Team Black Dog won Saturday’s WMRRA 6-hour endurance race in convincing style after taking the lead late in the first hour. The team completed 189 laps (7 laps more than 2nd place) around the 2.25 mile Pacific Raceways road course aboard their Suzuki GSXR-1000, riding in almost non-stop rain.
“The Dunlop rain tires worked great”, said team owner Greg Bouwens. “We actually ran a set of used rain tires from last fall, and amazingly they lasted the entire race. A few other teams chose to switch rear tires late in the race, but we kept going on the same tire and that was a big help. Riders Simon Field, Lash Mullen, and I all rode well in the difficult conditions,” continued Bouwens. “Our crew of Brian Davies, John Lippis, and Tracy Liljebeck once again prepared a race-winning bike, and helped us gain track position with quick, efficient stops.”
“WMRRA officials announced at the rider’s meeting that the start time would be pushed up 15 minutes”, added Bouwens. “We had to scramble just to get the bike to grid on time as a result of the rain starting just before the race. Luckily Simon held his own out there while Lash and John worked on the plan to change the settings for the wet weather. At the first pit stop, John made the changes and Lash took the bike out to gain us a 2 lap lead. The suspension changes made all the difference as Simon got faster and faster in his second shift, and all of us were able to ride consistent, quick laps on the slick track.” By winning both the Heavyweight class and the Overall, Team Black Dog has climbed back into contention in the Northwest Endurance cup. The 3-race series concludes at Portland International Raceway on June 23rd.
More, from a press release issued by Team Pro-Motion:
Lettieri, Lor and Thomas Trade Wins at Summit Point Raceway
On Monday June 11th, Team Pro-Motion’s GP Moto Cup Racing Series returned to Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia, for its 2nd of 7 Premier Racing Events.
Racing action was fierce on a picture perfect day, as we saw newcomers conquer almost every class on the day.
In the 12-lap Supersport Endurance race, Derek Osner Led the way from the start, and maintained the lead for 4 laps before Rich Lettieri powered past him and increased the lead lap by lap, and won the race going away. Osner finished second, just a few seconds in front of the pursuing pack of Mark Dolente, Tom Novelli and Robert Crenshaw III.
Rich Lettieri was involved in another battle in GP Moto Superbike. This time Dara Lor was the challenger. Lettieri led the first half of the race while Lor stayed right behind him lap after lap, poised to attack at any moment. Lor managed to slip by on lap 5, only to have the lead taken back by Lettieri on lap 7. Lor did not give up however, and capitalized on a mistake halfway through the final lap and crossed the line 2 bike length ahead of Lettieri. Series points leader Brian Ackerman was third for most of the race, but unable to match the pace due to tire issues, rounded out the podium.
Next up was the 8-lap Supersport Sprint, and this time the order was shuffled. Barry Thomas came from the back row to take a close win over the new series points leader Robert Crenshaw, while Lettieri, Chris Maher and Mark Dolente rounded out the top 5.
The series now moves on to Pocono FUSA on Thursday June 21, 2007. We look forward to another great day of track time and racing excitement.
For more information regarding Team Pro-Motion’s GP Moto Cup racing series, please visit our website at ~http://www.teampromotion.com/tpm.php?page_id=gpmoto~ or email race director Dafan Zhang at [email protected] .
