Tyler O'Hara hauls his #29 Tyler O'Hara Racing XR1200 down into turn one at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during testing for the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series event scheduled for just one week away in late August 2011. As part of the Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP weekend festivities, the XR1200 Series was making it's debut at Indy as the undercard to the 4th Annual MotoGP Indy outing, and Dorna and AMA Pro Road Racing were able to set-up a test session for the series to come in and get ready for their appearance at the international event.
O'Hara went on to win his first-ever event in the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series at Indy some eight days later, and came home 3rd in the second race of the two-race weekend. With his strong finishes throughout the 2011 season, O'Hara finished 3rd in the championship hunt behind '11 AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series Champion Chris Fillmore, and runner-up Steve Rapp.
For the '12 season, O'Hara picked up a ride with Bartel's H-D for the XR1200 Series, and instantly made good with his new team, taking his #29 machine into 2nd-place at the season-opening round in Daytona behind winner Kyle Wyman, just .117 seconds back. Last weekend at Road Atlanta, O'Hara triumphed in just his second race with the team to win the Big Kahuna round over runner-up Michael Barnes, and instantly making himself a threat to become the 3rd-ever AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series Champion along with Danny Eslick and Fillmore.
Check out the full press release and the race recap video below, thanks to AMA Pro Road Racing!
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
(April 27, 2012) - The M1
PowerSports-promoted Triumph Big Kahuna Atlanta presented by Dunlop Tire and
LeoVince showcased amazing races in all four AMA Pro Road Racing classes, and
the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series contained some of the weekend's most
compelling action.
Bartel's Harley-Davidson walked
away with a 1-2 in the Vance & Hines XR1200 Series race at Road Atlanta with
Tyler O'Hara, who scored a breakthrough win last year at
Indianapolis, ending up the man of the weekend after winning pole, leading the
most laps and ultimately claiming the victory.
However, races are rarely won
easily in the Vance & Hines XR1200 Series and that proved to be the case in
Georgia as well.
Pulling double-duty on the
weekend, AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike contender Steve Rapp
fought for the lead in Sunday's Vance & Hines XR1200 Series slugfest. The
Harv's Harley-Davidson pilot swapped the lead back-and-forth with O'Hara before
a mechanical issue ended his race a couple laps short of the checkered flag.
O'Hara's Bartel's Harley-Davidson
teammate, Michael Barnes, picked up the pursuit from close
behind to push the Californian to the line from second position for his second
career AMA Pro victory.
"Every win is very special,"
O'Hara said. "I'm super excited. The whole goal this weekend was to have fun and
that's what we did. We put in a good lap in qualifying and won pole. And what a
race today. Rapp passed me in a place I didn't think I could be passed. I
followed him a little bit and learned a lot and that helped me out when I got
back in the lead. And Barney was there the whole time keeping us honest. There's
no down time on these Harleys. It's pretty much pinned wire-to-wire."
After receiving his Big Kahuna
surfboard trophy, O'Hara added, "It just works out. I'm from California. I don't
surf but I think I might start now."
Michael Barnes #34, Kyle Wyman #33, Shane Narbonne #164, Tyler O'Hara #29, Steve Rapp #5 and Barrett Long #2 lead the 18-rider field into turn one during the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series main event at the Big Kahuna Road Atlanta round on Sunday, April 22, 2012. AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Barnes said, "The last couple of
laps I was doing what I could, but I know Tyler and he was doing everything he
could. He was going so deep into [Turn] 10 and I didn't really have a run on him
out of [Turn] 7. He was really strong, as was Rapp until he broke or whatever
happened to him. He must have downshifted a bit
too hard because I heard that thing pop coming out of 10b. He put his hand up
and that made it a little easier for me, but Tyler was just too tough to latch
onto. Steve and Tyler were slowing each other down a little bit and keeping me
there. Today wasn't the one but it's coming soon. It's been 16 years, I think,
since I got one and I'm pretty hungry to get a win and determined to get one,
one of these days."
Daytona winner Kyle
Wyman made the most of what could have been a championship-killer. The
KLR Group/Vesrah crashed in oil on the opening lap of the contest while running
in second. He was forced to start from the back of the field after switching to
his backup bike for the restart, but still managed to pick his way up to third
in the end.
"I guess there was some fluid
down in Turn 10a that I didn't know was there. I guess someone had an issue on
the warm-up lap. Before I knew it I was on my head. I just tried to hustle and
get back to pit lane to get back out there. I'm glad we did because we got back
out there and got on the podium. I put my head down. I wanted to
get back up there as quick as I could. I had only done three laps on the backup
bike ever. That one just got built and brought down here. I'm just happy I had
an opportunity to get back out there; I've never had a spare bike before,
actually. It's really nice."
Gerry Signorelli (Kuryakyn/Racing for a
Wish) now leads the Sunoco "Go The Distance" Award, given to the rider that
completes the furthest total distance in 2012 AMA Pro Road Racing race-weekend
events, with 280.65 miles to second-place
Darren
James'
(Deeley Racing/ Ruthless Racing) 280.02 miles.
Next
Event
AMA Pro Road
Racing will next head west for Round 3 with a stop at scenic Sonoma, Calif. The
Great Clips West Coast Moto Jam will take place at Infineon Raceway in two weeks
time, May 4-6. For tickets and event information, please visit www.infineonraceway.com.
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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
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