Team Morse Racing opens the MRA season with podium finishes! Team Morse Racing attended the Colorado-based MRA series opener at Pueblo Motorsports Park this past weekend and started the regional series off with a bang! Fresh off a WERA National podium finish at Jennings Florida, Dave Gallant was ready to begin the MRA regional series and concentrate solely on the setup for his new RacerSupply.com Suzuki GSXR 750. The MRA has attracted many new riders by announcing plans to travel to some fantastic new race tracks in the 2006 season. This coupled with the depth of talent already present in the premier MRA classes means that stepping off a Suzuki SV650 and onto a Racersupply.com Suzuki GSXR 750 and placing well is no easy task; but Dave Gallant was able to do just that his first weekend aboard the new bike. Friday night clouds parted Saturday morning to provide a cool but sunny morning practice session to an anxious crowd in Pueblo Colorado. Dave spent the morning practice sessions dialing in his new Suspension Solutions suspension while gathering tire temperature and tire pressure data with The Racer Supply Company”s Joe Page. Joe and Dave worked through the early sessions searching for the sweet spot between his fresh Ohlins suspension and his new Pirelli tires and as the green track”s temperature slowly came up as Dave”s lap times steadily came down. “While I am a most comfortable pushing a small displacement bike to its absolute limit, I am having a great time with this new challenge presented by my new Suzuki. Ryan at Suspension Solutions can almost read my mind now when it comes to how I like my forks set up, and the new Pirelli tires are even better than last year. Right now I just working through as many small changes as possible to see how good we can get this setup before this afternoon”s endurance races” commented Dave during the Saturday afternoon lunch break. With the afternoon came the first of the 2006 MRA Solo Endurance races, and first up was Mike Applehans aboard his Suzuki SV650 in Lightweight Endurance. The road to recovery from multiple broken ribs has proven to be a long one, but Mike rode hard to a second place podium finish. “The SV is a brand new bike but it is already quite easy to ride. I am glad to be right in the mix of things right away!” commented Mike on his podium finish. With the drop of the next green flag for the MRA”s first Heavyweight Endurance race of the 2006 season, it was clear that Dave”s morning setup work was going to pay off. Dave slipped into second place by turn one then along with a fellow GSXR 750 rider proceeded to slice and dice their way through the first wave of 1000cc motorcycles. At the checkered flag, Dave Gallant managed to bring home a strong second place podium finish in his first race on the RacerSupply.com GSXR 750. “Although I have a long way to go learning how to get this motorcycle around the track, this race was a great first step. The guys I was chasing are all on bikes they are very comfortable with, but I was able to learn a great deal about my new bike simply by stacking it up every corner and seeing where I am doing well and where I need to improve. I have never had as much rear end traction as this before, and can”t wait to get back out for a few more set-up sessions with what I learned in that last race” commented Dave Gallant. The sun came out even stronger for Sunday”s races with higher temps and a cleaner race track. Dave used various races throughout the day to continue to test suspension settings and tire pressures in preparation for the big Heavyweight Supersport race at the end of the day. When the Heavyweight Supersport race finally did get underway, all of the hard work was almost lost. “This 750 motor is very strong, and I was really abusing the clutch all day long getting off the line against those 1000cc monsters in my morning races. The clutch started slipping on the warm up lap of the Heavyweight race and my heart sank as I pulled up to the starting line. I had no idea if it had one more start in it or not, and even if I got off the line I wasn”t sure if the clutch would simply slip off every corner” Dave launched off his front row starting position hard enough to maintain his front row starting position, again slipping into second place by turn one; then never looked back. After a hard 8 laps of racing, Dave Gallant was able to bring home another strong second place podium finish for the weekend aboard his RacerSupply.com Suzuki GSXR 750. “While that wasn”t the prettiest race I have ever run, I am glad I could bring it home in second place. I really want to thank American Suzuki for continuing their support of regional events through their contingency programs. Not only does Suzuki make a fantastic motorcycle but they understand what it takes for a privateer roadracer to continue growing in their career, and year after year they provide programs that help make that growth possible. This weekend”s contingency payouts are going to make it possible for me to race again this month, and to top that off they are even giving away brand new Suzuki GSXR”s at the end of the season. Like most everyone else in the country, I want my