Pirelli Wins Overshadowed in Weekend Marred by an Injury Las Vegas, Nevada: The April 7-8, WERA West Doubleheader with double the races, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, saw CT RACING/Pirelli riders take the most wins, but all were saddened to see racer Ben Truslow badly injured in a racing incident on Sunday. Seasoned racer Jeremy Toye rode his Lee’s Cycles/Roadracing World Kawasaki ZX-10R to easy wins in A Superbike and F1 on Saturday, and won Sunday’s F1 race. Like Toye’s easy wins, Corey Sarros also won A Superbike on Sunday in a convincing manner. Hunter Coffin expressed his speed in a breakthrough weekend, winning B Superbike and C Superbike on Saturday, and capping that off by earning the top of the C Superstock podium on Sunday. Wyatt Farris came from behind to win C Superstock on Saturday, with Ben Truslow taking the win in B Superstock also on Saturday. Mookie Wilkerson rode away for an easy win in the A Superstock race on Saturday. Tucker Lancaster dominated the A Superstock, Superbike, and B Superstock novice classes on Saturday, then made the big jump up to the expert classes where he wasted no time getting 5th in C Superbike after starting from the last row. His fifth-place finish made it a Pirelli sweep of the top-five spots in that class. Jeremy Toye set the fastest overall time for the 1000cc bikes, while Wyatt Farris set the fastest time for the 600cc machines. Giving CT RACING/Pirelli a huge advantage over the competition. Corey Neuer, of CT RACING, said, “There’s a lot of talent coming through the ranks at the moment and I’m honored to have most of these kids on Pirelli tires. It’s a great pleasure working with them. It’s also great to be working with Lee’s Cycles Jeremy Toye. He’s like a human data acquisition. The feedback that he gives us is so valuable. Again, a big thanks to Outlaw Racing, Lee’s Cycles, and Dale Kieffer at Racer Edge Performance.” CT RACING sends its thoughts and prayers to Ben Truslow. Ben was involved in a crash on the Las Vegas course back straight on Sunday afternoon and was seriously injured. We hope and pray for the best for him and the Truslow family. CT RACING is the West Coast Pirelli distributor: For more information go to www.ctracetires.com More, from a press release issued by KMR Kawasaki: Superb start to 2012 for KMR Kawasaki Ryan Farquhar and his KMR Kawasaki team got their 2012 season underway in fine style over the Easter weekend with a series of top class results. Farquhar himself won both of the Supertwin races held at Bishopscourt on Saturday whilst team-mates Jamie Hamilton and Conor Parkhill both joined him on the podium. The weekend couldn’t have started any better for Ryan as he won the first two Supertwin races and his joy was increased when Hamilton and Parkhill finished behind him in 2nd and 3rd in the second encounter. Conor added a 2nd place to his haul of results in the third race whilst Jamie also contested the three Superbike races on his ZX-10R Superstock bike and notched up a brace of 11ths and a 12th. Ryan opted out of Easter Monday’s meeting at Kirkistown but Jamie and Conor kept the KMR flag flying with the former taking two comfortable race wins in the Supertwins races and the latter a fifth place. Hamilton also took 5th and 10th in the two Superbike races. Speaking later, a more than satisfied Ryan commented: “The weekend was more about getting time on the bikes for all of us and although the weather wasn’t the greatest, I’m very satisfied with the outcome. There’s a bit more work to be done on the Supertwin bike but, overall, it was working very well and to notch up another 1-2-3 in the class was superb. Jamie has a deal with a different tyre manufacturer so we tried various things all weekend and it was definitely an improvement each time he went out so we’re getting there.” “It was a similar story with the bike and he steadily improved his results notching up a fifth place in the Mayor’s Trophy on Easter Monday. I was also very happy with Conor’s performance and he’s proving to be an excellent acquisition for the time and he’s got a good future ahead of him. There’s a lot of big races coming up over the next couple of months, not least the International road races, so rather than risk anything I sat out of Monday’s races as conditions weren’t the greatest. It’s a good way to start the season and with everything looking good, I’m very excited about the year ahead.” Ryan and Jamie now head to Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough for the Spring Cup races, which take place on Sunday April 15. More, from a press release issued by Alex Cudlin’s publicist: Alex Cudlin Defies All Odds With A Double Victory in Qatar Taree motorcycle sensation, Alex Cudlin, has just completed what was thought to be an impossible feat on the weekend; not only racing in the Qatar International Road Racing Championship, after seriously dislocating his elbow, tearing two tendons and being forced to wear a cast that seriously restricted it’s use, but also winning two from two races. Just 7 days prior to the race, Alex had a fall whilst out jogging and badly dislocated his right elbow, requiring doctors to operate under a general anaesthetic to relocate the elbow. In the process of dislocating the elbow, Alex also tore two tendons. After the surgery, Alex was told by doctors that it would be at least 3 months before he could race a bike again, because of the arm strength required to do so. Alex was then placed in a fixed cast to help keep the elbow bent at 90 degrees, in order for the elbow to recover and heal correctly. However, just 2 days after the surgery, Alex decided to remove the cast and started working his arm, in the hope of getting enough movement back to ride in the upcoming Qatar Championships and the Bol’Dor 24 Hour World Endurance Championships, which were being held only a week or two away respectively. Alex was treated in Qatar in one of the world’s best Physiotherapy units called “Aspire”, where he, alongside Doctors Matteo Regusci and Francia Schwaltz began the difficult task of preparing for the race. A special hinged cast was made for him, allowing him minimal movement of the elbow, but stopping the elbow from straightening out. “Honestly when I was lying on the ground after the fall, with my arm bent the wrong way, I thought the race season would be over for me. I was on the side of the road in a lot of pain. I made a sling out of my camel back that I was wearing and got myself to the hospital. Doctors couldn’t relocate the elbow successfully in the doctors rooms, so I was put under a general and they relocated it 4 hours after the dislocation had taken place. When I woke up and saw the size of my arm, I wasn’t at all confident that I would be able to race any time soon. However, I thought that if I could just move my arm and start building it up sooner rather then later, I might have a fighting chance to ride.” Alex arrived at the track on Thursday to the surprise of many his competitors, and mounted the bike for first practice. Riding with his arm restricted to almost zero movement, Alex went out and stunned the crowd by topping the time sheets in the first practice. Just 5 laps into practice, Alex pitted and decided that he had done enough riding to test his arm, hoping to reserve what remained of his strength for the qualifying sessions. Qualifying got under way and Alex again jumped to the top of time sheets in the 1st qualifying session but eventually qualifyied in 2nd position. Qualifying was one thing, but racing in two fast 15 lap races the next day would be another thing entirely. Alex was in a lot of pain after qualifying, and decided he would make the decision whether or not to actually race the morning of the race, after he had time to rest overnight. Race day came around, and despite the massive amount of swelling and bruising from his previous day’s efforts, Alex decided to block out the pain and take to the grid to compete in the first race. The race got underway and Alex quickly slotted into 2nd place behind Former Moto2 Grand Prix rider, Mashel Al Niami. Alex then decided on lap 3 to make his pass and try and gap Al Niami. Alex proved his strength by posting a series of fast laps that were too strong for Al Niami to contend with, eventually winning the race by 9.8 seconds. “I can’t believe what I just did,” Cudlin said as he jumped off the bike. “I still wasn’t sure if I would even ride this morning. The pain level was really high, but I want to win this championship if I can and it’s rides like these, under severe circumstances, that make it all worthwhile in the end.” Alex iced his arm and relaxed until Race two got underway. Once again it was a battle with Al Niami, but Alex had a point to prove. Alex sat behind Mashel, preserving his energy until 4 laps from the end, and then he made his move, crossing the line once more in first place. “It’s an amazing feeling to achieve this. Under