Yamaha To Re-Structure It's AMA Road Racing Program With Graves Motorsports for 2010...

This probably comes as old news to most of you reading this since this actually hit

the wires on Tuesday October 27th, but Team Yamaha will be officially 'outsourcing'

all of their racing efforts in the U.S. for the 2010 season to Graves Motorsports.

With Graves having a major hand in getting Yamaha back into the Superbike class again in

the '09 season after a several year layoff, it's not like the 'handing over of the reins'

to Chuck and his company is going to be a stretch. More than anything, it sets a precedent

as to what and who we may or may not see 'officially' or 'directly' in the AMA Road Racing series

in the way of direct or even indirect factory involvement for next season. And though this may

come as a direct result of the state of the global economy, if you follow the series any at all you

can't not think what part of this was change was due to the handling of the series by the

AMA/DMG folks. And me being the conspiracy theorist-type, well, I see major rumblings

happening in the sport as a result of the strife and almost endless problems that seem to

occur in '09 as a result of their lack of what many deem to be 'proper oversight' in going

about running a professional motorcycle racing series. But that's just me, you'll have to form

your own opinion as to what kind of mess they created since taking over the helm of the

largest and most high-profile road racing series on this continent and doing what many feel is

just shy of driving it into a brick wall....

While you are pondering that thought, and since that is another story altogether, we will focus on

the quality machinery and utmost in quality riders that Chuck Graves and Yamaha have put

together over the last few years and what kind of record they have attained in doing so. And we

can take a look at a couple of those fine pieces of equipment that they have put on the track in

the process.

To those of you familiar with the AMA scene, the #155 bikes above are probably very familiar

as they are a couple of the most recent versions of the steeds as produced by Graves for none

other then Mr. Ben Bostrom, '98 AMA Superbike Champion, '08 AMA SuperSport Champion,

and among other things the winner of the '09 edition of the Daytona 200. Having been around

the bike scene since all but dropping out of the womb, B-Boz has raced just about every form

of motorcycles--and in some case bicycles--for quite some time now. After coming into the

Superbike series back in '97 with the Zero Gravity Honda team on the fire-breathing Honda

RC-45's, he joined the official Honda Racing U.S. team in '98, and promptly won the title.

Vance and Hines signed him for the '99 season, and he wore the #1 plate that year while

teamed with Anthony 'The Go Show' Gobert. Moving on to the World Superbike scene for a

few years, we were lucky enough that Ben came back to the states to run in the AMA series again for Team Ducati and then again, Team Honda, up through and including the '06 season.

Then Ben went to work for Chuck Graves in '07 running the Yamaha R1 in the AMA Super Stock

series, and going on to a 2nd overall finish that year in the championship.

But for Ben, 2008 was the turning point where things all came together, and as he put it once,

he started having fun again. And fun he did have, winning a boatload of races while running in

the AMA Super Sport class based on the 'old' 600cc platform, and winning the title in the

process.

The machinery shown above is a small look at the bikes that Ben ran in the '07 and '08

seasons. The shots of the bikes in the garage were taken at Mid Ohio during the '07 round,

and are of the Yamaha R1 Super Stock bike, while the on-track shots of Ben leading #36

Martin Cardenas and #4 Josh Hayes at Mid Ohio in '08 while romping to the win that day,

and of course the championship later in the year. And the shot of the #1 bike is the bike

he won the '08 AMA Super Sport Championship with. Or at least a good version of it as on

display at the Indy round of the MotoGP race back in August. It was one of many great

bikes they had on display that w/e.

I have to take the time to thank the following people for giving us the links below of the official

news about Yamaha turning things over to Mr. Graves and Co. for 2010.....and maybe beyond...

http://www.roadracingworld.com/, http://www.superbikeplanet.com/ and of course, http://www.speedtv.com/. Thanks to all you great folks for the hard work and efforts you put in to help us all keep up with the goings on around the mad world of motorcycle road racing. We couldn't make it with out you!

Thanks for coming by and taking the time to check things out here! And I hope you can come back again now, ya hear?!

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=38556

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Oct/091027m.htm

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ama-sbk-graves-takes-over-yamaha-effort/

The End of The 250 Era in MotoGP Competition Draws Near...

