Motorcyclist Magazine had one of the larger display booths at the Indy show, including one of the Lloyd Brothers Motorsports Ducatis featuring the #100 on it. According to team co-owner Mike Lloyd, the mag is putting together a series of stories about the LBM team as part of their 100th anniversary in 2012 that will deal with their assault on the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season.
The veteran team has been supporting AMA Pro Flat Track for over two decades now, and finally got their breakout win with Joe Kopp at the helm at the May 2010 Arizona Mile. '11 AMA Rookie of the Year Brad Baker took the LBM Ducati to a season-best 2nd place finish at the season-ending Pomona Half-Mile on October 15, 2011.
Lloyd also mentioned that the team has removed the 'Ducati' branding from the bike, instead focusing on the team's name and sponsor Nicky Hayden's name on the tank. Nicky helped lend the LBM team some support during the mid-part of the season last year after blowing a motor at the Sacramento Mile.
"Nicky's been great and he'll always have a ride with us" was what Dave Lloyd had told me last season, and which brother Mike also confirmed at the Indy Dealer Show. When The Kentucky Kid ran his demo laps at the Lucas Oil Indy Mile in August 2010 it was on one of the LBM bikes. "He'd been away from flat track for a few years, but he would have qualified in the top 20 that night in just the few laps he did run," according to Mike.
"When he's ready to come back to flat track, we'll put him on one of our bikes in a heartbeat. We took Ducati's name off of the bike since they haven't been willing to help us out. They offered us dealer cost on parts, but I can get that at any dealer now," according to Mike Lloyd.
It's been refreshing with all of the other support the team get's from fans at the AMA Pro Flat Track Twins Series races. "We actually get as many or more Harley fans coming by to check us out at the races, they love the competition and are tired of seeing 18 Harley's out there just racing against themselves," stated Lloyd.
View on as we bring you another handful of the teams, sponsors and riders who help to support racing and were on hand at the 2012 Dealernews International Powersports Dealer Expo at the Indiana Convention Center in Indy over the February 17-19 weekend.
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Germany's Wossner Pistons had several displays throughout their booth at the Indy Dealer Expo. The Werner-Springsteen Monster Energy Kawasaki team counts Wossner as one of their many sponsors in AMA Pro Flat Track.
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Lockhart Phillips had a nice display that included this Nicky Hayden Ducati 848. Not to mention the pretty blond lady!
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Shoei Helmets had this wall display among their many lines of lids in Indy. Among many of their sponsored riders is AMA Grand National #20 Matt Weidman.
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The folks from Scala Rider had a big display of some of the rider-to-passenger and rider-to-rider communication systems they offer on-hand at the Indy show. The Bluetooth system they offer is considered one of the finest on the market, and they were announced at the end of January as the official communication system of AMA Pro Racing.
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Millenium Technologies had a cool display of some of their cylinder and head work. Zanotti Racing, Werner-Springsteen Racing and Rogers Lake Racing are a few of the sponsored teams that the take care of in AMA Pro Flat Track.
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Sidi Boots had this wall of racing boots displayed at the Indy Dealer Expo. Johnny Lewis, Nicky Hayden and Jimmy Wood are a few of their sponsored riders.
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Mikuni Carburetors had this impressive display that included a cool backdrop that featured former 2-Time AMA Superbike Champion Wes Cooley on an early '80s Suzuki. The carb sitting on the counter on the left was so highly-polished you could almost brush your teeth with it.
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I had the pleasure of running into and meeting Richard Weirbach from the Iowa-based Weirbach Racing team, the 2011 AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles Flat Track Champions. Richard and the team signed AMA Horizon Award winner Ryan Wells in the off-season and have been staying busy getting him some track time while running the Steve Nace AMA Dirt Track Indoor Championship inside the Southern Illinois Center at DuQuoin. They have also been working on their XR750 for the Expert Twins Grand National Championship for the 2012 season, which they are hoping to sign someone to ride in a few races this year. Richard headed home to Ottumwa after the show and then was on to the Minneapolis area to do some final dyno testing early in the week, before heading to DuQuoin for this weekend's final round of the Steve Nace Series.
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Two Brothers Racing stayed busy during the weekend at Indy.
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Penske Racing Shocks had some impressive goods on display. Lloyd Brothers Motorsports and Nichole Cheza are among some of Penske's sponsored teams and riders in AMA Pro Flat Track.
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Silkolene USA stayed busy inside the Indiana Convention Center-hosted dealer expo. Notice the Jake Johnson 2011 #1 AMA Pro Flat Track plate sitting in the background. They also sponsor Bryan Smith, Matt Weidman and Brandan Bergen in AMA Pro Flat Track.
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AMA Superbike Championship rider Larry Pegram brought along one of his Pegram Racing/Foremost Insurance BMW S1000RR superbikes to display in the D2M booth at Indy.
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'94 AMA Superbike Champion and 2-Time World Superbike Champion Troy Corser was in the house on Friday at the Indy Dealer Expo talking with some of the SamcoSport reps.
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Dave Zanotti made the trip from California to display 2-Time and defending AMA Grand National Champion Jake Johnson's H-D XR750 at the Indy Dealer Show at the AMA Pro Racing/Racer X booth.
