JOHN HANER FIGHTS TO NINTH PLACE IN SUPERSTOCK AT VIRGINIA John Haner rode his Lion Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 to ninth place in the Repsol Lubricants Superstock race at Virginia International Raceway during round nine of the AMA Superbike Championship event today. The race was red-flagged with three laps remaining when John’s teammate Jake Holden crashed heavily in the high speed kink on the front straightaway. Jake was transported to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with a broken thumb, a broken bone in his foot and a concussion. The rest of John’s weekend didn’t go as well as his Superstock race, having to pull in from both Superbike races due to mechanical issues. Saturday’s Superbike Final – 33rd Place / DNF “I got a good start, then it evaporated as turn one unfolded,” said Haner. “Everybody was pushing everybody around. On the second lap, my shifter tip fell off. I pulled in, so I was a couple of laps down on the restart. I started dead last and got all the way back into, track position, like probably 11th through 14th. On the next restart, I saw ! was starting dead last again, so we tried to make a change to the bike before we went out. We didn’t get it done in time and they wouldn’t let us go back out.” Sunday’s Repsol Lubricants Superstock Final – 9th Place “I got, I would say, an average start with the best riders in the country,” explained John. “I went into turn one and had a brake marker set up for myself, and that’s what I went to. I got by two people, then two other guys got together. I got up around Jason Pridmore, and then I went around Geoff May on the outside of turn three. I just tried to get up to the front and see what my bike would do at that pace. I was right with Steve Rapp, and had absolutely no issues. Then right after that, I just started losing rear grip. I know I got in Jason and Geoff’s way, all the guys I was in front of. I couldn’t get off the corners, but I could brake as good as anybody. Once those guys got by, I wasn’t able to hang on.” Sunday’s Superbike Final – 28th Place / DNF “It just didn’t feel safe to keep riding,” said Haner, who pulled in on lap 15 of the 28 lap race. “I wasn’t comfortable at all. We’ve been working hard all weekend, but it just didn’t get a whole lot better. The motors are strong, but we’ve just had setup issues. It was just a bad weekend. I guess all of us have them sometimes.” 2005 Superstock Point Standings (After 9 Races) 1. Aaron Yates, 301 2. Jason Disalvo, 280 3. Steve Rapp, 230 4. Roger Lee Hayden, 205 5. John Haner, 196 6. Jake Holden, 195 7. Aaron Gobert, 187 8. Tommy Hayden, 168 9. Damon Buckmaster, 165 10. Geoff May, 160 More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Team Yoshimura’s Mat Mladin recorded his 42nd AMA Superbike win at today’s second-leg AMA Superbike double-header at Virginia International raceway, Alton, Virginia, leading a Suzuki GSX-R1000 one-two-three for the second time this weekend. The five-time AMA Champion headed team mates Aaron Yates and Ben Spies by more than 11 seconds at the end of the 28-lap, 100-mile race and increased his series lead to 21 points over Spies with just one round and two races remaining. The Australian captured the pole position and the track record by posting a 1:23.986 lap time, his 46th career pole position and his ninth – out of a potential nine – this season. He said: “It’s a long way from over. We still have two races to go. I want to thank my guys for working really hard this weekend. And what can I say about the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000? Two Superbike wins and a Superstock win in one weekend — the motorbike speaks for itself. Along with Suzuki and Dunlop tyres, I’d also like to thank all the fans who came out.” At the start of the 28-lap race, Mladin got a fairly good start but it was Spies who took the lead. Spies led for the first several laps before Mladin overtook him. He then began creating a gap and held onto it for the victory. Spies, meanwhile, held on to second before running wide in a turn and being passed by Yates. “I couldn’t even see Mat in today’s race so I’m not doing as well as I’d like to,” joked Spies from the podium. “But it’s get to get three Suzukis up here.” Said Yates, “This has been a good weekend for me, a good weekend for Suzuki and a good weekend for the fans. It’s great to have Suzuki one-two-three up here and I guess that shows how strong the new GSX-R1000 is.” Mladin, Spies and Yates will campaign the final AMA Superbike race of the season at Road Atlanta next weekend. AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers: 1. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) 2. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) 3. Ben Spies (Yoshimura Suzuki) 4. Miguel Duhamel (Honda) 5. Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 6. Josh Hayes (Kawasaki) 7. Eric Bostrom (Ducati) 8. Jason Pridmore (Jordan Suzuki) 9. Steve Rapp (Jordan Suzuki) 10. Cory West (Suzuki) Full Championship points uploaded under: AMA/ AMA Superbike/ Championship Points. YATES TAKES SUPERSTOCK VICTORY In the first race of the day, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates won his fifth AMA Repsol Superstock race of the season and extended his points lead in the title chase at Virginia International Raceway on Sunday morning. “I was just really comfortable out there,” said Yates from the podium. “I got a great start on my Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and got into Turn One first. I just tried to keep a smooth rhythm out there and keep the pace fast.” In the previous afternoon’s qualifying session, Yates carded himself the fourth position on the grid by posting a fastest lap time of 1:26.303. Although the soft-spoken Georgian was pleased about being on the front row, he would have preferred to be on pole. “I had some issues with the front tyre,” he explained. “The qualifying tyre made the front end feel a little unstable and I couldn’t get into some of the turns the way I wanted. I kind of feel like that’s holding us back a little, but we still have a practice session tomorrow to work on it.” Apparently Yates’ Yoshimura Suzuki crew and GSX-R came through. Yates did indeed get out front immediately, and kept up a blistering pace in what should have been a 17-lap race. Unfortunately, a crashed rider caused a red flag toward the end of the event and the AMA calledthe race. “The Suzuki had great grip at the beginning of the race and then the tyres started slipping and I felt more comfort able,” he said. “About halfway through the race I eased up on the throttle and I couldn’t decide whether Roger Hayden was going to come by me, so I picked it up towards the end of the last lap and then I saw the red flag. I expected some excitement at the end of the race and I was ready for it, so it’s sort of strange for the race to end this way. But congratulations to Roger for a great race and thanks to Yoshimura Suzuki.” Yates is currently 21 points ahead of second place in the Superstock championship points chase. Superstock Top 10 Finishers: 1. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) 2. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki) 3. Jason Disalvo (Yamaha) 4. Damon Buckmaster (Yamaha) 5. Geoff May (M4 EMGO Suzuki) 6. Aaron Gobert (Yamaha) 7. Steve Rapp (Jordan Suzuki) 8. Jason Pridmore (Jordan Suzuki) 9. Jacob Holden (Suzuki) 10. John Haner (Suzuki) SPIES CRASHES IN SUPERSTOCK Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies was headed for a top-five finish in today’s Supersport race at Virginia International Raceway when an unfortunate get-off took him out of the running. Spies had qualified on the second row of the grid with his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R600 after posting a 1:28.124 lap time the previous afternoon. In the 17-lap race, the young Texan got a good start and was with the front-runners dicing for sixth. “I was right there with Chris Peris in sixth and I was watching my gap on Aaron Gobert,” said Spies, who wasn’t hurt in the incident. “I didn’t want to let him catch me and I was going to wait until the last lap to pass Chris. Then I saw Chris start to lose the front end and then I started to lose the front end. Then he did lose the front end and I think I lost the front end in the exact some place. I don’t know if we were on a sealer line or what.” Supersport Top 10 Finishers: 1. Roger Lee Hayden (Kawasaki) 2. Tommy Hayden (Kawasaki) 3. Jason DiSalvo (Yamaha) 4. Ben Attard (Kawasaki) 5. Damon Buckmaster (Yamaha) 6. Aaron Gobert (Yamaha) 7. Geoff May (M4 EMGO Suzuki) 8. Nickoles Moore (Yamaha) 9. Taylor Knapp (Yamaha) 10. Blake Young (Suzuki) More, from a press release issued by Proforma: GOOD WEEKEND FOR MILLENNIUM KWS SUZUKI IN VIRGINIA The Millennium KWS Suzuki team of Lee Acree and Blake Young had more ups than downs during round nine of the AMA Superbike Championship at Virginia International Raceway. Lee made solid progress on the suspension setup of his Superstock-spec GSX-R1000, allowing him to run closer to the front until a shifting problem forced him into the pits. Two strong Superbike class finishes also helped the cause. Teammate Blake Young didn’t get the results he hoped for, but rode hard to finish well and garner more points in the Superstock and Supersport classes. Lee Acree Saturday’s Superbike Final – 10th Place “You ride