Johnny Lewis Hosting 2-Lap Charity Walk/Run at Springfield Mile on May 25 for March of Dimes

This coming weekend at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, one of the biggest races on the 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track presented by J&P Cycles Grand National Championship season's schedule will roll out as the Springfield Mile I will bring fans to their feet with the stars of The Rolling Thunder Show hitting the track for the first mile event of the season.

But the day before, Johnny Lewis National #10 and a host of presenting sponsors will put on a very special walk/run around the mile oval track in order to help raise funds and support for the March of Dimes.  Lewis, his race and personal sponsors and a list of others will be bringing the 'Johnny Lewis 2-Lap Dash for March of Dimes' to help raise awareness for the March of Dime charity.

'JL10' as he is known to his fans will lead all entrants in this special event in a walk/run for 2 laps around the iconic Springfield Mile oval on Saturday, May 25 to kick off the action-packed weekend over the Memorial Day holiday.  A big handful of other riders, past and present, are also expected to take part, including current overall points leader Brandon Robinson, his TJ Burnett Farms part-time team mate, JD Beach, Brad Baker, and Chris Carr, just to name a few.

So if you are going to be attending the races at the Illinois State Fairgrounds over the weekend, including the Steve Nace All-Star AMA TT race being held at the Multipurpose Arena on Saturday, take time to join in the fun and help a cause that is very worthy and get a chance to hang out with some of the great and fun people associated with the greatest racing series on two wheels in the world.  You'll be sure to 'walk' or 'run' away with a big smile on your face and a good feeling knowing you are helping out a very worthy cause.

In the shot above, Lewis and his former Scott Powersports Kawasaki team roll-out at the Springfield Mile I on May 27, 2012 during rider intros for last season's first mile event.  Lewis can be seen beaming his endearing and always-present smile that fans of the sport have come to know and love from the Pennsylvania resident, which will surely be on-hand during his 2-lap charity event on Saturday.


Press release courtesy of Johnny Lewis and the Latus Motors Racing Triumph team.


Johnny Lewis Building Awareness to Make a Difference                              

JL10 to Host Charity Event Day before Springfield Mile
 

Coatesville, PA - May 21, 2013 - The "Springfield Mile", as it is known to many, has hosted competitive auto racing since 1910, making it one of the oldest speedways in the United States according to Wikipedia.  "Racing history wasn't only made here, it began here! (Illinois State Fairgrounds. Springfield, IL)", states Keares Renewable Energy rider Johnny Lewis.   "And I don't think everyone racing here today realizes the significance of Springfield and the sport of flat track history at this one place, The Springfield Mile".

As this year's 2013 IMDA Springfield Mile approaches in less than a week, Johnny Lewis will not only be racing his first AMA Pro Flat Track Springfield Mile with his all new Latus Motors Racing Triumph race team, he will also be hosting his very first charity event to raise awareness for March of Dimes - "working together for strong, healthier babies".  With the support of the IMDA, TJ Burnett Farms, and Keares Renewable Energy along with Latus Motors Racing Triumph, Johnny will host "The Johnny Lewis 2-Lap Dash for March of Dimes" taking place on the legendary Springfield Mile Saturday, May 25th.

"Yes, we are walking/running around the actual Springfield Mile the day before the fourth round of the AMA Pro Flat Track Championship event", said Lewis.

For this special event, rather than having over 8000 fans in the stands watching the racing, they get to hit the track running right alongside some of their favorite AMA Pro Flat Track racers. The current list of AMA Pro racers to attend includes your current points leader Brandon Robinson, Jake Johnson, Brad Baker, JD Beach, including many Pro Singles racers and even retired AMA Pro Flat Track Champions/race winners such as Chris Carr, Mike Hacker, and Joe Kopp -  to name a few.

