AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series Set to Launch at Daytona Season-Opener

A pair of Bartel's Harley-Davidson XR1200s sit ready to go at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the tire test scheduled with IMS and AMA Pro Road Racing on August 11, 2012.  Josh Chisum's #10 JCR/Scrubblade/Bartel's H-D/RS Taichi-sponsored XR1200 and team mate Tyler O'Hara's #29 like-sponsored mount get the final treatment before the afternoon session begins at The Brickyard, one weekend before the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series is set to compete as the undercard during the 5th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP weekend.

Chisum and O'Hara will again be team mates for the now rebranded 2013 AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series as it kicks off at Daytona International Speedway today, and both will be looking to unseat 2012 XR1200 Champion Michael Barnes, who will be riding for the returning-to-the-series Rossmeyer's H-D team for the upcoming year.  Qualifying is set to go this afternoon at 5:30 PM EDT and the bikes will take to the track for their first race of the year on Friday, March 15 at 2:30 PM EDT.

Here's the link to the full rundown of activities at Daytona for today, tomorrow and Saturday, thanks to AMA Pro Road Racing!

And you can read the full press release below, again thanks to the great folks at Geico Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing.

Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series Riders Set for Impressive Performances at DAYTONA 200 Week

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 14, 2013) - History -- and common sense -- suggest that this weekend's AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway will be nothing short of a multi-rider dogfight to the checkered flag.  Entering its fourth season of existence, the spec class series has quickly earned its place in the GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing line-up by producing reliably close and unpredictable racing, and nowhere has that been more evident than on the high banks of Daytona.   The two previous H-D Daytona clashes were defined by strategic gamesmanship and impossibly close maneuvers and the same will be expected in 2013.  In 2011, Kyle Wyman won by .016 seconds over Chris Fillmore, with Joe Kopp just 0.89 seconds off the win and Steve Rapp missing the podium but only 0.136 seconds short of taking the checkered flag first.  2012 saw Wyman win again in another contest that saw four men take hit the stripe within a second of the win with season-long title rivals Tyler O'Hara and Michael Barnes rounding out the podium.                             Kyle Wyman #33, Tyler O'Hara #39 and Michael Barnes #34 lead the field during the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series race at Daytona during the 2012 Geico Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season.  Barnes went on to clinch the championship in the final round at NOLA to secure his first-ever #1 plate in an AMA Pro Road Racing series in the over two decades he has been campaigning the U.S. road racing series.  Barnes will return to defend his championship in what is now the rebranded AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series for the 2013 season.  The race is scheduled to be run on Friday, March 15 at 2:15 EDT.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.     While Wyman's promising campaign ended early due to injury last season, the championship wasn't decided until after the checkered flag was waved for the final race of the season, with the nod going to Barnes over O'Hara in what was the culmination in the Floridian's long quest to claim his first individual AMA Pro crown.   Barnes is back with the #1 plate in 2013, riding a Rossmeyers Harley-Davidson backed by Bikers Choice. O'Hara (Eco Fuel Saver, Scrubblade, Bartel's Harley-Davidson) and Wyman (Revolution Performance, Millennium Technologies) return as well, as the three men will look to reignite their three-way rivalry for class dominance.   However, there are other riders in the field with the potential to push for the checkered flag. Chief among them are former Superbike hero Rapp, who is back on an XR1200 with Suburban Motors Harley-Davidson, joining ex-Supermoto ace Ben Carlson, who has developed into a fine roadracer aboard the big Harley twin.  New Jersey Motorsports Park winner Shane Narbonne will again compete for Mob Racing, while SportBike race winner Bobby Fong and British sensation Sandra Stammova will team with champ Barnes on Rossmeyers Harley-Davidson equipment.  Michael Corbino (Rossiter's Harley-Davidson of Sarasota), Josh Chisum (Eco Fuel Saver, Scrubblade, JC Racing), Travis Wyman (Harv's Harley-Davidson), and Steve Crevier (Motorsports Plus) are just a few of the other names that could easily prove to be factors up front in what's virtually guaranteed to be a hard-fought AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson opener.   Qualifying for Vance & Hines Harley -Davidson Series grid positions will take place in two sessions, Thursday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. and Friday morning at 9:40 a.m. The 7-lap contest will kick off the 2013 GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season's race action on Friday at 2:15 p.m. local time.   Live Timing & Scoring of all on-track sessions will be available at http://live.amaproracing.com/rr/   Between the races, stay connected with AMA Pro Road Racing at www.twitter.com/AMAProSBK and www.facebook.com/AMAProRoadRacing; keep up with Daytona International Speedway via Twitter (www.twitter.com/DISupdates) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/DaytonaInternationalSpeedway).   For tickets and additional event information, visit www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or call 1-800-PITSHOP.

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