By Cory Stem Roadrace Southwest Gets Started in Arizona The first round of the Championship Cup Series Southwest Region administered by Roadrace Southwest got off to a great start in 2009 with Rick Bucher getting a great debut. There were lots of new bikes, parts and gear on display for the opener with some big changes for the top three finishers of 2008. Number one plate holder Ray Thibedeau is on the same R6 as last year but with a new sponsor and new tire. Being helped by Ridetime! meant a change to Michelin Rubber and the issues changing parts can always have. Matt Hartlieb, #2 made a tire switch from Pirelli but had minor issues on his SV650 while Dave Siminski, Honda mounted number four also had a tire change from Pirelli to Michelin. Rick Bucher left his Dunlops alone but ditched his aging 2003 Honda for a brand new Yamaha middleweight and by doing so early, had his new setup pretty much dialed in for the race weekend and it showed. Middleweight GP was a good race that foreshadowed what will follow in the remaining rounds. The race was won easily by Rick Bucher (who would tally seven wins in seven races on the day) but the battle for second was brutal. Danny Demel, Josh Mosley and David Siminski would finish second to fourth in that order and all are battling new setups be they tires or whole new machines. Demel and Siminski were going at it for second very hard as each tried new ways to capture the position as Mosley watched closely in fourth. The waning laps saw Demel take second place and on the second to last lap as Siminski dived in late to turn ten, a chattering rear pushed him into the bumpier section of track killing his drive into one. Mosley saw his opportunity and took Siminski deep on the brakes into the right-left of turns one and two forcing Siminski to bobble again and settle for fourth after almost running off course. In Heavyweight Superbike, Bucher led and won again despite an acute case of food poisoning (which had him vomiting all night prior) leaving the battle for second to be fought for by everyone else. Ray effectively said of his day that the tires and bike were good separately, but that more testing would be needed to get them to work together and his subsequent finish was fourth. Danny Demel is reinvigorated this year and trying to stay more focused after a disappointing 2008. He went back to Dunlop and retooled his strategy. It netted him a second ahead of Honda rider Dave Siminski after a pretty good battle on the track. The Unlimited GP was won by a 600 again and again on the top rung was Rick Bucher. Rick really made an effort to do well this year, preparing not only himself with copious amounts of physical and mental training but by getting a new R6 ready and tested before the season started. He bested Zac King, a newly minted expert on his GSXR 1000 after following him and appearing to “size up” the new comer to the white plate kingdom. Zac did very well although you could tell he was a little surprised, as most fast and former amateurs are that the experts race you a little differently when you are vying for their share of the goods! Josh Mosley on his brand new Ducati 848 got a strong third despite not having his new bike and tire combo completely sorted yet. RESULTS: Lightweight SuperSport 1 – MATTHEW HARTLIEB 2 – MARK KOCHMAN 3 – STEVEN HYMER 4 – JOSEPH DEVINE 5 – JASON MCDONNELL Amateur Middleweight SuperSport 1 – GREG BOUDREAUX 2 – MATTHEW HILL 3 – BILL DAVIS 4 – TONY MORETTI 5 – VICTOR LING Expert Middleweight SuperSport 1 – RICK BUCHER 2 – DAVID SIMINSKI 3 – RAY THIBEDEAU 4 – MATTHEW DOM 5 – DONNY DEMEL Expert Unlimited SuperSport 1 – RICK BUCHER 2 – JAMES JOYCE 3 – ZAC KING 4 – STEPHEN PETERS 5 – STEVEN HYMER Ultra Light Superbike 1 – JAMIE BUBECK 2 – JON NAUMANN 3 – VANESSA HYMER 4 – STEVEN HYMER Lightweight Superbike 1 – MATTHEW HARTLIEB 2 – MARK KOCHMAN 3 – JOSEPH DEVINE 4 – JON NAUMANN 5 – ALAN