In what was the second to the VERY last race EVER of 250 Grand Prix competition in
the MotoGP circus, Team Scot's Hiroshi Aoyama won the final in Malaysia on Sunday
October 25th. With only the finale at round 17 in Valencia, Spain, on November 8th,
Aoyama only needs to place 1oth to win the 250 crown from current champion
Marco Simoncelli. And with the 250's going the way of the Edsel come the end of the year,
the end of the line in the ring ding class is drawing closer as the winter draws us nearer.
After decades of screaming chain saws on acid belching into the air the pungent smell of
gas and oil mix, the 2 stroke class will officially become the 'Moto2' class and will be made up
entirely of Honda 600-powered, individual team-produced chassis. With the 4 stroke
technology having overtaken the need, or the feasibility of 2 stroke technology, what many
of us have grown up with will now be stored away in a closet much like the toys of yesteryear
we long gave up for adulthood. Or something to that affect.....
So while you ponder the thoughts, memories, and overall love--or hatred if you don't like the
ole ring ding's anyway--of what is surely the passing of the generations, remember the
champions all, the manufacturers all, the crowds of fans scrambling and meandering into their
seats and perches, the wafting in the air of the aroma of oil and gas mix and castor oil, and the final wail of that last race when the chain saws are released for one final time among the masses.
And how the band played on.....

Here are some links concerning Hiroshi and Team Scot and the official results and standings
and race run down compliments of the super people at www.MotoGP.com!


http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2009/250+sepang+race+aoyama

http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/xx/2009/MAL/250cc/RAC/worldstanding.pdf



http://www.motogp.com/en/riders/profiles/Hiroshi+Aoyama

http://www.motogp.com/en/events/Valencia/2009


The shot above is the bike that Hiroshi Aoyama has campaigned for the Team Scot HRC Satellite effort in the 250 class of MotoGP. It is a satellite Honda RS250RW, 2009 factory model. This
shot was taken at the Indy MotoGP round on August 28 this year.

We Are The Champions!! Ben Spies Wins 2009 WSBK Championship!!

You gotta figure Ben Spies was humming the classic rock hit by the group Queen when

he was cruising home on the last lap of the final race in the 2009 World Superbike Championship in Portugal today. What a magnificent day, let alone year.
On a day when a 10 point lead could go either way in deciding the championship,

Ben Spies overcame the deficit--with a little help from Nori Haga's dnf in race 1--to

become the 2009 WSBK Champion with a 1st/5th placing in today's two races.

After going into the w/e with that little 10 point deficit-thing hanging over his head,

Ben not only took a record breaking 11th Superpole for the year--breaking an 18 year

old record held by another Texan, Doug Polen, and also the '91 and '92 WSBK Champ--but

set the track record in Portimao to start off the w/e. Today he went out and won the first race

after Nitro Nori low-sided out a little over 1/3 race in, and then sailed home to a strong 5th place in race 2 to Haga's 2nd place finish to win the title over Haga by 6 points. And in the process won

Yamaha their first WSBK Championship.

Quite an accomplishment by the WSBK 'rookie' on the season he has had! Congrats to Ben,

the Italy-based Sterilgarda Yamaha R1 team, and to Mary Spies for raising such a worthy

champion and fine young man! You are ALL the champions! And you have made us very proud!

The official links below are thanks to the wonderful work from the great folks at http://www.superbikeplanet.com/, http://www.roadracingworld.com/, and the Official Site of the World

Superbike Championship, http://www.worldsbk.com/. Thanks to all of their efforts for the results!

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Oct/091025r2.htm

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Oct/091025u1vx.htm

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=38542

http://www.yamaha-racing.com/Racing/wsb/

http://sbk.perugiatiming.com/pdf_frame.asp?p_Round=POR&p_Anno=2009&p_Manifestazione=14&p_Gara=01&p_Sessione=002&p_Stampa=STD

While you are reading the official results and reads from the great folks above, the shots

showcasing Ben today were shot at Road America in 2006, Barber Motorsports Park in 2007,

and the shot of Ben's 2007 AMA Superbike Team Yoshimura Suzuki's was taken in the garage

area at Mid Ohio in 2007.