Starting the weekend off early to promote the event as well as the cause and supporters, Johnny will be live on the Next Moto Champion Talk Show Thursday night.  Early Friday morning, Johnny will start his day in-studio for an interview with Springfield's Channel 20 ABC News Station, followed by a LIVE On-Air session with Liz Williams from 100.5 WYMG radio station around 7:45 a.m.  This will be followed up with a round of golf with some of Springfield's finest, continuing into the day with a trip to St. John's Children's Hospital, along with two of TJ Burnett Farm's team riders, to visit with and hand out some goodies to some amazing kids.  The day will conclude with the Latus Motors Racing/Keares Renewable Energy Triumph on display for a Meet & Greet at Boone's Saloon in Downtown Springfield, IL., where Johnny will be sharing information on his first ever charity event, along with handing out JL10 posters.

Saturday morning at 9am, the gates will open to enter the turn 3 & 4 tunnel to register/sign-in for "The Johnny Lewis 2-Lap Dash".  A $10 donation is required for basic registration to take part in the walk/run, or you may donate $25 instead and you'll also receive a JL10 March of Dimes event t-shirt! (Limited supply of t-shirts will be on hand).  ALL proceeds from this event will be donated to March of Dimes.  You can pre-register and secure a t-shirt at www.lewis10.com/2lapdash.  The walk/run (2-Lap Dash) will begin at 10 a.m. and will end well before the gates open up for the Springfield TT ALL-Star race at noon.

Register/sign in will be held at the Latus Motors Racing tents along with the Next Moto Champion trailer.

"Thanks to the support of the IMDA, TJ Burnett Farms, Keares Renewable Energy, and the Illinois State Fairgrounds, I will be able to bring a group of people from all over the country together for a wonderful cause.  To me it's about building awareness of what's going on around us and opening our eyes to see what other families are struggling with.  I want to help make a difference in any way I possibly can.", said AMA Pro Flat Track National #10, Johnny Lewis.

The Mansion View Inn & Suites Springfield, IL. is offering  a "JL10" promotion code for a regular double bed room, at a rate of $59 a night. http://www.mansionview.com.  Call to book a room and tell them JL10 sent you!  

Follow along the whole weekend at:
Facebook Fan Page 
https://www.facebook.com/lewis10

Instagram
@johnnylewis10

Watch: ABC 20 News Springfield on Friday morning
Listen: Thursday at 5PM PST, 7PM CST, 8PM EST http://www.nextmotochampion.com/next-moto-champion-talk-show
Listen: 100.5 Radio Springfield (7:45am)
Stop In: Friday Night @ Boone's Saloon 301 West Edwards, Springfield, IL (6pm)
Join: Saturday (9am registration, 10am START) Springfield Mile 2-Lap Dash -  Gate #6 / infield parking
  
Sign up for The Johnny Lewis 2-Lap Dash @
www.lewis10.com/2lapdash


*****In case of rain the night before/ morning of/ or during the walk scheduled time, we have a loop planned out on the outside of the Springfield Mile on pavement! *****
Got a question? Email @
JohnnyLewis10@live.com

Latus Motors Racing, Triumph Motorcycles, Keares Renewable Energy, Castrol Oil, Saddlemen Seats & Saddlebags, Freedom Road Financial, GE Capital, Wallace Trucking, Cafe Racer XXX, TJ Burnett Farms, Triple J Racing, Fat Boy Racing, Solid Performance, Arai Helmet, AXO USA, Smith Optics, RIDE Academy, KN Filters, Ringers Gloves, Wiseco, Impulse Graphics,  Secrets of Speed.

AMA Pro Flat Track: Matt Weidman Forced to Sit Out Next Few Rounds of 2013 Season Due to Injuries

Matt Weidman and the #20 Greg Crow Racing/White's H-D/SNIP/Fiorio Investments-sponsored XR750 team are shown being introduced by AMA Pro Flat Track announcer Mylas Copeland during round 4 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship season at the Springfield Mile I on May 27.

