USGPRU Kicks Off the 2009 Season

Buttonwillow, CA. – The 2009 USGPRU season got off to a windy start at Buttonwillow Raceway last weekend, hosted by American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM). There was a wide range of talent out on the track as racing veterans mixed it up with some of the fastest kids on 2 wheels.

On Saturday, the Pilot 125GP Qualifying Round was held during moderate temperatures and high winds. Benny Solis Jr., on a break from his stint in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, snagged pole position with 1:55.879, followed by Peter Lenz (1:58.200) and Ryan Matter (1:58.260). Jake Lewis and Bennie Taylor rounded out the top five qualifiers. The under-16 set clinched the top 10 spots, with racing veterans Phill Krenn and Deb Barton qualifying 11th and 12th, respectively.

Rain and heavy winds plagued Buttonwillow Saturday night. Racers woke up to wet pavement and questionable riding conditions Sunday morning. The weather gods cooperated with the racers though, and although the wind kept up all day, the rain subsided before rubber hit the track for practice.

The Moto Liberty/RS-Taichi 250GP qualifying session on Sunday morning resulted in Peter Lenz’s 1:58.650 being good enough for pole position, followed by Bennie Taylor (1:59.266), Joe Roberts (2:00.467), Phill Krenn (2:06.139) and Barrett Meeker (2:14.149) to round out the top five.

The Moriwaki MD250H qualifying was held during blustery cold winds, but the kids worked it out. Benny Solis Jr. grabbed another pole position with a 2:01.241 lap, followed closely by Jake Lewis (2:01.568). Luis “Rocky” Morales, Lex Hartl, and Conor Matthews rounded out the top five.

Jake Lewis grabbed the hole shot at the start of the Pilot 125GP race. But a small bobble quickly had him in third as Lenz and Solis completed the first lap. Lenz looked strong in his USGPRU debut, and was able to hold off Solis. But Lenz also made a mistake going wide in the last turn dropping him down to fourth behind Matter. The four way battle lasted until two laps remaining when Solis checked out and never looked back. Lewis, who had regrouped, held on to second with Matter and Lenz charging behind and Lenz earning his first podium at the line. Roberts rode home to a solid fifth-place finish.

The Moto Liberty/ RS-Taichi 250 GP race saw Marcello del Giudice launch into the lead into turn one. However, he slowly went backwards as the younger racers got up to speed. Lenz held a draft to the “Lost Hills” turn to out-brake del Giudice. Taylor, also close in tow, made his pass into second on the following lap with Roberts moving into fourth. Taylor took the lead from Lenz and started to open a little breathing room on his way to victory. Roberts made his way into third on the last lap with Krenn crossing the line in fifth. After post race inspection, Krenn and Meeker were elevated to fourth and fifth respectively as del Giudice failed to show for tech inspection.

The Moriwaki MD250H Powered by HONDA race was another fantastic event for the fans and racers alike. Solis, Lewis and Matter were nose to tail, dicing it up lap after lap. Lewis and Solis swapped the lead multiple times with Matter content to take advantage of anyone’s mistakes. Hartl and Morales had a great scrap for fourth and fifth. With one lap remaining, Lewis made a pass on Solis. Solis returned the favor once again only to get held up in lap traffic. That allowed Lewis and Matter to go by Solis. Matter had a great run on Lewis coming out of the last turn but the defending champion Lewis snagged the victory.

A few egos may have been bruised this weekend, but all of the USGPRU riders wrapped up the weekend injury-free. Thank you to Shawn, Barbara, Paddy and the rest of the AFM Staff, the corner workers and safety crews for making this weekend a successful one.

The next USGPRU weekend is at Jennings GP, April 4th 5th. RACE RESULTS: 

Pilot USA 125GP Race 1. Benny Solis, Jr. (HON) 2. Jake Lewis (HON) 3. Ryan Matter (HON) 4. Peter Lenz (HON) 5. Bennie Taylor (HON) 6. Joe Roberts (HON) 7. Michael Martin (HON) 8. Lex Hartl (HON) 9. Luis “Rocky” Morales (HON) 10. Cole Crowley (HON) 11. Phillip Krennn (HON) 12. Andrew Artola (HON) 13. Conor Matthews (HON) 14. Barrett Meeker (HON) 15. Cameron Gish (HON) DNS Debra Barton (HON) 

Moto Liberty / RS-Taichi 250GP Race 1. Bennie Taylor (HON) 2. Peter Lenz (HON) 3. Joe Roberts (HON) 4. Phillip Krenn (HON) 5. Barrett Meeker (HON) 6. Kevin Winter (YAM) DQ Marcello Del Giudice (YAM) Moriwaki MD250H by Honda Race 1. Jake Lewis (MOR) 2. Ryan Matter (MOR) 3. Benny Solis, Jr. (MOR) 4. Lex Hartl (MOR) 5. Luis “Rocky” Morales (MOR) DNS Conor Matthews (MOR)

About USGPRU The USGPRU is the officially recognized Motorcycle 125 Grand Prix National Championship ®, 250 Grand Prix National Championship (TM) series, and Moriwaki MD250H youth racing series. The USGPRU emulates true World MotoGP racing experience and serves to attract young riders to gain experience in a professional environment and provide a path to world-class motorcycle racing. The USGPRU structures events with extended length grand prix racing exclusive to the GP machines, timed qualifying and strong contingency and sponsor support. For additional details, visit www.USGPRU.net

More, from a press release issued by Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies:

The Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Scores Two Top Ten Finishes at Auto Club Speedway.

