MORE PODIUM FINISHES FOR RIDERS DISCOUNT VESRAH SUZUKI ON DAY 2 OF THE SUPERBIKE CLASSIC AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK. Enduring 2 red flags and the resulting extra laps, Jake Lewis was able to finish the AMA Pro Road Racing SuperSport race 2 on the podium in 2nd place at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds AL. Jake’s 1st from Race 1 combined with this 2nd place finish stretches his lead in the SuperSport East championship to a 39 point advantage. Kyle Wyman was able to secure his 2nd victory in a row in the Vance and Hines XR1200 class and now is only 6 points out of the lead in that championship. In the AMA Pro Road Racing GoPro Daytona SportBike class, Joey Pascarella and Cory West swapped finishes from Race 1 with Joey bringing home an 11th place finish and Cory 13th. Both riders remain in the top 10 of the 2012 Rider Point standings. Jake Lewis Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki #85 “What an awesome weekend for the whole Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki team and I. Race two was definitely exciting but I came up just a little short and finished second. I would have liked to get the double wins but it still was a great feeling on the podium again. It was a good points weekend for me and I now have a healthy points lead in the east. I keep feeling better and better on the bike and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year!” Breeann Poland Team Manager Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki “I’m happy with the teams podium finishes on such a demanding weekend with the incredibly hot temperatures I have got to give thanks to all of the Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki riders and crew for their efforts this weekend. It is great that Jake now has a lead in the SuperSport East championship that is greater than the points available in a race.” Kyle Wyman – #33 “It was a lot of fun up front, dicing and battling back and forth. The last lap set up perfectly. I passed in Museum Corner and then rode as tight a line as I could the rest of the way in. A big thanks to everyone that supports my team – KLR Group, Spyke’s Harley-Davidson, Planet Fitness, Kuryakyn, Vesrah, Arai, Cortech, Sidi, Held, Rider’s Discount, Ohlins USA and Superbike Chassis. Plus my crew — Dad, Uncle Bill (Wyman), Paul Diener and Rick Bretl. I wouldn’t be here without them.” Cory West Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki #57 “It was a difficult race and a difficult weekend in general. We’re having a hard time coming up with a solution to my issues but we’ll keep trying to find a fix for it and get back on pace with the pack. Big thanks to the whole crew for working so hard through such a hot weekend and hopefully we’ll be back on point at Mid-Ohio!” Joey Pascarella Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki #52 “Sundays race was a little better for me as we used the softer tire but once the tire wore out I was having an issue with spinning again. I think once we get some more time on the bike the stronger we will be and I am looking forward on going to Mid-Ohio.” Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki would like to thank their sponsors for the 2012 season: Vesrah, Riders Discount, MCJ Motorsports, American Suzuki, Nielsen Enterprises Suzuki, Parts Unlimited, Penske Racing Shocks, Traxxion Dynamics Fork Components, Yoshimura, Catalyst Racing Composites, Shoei, Cortech, Sidi, Held, Motion Pro, Sudco Int., Bazzaz, Factory Pro, Maxima Racing Oils, Spiegler Brake Lines, Adjustable-levers, Vicci, Vortex, DID Chain, Zero Gravity, GPR Stabilizers, Trek Bicycles, Suzuka Tire Warmers, K&N Filters, Full Spectrum Batteries, Oakley (Jake), Roclun (Jake), Progressive Trail Design (Cory), Jon Block Group (Joey), 509 sunglasses (Cory and team), Andrew Swenson Designs and Drippinwet. More, from a press release issued by Lucky Management: Beck Racing is back! Michael Beck has returned to Barber Motorsports Park aboard his Graves Motorsports supported Beck Racing Yamaha YZF-R6. Barber is a top notch facility with a technical track that consists of rapid elevation changes and off-camber corners. Beck was sporting his new livery as he went through Friday morning practice and Q1 in the sweltering heat and humidity of Alabama. At the end of day 1 Beck was 13th fastest and made some changes to improve. The changes didn’t improve the bike’s handling and after final qualifying on Saturday morning Michael was 16th quickest in a deep grid of talented riders. Not satisfied with his qualifying position, Beck made some more changes that definitely worked for race 1 Saturday afternoon. Michael put his Yamaha into the top ten by the end of the race after some great battles with other top-level riders. Sunday morning warm-up proved the heat and humidity wasn’t going to let up anytime soon. All prepped for race 2, Beck again battled with the same group of racers swapping positions lap by lap. A successful weekend was capped off with a 12th place finish in race 2. Beck is training hard and ready to take on the Buckeye SuperBike Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, in Lexington, OH where he expects to get back in the top ten. Michael Beck would like to thank his sponsors: Simi Valley Cycles, Graves Motorsports, Snug Harbor, Puma Boots, One 11 Ink, Ohlins USA, Driven, Cortech Leathers, Arai Helmets, Dyno Jet, MC Pro Designs, Vesrah Brakes, & Motul. Follow Michael Beck on Facebook at: ~http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michael-Beck/130793010392223~ More, from a press release issued by