Sammy Halbert Finishes Lucky 13th in AMA Pro Road Racing Vance & Hines XR1200 Series Debut at Infineon Raceway

Miriam Deitcher, who brings us Flat Track Live Facebook coverage for AMA Pro Flat Track events (and other outstanding flat track series events across the North American continent), interviews Sammy Halbert at the DuQuoin Indoor Short Track, round 3 of the 2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship Series on April 16.  Slammin Sammy's #7 Woody Kyle Racing/
Fredericktown Yamaha/Kings Kustoms-sponsored Yamaha YZ450F is being attended to by one of his crew members just before Halbert went out and won semi race two to qualify for the main event at the Steve Nace Racing promoted indoor race inside the Southern Illinois Center on the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. 
Halbert went on to finish 5th in the main, and over the next weekend's events at the Salinas Sports Complex in Califinornia, finished 5th in the round 4 TT event and 3rd in the round 5 Short Track event.  He will roll into Springfield, IL. on May 28-29 for rounds 6 & 7 for the annual TT and Mile events at the Illinois State Fairgrounds with an eight point lead in the championship over defending AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Champion, Jake Johnson, 103-95.  Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. rounds out the top three early in the season with 74 points.

Sammy has been keeping EXTREMELY busy, as he always does, but with a couple of new twists added into his usual regimen.  The last few weeks have seen Slammy riding a couple of track days in Jason Pridmore's STAR Schools, in preperation for his professional road racing debut at Infineon on the H-D XR1200 this weekend.  Sammy also did some time on a Speedway bike a little over 10 days ago.
However, his debut in the AMA Pro Road Racing Vance & Hines XR1200 Series race over the weekend was anything but easy, besides coming to grip with an over-550 lb. road racing machine for his pro road racing debut.  During qualifying, Sammy suffered a get-off (un-hurt, thankfully!) that forced his #7 HOG Racing/Harley Owners Group/Vance & Hines-backed team to work double-time in order to get the XR1200 ready for the race final.  He finished a very credible 13th while staying on the lead lap, and also staying out of trouble along the way.  Bravo Sammy for bringing it home and breaking your pro road racing cherry along the way!
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Round 2 Race Report: AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series


SONOMA, CA (May 14, 2011) - Chris Fillmore earned his career first AMA Pro Road Race win today, taking victory in the Round 2 Infineon Raceway AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 event. The RMR Bruce Rossmeyer Daytona Racing rider, who'd taken pole earlier in the day, led nine of the contest's eleven laps, and he was joined on the podium by Drag Specialties riders Michael Barnes and Steve Rapp in second and third, respectively.

"This is my first AMA Pro win," said Fillmore, "and I'm glad I was able to get it here at Infineon. Everything was great."

The race was halted briefly under red-flag conditions on Lap 5 following a crash by Gerry Signorelli that left his bike on the front straight's racing line. Once the race resumed, however, so too did Barnes, who'd diced with Fillmore through earlier laps, and teammate Rapp, whose hurry to get off the line resulted in a jumped restart and an attendant five-second penalty.

Rapp, who also contended today's AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike race, continued to charge as quickly as possible once the track went green again, trying desperately to offset the penalty to whatever extent he could in the remaining laps. Although he was second across the finish line, however, the penalty bumped Rapp back to third.

"The first couple of laps, I had to remember I wasn't riding a 200-horsepower SuperBike," said Rapp, "but after a few laps I got right into it. These bikes are a lot of fun to ride, but I knew I had my work cut out once I got the five-second penalty. I tried to stay with Chris, but he just took off after the second start."
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AMA Pro Road Racing Vance & Hines XR1200 Series Racing from Infineon Raceway courtesy of AMA Pro Road Racing
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AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Flat Track star Sammy Halbert made a special appearance in the class at Infineon Raceway and had an exciting weekend, embarking on an off-track excursion after the restart but soldiering on to take thirteenth place.

For tickets to or information about Round 2, Day 2, at Infineon Raceway, visit http://www.infineonraceway.com/.

To learn more and be a part of AMA Pro Racing, please visit http://www.amaproracing.com/ and join us via facebook.com/AMAProRoadRacing, twitter.com/AMAProSBK, and twitter.com/AMAProLIVE.

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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Here's the official results from AMA Pro Road Racing for race two in the 2011 AMA Pro Road Racing Vance & Hines XR1200 Series from Sonoma, CA. from yesterday:

PDF:

http://results.amaproracing.com/xml/rr/events/R1110/xrf1ovr.pdf

Standard results:

http://www.amaproracing.com/rr/events/results.cfm?year=2011&eid=2011011110&discipline=RR&class=XR&type=F&rnum=1&class_sort=all
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Thanks to Halbert Brothers Racing on Facebook and Miriam Deitcher's Flat Track Live Facebook page for this great interview video of Sammy after his pro debut in yesterday's XR1200 race at Infineon:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/video/video.php?v=10150247589885498&oid=315551115309&comments
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