Motourage

Aaron Yates, injured in March during a warm-up-lap crash at Auto Club Speedway, will make his return to the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Series at this weekend’s Suzuki White Lightning AMA Pro Nationals Presented by Foremost Insurance at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Va.  Yates will practice his #23 Jordan Suzuki and make a further evaluation if he will race after that.  Brett McCormick, Aaron’s teammate who has been riding the second Jordan Suzuki in Yates’ absence will also compete along with National Guard Suzuki Jordan rider Jake Zemke.

“I’m excited about riding again,” said Yates. “And really looking forward to getting back out there.”

Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider Blake Young will not be riding this weekend at VIR. Young continues his recovery from injuries suffered in a testing accident at Barber Motorsports Park.  Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s team manager Peter Doyle is hopeful that Blake will be able to return to racing soon but isn’t putting a date on Young’s comeback.

“I think it’s one of those injuries that you just have to let heal in its own time,” Doyle said. “We want Blake back 100 percent healthy so we can go out there and try to win some races full force. We’ll just have to take it a day at a time.”

The AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series will also compete this weekend.  Danny Eslick and Jake Holden will again lead the field of Harley-Davidson XR1200s in the series’ third race of the season. Eslick, winner of the first two races, and his teammate Holden, will be back aboard their RMR Bruce Rossmeyer Daytona Racing XR1200s with support from GEICO Powersports and Lucas Oil.

Joining them on the grid will be the Wyman brothers, Travis and Kyle.  Kyle will be on another RMR Bruce Rossmeyer Daytona Racing XR1200 and Travis will be on the Harv’s Harley-Davidson Racing machine.  Eric Stump will be back on the AbsoluteCycle.com XR1200 and Paul James will be returning on the James Gang Hoban Brothers Racing XR1200 with support from Harley-Davidson of Appleton.  Matthew Heidel makes his series debut on the Shar-Tuff Uniforms Harley-Davidson and Mark Cernicky joins the series on the Hog Racing XR1200.  Practice and qualifying will be on Saturday, August 14th and the 18 lap race will be on Sunday, August 15th.

Cardion AB Motoracing's Karel Abraham

After a four-week break, FTR Moto is looking to continue its successful first-half form when the inaugural Moto2 World Championship resumes this weekend at the Automotodrom Brno in the Czech Republic.

Andrea Iannone – with two wins in the Championship – will be hoping to challenge for the title from his current spot in third place in the series points table aboard his FIMMCO Speed Up Team FTR M210 machine. He lies 46 points behind series leader Toni Elias with nine races remaining. Iannone is also looking to add to his victories in Italy and Holland and continue a remarkable run of pole positions for the Italian rider in each of the last three rounds: Holland, Catalunya and Germany.

Iannone’s Speed Up teammate, Gabor Talmacsi, will be keen to improve on his eighth place in the Championship after seven points-scoring finishes in eight races.

Aeroport de Castello-Ajo Team rider Alex Debon is looking to repeat some of his early season displays as he resumes in full fitness and looking to add to his sensational runner-up finish in Qatar on his FTR M210.

Karel Abraham, on the Cardion AB Motoracing Team’s FTR M210, added to a career-best fourth place in the Catalunya round with fifth place in Germany in the last round, and the Czech Republic rider is now looking to his home race for a first ever podium finish.

“We’ve been busy in the break since Germany and are now looking for a charge towards the head of the Moto2 World Championship table from all the FTR riders between now and the end of the season,” said FTR’s Steve Bones. “Judging by our discussions with the riders and teams, everyone is fired up and all have good reason to chase victories and podiums. Of the four riders on FTR machines two have been on the podium and the other two have been in the top five so we’re confident they are all capable of winning races.