Shot 1 is Ben leading race 1 of the Road America w/e over Miguel Duhamel #17 and Jake Zemke on the #98 Honda's, while chasing them all down is Mat Mladin on the #1 Suzuki.

Shot 3 is also 2006 at Elkhart Lake but in Sunday's race 2, with Ben leading Miguel Duhamel

on the #17 Team Honda CBR1000RR.

The final 2 shots are of Ben during different stages of practice and qualifying at Barber in

April of 2007.

Congrats again to Ben Spies, the 2009 World Superbike Champion! Take a bow, mate.

Congrats to Jared Mees, 2009 AMA Grand National 'Twins' Champion

After not transfering directly out of his heat race, Jared Mees nailed down 2nd in the

second of 2 semi-races last night, transfering him to the main event last night in Pomona.

After 25 laps, Mees ended up in 5th place, good enough to win the 'twins' championship over 3-time and defending champ Kenny Coolbeth by 9 points in the final tally.

Congrats to Jared and his Blue Springs Screamin Eagle Team in grabbing the championship

in what was a hard fought year! Great job!

The shots above are of Jared dropping the hammer off the line at Springfield at the Labor Day

W/E running of the mile classic during his heat race in 2006. Also alongside Jared on the #21

bike in the front row are among others #67 Mike Hacker, #42 Bryan Smith, #28 Shaun

Russell, #89 Kevin Varnes and #33 J.R. Schnabel.

In the second shot Jared holds the throttle open coming out of turn 2 at Lima while ahead of

#9 and 3-time GNC Jay Springsteen during practice for the summer classic held the last w/e

of June of every year. This shot was in June of '06.

Ben Spies Nails Superpole #11 for the Year In Portimao, Portugal WSBK Season Finale....

In his quest to run down Nitro Nori Haga on the Team Xerox Ducati for the
10 point lead in the championship finale, Ben Spies put an impressive ride in today
during Superpole at Portimao to clinch the top spot on his Yamaha R1 by over
.58 seconds over the second place man on the grid, Shane 'Shakey' Byrnes on
another Ducati. Here's the link to the official results in pdf form:

http://sbk.perugiatiming.com/pdf_frame.asp?p_Round=POR&p_Anno=2009&p_Manifestazione=14&p_Gara=01&p_Sessione=Q6A&p_Stampa=RIE


Going into the final 2 races of the season tomorrow, Ben's philosophy has been to go
in and win both races to guarantee him taking the title over Nitro Nori, before he moves
on to MotoGP for the 2010 season. This should be a good start to doing so.
You can follow the races by checking out the links on the left side column. The Official
World Superbike site http://www.worldsbk.com/ will have live timing of the races as they go
off beginning on Sunday a.m. Keep in mind Portugal is 5 hours ahead of EDT.

The shots above are of Ben running down Mat Mladin during race 1 of the AMA Road Racing
W/E at Barber Motorsports Park in 2007 and of Ben during qualifying.

Go get 'em Ben!

Update 1620 EDT:

Larry Lawrence has a great write up about Ben winning Superpole #11 for the year today over
on his bitchin' site www.theriderfiles.com. You can go to the link below to get the scoop from
ole Double L. Thanks again Larry!

http://www.theriderfiles.com/?p=1459

We Continue Our Salute to Mike Kidd and Gene Romero as Pomona is Almost Here....

As the season ending race at Pomona for the AMA Flat Track series is less then

44 hours away, we wanted to take the time to salute the other head of racing tonight.

The other night, we saluted Gene Romero, former GNC and now head of the West

Coast Flat Track Series (www.wcfts.com) and some of his past accomplishments over

the years.