shot at one of those bikes; and every race weekend like this will be a step closer to getting one.” More, from a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports: Hotbodies Racing Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki’s Craggill in Top 10 at Fontana Before Red Flag FONTANA, Calif. – Hotbodies Racing Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki rider Marty Craggill was headed for a top-10 finish at California Speedway’s AMA Superstock race on Sunday in Fontana, Calif., when a red flag caused by a downed rider stopped the race. Craggill was unable to re-start the event. “The race was going good,” said a matter-of-fact Craggill afterward. “The Suzuki GSX-R1000 was going good and I was feeling better than I had yesterday. It’s a shame, but that’s racing. Now we’ll just focus on Infineon Raceway next month.” Saturday’s qualifying session saw Craggill post a best lap time of 1:26.636, resulting in a fourth-row starting position on the grid of the 2.8-mile, 21-turn track. “The Suzuki is pretty good,” said Craggill. “It’s really fast, even though my results don’t show it right now. Basically, we did really well on race tires but not so good on qualifiers. But I’m happy with the overall set-up and it’s the race that counts.” In the actual 17-lap race on Sunday, Craggill got a pretty good start and began to work his way through the pack. Unfortunately, the red flag stopped the race and Craggill pulled into the pits, where his crew discovered a problem with the bike’s rear axle. “Basically, a nut in the rear axle failed,” said team owner and reigning AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin. “It’s too bad and this was a tough lesson for the team, but they’ve learned from it and I don’t think it will happen again.” Hotbodies Racing Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki’s next AMA Repsol Superstock race will be at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., May 19 – 21, 2006. Marty Craggill, Hotbodies Racing Mat Mladin Motorsports Suzuki, #16 DNF – AMA Superstock 16th Place – Overall More, from a press release issued by Hawk Kawasaki: Mixed fortunes for Hawk Kawasaki Round 4 – Oulton Park – 1st May Hawk Kawasaki riders Dean Thomas (33), Craig Coxhell (23) and Peter Hickman (19) suffered mixed fortunes at the fourth round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park on Monday (1st May). Qualifying in eighth position on the grid Dean Thomas got a flying start in the first race and settled nicely into fifth position. Leading a trio of factory riders including Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari and Karl Harris, Thomas was fighting a strong battle and fending off the chasing pack. As half distance approached the Chesterfield based rider began to struggle with grip and chatter problems and began to drop places, finishing in 12th position overall. He was only to see half a lap in the second race after another good start he got tangled up with Suzuki rider James Haydon at Shell Oils corner forcing Thomas to crash out. An injured Thomas said “Things definitely progressed this weekend and we made a number of alterations on the ZX10-R and we are now moving in the right direction and know where we want to be. I have broken a rib after the crash with James (Haydon) so I’m feeling a little second hand at the moment, which I could have done without. If I’m well enough, we have a test at Mallory Park this Friday, which I’d like to attend and continue making improvements with the bike.” Returning from injury his fellow Australian team-mate Craig Coxhell rode two impressive races to finish a creditable 17th and 15th places respectively. Coxhell who broke his left collar bone and tore the muscles in his right shoulder three weeks ago fought through the pain this weekend and battled around the demanding circuit. Coxhell said “Oulton is certainly a very difficult circuit to ride when you are fully fit so I was struggling a lot this weekend with my injuries. All I wanted to do was finishes both races and learn more about bike and the track for the next time we visit there in July. The bike was moving around a fair bit towards the end of the races so I was having to ride it harder than normal. I did struggle with bike fitness but this is just a time thing and hopefully I will be fully fit by Mondello in three weeks.” Youngest rider in the British Superbike Series, Peter Hickman gained a 20th and 19th position in the two races at the Cheshire circuit. Hickman who is contending his first year on a Superbike is learning the trade well, the Lincolnshire based rider was locked in a battle with experienced Superbike rider Kieran Clarke in race one and Clarke’s team-mate Billy McConnell in the second race. Commenting “It’s been a tough weekend but I managed two race finishes which I’m pleased about. I’m learning so much and realise what a tough class the Superbike series is. I’ve had a couple of crashes at the last few meetings and so my main aim at Oulton was to stay on, which I did. I still have a long way to go and still focusing on scoring some Championship points.” The Hawk Kawasaki Team will be testing at Mallory Park on Friday 5th May.