AW7R/Kenwood Electronics Suzuki Team: TRYING WEEKEND FOR WELSH AND THE AW7R/KENWOOD ELECTRONICS TEAM. Toronto, ONT- Alex Welsh and the AW7R/Kenwood Electronics Suzuki team headed to the first round of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship at Shannonville Motorsport Park full of confidence. After showing good pace early in the opening practice, team and rider were optimistic heading into the remainder of the weekend. Unfortunately a crash during the second practice on Friday afternoon left the team reevaluating their strategy. Relegated to their second GSX-R 1000 for the remainder of the weekend, the team set out to optimize their set up for the final practice and qualifying sessions to be held on Saturday. More bad luck hounded the team as Welsh set out on the opening lap of Saturday practice it became apparent the bike was not running right and it was limped back to the pits. An electrical glitch ruled the team out for the remainder of practice. The streak continued as a separate, unrelated technical problem occurred during the 40 minute qualifying session held later Saturday afternoon. Alex was forced to ride around the issue, running well off the pace qualifying in a disappointing 7th position. The AW7R/Kenwood Electronics team worked hard Saturday evening getting the bike ready for the 22-lap Superbike feature to be held Sunday afternoon. After a productive morning warm up the team was quietly confident heading into the race, despite missing 3 of 4 forty-minute practice and qualifying sessions. Just as the teams were making their final adjustments to their equipment, the sky opened up and the race was deemed full wet. The AW7R team, headed by Willie Vass, did their best to get the Suzuki GSX-R 1000 acclimated to the conditions. When the lights went out, Welsh had a rough opening lap finding himself down in 13th position with a ton of ground to make up. One by one, Alex picked off the riders in front of him mounting a charge that would see him take a respectable 4th place finish, 0.043 seconds off the final podium position. Welsh was also able to set the fastest lap of the race on his penultimate lap at 1: 10.84 seconds, a full second quicker than any rider had managed. Alex Welsh “Obviously it wasn’t a great weekend. It took it’s toll on me and the team but we’re happy to come out of it with a 4th place finish and I felt that as a whole, we were able to put together a pretty good race. Everyone on the team worked so hard to get me a bike that was able to run up front so I cannot thank them enough. I think speak for everyone when I say we are happy to roll onto St Eustache in a few weeks time.” The AW7R/Kenwood Electronics Suzuki team will take this weekend to regroup before the series rejoins for the 2nd round of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship in St- Eustache, Quebec, July 6-8. To find out more, you can follow Alex at the following social media outlets to get the latest information, content and prize giveaways. Twitter.com/AlexWelsh7 Facebook.com/AlexWelsh7 Youtube.com/AlexWelsh7 Alex Welsh is supported by: AW7R Inc, Kenwood Electronics Canada, Suzuki Canada, Parts Canada, Alpinestars, HJC Helmets, Vass Performance Cycle, Z1 Cycletech, Motorex, FMF Exhausts, Flexiglass, Ballistic Batteries and Drippinwet.com More, from a press release issued by GR Motorsport: Knockhill produces WD40 specialist first Podium WD40 specialist sponsored riders Marshall Neill and Joe Francis produced great performances at the Scottish venue scoring important finishes despite the changing weather. Marshall Neill in what will be his last ride for GR Motosport again stepped up to the mark to put in a great performance on the improving Aprilia RSV4. The continued development to the RSV4 APRC allowed Marshall to lap almost a second faster than last year again despite his injury restrictions. The constantly changing conditions in practice and first qualifying left everyone with a lottery where the first 20 on the grid were split by just under a second. Taking the WD40 specialist/CargoLink Express backed Aprilia into 15th on the grid, just 2/10’s of a second would have moved us to 6th.. In an exact repeat of his fantastic start at Snetterton Marshall was immediately challenging the leaders running 8th and in the thick of a great battle, Marshall again lost his rhythm mid race when his knee stiffened dropping him back a little into the 6 rider war for 10th . Marshall’s held 10th until the last corner where a hard but fair move saw him pushed wide to again bring the RSV4 home in 12th and 4 more valuable points. 14 year old Joe Francis from Ellesmere Port on the GR Motosport / WD40 Specialist backed Banks Racing GP 125 took his first podium of the season. The small Peter Banks run Team continue to make improvements in the highly competitive Monster Energy British Motostar championship which was the starting point for many of the sports past and present stars. Practice and qualifying went very well as Joe moved forward to secure 10th on the grid. Joe finally got his start perfect to get away with the front runners in what was to be an incident packed race. Joe was in the think of think when the pace car was deployed while the track was cleared and made safe. Joe’s inexperience in this situation caused him to receive a time penalty but he continued to do a fantastic job bringing home his first podium in 3rd place. Now laying in 4th place in the Cup championship only 8 points off the Lead the whole Banks Team are looking forward to Oulton Park Joe’s home race Marshall Neill “Brent talked me into riding again at