Tonight, we tip the proverbial helmet to Mike Kidd, '81 AMA Grand National Champion,

former National #7--and 72 before he won the championship--and the man who is currently

heading up the AMA/DMG run Flat Track Series. Having been around the racing and

promoting scenes for over 4 decades now, Mike has some great insight as to how to run

a professional race series, how to promote it, keep the fans AND racers happy, and

how to be able to do so and make money at the same time. Thankfully the folks at

DMG decided to give the helm to Mike in running things in this series, as he has more then

proved he can run and promote a series with the utmost of success and respect. We're only

one full season in on this deal and so far Mike is hanging in there. I think that is a good sign

in that they are letting him do what needs to be done to get things organized and lined

out to be able to build the product of flat track racing. And to hopefully bring some new blood

in and try to get more fans back at the races in the process. And of course as we all know with

the current state of the economy, people have a lot fewer dollars around for racing or

entertainment in general so it IS a monumental task. But enough of that.

When I first started getting into this flat track thing in early '74, Mike had already ridden

for the Triumph Factory team, and was out injured the mid part of the year. It was in

the summer of '75 when I started noticing he was 'back' and was obviously healthy and

winning races again. Some of the shots above are of one of his race wins at Terre Haute

in August '75. He got hurt there in '77 and broke his wrist if I remember right, and 6 days

later we ran into him at an old Linder's Ice Cream store on the west side of Indy and he was

on his way to the mile about 8 miles down the road--ready to race. Oh, and he won....the night

race and if I remember correctly, that was the 2nd year of the Indy Mile Doubleheader

Nationals, and he came in close to the top on Sunday afternoon as well. Several years

later while running his own team with Army sponsorship, which at the time was a major

godsend in having a sponsor like that in flat track in itself, he won the '81 Championship.

Going on to ride for Team Honda when they came out with the original twin, CX500-based

NS750, he was one of the original riders that helped to develop Team Honda into a non-stop

powerhouse that re-wrote the books on kickin' a.. and taking names in dirt track racing through

the '80s and really ending several years after with Ricky Graham's last championship in '93 on

a Johnny Goad-prepped privateer RS750.

After retiring from riding, Mike got involved big time with the ArenaCross program, built it,

sold it, promoted it, and turned it into one of the best run AND attended motorsports racing

of ANY kind. Then he sold it off to Clear Channel, and went to work for them as a consultant

and promoted them further. The man KNOWS the game! And if he can help to do SOME of

the same for our beloved sport of flat track, we all have a chance. This will be a pivotal w/e

at Pomona with Mike overseeing the AMA-side of things and Gene Romero overseeing the

WCFTS-side of things. These two guys individually exude class, respect, and the ability to

know how to have a good time and put on a great show. It should be fun!

Here is the link to my previous post earlier in the week with my salute to Gene, where I

posted all the links you should need to be able to keep up with the races at Pomona on

Saturday afternoon and evening:

http://stusshots.blogspot.com/2009/10/ama-flat-track-goes-to-pomona-to-close.html

Here are a few links of some info about Mike Kidd, as well, including his
AMA Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame page, as well as his bio and basic background from

the AMA as well:

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=100

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/classics/bike.asp?id=32

http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=2539723

And this is the official link from the California Bike Week folks on all of the festivities:

http://californiabikeweek.com/cbw09/2009/10/10/ama-pro-grand-national-flat-track-series-still-happening/

The shots above I threw in tonight to celebrate Mike's great racing past are mostly from

the Terre Haute August '75 race he won.

First off is a shot of Mike in action between 1-2, taking the checkered flag for the National

win, one of him 'throwing it down' on the cases going into 1, and a shot of him leading the late,

great Rex Beauchamp #31 as they come into 1 during the National.

The last shot is from the Louisville early summer race in '76. Mike's running it up the inside

of Gary Scott on the #1 K & K-sponsored bike and bringing up the rear is rookie of the year

and future '79 Grand National Champion Steve Eklund on the #74z bike. I'm pretty sure this

was a heat race shot.

Enjoy the shots, enjoy the read, and if you get a chance to follow the races from here this w/e,

enjoy! And if you make the trip and want to fill us in, we're all ears! Take care.

Thanks and A Shout Out to Steve @ 2 Stroke Biker Blog!