the front end so hard here, and I just don’t get along well with the green (harder) front tire,” said Acree, who made progress with the overall setup on his GSX-R1000 leading into the race. “The front started to go, but that wasn’t the issue. I just couldn’t match (Marty) Craggill’s drive off the corners. The only warnings the front gave me was from trying to run it on down in there to make up what I was losing on the other end. The last few laps, the rear was spinning, and I took a couple of shots at being on him, within striking distance. It gave me a couple of bucks out of the seat, and said, ‘Okay, you can keep doing that and you can crash’, so I opted for the tenth place as opposed to the ride back in the crash truck with no points.” Sunday’s Repsol Lubricants Superstock Final – 21st Place / DNF “The chassis felt good,” said Lee, who was running in 13th place when he encountered transmission problems. “The best Superstock bike I’ve been on all year, clear and away. We made a lot of chassis progress this weekend, which was nice. The rear tire started spinning pretty early, but then the bike started shifting itself from third to fourth, and I was coping with that. I caught Eric (Wood), and his pace started to drop off, because he was hurting. At first, because I was spinning and had for a while, I decided I was just going to ride with him, and keep an eye on my pit board. I knew I had motor on him, and physically, I knew I had an advantage on him. When Eric started slowing up even more, I figured we might get run down from the next guy back. I went by Eric and picked up the pace again. Then all of a sudden it didn’t shift at all. I came up out of turn seven and it wouldn’t upshift. I tried to get it to shift, to see if I could stay out for the next few laps, but I came out on the front straight and it just wouldn’t shift. As soon as I pulled in the pits, the red flag came out.” Sunday’s Superbike Final – 13th Place “The bike seemed to work pretty well,” admitted Lee after struggling through the last few events. “We chose between two tires we hadn’t tried this weekend, because we knew the stuff we had wouldn’t go race distance in this heat. I chose the harder one and it wasn’t near as good as the others I’ve ridden in the last day or so at the beginning. The first lap, I tried to ride it like I had ridden what I was on yesterday, and tried to highside myself two or three times. I was behind a group of five or six guys at the beginning, then Cory (West) and (Marty) Craggill worked their way through and they gradually pulled away.” Blake Young Sunday’s Repsol Lubricants Superstock Final – 13th Place “I had a carrot to go catch, I just couldn’t get to it,” said Blake. “The only time I could make up was on the brakes. I was chasing Matt Lynn. I tried a couple of things towards the end of the race, but it played against me. I just couldn’t get off the turns. I’d make up some ground on the brakes, but I’d lose twice as much trying to get out of the turn on the gas. Every time I got passed it was coming out of a turn.” Sunday’s Pro Honda Oils Supersport Final – 10th Place “I was trying to play the strategy game, expecting their tires to go off,” Blake said, referring to Nicky Moore and Taylor Knapp. “I just tried to play out a strategy where I would be in front of them at the end. My strategy was banking on my tires a little bit more than what tire I had. When I went to make my push, the tires weren’t there.” More, from a press release issued by Team M4 EMGO Suzuki: May Top Supersport Suzuki In Virginia Team M4 EMGO Suzuki closed out the Virginia International Raceway race weekend in strong fashion, picking up three top ten on Sunday. The squad had high hopes in particular for Geoff May in the Superstock final and he delivered with a top five result in the hotly contested class. The Georgian didn’t get the start he had hoped to from his second row grid position, dropping to eighth by the conclusion of the opening lap. However, May battled his way up the order throughout the race on his GSX-R1000, climbing to fifth by the time the race was prematurely ended after 13 of a scheduled 17 laps due to a red flag. Teammate Michael Barnes had a harder go it during the race. Missing his set-up slightly, the Floridian fought hard to break into the top ten, claiming tenth in the final results after running in twelfth early. May came back out in the afternoon for the Supersport contest. Continuing the day’s trend of movement up through the field, May guided his Pirelli-shod GSX-R600 from tenth early to seventh by the time he took the checkered flag. He was the highest placed Suzuki-mounted rider in the race. Team M4 EMGO Suzuki crew chief Keith Perry