in the AMA Daytona SportBike Championship, while Austin Dehaven won the AMA SuperSport title on his Yamaha YZF-R6. “A huge thank you to Yamaha for bringing me onboard for my first Superbike ride,” said Josh Hayes afterwards. “I am glad I was able to race well and bring home the R1’s first AMA Superbike championship.” Yamaha road racing team manager Tom Halverson added, “This is probably the best team we’ve ever had, and the effort that everyone has made to win the championship is just incredible. From the machinists to the secretaries back at Yamaha, thank you. The race crew has really been amazing this year too. Josh has been a great rider, and it’s easy to stand behind him because he puts in so much effort.” More, from a press release issued by Gino Rea’s publicist: Gino crashes out of podium contention after tough weekend at Imola WSB Gino and the team experienced a challenging weekend at Imola. The weekend started off strong with a 4th place in free practice, not far away from those who tested here. In first qualifying Gino had a few problems with set up and only managed to get a couple of laps in before rain hit the track, leaving Rea in 9th position. Then more rain came for Saturday’s free practice and qualifying, although Gino was fastest for most of these sessions, it left him 9th on the grid for Sunday’s race… Gino got a good start but being on the inside, was squeezed to the white line and couldn’t get as far to the front of the pack as he wanted. But within 2 laps, ‘Speedy G’ had got past local Italians Michele Pirro and team mate Massimo Roccoli for 4th position. Rea had good pace and was on the back of Chaz Davies looking for a way past when disaster struck. Gino lost the front of the bike when changing direction onto the back straight, Gino’s first ever self fault crash in a race, in his WSB road race career. Rea was trying to carry as much corner speed as he could to get a good drive on the straight but unfortunately got on the gas a little too early and went down, a bad ending to a tough weekend that was just turning around. As it turned out, the leaders crashed on the final corner leaving Pirro to win the race, which could have been Gino had he stayed on. Gino comments: “It has been a really hard weekend. We have not had as much dry time as we would have liked and unfortunately, we had a few different problems in the time that we did have. After ending up 9th in the first qualifying, we fixed things ready for second qualifying which turned out to be wet, so no one could improve, therefore the first qualifying times stood and I was 9th on the grid. It’s a shame it didn’t rain on raceday because I was fast in every session, going fastest for most of them. Still, in the race I worked my way up to 4th just behind Davies, but crashed when I was trying to get a good drive onto the straight. I’m annoyed because if we didn’t have the problems on Friday and Saturday, I would have a had a different setting in the bike and wouldn’t of had to push that hard in that area. It was the first time I’ve crashed in a Superstock or Supersport race in my road race career.” “I’m going to be trying extremely hard to make the next race weekend go smooth from the start and I want to win. I was close at Nurburgring and I think it’s possible to step on that top step. Rain or shine I want to continue our progress and get back on that podium, I don’t like watching my race from the pit box!” The final round of the World Supersport Championship takes place at Magny-Cours, France, on October 3rd. www.GinoRea.com Follow Gino on twitter and facebook: twitter.com/GinoRea facebook.com/GinoRea.Page More, from an updated press release issued by Steele Strategic Communications + PR on behalf of Vortex: Vortex sees worldwide domination Wins AMA Superbike Championship, AMA Sportbike Championship and Superstock 600 European Championship ODESSA, Fla., USA Vortex Racing Components announced today that it hit the road racing trifecta with wins at the AMA Superbike and Sportbike championships and its very first European victory in the Superstock 600 European Championship over the weekend. On Sunday, Sept. 26th in Birmingham, Alabama at the AMA Pro National Guard Superbike Race, Vortex saw a big win with Vortex-sponsored rider, Josh Hayes. Hayes, who won the race series by 14 points, took the coveted Number 1 plate. Also in Birmingham, Vortex saw victory as Martin Cardenas crossed the finish line in first place at the AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike Championship. Cardenas squeaked a first place victory over Vortex-sponsored rider, Danny Eslick. “Hayes and Cardenas made Vortex proud in Birmingham over the weekend. We were very proud to see them take the Number 1 plates and are even prouder to call them Vortex Riders,” says Matt Griffin, owner of Vortex. Vortex-sponsored rider, Jeremy Guarnoni, wrapped up a dominant season at Imola on Saturday, Sept. 25th with his win at the Superstock 600 European Championship. Guarnoni, 17, gives Vortex its first ever European superstock championship making 2010 a historic year for the Florida-based racing components manufacturer. “We are beyond excited about Jeremy Guarnoni’s solid win at Imola. Watching Vortex racing components victoriously cross the finish line and seeing a Vortex-sponsored rider on the championship podium for the first time ever in Europe proves the amazing mettle of and the strength of Vortex parts in the racing world. We send our congratulations to Jeremy and the MRS Yamaha Racing Team,” says Griffin. Vortex currently sponsors hundreds of riders in all disciplines of motorcycle racing and is trusted by champions worldwide. It is scheduled to launch its new Athlete Support program in October. About Vortex Racing: Vortex Racing Components is currently celebrating 15 years in the motorcycle racing industry. We focus on absolute quality. Each of our race components are made to the tightest tolerances with the best quality materials in the industry. We test on the track with direct feedback from top professional race teams worldwide. Vortex parts have been put to the test by some of the world’s most respected champions and teams including Larry Pegram, Pro AMA Superbike racer; Danny Eslick, 2009 Sportbike Champion; James Stewart, 2009 World Supercross Champion; Chad Reed 2008 World Supercross Champion; US Factory Yamaha; Jordan Suzuki Race Team; and now, proudly, Jeremy Guarnoni, 2010 European Superstock 600 