brakes a few times, I honestly thought the elbow might pop back out again, which was a risk. The stress on the arms under brakes is extreme, so I’m pretty pleased with what I accomplished today. The pain was a constant throughout the whole race, but I kept telling myself that I could do it. I have to thank my team QMMF for helping me get to “Aspire” and also the fantastic Doctors at that facility who helped me tremendously. The past week has been stressful, so to come away with this result is incredible,” said Cudlin. Alex now sits 2nd in the Championship, just 7 points behind Al Niami. Alex missed the first 4 races of the season due to other commitments, so to stage this coupe to outride Al Niami is a testament to his drive to win. Alex will now have just 5 days to rest before he heads to France for the First round of the World Endurance Championships in the Bol Dor 24 hour. Alex is hoping he can block out the pain there to achieve another good result in what is arguably the toughest endurance race in the World. More, from a press release issued by Akrapovic: Record weekend of wins for Akrapovič The 2012 motorcycle racing season got underway over the traditional Easter Holiday with unprecendented success for Akrapovič through supported teams across all categories of two-wheel motorsport. A record-breaking seven top podium places were secured by machines fitted with Akrapovič exhaust systems. And in doing so the Slovenian manufacturer also made history by becoming the first ever exhaust manufacturer to supply exhausts across every class of MotoGP. While Akrapovič is no stranger to success, having previously partnered 64 world Champions, it has never before taken so many pole positions over one weekend this includes every class of MotoGP. In the opening round of MotoGP, at the Qatar Losail circuit, Yamaha Factory Racing rider Jorge Lorenzo fended off a tough challenge by Honda-mounted Dani Pedrosa and secured the lead from his Honda team-mate Casey Stoner all within a few laps. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider kept a cool head to take the win, crossing the line 0.825 seconds ahead of second place Pedrosa, with Stoner taking third. An incredible win indeed by the Yamaha Factory Racing team, to whom Akrapovič is an Official Sponsor. Qatar was the scene of further Akrapovič success in Moto2, where Marc Marquez of team Monlau Competicion and his Akrapovič-shod Suter machine stole a narrow victory. After a particularly tense race, he took the top spot 0.061 seconds ahead of Interwetten Paddock’s Tomas Luthi also riding with an Akrapovič system. In addition to the fantastic MotoGP and Moto2 triumphs, Akrapovič supported Red Bull KTM Ajo took an impressive third in the new format Moto 3 class at Qatar. Rider Sandro Cortese took third place following a gruelling five-way fight for the final podium spot. Over in the UK there was yet more glory for Akrapovič. In the first round of British Superbike Championship (BSB), Akrapovič supported Honda Samsung took first place from Tyco Suzuki in the last frantic moments of the race, at the technically-tough Brand’s Hatch circuit. The victorious Honda Samsung rider Jon Kirkham looked good to take the second race too, however this was abandoned due to difficult circuit conditions. In Motocross, the victories for Akrapovič supported teams kept rolling in. Firstly in MX1, where the season got underway at The Netherlands Valkenswaard track. Wet and sandy conditions worked in the favour of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli. Having previously declared the Dutch circuit his favourite, Cairoli showed why, with a comfortable pole position and two brilliant race wins. In MX2, also at Valkenswaard, Jeffrey Herlings came first in both MX2 races the third season in a row he has taken top spot at the Dutch track. Slavko Trstenjak, head of Akrapovič Racing R&D, commented: “Our sincere congratulations go to every Akrapovič rider who took a podium over a truly outstanding weekend. This superb set of results emphasises the value of the investment Akrapovič makes in technology and design. It’s an honour for us to be the first exhaust manufacturer to develop and produce pipes across all MotoGP categories. “For us, it is exciting to see our hard work, and that of the riders who use Akrapovič systems, translate into success on the track. We’re very proud to be associated with all our teams hopefully this is just the start of another highly successful season.”