Vesrah Suzuki’s Cory West won the Larry H. Miller Superbike challenge GTU race held in conjunction with the SBK weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. After qualifying in the 3rd place position on Saturday morning, Cory used his front row starting position to get away with the lead riders at the start of the race held under changing conditions. Using his experience gained during the previous weekends WERA National Challenge races at MMP, Cory resisted the temptation to mount rain tires and stayed with Pirelli DOT race tires on his Suzuki GSX-R 600. In second place after the end of the first lap, Cory mounted a charge to the front on the 3rd lap and pushed after gaining the lead resulting in a substantial gap which he was able to use to manage his pace at the end of the race in order to finish in first place. Team Vesrah, consisting of Cory and former Vesrah Suzuki riders Russ Wikle, Jimmy Wood, and Chris Ulrich also won the “King of Clubs” competition with 115 points using the top 4 finishes of the team members. More, from a press release issued by Wisconsin SportBikes Racing Team: Wisconsin SportBikes Racing Celebrates Another Successful Weekend: ASRA/CCS at Blackhawk Farms The Wisconsin SportBikes Racing Team returned to Blackhawk Farms Raceway for ASRA/CCS action and did not come away disappointed. In the Michelin Pro Series Solo Challenge, Points Leader Ray Hofman got off to a strong start however battled with an overheating issue on his CBR600RR and dropped off pace, but was still able to maintain a strong finish, coming across the line in Third Place. In the Michelin Pro Series GTL Team Challenge action, the Wisconsin SportBikes Racing 1 Team of Jim Lilly and Jim Rodefer had an amazing run, with Rodefer taking the first leg and setting some great times on board the Suzuki SV650. The bike was handed off to Lilly who kept a steady pace and then a final switch back to Rodefer for the final run was marred with a Turn 1 lowside that Rodefer was able to keep from becoming a race ending crash, and in fact, was back on the bike and racing again so quickly that their pit crew were not even aware of any serious delay in lap times, and even with the crash, brought the WSB Racing SV650 home in 3rd place to become their first podium finish in this series. In CCS Action, Amateur Racer Kevin Van Engen brought home multiple wins, winning every class that he raced in on his Suzuki SV650. In Femmoto LW, WSB Racing’s Jen Muecke brought home another win on her Honda Hawk GT, and in Femmoto MW, Muecke came in second, followed by WSB Racing’s Tanya Jungenberg in third, and Wisconsin SportBikes supported racer, Meghan Stiles of Team Stiles Racing took the win in commanding fashion. Tim Alsum returned to the podium, coming in third in the Am GTO Race, and Jared Herbig took his very first Podium finish, coming in third in Lightweight Supersport, Amateur. Wisconsin SportBikes Racing Team 1 would like to thank Hardcore Motorsports, Trackside Suspension & Engineering, Scotty Ryan Race Schools, Vortex, Penske, 1000RR dot US, Motortabs, MotoVid.com, Stoneplanet.net, Pirelli Tires, Kyle USA, and Blackhawk Farms Raceway Riders Clinics, and most of all, our families and friends who have been there to support us. More, from a press release issued by Hix Racing: Fresh off dominating the Michelin Team Challenge at Road America, Hix Racing’s Ron Hix and Brian Blume win in convincing fashion at Blackhawk Farms this past Sunday. On their first weekend racing on Dunlop tires, the pair won the GTO class as well as the overall with more than a 24 second lead. After running hard for almost a full hour before pitting, Ron brought the bike into the pits for a quick refuel and handed the bike off to teammate Brian with a formidable lead. Brian then finished off the remaining 32 laps in dominant fashion. This past weekend’s CCS races at Blackhawk Farms also saw a first for Hix Racing. In Saturday’s Expert GTO race, Ron and Brian finished 2nd and 3rd, providing the young team with its first dual podium finish which also provided Dunlop a clean sweep on the podium as Brian Hall captured the top of the box. Later that same day Ron was able to repeat his performance in the Unlimited GP race finishing 2nd ahead of some very stiff competition while Brian Blume fought his way back up the pack to finish in 10th overcoming a bad start and heavy traffic. In Sunday’s Expert Unlimited Supersport race (the race immediately following the Team Challenge), Ron struggled through the fatigue accrued during his 45 consecutive laps in the Team Challenge to finish 5th. But in the last race of the weekend for Hix Racing, Ron showed himself to be back to form by running a personal best lap time and finishing back on the podium for the Expert Unlimited Superbike race in 2nd place. In the same race, in light of starting in the final grid position, Brian Blume was able to work his all the way up to an 8th place finish. Fresh off a promising start to his racing career where he finished 1st and 2nd in his maiden voyage into the shark infested waters of racing at Road America on May 3rd, amateur racer and newest member of Hix Racing, Ian Flaws, suffered a disappointing blow when his engine blew while leading Saturday’s Unlimited GTO race. The final member of Hix Racing is its head wrench, Stephan Hall. Stephen rejoined the team