Champion; Josh Hayes, 2010 Pro AMA Superbike Champion; and Martin Cardenas, 2010 AMA Sportbike Champion. For more information about Vortex, please visit www.vortexracing.com. More, from a press release issued by Autolite RIM Racing: Autolite RIM Racing finishes 2010 season with solid results After a hard round at NJ Autolite RIM Racing bounced back to finish the season on a positive note. Autolite RIM Racing’s rider Mike Morgan moved up in the points standings to finish the season in 22nd overall while only attending 6 out of 10 rounds. Saturdays race ended with a 16th place finish and Sunday’s wet race Mike Morgan rode a solid race and with excellent skill finished 18th. Mike Morgan: “What a great year for our team and sponsors! The fans, tracks, competitors, and AMA have all been awesome this year. This has been our best season ever and I can’t wait until next year. The off season will be busy but long. I wanted to bounce back after NJ’s not so good weekend here at Barber, and that is what I did. We got the bike ready and the new Yoshimura exhaust worked great. One of my goals this year was to be faster at every track and I have been, the results have proven that. The first race went well and we found a few things in the race that we were going to try in Sundays practice but it rained and I couldn’t try the new settings. The race was good and the boys kept me honest up to the very end, it was good fun and satisfied with 16th place. Sundays race was more about survival and getting into the top 20 to gain some points with the wet conditions. The red flag helped me out and the second part of the race was better. There were no major moments and I wanted to bring the bike and me home in one piece. I can’t say enough about the crew and their hard work this year. Without them I could not have done it.” RIM Racing is sponsored by Autolite spark plugs, Fram oil filters, EBC brake pads, D.I.D chains, Kenwood, Motul oil, Race Tech suspension, Barnett clutches, Shark helmets, SRP Graphics, Vortex components, Zola acai drinks, Advanced Auto Parts, Bazzaz electronics, Hotbodies, Lockhart Phillips, Permatex, Yoshimura RIM Racing will return next year and look forward to competing in the AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike series. For more on Autolite and RIM Racing’s Mike Morgan please visit www.mikemorganracing.com More, from a press release issued by GNS Racing: Sam Lowes Wins British Supersport Championship GNS Racing Honda rider Sam Lowes clinched the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship title in fantastic style with a superb start to finish victory at a rain-hit Silverstone today. The 20 year old from Lincoln only needed a sixth place finish to claim the title following a dominant season and after qualifying on pole for the third successive race for Gary Stubbington’s Southampton-based team, he was confident of a good result. However, just before the start of the race, the rain arrived and following a crash on the opening lap involving a number of riders, the original start was aborted. Undeterred by the conditions, Lowes then rode a faultless race to take the win in the eight lap re-run by over 2.5 seconds to claim his fifth win of the series and with it, the prestigious British Supersport Championship with a round to spare as the team and Lowes celebrated in fine fashion despite the damp conditions. Lowes will be hoping to add to his victory tally when the final round of the series takes place at Oulton Park in two weeks time whereby Sam’s incentive if he wins will be that he will have won 50% of the races in a memorable season. Joining Lowes in the GNS Team this weekend was former multiple British Supermoto Champion Christian Iddon who gave a good account of himself and qualified in 12th place. Iddon, who had raced in British Superbikes earlier in the season and also contested the World Supersport Championship round at Silverstone as a wild card, battled against the conditions but any hopes of a result ended when he failed to bring the Honda CBR600 home after a misted visor thwarted his bid. Sam Lowes: “It’s just unbelievable. It’s just a mega, mega feeling for me and I was in tears going across the line. I think I’m lost for words for the first time ever and days like this are the reason that you race bikes. To win the race for the third time in a row and from pole position for the third time in a row, it’s just unreal. I want to say a massive, massive thank you to the team and all the sponsors – we are ONIT! We can now go to Oulton Park with no pressure for the last round and just enjoy it. It’s been a perfect weekend and I hope we can do the same at Oulton.” Christian Iddon: “It’s been fantastic working with the team this weekend, they’ve been superbly professional. They’ve helped me to feel comfortable on the bike and they’ve welcomed me into the team. All credit to them, especially with the job they’ve had to do this weekend with winning the championship. The bike has been spot on but I got caught a bit unawares in the wet and had a big slide on the first lap. I took it steady in the re-run and then started pulling a few people in but then the visor steamed up and I had to pull in. I’m really pleased for the team today.” Gary Stubbington, Team Owner: “What a year! It’s been an absolute pleasure to work with all these guys. It’s down to the whole team and each of our sponsors who have put every bit of effort in to getting Sam where he is now. We’ve taken each race bit by bit and improved our results throughout the season. It’s been a huge team effort and our goal now is to continue our hard work on into the British Superbike Championship next season if we can. Sam had a brilliant ride and he rode like a true professional. We can now relax for the last race of the season at Oulton and hopefully we can do the same again. I’m absolutely over the moon, everyone involved deserves this Championship win.” Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship result (8 laps) 1, Sam Lowes (GNS Racing Honda) 19:46.063s 2, James Westmoreland (Yamaha) +2.687s 3, Jason O’Halloran (Yamaha) +4.023s 4, Jack Kennedy (Yamaha) +15.357s 5, Glen Richards (Honda) +19.376s 6, Ben Wilson (Kawasaki) +23.234s DNF – Christian Iddon (5 laps) Championship standings (after round 11) 1, Sam Lowes – 221pts – Champion 2, James Westmoreland – 176pts 3, Ben Wilson – 110pts 4, Graeme Gowland – 105pts =, Jack Kennedy – 105pts 6, Billy McConnell – 104pts