said, “With a little bit better start, we felt Geoff could have finished a position or two higher than he did in the Superstock race. But even without it he finished fifth and I can’t argue with top fives. The guys are working hard and the tires keep coming along better and better. We’re by no means perfect yet, but things are progressing.” He continued, “VIR was another track that we come close to hitting it big — we’ve run really, really strong. We just need to find that consistency to be able to do it all the time. All in all, it was a good day.” Next up is the 2005 AMA season finale at Road Atlanta this upcoming weekend, September 2-4. More, from a press release issued by Hotbodies Racing Honda: Hotbodies Racing Honda Race Report: A Weekend With Top Tens Hotbodies Racing Honda at Virginia International Raceway, August 26-28 Larry Pegram #72 After setting top-fifteen times during Superbike practice on his HRC-kitted Honda CBR1000RR, racer Larry Pegram crashed on Virginia International Raceway’s tough and technical track, injuring his foot and denying him the chance to compete in either of the AMA Superbike races. Pegram was ranked tenth in the points and now having sat out this double-header has slipped to 12th. Even though the next event is in one week at Road Atlanta, Pegram is looking forward to the possibility of being able to compete. Jeremy Toye #57 Jeremy Toye, on his proverbially HRC-kitted Honda CBR1000RR, had a fine weekend at VIR with a qualifying position of 17th that he turned into a 9th-place finish in the twice-restarted Race One, and in Race Two he had an early finish involving grass and sod. Alright, it wasn’t a totally fine weekend. Toye said, “One of the bikes was gone early because I practiced the acrobatic skills of its frame on Thursday. Everybody at the track this weekend is going fast but we kept our head down and things are coming around. I like the bike now. I like the tires. We got almost where we wanted to be. This place will bite you quickly so in the race we kept our heads on our shoulders. In the first start I might as well have taken off in one of the crash trucks. I was on the outside and I thought I’d do something brave but that turned out to be stupid. On the second start I blew it almost as badly. If you give me enough chances I’ll eventually get it right and so on the third start I was fairly deep up in there with some real fast guys. I was a battle for tenth with Cory [West] I think I had three clear laps the whole time. This track is hard to pass on, you either have to make big, ballsy moves or bide your time. I saw some guys make ballsy moves and they didn’t finish the race. So we were happy with the finish. We were 11th-fastest in Sunday’s morning practice, with the 15th-fastest trap speed, so we’re showing what we can do. But in Sunday’s Superbike Race Two I got frustrated. After having a really good start I was stoked but I had a different tire and figured it would take and extra lap to come in. A couple guys went by with no problem and then a couple more and I got pissed off. I then passed one back and ran us both wide. A couple laps later I went to pass another and went off the track. So I mellowed out and then riders kept coming back to me and I was riding fine and then I tucked the front in turn three and went off and fell in the grass and it was all over.” Justin Filice #170 Young gun Justin Filice showed well at VIR in Formula Xtreme and Supersport on his Honda CBR600RR, finishing 15th in the first and 17th in the other. Filice said, “We struggled a little in the beginning. I couldn’t get under “33” for a while. Nicky [Moore] helped by running in front of me. Oh, I also ran off and crashed in the first practice but all I did was just fall over at a low speed. I like the track, it’s tough and physical. In FX I rode by myself for most of the race. My bike has a stock engine so it was down on power but I got 15th. In Supersport I was in a race with guys throughout the whole race. I had a horrible start and was 27th at the end of the first lap. I worked my way up slowing picking guys off and I got into “31’s” during the race. That was a second faster than I’d gone all weekend up to then.” More, from a press release issued by Team Hotbodies Racing: Cory West #187 At VIR Cory West rode his Suzuki GSX-R1000 to 10th, his best Superbike finish ever. That was in Race Two and in Race One West had a nicely complementing 12th-place finish. West said, “Last year I qualified with a 30 flat, this year I did a high-28 my first time out. I got some help from Computrack and that helped. I qualified 21st and was behind Acre and Wood and running fourteenth when the first red flag came out. I was on the fourth