Results:
Supersport Endurance 1 Rich Lettieri 2 Derek Osner ZX6 3 Mark Dolente Yamaha R6 4 Tom Novelli Yamaha R6 5 Robert Crenshaw III CBR 600RR 6 Andrew Reiss Yamaha R6 7 Bryan Thomas Suzuki 8 Mike Burnham Yamaha R6 9 Jeff Bowen Yamaha
Superbike 1 Dara Lor Suzuki 750 2 Rich Lettieri Kawasaki 1000 3 Brian Ackerman GSXR 1000 4 Brian Hengeveld GSXR 750 5 Chris Maher 07 ZX6 6 Jeff Watkins Suzuki 7 Ralph Mercuro Yamaha R1 8 Andrew Reiss Yamaha R6 9 Mike Burnham Yamaha R6
Supersport Sprint 1 Barry Thomas Suzuki 2 Robert Crenshaw III Honda 600rr 3 Rich Lettieri Kawasaki 4 Chris Maher ZX6R 5 Mark Dolente Yamaha R6 6 Andrew Reiss Yamaha R6 7 Mike Burnham Yamaha R6 8 Ryan Saari Yamaha R6 9 Tom Novelli Yamaha R6
Twister HW 1 291 Bernard Wilson Suz 1000 2 169 David Yeager Ducati 749
Twister LW 1 261 Jonas Ferro Suz 650
Dash for Cash Expert 1 Brian Ackerman Suz 1000 2 Derek Osner ZX6 3 Anthony Arbolino CBR 600 RR
More, from a press release issued by North Texas Superbikes:
North Texas Superbikes, Dunlop supported riders and teams braved the hottest conditions to date this weekend at Cresson, Texas’s Motorsport Ranch, winning 5 premiere class sprints, the overall 6 hour endurance race, and almost 50% of this weekends novice sprints.
Short Bus endurance team, captained by Joe Browning, with riders Mike Sanchez, John Haner, Greg Wanless, and crew chief Gabe Sanchez, dominated most of the 6 hour race winning the SBCE class, as well as the overall victory. Their race was uneventful, leading by several laps at one point they cruised to their first victory of the season, using one set of new Dunlop N-TECH tires for the entire 6 hours. “We just brought more tire, to the battle”, stated an ecstatic Gabe Sanchez. “It feels awesome to finally win one, after we had the last couple snatched from our grasp.”
Randall Kienast continued his winning ways by dominating A Superbike, and then sliding his way to the F1 win. Original leader Ty Howard, who had been leaking water in front of him, was finally ejected in The Rattlesnake turn allowing Kienast to pass. “I hate to get one like that because we had the speed and the new Dunlop N-Tech tire to do it,” quoted Kienast. “We were both running low 15’s with more to spare, when I saved a couple of near high sides from his water, so I figured I would wait for his tires to give out and then pounce.”
Earl’s Racing’s Jake Lewis and Frankie Lee Gillim, took a lion’s share of the Dunlop wins, winning 125 GP, Clubman, Novice D Superstock, Novice D Superbike, Novice Lightweight Twins, and Novice F2. Marv Esterly took another win in Expert Formula 40 and remains undefeated this season, with David Arnold winning Novice Formula 40. North Texas Superbikes Ricky Jordan earned his first victory in his short racing career, winning Novice F1 and taking a third in A Superbike.
North Texas Superbike, CMRA’s exclusive dealer for Dunlop race rubber, will return to action at Oak Hill Raceway in Henderson, TX on July 6-8. Please contact us for all of your Dunlop Tire needs.
More, from a press release issued by NCR:
NCR Conquers Assen!
A great result by NCR in the Ducati European Club Race June 9-10 in Assen organized by Ducati North Europe.
Ducatisti Valter Bartolini, on his NCR Factory Millona dominated and won the two races of the Supertwins European Championship in front of a crowd of 15,000.
The first of two races consisted of the Sound Of Thunder (SOT) a class open to all Superbike, Supersport and Superstock Ducatis. The class is the third most important following the MotoGP and SBK classes. The NCR Factory Millona ridden by Bartolini surprised and entertained the crowd by a podium finish in both races just behind the danish Ducati 1098 Superstock and the european Supersport Champion on his 749R.
It was Bartolini’s first time at the Assen circuit but quickly managed a fourth best time of 1:47.5 and then later improved his time during the race to a 1:46.3 (263 kph top speed) which was only 1.8 seconds off the lap record. There was a very exciting battle for third between Valter and the danish Champion on his 1098 where the top speed of the new superbike was offset by the handling and torque of the Factory Millona to an exciting third position and podium finish.
So two third place finishes in the European Sound Of Thunder for NCR’s Bartolini.
In addition to all this, the competitive value of the bike was proven by the fact that two NCR Millonas from Holland and Germany each alternately finished third in the Open 2 Valve class on their Millona S.