AMA Flat Track: Word Has It Rob Pearson & Babe DeMay Teaming Up for 2012 Grand National Championship Series Season

2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Saddlemen Rookie of the Year Brad Baker looks over the track while waiting on his #12 Lloyd Brothers Motorsports/TeamHurtByAccident.com/Foremost Insurance/ENI USA-sponsored Ducati 1098 for the final round of qualifying to take place in the Expert Twins Series stop at the I-96 Speedway on July 23.  Round 11 of the 2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship Series in Lake Odessa, MI. saw The Bullet take fast-time and win his heat, in route to a 9th place finish in the National main event.

Possibly discussing the heavy machinery sitting just outside the pit area before heading out to qualify are Chris Carr on his #4 American Motorcyclist Assoc/Classic H-D/DFW Honda/Arai-sponsored XR750 with Rob 'Bugs' Pearson on his #27 American H-D/Matt Reecy Racing/Movin' Mike/Yoho Ent-backed XR.  Carr would finish 3rd in his heat and an eventual 5th-place in the main, while Pearson would miss the main after finishes of 6th in his heat and 18th in his semi race.

Illinois resident Pearson turned Pro in the 2002 season, and has been one of the regular riders in the AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship Series since.  Each year the since 2006 season the Morton-based rider has peformed strongly in putting together top 10-13 finishes in the overall standings while racing for his own team, Snedeker Racing and USC Racing.  At the end of the 2011 season, Bugs finished 11th in the overall series standings with best finishes of 5th at Peoria, and 7th-place finishes at Lima and the Salinas TT. 
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AMA Hall of Fame tuner Babe DeMay sits alongside of his Memphis Shades/DeMay Racing/WKR/Arai-sponsored H-D XR750s of rider #69 Jethro Halbert during a break in the on-track action at round 11 of the 2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship Series in Lake Odessa in late July.  The man that has tuned for riders including Mark Brelsford, Rex Beauchamp, Corky Keener, Kevin Varnes, Kenny Roberts, and many others has been around the AMA Flat Track Series since getting his novice license back in 1952, and has ridden and tuned BSAs, Yamahas and Harley-Davidsons throughout his lengthy career.

The former Harley-Davidson and Yamaha factory wrench, who was voted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 2001, formed his own team in 2002 after wrenching factory machines for the likes of Roberts and Brelsford in AMA Flat Track.  Backed by the Memphis Shades-brand, the Moline, IL. resident has also won National main events with Johnny Murphree and JR Schnabel, Jr.  2011 rider Jethro Halbert only ran a partial schedule during the season, finishing 14th in the overall standings while riding DeMay-prepped equipment.
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No official releases out yet, but I picked up off of one of the Twitter feeds this week that Rob 'Bugs' Pearson and fellow-Illinois resident Babe DeMay will be teaming up for the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship Series.  Pearson, who resides just east of Peoria, and Quad Cities resident DeMay won't have to travel too far without one another being less than 100 mile apart.

When we get more official word on this, we'll post more.  In the mean time, this is great news for solid-finisher Pearson and long-time tuner-to-the-stars and AMA Hall of Famer DeMay.  This could make a great pairing in the series and help both out in getting the Memphis Shades XR back on the box!
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