I just wanted to say thanks and I appreciate the efforts of Steve Ducharme over at the
bitchin' http://2strokebiker.blogspot.com site for taking the time to put up another of my
shots yesterday. Great stuff on his site--and not meaning to say that just because of my
shot on there!--he really puts in the sweat and grease on the work on his site.
Check him out, and thanks again to Steve down in sunny F-L-A!


http://2strokebiker.blogspot.com/2009/10/last-of-thektm-125s.html


http://stusshots.blogspot.com/2009/10/ktm-to-withdraw-from-125gp-championship.html

AMA Flat Track Goes to Pomona to Close the Season and We Profile the 2 Men Running the Show...

As the AMA Flat Track Series heads west to Pomona, CA., for the Saturday night season finale,

I'm going to take a look back this week at the two former Grand National Champions that are

currently heading up their respective series of flat track competition.

Tonight we take a look at former 1970 AMA Grand National Champion, National #3, Gene Romero, and the man who runs the West Coast Flat Track Series. Later in the week we will take a look at Mike Kidd, former 1981 AMA Grand National Champion, National #7, and the man

at the helm of the AMA-DMG-led AMA Flat Track Series.

But tonight, we look at the man who was known as 'Burritto' and who amassed a total of 12

Grand National wins--including the '75 Daytona 200 (remember in those days you rode all

the flat tracks AND the road races to get the coveted championship) as well as the Yamaha

parallel twin's final win on a mile track at Indy in 1974. Which just happened to be the second

EVER flat track race I attended in my youth that lit the wick on the candle that is burning as

bright as ever of my love for this stuff some 35-plus years later.

When I first started following this seriously and going to races in the summer of '74, Gene had

already amassed quite the career. At the time he was the #2 member of the Team Yamaha

Super Team, along with 'The King' Kenny Roberts and Don Castro, former National #11. He

had also raced for the Triumph Factory team and had won his GNC (Grand National Championship) a few years before in '70 while riding for them. In '75, when Yamaha

'trimmed' the budget and cut back to just KR running his the team with/for Yamaha, Gene

started riding Yamaha's for C&J Racing--of the C&J Frames group. They were a frame

manufacturer in the day along with Champion and Trackmaster that were known for their

expertise in motorcycle frame technology and durability, that was and I believe still is, based

on the west coast (I added their link below as well but doesn't show their location). At the time they helped him out with the flat track side of things, and Yamaha took care of him for the road races--what few there were in those days.

Since those wonderful days of yesteryear, Gene has also run the Team Honda Flat Track

program back in the early to mid '80s when they were based out of the west side of Indy here

and when they had their shop down on old Gasoline Alley Blvd. just south of IMS.

And then, roughly 14-15 years ago--and I'm not positive on those dates so correct me if I am wrong-Gene saw the need for a fully-sanctioned flat track series on the west coast. The AMA

had all but left the west coast national races behind, and California, Oregon, Washington and

other states in the area still had--and HAVE-- a large hotbed of flat track and motorcycle racing talent in general. Gene got the West Coast Flat Track Series (http://www.wcfts.com/) started up, and from word through the fans I have talked to, and word of mouth through http://www.flattrack.com/, has done a remarkable job of putting on a first class show for the riders AND the fans. Which

doesn't surprise me considering the first-class guy he always was.

This weekend will mark a milestone in racing lore history as Gene will be co-hosting the Pomona

event ALONG with Mike Kidd and the AMA Flat Track Series folks. And you can follow more about Gene, and the races, by checking out the links below. You can get the 'official' event

schedules from both Gene's site and the AMA site, and you can follow the racing via the Live

Timing link as provided by the folks at the AMA. The weather looks to be good at this point,

and to be safe I threw in a link below so you can keep up with what the weather could

be, come race time Saturday night. Also, keep in mind that California is -7 GMT, so they are

3 hours behind the east coast---just a friendly reminder so you don't fall asleep too early on

Saturday night! I also threw in the link with Robin Miller hosting Wind Tunnel a couple of

weeks ago for Dave Despain with the Romero interview as well as some other classic footage!

The various shots showcased with this post are of Gene back in the day, all taken in the summer

of '75 at the Terre Haute, IN. half-mile and the Hinsdale, IL., Sante Fe Raceway short track.

In the top shot Gene is bringing up the rear in a practice session at Sante Fe along with others

and #1 Kenny Roberts and #10 Dave 'Bones' Aldana.