Weidman, the 2008 AMA Pro Flat Track Rookie of the Year and the first-time winner at the Daytona Short Track II in March 2012, is being forced to sit out the next few rounds of the 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track presented by J&P Cycles Grand National Championship season due to injuries suffered from a crash at the Ocala, Florida track back on March 12, as well as some issues still hanging on from his Lima Half-Mile crash in June 2012.

Matt contacted me earlier today to let us all know what his situation is, and you can read his full release below as well as his message to Stu's Shots.

Matt is shown at the Springfield Mile II on September 16 as he heads out for his heat race on the #20 Scott Powersports/Saddlemen/Fiorio Investments/SNIP-sponsored Kawasaki, at round 13 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship season.



Matt's release

As most of you have known me for several years, you know that I have raced flat track since the age of 4 and turned pro at 16.  This is my 6th season as an Expert Pro and I have been in the top-10 every year.  I strive to always do my best in everything.  Most of you also know that I attend college online, working on my Bachelor's and then on for my Master's Degree in Accounting.  I also work full time.

I am sorry that this has taken so long since Daytona, but I have been having some problems and wanted to update all my great sponsors who have supported me for many years.  I crashed hard at Ocala on March 12th and suffered a concussion.  It is really hard to not race when you are even half-capable, especially after months of prep and spending money on race bikes and travel, so I decided to race Daytona.

I am probably one of the few racers that will tell you they Love the Daytona track, I always do good here and look forward to this track.  I wanted two more podiums this year, but walked away content with a 6th- and 7th-place finish, and I had to come from last place, both nights!

I am having residual effects from the concussion and saw a Sports Neurologist two weeks ago, he works with the Yankees, Pro Bull riders, boxers and other professional athletes.  My brain is fine, but needs to rest.

I am taking a couple months off, possibly more, and hope to return for Lima, which is my favorite track.  I will probably race a limited schedule this year.  Mike Scott, who is my Twins Series ride/sponsor, has been very understanding and will be ready when I am.  I have been very fortunate in 17 years of racing, to have only broken two bones, but have had several concussions.  I also had a severe upper respiratory infection after Daytona and after a couple weeks of antibiotics, was finally better. It has been a rough month, so I am sorry for the delay, but thanks to all of my great sponsors!


Matt Weidman #20


I also received this personal note from Matt today concerning his injuries:

"I wanted to let you know, you always give me great press.  The neurologist said I also suffered a small bleed in my brain last year at Lima, and I am guessing this is serious enough to take my time and heal.  I have some visual symptoms left and am going to see an eye doctor probably next week to make sure everything is okay and hopefully in a couple months that will clear up, too.

"This was the letter I sent to my sponsors, you can change it if you like.  I also put something on my Facebook page to my fans.  I will miss everyone at Springfield, you know what a race junky I am, and this is hard for me."

Take care,

Matt


We really hate to hear this news about Matt, one of the nicest racers on the circuit as well as one of the most capable.

Having followed closely Matt's progression in The Rolling Thunder Show since his first AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship podium at the Lima Half-Mile in June 2010, the New York State resident is one of the hardest chargers on the circuit, as well as one of the most well-rounded people around the sport.

With the support and backing from his Mom and Dad (Rachel and Guy) for years, last season was the first full season that they haven't been around to help support him at the track, after 'retiring' from full-time competition at the end of the 2011 season.  But their great upbringing is still there with Matt himself, every time he unloads and every time he talks to his friends and fans around the track.

After starting the 2012 season riding for the DFW Honda team in the Singles Series events (where he promptly went out and won his first-ever Grand National race at Daytona II), Matt also spent time riding for the GCR Racing team in the early part of the 2012 season in the Twins Series events.  Matt was riding for the GCR team when he set fast time at Lima in June '12, where minutes later in the closing session of qualifying he crashed heavily coming out of turn 2, ironically while riding his family-supported White's H-D XR750, that was all but totaled in the melee when Matt caught the outside fence and was pitched into the track end-over-end.