for the Blackhawk round after finishing college in Kansas and then moving to Illinois to support the team and its marketing efforts. Stephan secured his race license through the Learning Curves race school and is looking forward to not only wrenching for the team but also griding up next year. An integral part of Hix Racing’s success is owed to the outstanding support of its partners and sponsors. Hix Racing would like to take this opportunity to especially thank Dunlop and trackside rep Tom McMannis for outstanding product and customer support during their first race weekend on Dunlop tires. More, from a press release issued by Rea Racing: Gino Rea wins Dutch Superbike Championship race at Oss Gino and the Duntep team had a great win in the Dutch Superbike Championship round on the street circuit at OSS. Starting from 4th on the grid. Gino battled with Raymond Schouten and took the lead after 6 laps. The weather which had been a problem earlier, then started to rain with one lap to go and the race was halted early with Gino taking the win. In Gino’s words: “The day went really well. In the morning warm up I was 2nd fastest and also went 0.3s faster than I did in qualifying with the same used tyres, so I was confident for the race. Just before the race there was a heavy downpour, it was really weird as it had been hot all day. The rain stopped but the track was wet. It was still muggy and humid out and the ground was hot so the rain was drying up pretty quick. They delayed the race 20 minutes to see if it would dry. Before the sighting lap we could see the track was going to dry in the race but there would be a few wet patches in certain corners at the beginning. So we decided to use a supercorsa cut tyre in the front and a full slick on the rear. Everyone else went with full slicks front and rear. I got a good start from 4th on the grid but as the track was pretty narrow I couldn’t get past. I was 3rd into the first corner. I made a pass on 2nd place on the first lap but he came back at me a lap later and I managed to get back past him on the same lap. By now the leader Raymond Shouten had a gap on me and the track was fully dry, which was not an advantage for me using the treaded supercorsa. I put my head down and tried to close on Raymond. I was getting closer lap by lap and I got close enough to find a small gap to take the lead. I pulled a second lead and was quite comfortable until I almost lost the front while turning into one of the hairpins. I calmed down a bit, still with half a second lead, with a lap and a half to go it started to rain at the back section of the track, the race got red flagged and I won my first Dutch SBK race!! I’m glad I could finally give the team a win, we have worked hard from the first race of the season and have had the pace, but never quite put the race together. Thanks to everyone involved in the Duntep Race team. It was a good weekend overall, until the journey home. We got turned away at the Eurotunnel as we had a fuel leak. We had to leave their premises and get it fixed before we was even allowed back on, so we ended up being at Calais for 3 hours! Eventually got back onboard, then the alarm went off in our carriage as it had sensed a slight leak of fuel from the fuel that had leaked onto the engine from before. Everyone in our carriage had to get out of their cars and go to the next carriage along! But it was fine after it was inspected!” So an eventful weekend! Assen Dutch SBK next, in 2 weeks time! More, from a press release issued by NorCo Racing: EXCELLENT SHOWING FOR THE NorCO RACING DUCATI 1098R (# 616) AT THE MILLER SUPERBIKE CHALLENGE The Northern Colorado Euro Motorcycles (NorCO Racing) Ducati 1098R piloted by #616 Brad Hendry finished 7th in the Larry H Miller Superbike Challenge held at the World Superbike event held at the Miller Raceway in Tooele, Utah this last weekend. This event did not include any of the factory teams, except for the Corona Racing team, and became an event for the top Superbike Privateers in the USA. Brad Hendry’s # 616 Ducati 1098R qualified well during the weekend securing 9th position on a grid dominated by the top privateers from all around the USA. The Ducati 1098R started well and maintained position into the first corner but dropped to 10th in turn 2. During the next lap Hendry moved into 9th position. The Norco Racing Ducati 1098Rthen gained a further position in lap5 moving into 8th position. A great race then ensued for the next 4 laps for position 7, then Hendry executed an excellent late breaking pass in turn 5 and steadily pulled away to secure the 7th spot. The # 616 Ducati 1098R was rapidly closing the gap on the 6th position when the race ended on lap 13 with the Ducati 1098R remaining in 7th position. “This was a great shootout race between the USA’s top privateers and a 7th position for the Ducati 1098R makes a strong statement on just how competitive the 1098R machine is” said Rider Brad Hendry. “The excellent torque characteristics of the Ducati 1098R combined with my superb grippy N-Tech Dunlop tires allowed me to compete and pass aggressively in the in-field. The long front straight tends to advantage the 4 cylinder machines but my great Ducati could hold them in the draft and then we went to work in the in-field. I was having a great time out there. Thank you to all my sponsors.”