CHOOK Amateur Middleweight Superbike 1 – GREG BOUDREAUX 2 – MATTHEW HILL 3 – BILL DAVIS 4 – TONY MORETTI 5 – ARMANDO RUIZ Expert Middleweight Superbike 1 – RICK BUCHER 2 – DAVID SIMINSKI 3 – DANNY DEMEL 4 – JOSHUA MOSLEY 5 – RAY THIBEDEAU Heavyweight Superbike 1 – RICK BUCHER 2 – DANNY DEMEL 3 – DAVID SIMINSKI 4 – RAY THIBEDEAU 5 – DUANE BARTLETT Expert Unlimited Superbike 1 – RICK BUCHER 2 – RAY THIBEDEAU 3 – JAMES JOYCE 4 – ZAC KING 5 – STEPHEN PETERS Lightweight Grand Prix 1 – MATTHEW HARTLIEB 2 – DUSTIN APGAR 3 – MARK KOCHMAN 4 – JAMIE BUBECK 5 – MATTHEW KELLERMAN Amateur Middleweight Grand Prix 1 – GREG BOUDREAUX 2 – BILL DAVIS 3 – MATTHEW HILL 4 – VICTOR LING 5 – DAVID HURTADO Expert Middleweight Grand Prix 1 – RICK BUCHER 2 – DANNY DEMEL 3 – JOSHUA MOSLEY 4 – DAVID SIMINSKI 5 – MATTHEW DOM Unlimited GP 1 – RICK BUCHER 2 – ZAC KING 3 – JOSHUA MOSLEY 4 – JAMES JOYCE 5 – STEPHEN PETERS Thunder Bike 1 – DUSTIN APGAR 2 – ANDREW BROUGHTON 3 – JOSEPH DEVINE 4 – BILLY PEDRO 5 – ALAN CHOOK Super Twins 1 – JOSHUA MOSLEY 2 – ANDREW BROUGHTON 3 – KERRY ALTER 4 – BILLY PEDRO 5 – ALAN CHOOK More, from a press release issued by FNB Racing: FNB Racing supported riders Peter Lenz and Bennie Taylor shine at round #2 of WERA West racing in Las Vegas, Nevada. The weekend saw a large stable of talented young 125 riders in attendance including US Red Bull Rookie Cup riders Austin DeHaven, Benny Solis and 2008 WERA West 125GP Champion Ryan Matter. Up and coming racers Peter Lenz and Bennie Taylor made their presence felt at Las Vegas Classic Course this past weekend. In one of the best races all weekend, Peter and Bennie finished 1st and 2nd in the 125GP race. This was to be Peter’s third race weekend ever on a 125GP machine and only his second time at the Las Vegas course. Peter only 11 years old, won his 1st ever expert WERA Race and won 3 expert class races on Sunday on his 1996 Honda RS125 with a Brian Ens built BigB racing engine. Bennie showed his maturity by backing up his strong podium finishes at Auto Club Speedway with solid podium finishes in Las Vegas. Team owner Justin Watkins picked up a few top 5 finishes in Vegas as well. Peter Lenz 1st – WERA Mini race 2 1st – 125GP 1st – F2 2nd – WERA Mini race 1 3rd – F2 Makeup DNF – LW Solo Bennie Taylor 2nd – 125GP 2nd – F2 Makeup 3rd – LW Solo 4th – F2 Justin Watkins 5th – B Superstock 5th – B Superstock Makeup 7th – MS Solo 7th – B Superbike 8th – C Superstock DNS – C Superbike After a long weekend’s racing, Peter, Bennie and Justin headed home with several trophies and smiles on their faces. FNB Racing would like to thank all the 125 riders that came out to Vegas this past weekend, you all put on a great show! We would also like to thank everyone at WERA for believing in the up and coming youth riders, and allowing them to complete with such a great organization. Peter and Bennie would also like to thank all their personal sponsors for their support, helping them make their dreams come true. FNB Racing has been a supporter of Peter and Bennie since they began racing a little over 5 years ago. We are proud to watch them take their winning attitude and skills to the next level on the larger 125cc machines. Learn more about FNB Racing http://www.fnb-racing.com Justin Watkins and FNB Racing would like to thank all of our 2009 sponsors for their support: Pro Caliber Motorsports, SDS Performance, Cascade Track Time, KFG-Dunlop Tires, Miller Paint and Graphics, Arai Helmets, Spiegler Performance, Supermoto Engineering, SBS Brake Pads by Parts Unlimited, Leo Vince Exhausts, GP Suspension, Constructors Racing Group, Woodcraft, Armour Bodies, GPR Stabilizers, Vortex Racing Products, Maxima Racing Oils, Bazzaz Performance, EDR Performance, Lockhart Phillips USA, Attack Performance, Chicken Hawk Racing, Motion Pro Tools, Sidi Boots, RK Racing Chains, RB Components, Ultimate Floor Systems and Echo Alley Web Development.