After suffering a shoulder and ankle injury, Matt returned later in the season to race for the Mike Scott/Scott Powersports Kawasaki 650R-based Twins Series team, starting with the Indy Mile on August 18.  Matt finished the season riding the bike that former rider Johnny Lewis had vacated after the Hagerstown Half-Mile round in early July, and ended the season ranked 10th in the overall points standings in the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship season.

Matt will be sorely missed at the track, but obviously right now the best thing to do is get healed up completely so he can get back to doing what he loves best.....racing. 

We wish Matt a speedy and complete recovery and to let him know we're behind him all the way in knowing he'll return as soon as he can to throw another leg over a flat track bike in anger with the best again.  Get well man, thanks, and heal-up quickly!

AMA Pro Flat Track: Johnny Lewis Announces Return to Grand National Racing with Latus Triumph for 2013 Twins Series

Great news for AMA Pro Flat Track fans hit the airwaves last night when it was announced on Pit Pass Radio that Johnny Lewis, the former AMA Supermoto Champion and winner of the season-opening round of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track season at Daytona, would be returning to the track for the 2013 season alongside the returning AMA Grand National Championship-competing Latus Motors flat track team. 

2000 AMA Grand National Champion Joe Kopp was also announced as one of the heads of the new project (no doubt in part because of his long-time ties with the Latus organization located in the Northwest Territory of Oregon, not far from Kopp's home state of Washington), which will see Smokin' Joe return to the series where he almost won his second AMA Grand National Championship while riding for Latus and the Lloyd Brothers Motorsports team before retiring from full-time competition at the end of the 2010 season. 

The team will be fielding Triumphs run out of the Latus shop, with sponsorship from Latus Triumph, Castrol Oil and GE Capital, among others, in the Twins Series rounds of the now-rebranded 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track presented by J&P Cycles season, with Lewis slated to do the riding and Kopp looking to head up the team throughout the season.

Lewis, who ran the first six races of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season before walking away from the series after disagreements were raised with how the on-track incident with eventual '12 AMA Grand National Champion Jared Mees at round 2 in Daytona ended up playing out last season.  For those not familiar with the incident, the night after Lewis took his cherry-breaking win in the series at the start of his third season in The Rolling Thunder Show, he and Mees were involved in a 'questionable' incident on the last lap of the 25-lap National main at the short track inside Daytona International Speedway.  Mees went on to finish in the runner-up spot behind the night's second new winner-in-a-row, Matt Weidman, while Lewis collected himself and eventually finished in the 8th-place spot. 

Lewis announced last night on Pit Pass Radio and his new video on You Tube (see both below) that he had been testing the new Triumph at Oglethorpe Speedway outside Savannah, GA. yesterday and that he and the team were excited about their prospects for the season ahead.  The new Latus Triumph flat track team is expected to debut their new efforts together in competition this Friday, March 8 at the official kick-off to Bike Week in the Steve Nace Racing All-Star Series event at Oglethorpe.

Check out the link below to hear JL10 make his big announcement and then see his video as he blasts the new Latus Triumph around the track in testing from the Peach Tree State yesterday.  This is great news for AMA Pro Flat Track all around, for the fans, the team and the sponsors.  Latus Motors in the past has brought a great deal to the greatest sport on two wheels in the world and with the addition of former AMA Grand National Champion Kopp to the team's mix, add in Johnny Lewis 'wild and crazy guy' attitude and killer riding skills and you have a match made in heaven for the coming year.  Way to go guys and congrats!

In the shot above, Lewis is interviewed for the fans by AMA Pro Flat Track official announcer Barry Boone after taking the #10 Scott Powersports/Triple J Racing/Wallace Trucking/Arai-backed Kawasaki 650R-based mount to the heat race win in round 5 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track season at the Lima Half-Mile on June 30.  After coming home in the 5th-place spot in the National main that night, Lewis competed in one other National at the Hagerstown Speedway the next week (with another strong 4th-place finish on the Scott Kawi) before taking his hiatus from the series for the rest of the season, while sitting in the 3rd-place spot in the championship.  It's going to be great to have you back JL!

