Success for K-Tech at First Round of British Superbikes K-Tech had a fantastic result at the opening round of the British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch over the Easter bank holiday weekend. James Ellison on the Swan Honda won the second Superbike race using K-Tech KTR-3 front forks and the new 35DDS rear shock. It was the first time the 35DDS shock had been used in racing conditions in the UK. Four out of the five top riders over the finish line used the same K-Tech fork and shock combination. It was a fantastic result for the new product after winning the first two Superbike races in the AMA Championship at Daytona at the beginning of March. The result came on the back of some strong finishes in the first British Superbike race. James Ellison (Swan Honda) came from a qualifying position of tenth on the grid to finish on the podium in 3rd position beating Alastair Seeley (Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing). Stuart Easton, (Swan Honda) who was battling all weekend with a serious leg injury from a pre-season testing crash, finished in sixth position after running in the top three at the beginning of the race. Michael Laverty (Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing) was also battling for a top four finish until an engine failure stopped him halfway through the race. All four riders were using the new 35DDS rear shock for the first time in race conditions. In the 600cc Supersport race Sam Lowes (GNS Racing) took the win from Billy McConnell and James Westmoreland (Came Yamaha). All three riders, along with eight of the top ten finishers, were using the K-Tech 20DDS front fork cartridges. In the 1000cc Superstock race Steve Plater (HM Plant Honda) took the race win. Howie Mainwaring (MSS Colchester Kawasaki) took second place and Jon Kirkham (Jon Kirkham Racing BMW) took third place. Two of the top three finishers were also using the K-Tech 20DDS front fork cartridges. In the 600cc Junior Superstock race Jimmy Hill (MAP Centurion Triumph Racing) took the win using K-Tech 20DDS front fork cartridges. Additionally K-Tech Suspension is equipped on Team Michael Jordan Suzuki, Team National Guard Suzuki, Celtic Racing, And Latus Racing Ducati in AMA Pro Road Racing competition. The complete line of K-Tech Suspension products is available in the U.S. exclusively through Orient Express Racing. Please contact Orient Express with any questions or requirements. Orient Express 28 Grand Blvd. North Brentwood, NY 11717 800.645.6521 Toll Free 631.231.9552 NY/Int’l 631.231.9557 Fax ~http://www.orientexpress.com~ [email protected] More, from a press release issued by Tom Tunstall Racing: Battling Weekend For Tunstall Doodson Motorsport racer Tom Tunstall had to ride through the pain barrier at the British Superbike season curtain-raiser, but despite a tough start the Denby Dale ace insists his 2010 season is firmly on track. Tunstall made the step up to the main British Superbike class in 2010 having ridden in the Privateer Cup competition previously backed by insurance experts Doodson Broking Group. Tunstall’s preparations for round one at Brands Hatch were disrupted by changeable weather and mechanical issues during practice; however issues were compounded for the 31-year-old rider when he suffered a high-speed tumble during qualifying. “I was struggling with the bike chattering through some of the corners and I saw from my pit board I was only 0.1 from getting into qualifying phase two It was one of those situations where there was a bit of rain coming down and I had to decided whether I wanted to pull in or give it a go and I decided to push on and give it a go, it just didn’t work out it was my mistake I tried too hard”. Struggling with the after affects of the crash Tunstall had a further set back on race day when bike issues forced him to retire in the first race. An impressive and hard fought performance in the second race saw Tunstall narrowly miss out on a points scoring finish having closed down a 5 second gap to South African Hudson Kennaugh. Missing out by only 0.15seconds at the flag, a battered Tunstall left the Kent circuit in a positive mood, adamant the future is bright for this year’s campaign. “I really struggled to move around on the bike which is so important to control a Superbike, I had a session of physio before each race which helped but it was a case of gritting my teeth to be honest” “We had a sensor fail in race one, the bike was misfiring and getting worse by the lap so I had to pull in, but the second race was really encouraging. My start wasn’t great but my pace got faster and I was lapping at top12 pace, which is our goal at this part of the season. “It was frustrating to miss out on points, I