row for the restart, Mladin and Hayes got together on that start and there was a hole I slipped through and I was about sixth going into turn one. I was running around in tenth when the second red flag came out. We changed tires for the final restart and they were sliding quickly because we only had them on the warmers for about ten minutes. I hit a huge bug and pulled a tear-off and missed the next corner. I can’t blame it on the bug. 12th matches my best finish and I’d like to see a top ten. So yeah, Sunday’s race when I got that tenth place it was my best finish ever. I had a great start and tried passing a guy in three and I almost high sided my brains out. The bike then went into a huge tank slapper but I stayed on the gas. I was closing in on guys on the brakes in a lot of turns. I got the bike up on the middle of the tire as fast as possible to get on the power as hard as I could. Craggill and I were in a battle all race. He got by me and I saw the gap stayed the same. I finally got him back and he hounded me until about a lap to go. My birthday was Tuesday and it wasn’t anything exciting so I felt like thus was my present to myself. I almost thought I was going to cry crossing the finish line. It was great to finally get a top- ten finish.” Nicky Moore #28 Racer Nicky Moore finished 8th in the Supersport race at VIR, and backed up that performance with a 7th-place finish in Formula Xtreme. Moore is now 14th in Superstock points and 6th in Formula X points with one round remaining in each class. Moore said, “It’s a fun track. I just had a few issues. All of a sudden in the Supersport race I dropped a couple seconds. I was four seconds faster than last year and it was my best finish in Supersport ever. I had a good start but I was back on the fifth row.” Moore said the reason he looks back during a race, nearly as much as he looks towards where he’s going, is to determine if he’s riding fast enough to stay in front of who’s hounding him. Taylor Knapp #38 Taylor Knapp had a weekend of great results by improving from his 19th-place qualifying in Supersport to a ninth-place finish. Knapp also had a 12th-place finish in FX from 14th on the grid on his Yamaha YZF-R6. And he managed it all from his unusual riding style ala Scott Russell: he hangs his head sideways in the turns?! Knapp said, “Practice went really good. I like this track a lot. I had a good set up and almost qualified on row three for FX. I had a great start and was seventh right out of the gate. A couple guys caught me up and then I came together with a lapper and ran off the track and fell on the last lap. I picked up the bike and finished 12th. Supersport went better. I had a really good start. Like everyone else we’ve been battling with traction all weekend because of the heat here. We were all kind of having the same problems. In the race four of us were going back and forth the whole way. It was a great battle.” Heath Small #27 In Superbike Heath Small qualified at the top of row six in 21st, turning that into a 20th-place finish in Race One and a DNFth in Race Two. Riding in Superstock on another Yamaha YZF-R1, Small qualified 23rd and moved forward to finish 17th. Small said, “Practice didn’t go as well as we expected. I missed Thursday practice and on Friday we had a few problems with the bikes. I concentrated on just riding the 1,000cc bikes this weekend because that way I could concentrate better and my mechanic Charlie wouldn’t be overloaded. In practice we had tranny problems on the Superbike and the bike jumped out of gear and then back in and I high sided. In the first Superbike race it was hard to tell if the tire was going to make it with three red flags but it did. I need to practice my starts. I’m not used to the Superbike from having ridden too many different classes at once. We’ll just do these two classes for the rest of the season and for next year I’ll do just two classes. In the second Superbike race the brake pads gave up on the second lap. It felt like the wheel spun on the rim or something, going into turn one on the second lap. On the next lap the lever came back to my knuckles and on the next lap there was even less so I pulled in.” Keith Marshall Keith Marshall concentrated solely on Supersport at VIR, finishing 13th from his 16th-place qualifying position, on his Suzuki GSX-R600. Marshall has been racing a limited AMA schedule this season and this was his best finish ever in the Supersport class. More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin: ‘A TOUGH DAY AT THE OFFICE’ FOR HODGSON AND BOSTROM IN VIRGINIA Alton,Virginia (Aug 28) – Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin riders Neil Hodgson and Eric Bostrom