In the second shot down Gene is dropping the hammer at the start of heat race action at Terre Haute alongside, among others, including then #65x and future 3-Time Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen and NOW National #9, #20 Triumph-mounted John Gennai, #98 Triumph-mounted John Hateley, #72 and future Grand National Champion Mike Kidd, and one of the all-time greats of flat track, #31 Rex Beauchamp.

In the middle shot Gene is leading this group in the national that consists of '69 Grand National Champion Mert Lawill #7, as well as The King again on the #1 Yamaha that day at Terre Haute.

The 4th shot down is Gene pondering what may come before the qualifying session--in those days riders took timed qualifying as opposed to the scratch heat formula they use now--and

probably thinking this will have to be a burner lap to make the field at Terre Haute.

And the final shot is of Gene leading Mert again out of Terre Haute's turn 4.

Enjoy the shots and remember to check out the races on Saturday night.

Later here in the week we will do this again and reminisce about Mike Kidd and talk a little

about some of the great things he did not only as a rider, promoter, and now top gun for the

AMA Flat Track people.

Thanks for coming by and we'll see you then!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Romero (Gene Romero bio)

http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/hofbiopage.asp?id=89 (AMA HOF Gene Romero)

http://www.wcfts.com/ (Gene Romero's Official WCFTS Site)

http://www.amaproracing.com/ft/ (AMA Official Site)

http://wire.amaproracing.com/ (AMA Live Timing for the races)

http://www.triumphflattrack.com/2009/09/gene-romero-bike.html (Gene's Triumph)

http://www.candjmotorcycles.com/HOME.html (C & J Frames)

http://sports.mobile.msn.com/en-us/detail.aspx?uuid=86eb0690-5c3e-4364-8bd7-294ec541bb4b (Link from http://www.speedtv.com/ with Robin Miller interview of Gene Romero)

Weather for Pomona:

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/hdfForecast?query=pomona%2C+ca&searchType=WEATHER

Larry Pegram's Ducati Flat Tracker Up For Grabs...

...if you are ready to pony up 17 large for it, that is.

The great guys from across the pond at http://sideburnmag.blogspot.com/ posted a shot

and a link from www.FlatTrack.com that shows Larry Pegram's Ducati Flat Tracker is up for

sale from the folks at Lloyd Brother Racing. When Larry 'The Worm' Pegram wasn't winning

AMA American SuperBike races this year, he was occassionally throwing a leg over this fine

piece that was set up for the AMA Flat Track series. He was at Indy the last Saturday in

August for the Indy Mile--unfortunately he didn't make the main after running both the heat

and semi races--but the bike is a wonderful piece of rolling art as you can see from the pics.

I threw in the links from the boys at Sideburn Mag as well as the link as posted on FlatTrack.com as well as Larry and Lloyd Brothers' official sites so you can check them out

as well.

http://sideburnmag.blogspot.com/2009/10/instant-hairy-chest.html

http://www.flattrack.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=46&func=view&id=67266&catid=11

http://www.pegramracing.com/index.php

http://www.lloydbrothersmotorsports.com/

Alex de Angelis Pins Hopes of 4th at Philip Island MotoGP Round for Seat at Team Scot

According to the folks at http://www.crash.net/, with his 4th place finish at Philip Island yesterday,

Alex de Angelis is 'in talks' with JIR Team Scot to ride on their HRC satellite Honda in MotoGP

for 2010.

I posted the original article below as well as some other links about Alex and Team Scot, as well as their official web sites and what MotoGP.com has on them as well. While you are reading up

on all of the silly season ramblings about Team Scot and Mr. de Angelis, you can check out the shots above of the team's mounts---the bikes, guys, not the umbrella girl! Which gutter did

YOUR mind just jump out of???!!!!

They had an ultra sano display at the Indy round of the MotoGP circus back at the end of

August and I was lucky enough to get a few shots of their set up. And the gorgeous blonde

umbrella lady didn't hurt either.... I'm just sayin'.

Enjoy the reading and the views--of the bikes and the umbrella lady!

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/153711/1/de_angelis_fourth_strengthens_team_scot_chances.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_de_Angelis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Scot

http://www.jir.mc/main.asp

http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/xx/2009/AUS/MotoGP/RAC/Classification.pdf

Thanks Again to Brett at Triumph Flat Track.com....

