AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport Recap
Daytona Beach, FL.-July 3, 2012-At Barber
Motorsports Park, the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport class was
once again a competitive battle with multiple young riders and brands fighting
for victory. Jake Lewis (Riders Discount Vesrah Suzuki) and James Rispoli
(Orient Express Celtic Racing) split the wins in what was an important race
weekend for everyone because it was a combined East-West race; everyone's points
counted in the championship. Lewis won on Saturday, taking
an impressive run to the front. After a protracted battle with Rispoli for
second, the Kentuckian ran down polesitter Dustin Dominguez (Latus Motors Racing
Triumph) to take the win. The two traded the lead back and forth five times on
the penultimate lap before Lewis finally made the race's decisive pass in what
was one of the weekend's biggest highlights. The two aggressive and fast riders
truly put on a show in the Alabama heat.
"I just settled in and saw
what the pace was going to be and tried to manage my tires to save them for the
end," Lewis said. "Dustin ended up breaking away a little bit. I set my eyes on
him and he was running really well. He had a little gap but I slowly reeled him
in, bit by bit and was right there on him. With two laps to go I passed him and
we had a good little battle for a bit and then on the last lap I really put my
head down."
Dominguez ran strong but a win
just eluded him. "The lap leader point was important," said Dominguez. "We put
our head down and got a little gap and then had a little tire fade, but that's
no excuse. Jake rode an awesome race." Rispoli took third in the
race. He said he missed the setup and had to settle for third on Saturday. "I
couldn't really get a run anywhere," he said. "I was spinning."
Stefano Mesa (Kneedraggers.com
Yamaha) won a three-rider battle for fourth ahead of Corey Alexander (National
Guard Fairhills Group Celtic Racing) and Tomas Puerta (Roadrace Factory/Red
Bull). Elena Myers (Suzuki SportBikeTrackgear.com), Tyler Linders
(Rotobox Yamaha), Ryan Matter (Gearzy Data Driven Performance) and Ryan Kerr
(RFC Kawasaki) rounded out the top ten.
James Rispoli #1 leads Jake Lewis #85 and the rest of the field during one of the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport Series races at Barber Motorsports Park in June 2012. AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Sunday's race was less
conventional, with two red flags slowing the action. The first came at the
battle at the front, when Mesa ran off and then reentered the track, collecting
Dominguez. Another red flag flew shortly after the re-start. When the race finally
commenced again, Rispoli emerged with a solid win, a narrow escape of just 0.039
over Lewis. Lewis tried to outrace Rispoli to the line exiting the final corner
but the defending champ held off his rival.
Rispoli said, "I just got as
small as possible and said 'Come on, baby, let's go!' It seemed like every time
we went back out, the tires got greasier and greasier. Us dirt trackers were
really sliding it around."
"I wasn't really where I
wanted to be on the last lap and couldn't make a move at turn five," said Lewis.
"In the right hander, (James) hugged it pretty tight. My only chance was to try
to draft by him at the line."
RoadRace Factory Yamaha riders
Tomas Puerta and Hayden Gillim were also in that group, with Puerta taking the
position over his teammate. "It was a good race, and I
felt the bike worked better on Sunday," Puerta said. "We switched from a medium
tire on Saturday, and the bike felt better getting out of the turns."
Gillim chose the medium tire
while the others picked the softer rubber, and Gillim said he just lacked a
little grip to make a bid for the win, even though he managed to lead at one
point. Myers improved to fifth and
finished much closer to the lead on Sunday. She topped Dominguez, who was
unluckily gridded at the back of the field after the first red flag when he
became tangled in the airfence. Steafano Mesa rebounded from
his earlier adventure to take seventh, ahead of Matter, Eric Stump
(EyeballNYC.com) and Alexander.
Rispoli
(Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport West) and Lewis (Motorcycle-Superstore.com
SuperSport East) are leading their divisions, with James having a 56-point gap
on Gillim and Lewis a 38-point margin over Mesa and 39 over
Dominguez.
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AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series Recap
Daytona Beach, FL.-July 3, 2012-For the
second race in a row, KLR Group/Vesrah Racing's Kyle Wyman won out in a final
lap duel to claim the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series victory at Barber
Motorsports Park. The win came
following a titanic dogfight with title leader and polesitter Tyler O'Hara on
the Bartel's Harley-Davidson XR1200 after the two made an early escape from the
field.
The narrow
victory sees Wyman further tighten the title fight thanks to his three
victories, the most in the field. O'Hara still leads at 165, but Wyman is
lurking and increasingly drawing nearer, now at 159. "It was huge
to have the KLR Group at the race and I really wanted to get a win for them,"
Wyman said.
"It was a great. It was a good race at the front -- a lot of dicing
and battling. There were different places on the track where (Tyler) was a
little bit stronger and other places where I was stronger and I just tried to
make the most of those and be there at the end. It all paid off for
me." O'Hara said,
"We just diced it up the whole race. My goal this weekend was to have a full
performance and have no regrets and that's what we did."
Michael
Barnes has typically been the third part of a three-man fight for supremacy
upfront, but found himself just attempting to minimize the damage at Barber
Motorsports Park. Putting
together a new program midseason, Barnes turned up in Birmingham, Ala. as part
of the MOB Racing team. His new bike wasn't fully sorted and while 'Barney' was
struggling with the suspension all weekend long, he somehow managed to hold down
third. It took a big
effort to do so, however, as he was constantly forced to fight off David Estok
(Ruthless Racing Inc.), Gerry Signorelli (Kuryakyn) and Shane Narbonne (Suburban
Motors Harley-Davidson) to do so.
Estok made a
run on Barnes at the flag but came up 0.146 seconds short of the podium, while
Signorelli and Narbonne were victims of the intense multi-rider fight in the
sweltering conditions, both men crashing out late in the race. Narbonne's
teammate, Ben Carlson, inherited the final spot in the top five as a
result.
Barnes said,
"I just kept pushing as hard as I could -- as hard as the motorcycle would allow
me to push. I'm disappointed with not being up there fighting for the win, but
that's part of my transition and acclimation to my new team as we get things
sorted out."
Kyle Wyman #33 leads the rest of the field into turn 1 at Barber Motorsports Park during the running of the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series in June 2012. AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Next
Event
AMA Pro Road Racing will next head to Ohio for Round 7 with a stop at Lexington, Ohio. The Buckeye SuperBike Classic will take place at Mid-Ohio in two weeks time, July 13-15. For tickets and event information, please visit www.midohio.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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