February 28, 2010

Daytona Beach, FL - The first round of Michelin Pro Series sprint races got underway today at Daytona International Speedway. In the opening SuperStock race Shane Narbonne motored away form the field on his RaceTech equipped Suzuki 1000. Brett McCormick riding also on a Suzuki and supported by Pascal Picotte ran ahead of Dave Loikits. Loikits ran wide on the chicane, pitting on lap five and handing the third spot on the podium to Christopher Clark riding a Yamaha. Clark elected not to go to tech inspection after the race and with that DQ, handed third place to Eric Haugo also riding a Suzuki. Narbonne's margin of victory was 6.5 seconds.

A cheerful Martin Cardenas took the win in the SuperBike race with Russ Wikle 5.5 seconds in arrears. Wikle was not happy about his start but managed to get out front and hold off Cardenas for several laps. By the time the starter was showing the cross flags Cardenas, not to be denied, put a nice gap between himself and the field leaving Eric Wood and Wikle to battle for the second step. And although Wood was right there until the end, he could not better Wikle and finished third.

In the ThunderBike race Nate Kern and Joel Spalding went head to head, but on lap one Kern's BMW was flagged for a jump-start causing him to serve a stop & go penalty. Although Kern fought back he could not overcome the 14-second gap that resulted, and so relaxed a little settling reluctantly for runner up. Spalding, on the other hand, got a nice first run on his new Ducati 749 and felt confident on the new bike. Spalding, a perennial Buell rider, has changed brands after the announcement last last year that the Buell brand would be discontinued by Harley-Davidson, spelling an end to factory support for America's most effective home-grown sportbike effort in decades. Third spot on the podium was nailed down by Ducati rider Robert Buroker who almost created a problem by not reporting to Tech after the race but he realized his mistake and turned around before leaving the view of series officials.Ray Hofman, the 2009 A&J Recognition Solo Challenge Champion,  was fourth piloting his Buell 1200.

In the final Michelin Pro race of the weekend the SportBike field saw the fall of the green flag with Michael Barnes, Russ Wikle, Geoff May and P.J. Jacobsen all on the front row. And although Barnes on his Yamaha 600 seemed to have the measure of the field for most of the race, Russ Wikle had other notions. At the flag Barnes and Wikle were wheel to wheel with a scant 0.069 seconds between them, Wikle's Yamaha nudged Barnes Suzuki for the win. Geoff May rounded out the podium on his Suzuki. Eric Wood was fourth and P.J. Jacobsen fifth.

For complete results, just go to the schedule page and click on the link to the right.

Round 2 for the Michelin Pro Series is the Fourth Annual Heart of America Cyclefestat on April 23-25  at Heartland Park Topeka featuring a full day of practice on Friday and two action-packed days of racing Saturday and Sunday.

February 27, 2010

Daytona Beach, FL - Today "Aussie Dave" Anthony riding a Suzuki 1000 took the overall win and GTO top spot in the first 2010 Michelin Team Challenge here at Daytona International Speedway.  Rounding out the GTO and overall podium were the seasoned Team Challenge experts Paul Gilchrist riding solo on the GPG Racing Suzuki 1000 and the team of Eric Helmbach and Alex Shaw aboard the Chester Auto Racing Honda 600.  Helmbach and Shaw were double-teaming between Chester Auto and their Grease Monkey Racing GT Lights Suzuki 650 entry on which they took the GT Lights class win.

Under new rules a single rider no longer competes in the Solo class and separate from the rest of the Team Challenge riders.  Now single riders compete in class, GTO, GTU or GT Lights, and run head to head with the multi-rider teams for the overall and class wins.  All riders or teams must pit at least once during the timed 2-hour event, but rider changes are no longer mandatory for multi-rider teams.

Shane Williams and Steve Johnson took the the GTU class win on their number 38 Cycle Specialties Suzuki 600 followed by the Trebour Precision Ducati 848 ridden by Dennis Espinoza and Anthony Fania. Third on the podium for GTU was RNR Repsol riders Krishna Pribadi and Jason Gibbens on their Kawasaki 600.

In GT Lights, following Helmbach and Shaw was the team of Jay Smith and Ray Hoffman aboard the "Born Cross Eyed," Buell 1200 and team Predator riders Andres Londono, Russell Wade and Marco Martinez on the number 12, also a Suzuki 650.

Next stop is the Carolina Motorsports Park on April 10-11 with the Championship Cup Series Twin Sprints.

Another team that is no stranger to Michelin Team Challenge class championships is the Wisconsin Racing Team from Slinger Wisconsin, leading the GTO standings by 10 points over the Pekin Illinois based Central States Racin. All Wisconsin Racing has to do is finish third or better in the class and they will win another GTO championship. If they can pull it off it will be the fourth GTO championship that team captain Calvin Martinez has been a part of in the last six years. (Martinez finished as runner up twice in the 2005 and 2007 GTO Championships but his finest performance was the 2006 season where he led the team to a perfect 8 wins in 8 races.) While they have been strong contenders over the last few seasons, Central States Racin’s finds themselves needing to win and get some help to keep the Wisconsin Racing Team from reaching that third position.

With the A&J Solo Recognition Championship already secured, Ray Hofman from Waupun Illinois can relax and work on his tan for the 2009 Michelin Team Challenge Awards Ceremony on October 18^th. Even though Grease Monkey Racing has the GTL Championship in hand, team captain Eric Helmbach is the second rider for Chester Auto Repair so he still has some work to do before enjoy the fruits of his season’s labor at the Sunday evening presentations.