I've got to take the time here to thank Brett Noble from www.TriumphFlatTrack.com again
for posting some more of my shots today.
I had come acrossed these shots I took back in '07 at Springfield and sent them over to him
since he does such a remarkable job of posting pics and stories about the heralded Triumph
marque bikes. I knew he would do them justice as you can find out by reading his clip and
looking at the other shots like the one above he posted as well.

Thanks again Brett! You da man!



http://www.triumphflattrack.com/2009/10/submission-mission.html

Ben Bostrom Rides the 24 Hours of Moab.......

Dean Adams and his super people over at his bitchin' site, www.SuperBikePlanet.com posted

a great article today about '98 AMA SuperBike Champion and '08 AMA SuperSport Champion

Ben Bostrom.

For those of you like myself who have been fans of Double B since the days of the

old 883 class in AMA Road Racing will know what kind of champ, rider and super personality

the man is. What many may NOT know is that in his 'spare' time--like when he isn't winning

Superbike or SuperSport races, most recently the '09 AMA Daytona 200 victory in March--

that he rides off road bicycles. Now myself, I'm pretty ignorant to that cool sport, but if you DO

want to know more you can check with my buddy Tim Powers through his Indiana Climber blog

link on my left side column. But what I DO know, is this is at least the 2nd year BBoz has raced

in this particular race--the Moab 24. And this year the man placed 2nd in class and 68th overall

along with his team mate. Oh, and then there is the matter of keeping his eyes pried open for

the 41 some hours he was up last w/e in doing so. In the link below you can read about it and

check out the results from the official site as well as provided in the story. Thanks Dean--and

great job Benny! Get down man!

So, needless to say, I don't have any pics of Ben on his racing bicycle, but I DO have a few shots

here of him racing his Team Honda CBR1000RR Superbike at Road America in '04, and a shot

of him on his Team Graves Yamaha 600 SuperSport bike in route to the win at Mid Ohio to

eventually clinch the championship last year.

The single shots of Ben on the CBR are during practice for the w/e's Superbike double races,

and the group shot with Ben in the 4th spot was taken in the 2nd race of the w/e as he chases

his brother Eric, on the #32 Ducati, Team Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin on the #1 GSXR1000, Miguel Duhamel on the other Team Honda CBR1000RR, and followed up with Jake Zemke on

the Team Erion Honda CBR1000RR #98.

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2009/Oct/091015godsunit.htm

Michael Barnes Heads a List of 3 Other Riders Entered in the Macau GP...

Michael Barnes, who rode for the Richie Morris Racing team this year teamed

with Daytona Superbike Inaugural Champ Danny Eslick on the Buell 1125 bikes,

heads a list of 4 total riders that will compete in the upcoming Macau GP street race

next month. This will be the 43rd edition of the motorcycle part of the GP w/e, and

the 56th edition of the car-related part of the festivities.

Run through the streets of Macau, which is located in southeast China--and just west of

the country of Taiwan, the race is considered to be the epitome of all street races and

circuits. Unlike the Isle of Man event in June of every year that runs strictly bikes,

Macau runs several car classes in addition to the motorcycle race itself. It is also

considered to be one of the most historic of all street races from what I was able to

find on the subject. Of course, as with all street circuits, questions of safety in the areas

of lack of run off, painted stripes in the middle of the track, and solid armco-style barriers

lining the track are only a few of the things that come into play when racing on anything that

is less then a safety-coordinated or homologated track. At least in the minds of anyone that

is comfortable running in excess of 150mph on a 2 wheeled rocket.....

You can read the press release as posted by the great people at http://www.roadracingworld.com/ in

addition to the official website info as well as a link I pulled off of Wikipedia.org that explains

the overall history, gives info on the winners of each respective class over the years, and

talks about the prominence that the race event holds in the Euro-Asian markets, as well.

Americans have historically run this event over the course of the years, but only one man

from the U.S.A. has ever won the bike portion of the event--Kevin Schwantz, the '93 500cc

Grand Prix Champion. He managed to bag the win in 1988.