Fontana, CA March, 2009 The Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team continued development of the Aprilia RSV1000R in AMA Daytona SportBike competition by scoring two top ten finishes with team rider Chaz Davies. Ben Thompson struggled with bike problems in final qualifying and in race one, but made up significant positions in race two.

The new AMA rolling start and superpole qualifying procedures have put a huge emphasis on getting up to speed early in the weekend. If a team makes a mistake in qualifying it can now affect the outcome of the entire weekend. Chaz qualified in the twelfth position with a time of 1:28.735 for a starting spot on the outside of row six. Ben Thompson experienced an electrical problem in final qualifying and had to get on his back up bike, but was only able to turn two laps at speed. This resulted in a qualifying time of 1:30.261 and a starting position on the outside of the eleventh row. This was going to be a difficult mountain to climb for the young Alaskan rider.

Daytona SportBike Race One was both positive and negative for the Millennium Technologies sponsored Aprilia team. Chaz Davies finished in the eighth position and turned a lap time of 1:28.585 approximately seven tenths off the fastest lap of the race set by Martin Cardenas. Thompson continued to bear the brunt of the growing pains of a new team, developing a new bike when he suffered a mechanical issue in the race and was forced to retire.

After a late night to repair Thompsons injured motorcycle and with the threat of rain in the morning the LeoVince sponsored KWS Motorsports Aprilia team went into Sunday confident that progress could be made on the previous day’s results. Thompson was going to have to start near the back in the field and knew he had a difficult race to run, but desperately needed the track time. Davies’s crew chief Rocky Stargel made changes to the #57 bike in hopes that a little extra speed would propel the young Englishman to the podium.

In Race Two both riders got excellent starts. Thompson made up a several positions by going around the outside of many slower riders on the entry to the first chicane. Thompson lowered his best lap time of the weekend by over a half a second to finish in the seventeenth position. Davies also got a good start and rode hard for the first few laps but was unable to hook up with the lead group. Davies led the second group for the entire race to finish in the seventh position.

Chaz Davies “It was a good weekend and we definitely made progress with the bike. Rocky and Jimmy are brilliant to work with and I can’t thank them enough. We still have a lot of stuff to test, but if we can make a few more small steps forward then we can be really competitive at Atlanta in two weeks.”

Ben Thompson “The team is working really hard and we are making progress, but I am suffering from a lack of track time. You are bound to have problems when developing a new motorcycle at this level, we just keep having problems at the wrong time. I have 100% confidence that the KWS Motorsport team will get this sorted and we will be up front at Atlanta.”

Kevin Hunt (Team Owner) “We are very encouraged by Chaz’s performance with the bike this early in the development cycle. We are still having growing pains with Ben’s bike and we have not given him the tools he needs to be successful, but I have no doubt that Michael and crew will sort these issues and Ben will be up front with Chaz soon.”

More, from a press release issued by Four Feathers Racing:

Four Feathers Racing Continues to Climb the Charts Steve Rapp and Shane Narbonne achieve impressive results while filling in for injured rider Scotty Van Hawk. The 4FR Greeneracres.org/Toyota Trucks #27 R6 made its debut in Superpole to start the weekend off right.

With Steve Rapp at the controls the team met their goals of top ten performances finishing in 9th position in both legs of the 2nd round of the Daytona Sportbike competition held at Auto Club Speedway.

Shane Narbonne flew in on Thursday the day after the deal was made to put him on the 4FR Greeneracres.org/Toyota Trucks #27 GSXR1000. After a very unusual and disappointing mechanical in the first race Shane bounced back to finish 14th in the second leg of Superbike. With the bad weather Sunday morning, his first lap on the back up bike was his warm up lap.

“It was a great weekend for all of us at 4FR, we have proven that our bikes are very competitive and our program is strong,” stated Scotty Van Hawk. “We have proven that we can succeed with a seasoned veteran and a relatively new talent. Steve is great to work with and has brought years of knowledge to the team. Shane is hands down one of the most grounded, hard working young riders that I have ever worked with and would be a great addition to any team.” After being seen by Dr. Tom Bryan in California on Friday it is still unknown how soon Scotty will be back in action. The meniscus tear in his right knee will need surgery but could be postponed until a break in the season.

“We are just waiting for all of the bone bruising and ligament strain to heal right now, we’ll just take it one day at a time. I am not sure what is more painful the knee or having to watch from pit lane. Hopefully it won’t be long until I can ride again,” said Scotty. “We are all working well together and I couldn’t have asked for better replacement riders.”