2000 AMA Grand National Champion Joe Kopp talks with the fans during the fan walk at the Lima Half-Mile in June 2010 (with the #3 Latus Motors/LBM XR750 on display.)  The return of Kopp to the track full-time (albeit in an advisory role) will bring big points with the fans as the Washington State resident is a fan favorite throughout the series and should bring a great mix of leadership, quality and class to the on- and off-track progression of the Latus Motors Triumph team.  Welcome back Joe!


 Check out Johnny Lewis' interview from last night with the great guys from Pit Pass Radio.

And here's the video of JL10 testing in Savannah yesterday that he uploaded last night on You Tube.

These are the sweet graphics JL10 will be rockin' in Daytona next week for the season-opening Singles Series rounds at Daytona, which include his sponsors Triple J Racing, Wallace Trucking and RIDE Academy.   The action kicks off on Thursday, March 14 at Daytona with round 1 of the 2013 AMA Pro Flat Track presented by J&P Cycles season and continues on March 15 with round 2.  JL10 sponsor graphics photo courtesy of Johnny Lewis.

AMA Flat Track: See How Scott Powersports Kawasaki-Mounted Johnny Lewis #10 Approached the Hagerstown Half-Mile

Rider Johnny Lewis #10 and the Scott Powersports/Saddlemen Seats/AXO-sponsored Kawasaki 650R-based team roll out for the National main during round 16 of the 2011 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Springfield Mile II on September 4. 

In his second full season of campaigning The Rolling Thunder Show, JL10 and the Scott Powersports Kawasaki team made major strides with their Twins Series program, with Lewis bringing home career-best finishes during the season at the Hagerstown Half-Mile (2nd-place finish) and at the ensuing Springfield Mile II round where Lewis led the first laps of his career on the legendary mile oval and eventually finished in the 6th-place position.

After the Hagerstown round of the 2012 series held last Saturday, July 7, Lewis fought hard for the final spot on the podium with Sammy Halbert and Jeffrey Carver, Jr, to end the evening with a strong 4th-place finish on the clay surface at the Hub City Classic in Maryland.  Running the #10 parallel twin hard into the corners and making veteran-like moves, the former AMA Supermoto Champion and the team are getting to the point where they are a fixture at the front of the field in the best racing series on wheels in the world. 

In the previous week's outing at the Lima Half-Mile, Lewis and brother-in-law Jake Johnson battled at the front of the 18-rider pack to card a hard-fought 5th-place spot, and at round 4 of the 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com season at the Springfield Mile I on May 27 Lewis again led the field for a career-best eight laps out of the 25-lap National main, eventually coming home in the 5th-place spot, just .247 seconds behind eventual-winner Willie McCoy.

With the way Lewis is acclimating himself to the Kawasaki and to running at the front of The Rolling Thunder Show, it's just a matter of time before the Pennsylvania resident is standing on the top of the box in one of these great races.  With the Sacramento Mile just 17 days away on July 28, could this be the round that we see him on top?  We'll have to wait and see, but things are definitely looking that way for him and the team.

AMA Pro Flat Track has been putting together some great videos this season of highlights from each of the rounds of the AMA Grand National Championship, and their latest, as preparred by the great folks from The Fast and Dirty.com shows Lewis talking about how he goes about approaching the clay surface at Hagertown and gives a nice perspective of how to deal with the slick, grooved surface at the Hub City Classic.

Take a look-see and check out JL10's version of what to look for at a track like this, and the next time you hit a National event take the time to go see Lewis and the team in their pit area.  One of the most approachable riders on the circuit, Lewis' brand of humor should leave you doubled over in laughter, and make you a BIG fan of this fast and fun racer!

Here's the latest video thanks to AMA Pro Flat Track.  Buckle in and hang on and check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dx2SFuabB8