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Not too far around the corner from Jake's mount we found the Zanotti Racing crew holding shop in the Bazzaz booth. Jake Johnson, crew chief Ted McDermitt and team owner Dave Zanotti talk with 2011 Springfield Mile II winner Willie McCoy along with a member of the Bazzaz team.
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Mentor, OH.-based Wiseco Pistons had some impressive displays at the show. Among many of their sponsored teams and riders include Kenny Coolbeth, Jr., Nichole Cheza and Chris Carr.
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The folks from Metal Rescue had this new Moto3 entry on display in their booth with a Yamaha 250 engine. Moto3 will be replacing the 125CC two-strokes this year.
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Tyler Porter stayed busy all weekend while helping out the great folks at Memphis Shades (who will be sponsoring Babe Demay's team this season with new rider Rob Pearson #27 in AMA Pro Flat Track.) Brad Baker stopped by to see the main man from Fight For Dirt Track (www.fightfordirttrack.com) on Saturday of the show.
The '11 AMA Pro Flat Track Saddlemen Rookie of the Year flew in from Texas after spending some time with new team-owner Kenny Tolbert, who is in the process of getting the new team's Kawasaki 650R-based machines ready for the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season. Brad 'The Bullet' said they are working on getting their final sponsorships worked out and put together for the upcoming season, and after the show was over on Sunday he was heading back to KT's home base.
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Motobatt Products had a booth at Indy after having just signed-on with AMA Pro Racing in November '11 as the official battery, charger and tester for the 2012 season in both AMA Pro Road Racing and AMA Pro Flat Track.
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Galfer Brakes had this Storz SP1200RR on display at the Indy show. Storz Performance has a new line of cafe-style accessories for '04-present Harley-Davidson Sportsters, and this new show bike was used as a display to show-off what can be done with a little cash and a little imagination. This bike started as a low-mile '07 883 Sportster and was tweaked with the help of a 1200cc Wiseco piston kit, 18 inch wheels, Galfer brakes, Barnett clutch and Performance Machine brake calipers, among other changes.
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Spectro Oils of America was busy thoughout the weekend with their Sarah Palin look-alike on-hand in their booth for pictures with the attendees. Spectro sponsors the former 3-Time AMA Grand National Champion Kenny Coolbeth, Jr., among others, in AMA Pro Flat Track.
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Vance & Hines had a large display on-hand at the Indiana Convention Center for the 2012 Indy Dealer Expo, highlighted by this sweet AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series machine, decked out and ready to go racing at Daytona in about three weeks. Vance & Hines XR1200 racing division is based out of their Brownsburg, IN. location, about 4 miles west of Stu's Shots homebase.
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Book-ending our coverage of the 2012 Indy Dealer Expo, we see the Lloyd Brothers Motorsports booth that featured a surprise along with a fine display of one of the team's big sponsors, ENI USA Lubricants. Team co-owner Mike Lloyd (brown shirt, left rear of shot) is busy talking with attendees of the show and hawking the ENI line of quality products. "These guys are great to work with and offer a big line of products for the industry," commented Lloyd. ENI USA rep Dave Rinefierd (2nd from right) was helping out over the weekend and was very enthusiastic about the team's efforts and their association with ENI. "These guys are great reps for the ENI brand," stated Rinefierd.
As you can see from the 1098 on display at the LBM booth, it is sporting a new number for the 2012 season. "Yep, Henry Wiles will be our rider for this year. We tried to get things worked out last year and then they fell apart and that's how we ended up with Brad," according to Mike Lloyd. "We've got four complete bikes for this season. This one (the one on-hand in their booth) is the original 1098 we started with, along with Larry Pegram's help several years ago. We'll have two set up for the mile races and two for the half-miles."
Team co-owner and Mike's brother Dave, wasn't on-hand for the Indy show, but had told me several weeks ago that the budget was almost complete for the 2012 season. They should be ready to go for the first Twins Series race at Springfield over the Memorial Day weekend, and are planning to run the Savannah, GA. Steve Nace All Star round the weekend before the Daytona Short Track season-openers.
This will definitely be one of the top teams to again keep an eye out for in the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship season. With Henry having ridden for the team in the past (taking their Aprilia to a 2nd place finish at Lima in 2008) they shouldn't have the usual 'teething' problems of getting team, bike and rider to gel.
It should be a fun and productive year. When you get to a round of the series this year make sure you stop by and say 'hi' to the Lloyd Brothers team. They not only know how to do it on the track, but are a fun bunch of people to hang out with, too!
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This wraps up our coverage of the 2012 Dealernews International Powersports Dealer Expo, held in Indianapolis over the February 17-19 weekend. We hope you've enjoyed our coverage of a handful of the companies, sponsors, teams and riders who help to support racing here in the United States and abroad. Remember, without these companies and sponsors the sport we so dearly love would not be possible, so whenever you can support these companies and tell them thank you for the time, money and effort that they put into helping to make motorcycle racing possible.
We also want to again thank the great folks at Dealernews who sponsor the Indy Dealer Expo and for putting on such a great show and for allowing Stu's Shots to be a part of it this year. We had a blast, and we hope all of our readers have enjoyed the coverage.
Thanks again for taking the time to hang out with us here and to spend your hard-earned time with Stu's Shots!
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And you can read part one of our review of the 2012 Dealernews International Powersports Dealer Expo here:
http://stusshots.blogspot.com/2012/02/reviewing-2012-indy-dealernews.html
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