just ran out of time in the end which was frustrating but after a hard weekend I’m very pleased with our pace.. Despite a mixed start at Brands Hatch the Denby Dale ace is adamant he can be back to top form at round two at Thruxton in two weeks time. “It was a hard weekend with the crash and then the problems we had with the bike, the team did a cracking job just to get me back out on track” added Tunstall. “But I am feeling really good about the rest of the season, we’ll now regroup, get the bike back up to spec, and I’m sure I’ll be fully fit for the next round – I am just looking forward to getting to Thruxton now. The next round at Thruxton in Hampshire, takes place in over the weekend of the 16th-18th April. More, from a press release issued by Mist Suzuki: After two hard fought races MIST Suzuki leave Brands Hatch in 4th place in the SuperBike Evo Championship after recording the fastest lap for an Evo spec. Suzuki over the weekend. This was no mean feat for the former SuperBike Cup team who only decided to enter the class four weeks before race day and then had to build a bike, find a rider and try to finance the race weekend in a short space of time. Many late nights of work followed, including rebuilding the team’s spare engine from 2009 with new standard parts to make it eligible for the class, fitting and configuring a bespoke wiring harness, etc. culminating in finally running the bike on the dyno just hours before setting off to Brands Hatch for the race. Team Manager Mike Edwards was fairly positive saying “After losing our sponsor and original rider at the end of February we had given up hope of racing in 2010 but as we approached the first round the draw of racing proved to be too much so it was a busy period trying to get everything sorted in time. We still have plenty of parts on order so we are confident that the bike will keep getting better.”. Drafting in AMA SuperBike privateer, Dave Anthony, was a calculated risk as despite being an experienced Suzuki rider Dave would have to get used to new circuits and Pirelli tyres with no testing time before the first round. As it turned out the bigger issues delayed early progress, including what turned out to be a problematic fuel pump that cost valuable laps over the first few sessions and a suspension issue caused by a damaged fork internal. After finally managing to get the bike working properly on Saturday evening the first dry track time was the qualifying session where the Dave finished as 5th Evo bike, just 1.86 seconds off pole. A significant suspension change overnight had the bike running in 2nd place for morning warm up on race day and the team confident for the two races later in the day. Struggling to get away from the line in the first race Dave dropped to 29th at the end of the first lap leaving him with a lot of work to do. Knowing that we had a good suspension set up on worn tyres Dave took the sensible option of settling in to a good rhythm and was soon moving through the pack. The guys that had been 15 places higher early on in the race were gradually reeled in with the fastest laps coming towards the end of the race with Dave finishing 21st, and 5th Evo bike home, just 1.5 seconds off the Evo class podium and a fastest lap just 1.29 seconds slower than the full on SuperBike race winner. A small suspension change for race two and a much better start had Dave sitting in 24th place on the first lap. Once again lapping faster than many of the bikes in front Dave was held up for half a dozen laps in the middle of the race allowing the riders in front to open up a four second gap. Eventually making his way past he closed the gap rapidly setting a new personal best time to finish in 18th place, 4th in the Evo class, once again just under 1.5 seconds from the second place podium position in the Evo class. Even better Dave’s new fastest lap was only just under 1.2 seconds slower than the SuperBike race winner’s best lap. Mike Edwards concluded, “With no prior testing and the problems over the first couple of days it was a big challenge but I think we made the best of it. To come away fourth in the championship with a the fastest Evo Suzuki lap time from the weekend is great although I felt we had the pace to make it on to the podium had we managed to get the bike sorted earlier to allow us to qualify better. We will now be doing everything in our power to secure the necessary funding to make it to Thruxton where we hope to have some new parts to make the bike even more competitive.”. The team have plenty of sponsorship opportunities available to allow them to continue this season and have a lot to offer any organisations interested in seeing their name vying for the inaugural SuperBike Evo Championship title. From nothing to fastest Evo Suzuki in under a month! 