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Miguel Duhamel on the Team Honda #17 CBR1000RR leads Aaron Yates on the #20 Michael Jordan Motorsports GSX-R1000 coming out of the carousel turn at Road America during AMA Superbike race one action in June of 2008. Following are Jason DiSalvo on the #40 Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R1, Geoff May on the #99 Jordan GSX-R and Chris Peris on the #8 Team ESP/Attack Suzuki GSX-R1000. The lead four of Ben Spies, Mat Mladin, Jamie Hacking and Neil Hodgson haved just passed through on the first lap right before this shot was taken. Elkhart Lake's beautiful Road America race course has numerous areas to watch the racing action from, but with a four mile course you do a lot of moving around in between race and practice sessions to get to some of those areas. This area of the track is much easier to get to since they built the bridge crossing a few years back, and for a guy like me there are some great camera angles to get some pretty decent shots from.
Road America has been hosting the AMA races since 1980 and I made my first trip there in May of '82 with a rag-tag bunch that consisted of two support vehicles (mine being one) and what ended up at the track by the time everyone got there of about 16 bikes that came out of Indy. It was one of the most miserable (weather-wise, a cold on/off hard rain almost all weekend) trips I have ever taken (and I wasn't on a bike!) and one of the most memorable (the racing was top notch and the only time I ever got to see Eddie Lawson race before he headed to Europe in '83 to conquer all) racing trips I have ever taken. Since then I have only missed 5 0r 6 years, but I'll miss this year again, however I'll be there in spirit I can guarantee for sure!One of the guys's in that rag-tag bunch was Larry Lawrence from The Rider Files.com as well as the man that covers the better part of the AMA Flat Track season for Cycle News. Larry rode up with a couple of other guys that had to leave late on Friday and that was the first time we actually met. Larry's missle of choice that year was an ultra-cherry, red & white '78 Suzuki GS-750 sport bike with Dunlop R's (THE hot street tire then) and superbike bars.
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Here's the racing press releases as posted over at RoadRacerX.com for this weekend's upcoming event:
http://www.roadracerx.com/breaking-news/team-speak-ama-pro-elkhart-lake-preview/
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This is the sign that greets you as you arrive at Road America, which is actually just outside the town of Elkhart Lake, WI. off of Highway 67. The area is ripe with golf courses, lakes and tourists and is the typical resort community. Elkhart Lake's claimed population is only around 1000-1100 +/- but sees quite a rise over the course of the summer months with all of the major racing activities going on there. The track has been around now for over 50 years and was actually in contention in the mid '90s to host a round of the World Championship, which is now MotoGP. After making a boat load of track changes and accomodations, however, the track never got the clearance it needed to hold a GP race. But the changes were overdue, and they have kept making changes over the years to make it even more safe then it was, especially for the bikes.
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Here's the official link to the track, Google Maps link, and the official site for Elkhart Lake as well:
Road America track link:
https://www.roadamerica.com/
Road America on Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=N7390+Highway+67,+elkhart+lake,+wi&sll=39.823104,-86.331297&sspn=0.008075,0.013754&ie=UTF8&hq=N7390+Highway+67,&hnear=Elkhart+Lake,+WI&ll=43.801704,-87.989502&spn=0.014403,0.027509&t=h&z=15
Town of Elkhart Lake:
http://www.elkhartlake.com/
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I shot this in turn 14 in June of 2005 as the superbikes come by on their parade lap. It just shows the general beauty of the track and it's surroundings. On the right hand side you can see the camera perch for the SpeedTV camera as the riders come by and wave to the fans.
For a state that is as cold and snowy as it is in the wintertime, the late spring in early June has, for the most part, been warm and beautiful. Just as with all upper midwest states, every once in awhile it can turn chilly and throw in some rain surprises to go along with the action. Since the mid-late '80s when they moved the race date from the middle-to-end of May to the first or second weekend of June has made all the difference in terms of climate. And with all-things racing, you tend to overlook the bad since you are around beautiful scenery, and most important, high speed motorcycle racing.
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Here's the link to the weather in Elkhart Lake thanks to the Weather Underground. Right now there is a 20-50% chance of precipitation for the 3-day event:
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=53020
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You go to the races to see the racing, but after the day's events are over, where do you go?Well, when you make the trip to Road America, there IS only one place in town to hang. Siebkin's Resort. Two easy words to remember when you are there, and MOST everyone you encounter over the weekend will know it, local or not. And if they don't, then it's time for them to get clued in to the scene that is Siebkin's on a motorcycle race weekend.