The shots I have included on this little story are of one Mr. Michael Barnes on the #34

M4 Emgo-sponsored Suzuki GSXR600 while running practice at Road America for the old

FX class during June 2008's event. Michael has been around the racing scene for longer

then I can remember--at least the late '80s. He is a class act on and off the track and has

ridden darn near all types of bikes in a variety of classes over the years. In the shots above

he is on the TeamRoadRacingWorld.com owned/run team of John Ulrich and was teamed

last year with Martin Cardenas. We wish Michael and the others a very big thumbs up

and hope they can go over across the pond and bring home the goods--albeit in one piece,

please! Go get 'em and be safe......

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=38415

http://www.macau.grandprix.gov.mo/app/home/gp56/en

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau_Grand_Prix

From The 'Better Late Then Never'-News Department......

While perusing the net over the w/e I came acrossed some old news that came out of

a Paris announcement back on September 22. According to several sites, including

http://www.motogp.com/ , http://www.lcr.mc/ and http://moto.gpupdate.net/en/ Randy DePuniet has

re-signed to ride for the LCR Honda team again in 2010 in the MotoGP premier class.

With direct factory support from HRC in the way of bikes, technical data and info,

and with sponsorship this year in the form of Playboy as their premier sponsor,

as of this posting DePuniet has moved up now to 8th in points with 3 rounds to

go in the championship. With some of the most sano looking equipment in the paddock,

LCR sets an impressive image, and considering the competition level in the MotoGP

class has done quite well with Mr. DePuniet as their rider of choice.

You can read the releases below about the announcement for '10 while you view Randy's

Playboy-skinned RC212V of the LCR team as seen at the Indy round of the MotoGP

championship back on August 28th of this year. Quite the impressive layout in the paddock

as presented by the team during the walk through. Good luck to Mr. DePuniet and the LCR

team through the rest of this year and into 2010 as they pursue the golden egg that is the

MotoGP Championship.

http://www.lcr.mc/EN/DE-PUNIET-RIDING-THE-LCR-TEAM-HONDA-RC212V-ON-2010.aspx

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2009/de+puniet+riding+lcr+honda+on+2010

http://moto.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/09/22/de-puniet-renews-lcr-honda-deal/

Josh Hayes Comments on The Silly State of Affairs With AMA/DMG Road Racing.....

I came acrossed a VERY interesting article on http://www.speedtv.com/ while

catching up on some reading this w/e. Being as how we aren't seeing any

2 wheeled racing this w/e--at least nothing on pavement--this is a good

w/e to catch up on old races on DVR/tape and on reading as well.

The following link comes out of my old hometown of Iowa City, IA.--go HAWKS--and is penned by Chris Martin. Chris speaks with former AMA FX Champion

Josh Hayes about the current silly season, which is getting MUCH sillier now

that we know that American Honda, and possibly Kawasaki, as well, will be gone

from the paddock in '10 in AMA Road Racing. The following is a really good

perspective from a top-flight factory rider and what he thinks about the current

mess as being driveled on by the folks from the Damaged Motorcycle Guys-run

series. And how it all has been handled--or not--and his outlook as to what

can/may happen for the future.

Folks, it's not looking good, in spite of the fact that DMG has said they would

do away with rolling starts and pace cars/bikes and try to enforce the rules

more uniformly. As this article is being posted, we are already 10 days past

a schedule releasing date, VERY few tracks on board for next year, riders and

teams in limbo as to how to proceed for next year not only with sponsors and

lack of financial planning. And this is just the big tip of the Titanic-homing

iceberg. And after the way the 2009 season went with the ups and downs of

Damaged Motorcycle Guys racing, well, the future is worse then bleak.........

While you are seething in the mess that is, the shots above will at least help

to bring back good memories before the crap got so deep. Shown in action

as well as in the paddock area are some shots of Josh practicing in the old

FX class at Road America on his Team Erion Parts Unlimited CBR600RR

FX-spec bike during the first wet practice session of the w/e. And the

layout of the Kevin Erion-run teams facilities in the paddock help to show

what a sano program that team runs and always has.

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ama-sbk-hayes-series-in-a-scary-place/