5/3 Investigate SuperBike Evo class. 8/3 Commit to class & order bespoke wiring harness. 13/3 Approach MSV about race entry. 15/3 Order new cylinder head to convert spare SuperBike engine back to stock. 22/3 Fit bespoke wiring harness to bike. 24/3 Pick up rebuilt engine & confirm rider. 26/3 Fit standard engine to bike. 30/3 Motec ECU & dash delivered. 31/3 Fit electronics & run bike on dyno. 1/4 Load truck & head to circuit. 2/4 Bike & rider run on track for first time. 3/4 Trace running problems to fuel pump. 4/4 On track with bike running properly for first time. Qualify 5th in Evo class. 5/4 Finish 5th and 4th in races, post fastest Evo Suzuki lap of weekend. More, from a press release issued by FOGI HD Team: The FOGI HD team completed a good season opener in the hot Florida sun with respectful finishes by pilots Young and Hansen. USGPRU Pilot 125GP Nick Hansen #97 had a respectable finish to a not so rapid start. Qualifying fifth, things were looking promising for a podium finish until a bad start relegated him to the fourteenth position. Hansen fought back lap after lap to finish sixth, one spot behind his start. Nick stated “I really need to work on getting off the line, because I know that the we are capable of running with the Veloce’ Aprilias of Iso and Lewis and I will get my next chance at New Jersey Motorsports Park in four weeks”. USGPRU Moto Liberty RS Taichi 250GP Ben Young #136 reached for the brass ring and fell short. The Canadian rider crashed on the first lap of qualifying and was unable to post a time leaving him with the last spot on the grid for Sundays race. Young put his qualifying heartbreak behind him on Easter Sunday, displaying a brilliantly ridden race give the ninth place starting position to finish in the second podium position. The youthful rider knew that he would have to out perform the field to finish up front. After the first lap he knew he could not catch MotoGP250cc wild card rider Barret Long, so he rode a smart race following Mike Abouyon and Allen Hansen and with two laps remaining made the pass of both riders to secure his position. More, from a press release issued by Youth Road Racing USA: Jason Aguilar and Aaron Villasenor go one for one at the WERA West Mini Series sponsored by Youth Road Racing USA! Long Beach, Calif. – WERA West kicked off their Mini Series with record entries April 3rd & 4th with the support of Youth Road Racing USA, and saw a handful of new rider entries for the endorsed Mini Road Racing Series. Series points leader, Jason Aguilar, was on pole and had an incredible hole shot in Saturday’s Mini race. By lap two Aguilar had a 30 second lead. His machine, however, got the better of him with a mechanical failure on the back straight of Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s 2.5 mile track forcing him to retire with a DNF. Following Aguilar’s departure, Aaron Villasenor and Ben Truslow found themselves dueling for the lead. With a final lap that saw Truslow close the gap to within striking range, it wasn’t enough to overcome Villasenor who crossed the finish line ahead of Truslow for his first win of the season. Truslow finished a close second with Andrew Zabzdyr in third. For Sunday’s race Aguilar took pole once again and seemed to have his motorcycle cured of its previous day’s malady. After a perfect launch Aguilar had a ten-bike lead going into turn one. Aaron Villasenor was reeling in Aguilar, however, and pulled even with the race leader by turn two of the second lap. Aguilar managed to fend off Villasenor’s attempted pass but on lap three Aaron got the draft coming down the front straight and pulled ahead of Aguilar. Aguilar managed to hold his position with a late braking maneuver and shut the door on Villasenor at the last minute. For the entire last lap Villasenor was all over the back wheel of Aguilar but was unable to make the pass, giving Aguilar the win. The fierce battle saw lap times dip into the low 1:32s. Ben Truslow wrapped up third place in Sunday’s race followed by Andrew Zabzdyr, Sean Heeney, Racye Sabo and Dillon Hodges. About WERA WERA Motorcycle Roadracing, Inc, is one of the oldest and largest national sanctioning bodies conducting motorcycle races at road courses across the United States. 1999 marked the 25th Anniversary for WERA Motorcycle Roadracing. There are over 3,000 road racers holding a competition license and 250 holding a support membership. About Youth Road Racing USA Youth Road Racing USA is an organization dedicated to defining, promoting and growing the sport of Youth Road Racing in the US with the support of local and national organizations who provide youth focused racing environments.