This shot is looking south down the alley of the Siebkin's property that borders Lake and East Streets in the Village of Elkhart Lake. The property has been updated and redone over the last several years, and as of June of '08 was about 3/4's done for the main complex for the newer condos going in. Some of the ambiance is missing from the now-gone 1880's buildings, but the atmosphere around the place is anything BUT gone. There are a couple of bars at this great place, and they set up temporary one's in the courtyard between the buildings. Bikes roll in and out all night, and park in the alley as shown, so it's as much of an event in itself as the races themselves are. And some of the bikes......WOW. Being an old-time nut I still get a kick out of the early-mid '70s silver and blue Ducati and green Rickman Kawasaki that are and have been parked there every year I have been there in the last 20 or so years. You know 'em if you've been there and you may even know who owns them when you read this. And besides the regular race fan crowd, even the racers tend to wander in and out as the night goes on. It used to be Jim Allen's (just-retired Dunlop Tire guy) favorite place to hang, and when I was there last in '08 Miguel Duhamel and Al Ludington were seen wandering the crowd and checking out the wide variety of street exotica that had come in that evening.
And then there are the stories, the parties and the carrying on. Not like I had anything to do with any of that, mind you, I was there for the atmosphere of the weekend...........
Dean Adams has some better spins and much more of the lore of that part of the happenings at Siebkin's at his bitchin' SuperBikePlanet.com website. Of course a lot of that has changed over the years but the stories still live on. You can check out some of his offerings below.
Just like with all events and places, there are some who haven't seen the light of day after an evening at Siebkin's, as the local police don't put up with some of the antics of some of the people that go overboard...whether it be from drinking or from carrying on. You've been warned!
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Dean's Siebkin's pics:
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image/2008/usasuperbike/elkhart/sieb1/
Dean's spin on the historic Siebkin's here--and this is only one of several stories over the years from Dean on this great place:
http://www.superbikeplanet.com/featureoldworldcharm.htm
Siebkin's official spot on the internet:
http://www.siebkens.com/
Siebkin's on Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=284+South+Lake+Street,+Elkhart+Lake,+WI&sll=39.823104,-86.331297&sspn=0.008075,0.013754&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=284+S+Lake+St,+Elkhart+Lake,+Sheboygan,+Wisconsin+53020&t=h&z=16
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Coming into turn 14 during AMA Superbike race two action in June of 2000 are Doug Chandler on the #10 Team Kawasaki ZX-7, followed by Scott 'The Screamin' Chief' Russell on the #4 H-D VR1000, Tommy Gun Hayden on the #22 Team Yamaha yZF-750 and Steve Rapp on the #82 Vance and Hines Ducati.
The AMA started experimenting with running double race rounds at Road Atlanta in '98 and '99, it worked, so they added Road America and Mid Ohio as double rounds in 2000 as well. It definitely worked. Double the fun it was and has been, and this year will be the 12th year of double race rounds in the superbike class at the historic Road America round of the AMA Superbike Series. When DMG took over the running of the series completely in '09 they also doubled up in the Daytona SportBike and SuperSport classes. It makes for a great weekend of two-wheeled, high speed excitement. At just over four miles long now, RA is a track where the bikes get a chance to breath, especially on the 3700+ foot front straight.
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Last but not least, here are the event links and schedule from the AMA side. As of this writing their were 22 entries for the Superbike class and 29 for the Daytona SportBike class. And this being the first race of the year for the new Vance and Hines XR1200 class, there are ten entries listed. Hopefully that one will get some late entries at the track!
Live Timing and Scoring has been updated as of Friday 6/4/10 @ 1125 EDT on the left-side column!
And since I won't be around for part of the weekend, you can also get news updates below from Dean Adams' news feeds to keep you up to par.
AMA Pro Racing Road America event info:
http://www.amaproracing.com/rr/events/event.cfm?eid=2010011025
Road America event schedule:
http://www.amaproracing.com/assets/RdAmerica2010officialschedule.pdf
Dean's SuperBikePlanet news feed link:
http://superbikeplanet.com/newind.htm/
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Updated Thurs. 6/3/10 7:15 P.M. EDT:
Here's the link to the TV times for the weekend over at SpeedTV. Thanks to RoadRacingWorld.com for the post:
http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=40692
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