Knockhill where again there were some good improvement to the wee Aprilia, it feels much stronger. Everything went well, I was very quick in the wet and it would have been nice for me to have had a wet race. I can really get the bike off the line well which does put me in the right place I had a great race and just lost out on the last corner which was a shame. Brent and the guy’s Danny, DK and Ash have been fantastic to me and Sam and Clare have really looked after me and I look forward to being involved in the team in the future” Brent Gladwin, Managing Director of GR Motosport added: “Marshall did a great job for us at Snetterton so as our plans unfold I asked him to ride at Knockhill. As expected he did a solid job. It would have been nice to get into the top ten but the British Superstock 1000 championship is very important and therefore competitive. We will have news about Oulton and the rest of the season soon. What can I say about young Joe Francis and his Banks Racing Team ‘just brilliant!’ we are over the moon with them and can’t wait to see them continue towards their first victory”. More, from a press release issued by RoadRace Factory/Red Bull: Birmingham, AL (June 27, 2012) – Tomas Puerta earned third place in AMA Pro SuperSport on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park to cap off another successful weekend for the young racers on the RoadRace Factory/Red Bull team. Puerta earned third in the race, fighting in the lead pack the entire distance. He was just 0.343 behind the winner. “It was a good race, and I felt the bike worked better on Sunday. We switched from a medium tire on Saturday, and the bike felt better getting out of the turns,” said Tomy, who finished 6th on Saturday. “It felt really good, and I knew it was going to be a close race. I wanted to be there and not do anything crazy. I wanted to be there for the final three laps. With two laps to go, I passed Hayden and Jake (Lewis), and I was focused to go for the win. But Jake passed me in turn one, and I did what I could. I was really happy to get back on the podium again, and I want to thank everyone that has helped me.” Hayden Gillim finished right behind Puerta on Sunday in fourth place, just 0.551 behind the winner, and he led the race before grip issues began to plague his quest for his second win of the season. “It was an allright weekend. It started out strong in qualifying, second, and made some fork adjustments. In Saturday’s race, I had a little electrical problem, and I got to watch the race from Charlotte’s Web. I felt pretty strong on Sunday and was running with the top guys all race long and felt good, even led a couple of laps,” said Gillim. “We picked the medium tire, whereas all the other guys in the pack picked the soft, and it just wasn’t as grippy. I was spinning it up. I was happy to get fourth, but I’m always looking for podiums and wins. It was cool to race with Tomas, too.” “Tomas and Hayden rode a great race in Sunday SuperSport in a gnarly race with the red flags,” said RoadRace Factory/Red Bull’s Danny Walker. “This track is very tough, and it takes a lot out of you. We’re way excited about how they did. Both have been working really hard, and the team feels they have been getting stronger all year. We’re looking forward to testing in New Orleans and continuing onward.” In Daytona SportBike, J.D Beach and Jake Gagne earned more top-ten results as both riders continue to learn and develop their skills in the ultracompetitive class. Beach finished ninth and seventh, while Jake crashed in the first race and finished 10th in the second. Beach couldn’t return to the podium this time out but made a lot of passes in both races. “We started out pretty slow this weekend, and I struggled in practice and qualifying,” said Beach. “We tried some new stuff with the bike, and it really didn’t work out, and it left us a little behind come Saturday. We ended up qualifying on the fourth row, which makes it tough. In the race, it didn’t go too bad. I made a mistake with a couple of laps to go to lose a position and ended up ninth. For Sunday, we tried a few things with the bike, and it worked out. I got a good start and made a few passes, but couldn’t catch up to the top six, so I made sure we got a good result.” Gagne showed his speed once again, but arm-pump issues stopped him from showing his true potential. “I haven’t been to this track in a long time, so getting seventh in qualifying was pretty good, and I knew there was more speed in the bike and myself,” said Gagne. “I got off to a good start on Saturday and was up to fifth, but I threw it away on the first lap. I wasn’t happy with my mistake. On Sunday, I got a good start again but I’ve been struggling with arm pump all year, and it all went downhill from there. We’re going to try to improve it because it’s holding me up in practice and qualifying.” “Beach worked hard all weekend and improved and got faster and took some big steps from where he started … but I’m getting tired of saying that,” laughed Walker. “We have some plans to get him up to speed faster in the weekend. I mean, he passed a lot of people on Sunday, going from the fourth row to seventh. But you can’t start on the fourth row against Cardenas, DiSalvo, Beaubier and those guys and expect to be on the podium every weekend. We have some ideas, and we’ll see if that clicks.” “Jake’s been doing good to get the results he’s got, but we think Jake is really going to break out and do some great things, and we need to get him healthy with his arm pump issues. It’s something we have to get fixed, and we have a plan.”