AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Recap: Buckeye
SuperBike Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire at
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: |
DAYTONA
BEACH, Fla. (July 20, 2012) - Still smarting from a pair of successive
last-lap defeats at the hands of rival Kyle Wyman (KLR
Group/Vesrah Racing), Bartel's Harley-Davidson's Tyler O'Hara
got his revenge on Sunday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course by claiming his
third AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series victory of the season in similarly
clutch fashion.
Prior
to the race, however, neither O'Hara nor Wyman appeared to be the man to beat.
Rather it was veteran roadracer Michael Barnes on the MOB
Racing Harley-Davidson XR1200. After struggling to find the lead pace in his
first outing with his new team at Barber Motorsports Park, Barnes came out
swinging at Mid-Ohio.
The field gets the green flag for round 7 of the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series at Mid-Ohio on Sunday July 15. AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.
His
suspension woes sorted, Barnes topped the opening free practice and stormed to
pole. However, as typically happens in Vance & Hines XR1200 Series racing,
qualifying goes out the window at the green light and Barnes found himself
caught up in the mix with O'Hara and Wyman as they've done so many times already
this season.
Barnes
sat behind O'Hara for the majority of the contest and appeared to be biding his
time, but his plans were upset when Wyman came by on the final lap. The
youngster then set out after O'Hara but the Californian once again proved too
strong on the brakes and eventually nipped him at the flag by a narrow 0.135
second margin, with Barnes just 0.352 seconds off the victory in third.
"These
last couple weekends, I've kind of had to play it perfect but I haven't got the
result," O'Hara said. "This weekend we came out and we were a little off at the
beginning but made a huge turnaround with the bike set-up and made a bunch of
changes. We just made it to where I could feel comfortable and run with these
boys. They had a blistering pace yesterday and the main goal was to get a front
row start and be there at the end of the race.
"Kyle
was out front and got a great start and I kind of reeled him in and got by him.
Barney was all over me the whole race. Both of these guys were riding awesome.
Hats off to them. I definitely had to earn it today." Wyman
explained, "I was having some problems in some parts of the track and had to
spend a lot of time catching up in other sections and that took a lot of
brain-space away from me, preventing me from planning my moves and planning my
attack toward the end. I had a cool-down lap of regrets, I can say that. I wish
I had made some moves a bit earlier. I feel like I had a bike that could win
today. I'm
just disappointed because after being quickest in the first practice and
qualifying and getting pole, I felt like I was on a roll," third-place finisher
Barnes said. "But Tyler really did his homework overnight and got his bike
working and got up to speed. I never doubted it and I knew he was going to be
real tough in the race. Hats off to him. And Kyle just had a terrifically timed
pass on me at the end and I couldn't make a break back on him. We're just going
to have to work hard and get ready for Indy."
Travis
Wyman, Kyle's brother, took the Harv's Harley-Davidson to fourth while
XP Motorsports' Michael Corbino completed the top five.
The
top ten in the points race will now essentially start over as they all reset to
1000 points to kick off the XR Showdown starting at their next race, which will
take place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 19th.
The
winner of the XR Showdown will collect $25,000 of the $60,000 year-end points
fund.
Year-end Award Update:
David Estok
leads the Sunoco "Go the Distance" Award chase, having
completing 312 laps and logged 864.99 miles over second place Nicolas Hanset
with 295 laps and 821.27 miles.
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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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