Tuesday, July 3, 2012

AMA Pro Road Racing Barber Motorsports Park Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport & Vance & Hines XR1200 Series Recap








AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport Recap

Daytona Beach, FL.-July 3, 2012-At Barber Motorsports Park, the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport class was once again a competitive battle with multiple young riders and brands fighting for victory. Jake Lewis (Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki) and James Rispoli (Orient Express Celtic Racing) split the wins in what was an important race weekend for everyone because it was a combined East-West race; everyone's points counted in the championship.  Lewis won on Saturday, taking an impressive run to the front. After a protracted battle with Rispoli for second, the Kentuckian ran down polesitter Dustin Dominguez (Latus Motors Racing Triumph) to take the win. The two traded the lead back and forth five times on the penultimate lap before Lewis finally made the race's decisive pass in what was one of the weekend's biggest highlights. The two aggressive and fast riders truly put on a show in the Alabama heat.

"I just settled in and saw what the pace was going to be and tried to manage my tires to save them for the end," Lewis said. "Dustin ended up breaking away a little bit. I set my eyes on him and he was running really well. He had a little gap but I slowly reeled him in, bit by bit and was right there on him. With two laps to go I passed him and we had a good little battle for a bit and then on the last lap I really put my head down."

Dominguez ran strong but a win just eluded him. "The lap leader point was important," said Dominguez. "We put our head down and got a little gap and then had a little tire fade, but that's no excuse. Jake rode an awesome race."  Rispoli took third in the race. He said he missed the setup and had to settle for third on Saturday. "I couldn't really get a run anywhere," he said. "I was spinning."

Stefano Mesa (Kneedraggers.com Yamaha) won a three-rider battle for fourth ahead of Corey Alexander (National Guard Fairhills Group Celtic Racing) and Tomas Puerta (Roadrace Factory/Red Bull). Elena Myers (Suzuki SportBikeTrackgear.com), Tyler Linders (Rotobox Yamaha), Ryan Matter (Gearzy Data Driven Performance) and Ryan Kerr (RFC Kawasaki) rounded out the top ten.













James Rispoli #1 leads Jake Lewis #85 and the rest of the field during one of the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport Series races at Barber Motorsports Park in June 2012.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.

Sunday's race was less conventional, with two red flags slowing the action. The first came at the battle at the front, when Mesa ran off and then reentered the track, collecting Dominguez. Another red flag flew shortly after the re-start.  When the race finally commenced again, Rispoli emerged with a solid win, a narrow escape of just 0.039 over Lewis. Lewis tried to outrace Rispoli to the line exiting the final corner but the defending champ held off his rival.

Rispoli said, "I just got as small as possible and said 'Come on, baby, let's go!' It seemed like every time we went back out, the tires got greasier and greasier. Us dirt trackers were really sliding it around."

"I wasn't really where I wanted to be on the last lap and couldn't make a move at turn five," said Lewis. "In the right hander, (James) hugged it pretty tight. My only chance was to try to draft by him at the line."

RoadRace Factory Yamaha riders Tomas Puerta and Hayden Gillim were also in that group, with Puerta taking the position over his teammate.  "It was a good race, and I felt the bike worked better on Sunday," Puerta said. "We switched from a medium tire on Saturday, and the bike felt better getting out of the turns."

Gillim chose the medium tire while the others picked the softer rubber, and Gillim said he just lacked a little grip to make a bid for the win, even though he managed to lead at one point.  Myers improved to fifth and finished much closer to the lead on Sunday. She topped Dominguez, who was unluckily gridded at the back of the field after the first red flag when he became tangled in the airfence.  Steafano Mesa rebounded from his earlier adventure to take seventh, ahead of Matter, Eric Stump (EyeballNYC.com) and Alexander.

Rispoli (Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport West) and Lewis (Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport East) are leading their divisions, with James having a 56-point gap on Gillim and Lewis a 38-point margin over Mesa and 39 over Dominguez.


Title Sponsor
 
 
 
Photo Galleries 
 
AMAProNew
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Videos
BigM Weekend - AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Race Highlights
Triumph Superbike Classic - AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport Race 1 Highlights
Triumph Superbike Classic - AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Supersport Race 2 Highlights
SuzukiScoopFans' Elena Myers Gives Wrist Injury Update


AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series Recap

Daytona Beach, FL.-July 3, 2012-For the second race in a row, KLR Group/Vesrah Racing's Kyle Wyman won out in a final lap duel to claim the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series victory at Barber Motorsports Park.  The win came following a titanic dogfight with title leader and polesitter Tyler O'Hara on the Bartel's Harley-Davidson XR1200 after the two made an early escape from the field.

The narrow victory sees Wyman further tighten the title fight thanks to his three victories, the most in the field. O'Hara still leads at 165, but Wyman is lurking and increasingly drawing nearer, now at 159.  "It was huge to have the KLR Group at the race and I really wanted to get a win for them," Wyman said.


"It was a great. It was a good race at the front -- a lot of dicing and battling. There were different places on the track where (Tyler) was a little bit stronger and other places where I was stronger and I just tried to make the most of those and be there at the end. It all paid off for me."  O'Hara said, "We just diced it up the whole race. My goal this weekend was to have a full performance and have no regrets and that's what we did."

Michael Barnes has typically been the third part of a three-man fight for supremacy upfront, but found himself just attempting to minimize the damage at Barber Motorsports ParkPutting together a new program midseason, Barnes turned up in Birmingham, Ala. as part of the MOB Racing team. His new bike wasn't fully sorted and while 'Barney' was struggling with the suspension all weekend long, he somehow managed to hold down third.  It took a big effort to do so, however, as he was constantly forced to fight off David Estok (Ruthless Racing Inc.), Gerry Signorelli (Kuryakyn) and Shane Narbonne (Suburban Motors Harley-Davidson) to do so.

Estok made a run on Barnes at the flag but came up 0.146 seconds short of the podium, while Signorelli and Narbonne were victims of the intense multi-rider fight in the sweltering conditions, both men crashing out late in the race.  Narbonne's teammate, Ben Carlson, inherited the final spot in the top five as a result.

Barnes said, "I just kept pushing as hard as I could -- as hard as the motorcycle would allow me to push. I'm disappointed with not being up there fighting for the win, but that's part of my transition and acclimation to my new team as we get things sorted out."













Kyle Wyman #33 leads the rest of the field into turn 1 at Barber Motorsports Park during the running of the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series in June 2012.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.

Next Event


AMA Pro Road Racing will next head to Ohio for Round 7 with a stop at Lexington, Ohio. The Buckeye SuperBike Classic will take place at Mid-Ohio in two weeks time, July 13-15. For tickets and event information, please visit www.midohio.com

 
Title Sponsor

 
Photo Galleries

Saturday

Sunday

Videos
Triumph Superbike Classic - AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Race Highlights
MOB Racing Brings on Michael Barnes to the Team

  Next Up
Mid-Ohio July 13-15 Event Info | Tickets

AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.

For additional information contact:
 
AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com

No comments:

Post a Comment

Keep it nice, but keep them coming!

---Please note---You can leave comments anonymously, but you can also leave them while logged into Google, Yahoo and other platforms.
We'd love to hear from you!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.