fought through a difficult weekend at Virginia International Raceway, finishing fifth and seventh in Sunday’s 28-lap Superbike race. Both riders managed the hot and humid conditions and the twisty track to earn points in the championship, but the ultra-competitive factory Ducati 999 Superbike pilots were left wanting more. Hodgson, winner at Road America this year, was able to find some speed in the morning warm-up, placing third quickest in that session. Neil earned a solid finish in the race but was unable to fight for the podium on Sunday. “For the most part, I ran my own lonely race, not feeling any pressure (from other riders) and not needing to keep an eye on my pit board,” said Neil after the race. “Really and truly, I don’t know why we had such a rough go of it this weekend. It was the middle section of the track that gave us a tough time. The first part and the last parts were fine. It was a tough day at the office.” Eric Bostrom didn’t find the improvements he needed on Sunday morning, either, although his result meant the Californian and winner of three races in 2005 is still third in AMA Superbike points with just two races left. “There’s really not much to comment on. I feel like I rode even better than yesterday but it didn’t matter much. We were really struggling for feel and didn’t have some grip in spots. I followed around another rider for a while, and in some of the turns, we were pretty fast compared to the competition. In some others, we lost a lot of ground. After winning and doing well lately, we expected to be quick this weekend and anything less was disappointing. Fortunately, we have three days to think about it and we’ll move on to the next one and do better.” “We definitely were aiming higher with our results this weekend,” said team manager Tom Bodenbach. “The team tried hard and we improved our lap times, but it wasn’t enough and we never fully caught up. We’re a competitive team and we’re glad the next race is so soon. We are looking forward to it.” The Road Atlanta doubleheader weekend is September 2-4. Race results – 1.Mat Mladin, Suzuki 2. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 3. Ben Spies, Suzuki 4. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 5. NEIL HODGSON, PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999 6. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki 7. ERIC BOSTROM, PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999 AMA Superbike points (after 15 of 17 rounds) 1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 471 2. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 450 3. ERIC BOSTROM, PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999 382 4. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 377 5. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 341 6. NEIL HODGSON, PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999 328 More, from a press release issued by Team Stargel: Team Stargel Yamaha Scores Solid Finishes at VIR It’s been said when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. During a 2005 season that has brought injuries and lack of setup time, Team Stargel finally got to drink lemonade in the warm Virginia sunshine. After gaining some insight into their handling problems at the last round at Mid-Ohio, the team arrived at VIR eager to implement chassis changes to improve the bike’s handling. Immediately, rider Brian Stokes felt more comfortable on the team’s Yamaha R1 and continued to gain speed and confidence as the weekend wore on. Saturday’s superbike race kept team mechanic Ward Wilson on his toes with tire changes and clutch adjustments during the three starts it took to complete the race. Stokes, rode hard and consistently, finding himself more comfortable with the feel of his Yamaha as the race unfolded. With a thrilling run to the stripe, he passed Corona’s Brent George to take 14th. The result in race number one did nothing but foster Stokes’ confidence for Sunday’s race. Under warm and sunny skies, the race got off cleanly with no red flags. Stokes’ poor start did not help his cause as he put his head down and charged through the pack. After having a back and forth battle with Hooters’ Eric Wood, Brian wisely latched on to him and worked to gain ground on the riders ahead of them. In a thrilling last lap move, Stokes went underneath both Wood and KWS Suzuki rider, Lee Acree to finish twelfth. Stokes remarked afterwards that after 26 hard laps, his Michelin front slick still gave him the confidence to make that inside pass. Team Stargel Yamaha now looks to this upcoming weekend’s round at Road Atlanta. This is the team’s home track and the site of Stokes’ eleventh place superbike finish in 2004.