Motourage

Celtic Racing has announced that it has signed 2011 AMA Pro Racing SuperSport champion James Rispoli and has entered into new partnership with Orient Express Racing, a New York based performance aftermarket motorcycle parts supplier. The team, named Celtic-Orient Express Racing will participate in the 2012 AMA SuperSport class.

James “The Rocket” Rispoli captured two titles in 2011 – the AMA Pro SuperSport overall title and the SuperSport East Division championship – and earned the Young Gun Award for the best 16-21 year old road racer in America. Rispoli celebrated two wins, at Barber Motorsports Park and New Jersey Motorsports Park, and he earned six podium finishes, finishing off the rostrum only once.

“I am really excited to be working with Barry Gilsenan and the Celtic Racing team,” said Rispoli. “They’re known for working with young talent and helping to bring out the best in them. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and will be an awesome learning year for me. I now have the experienced crew and backing I need to excel and really put everything I have into each ride. I want to thank Barry and all the sponsors for this incredible opportunity; I can’t wait for the first test.”

“James put on an impressive display winning the championship in 2011, and I am very happy to have signed him for this year,” said team owner Barry Gilsenan. “He is young, talented and has a bright future in the sport. We look forward to working with James to defend his championship. I am also delighted to announce our continued association with Orient Express, who has been a loyal supporter of our team for many years. This year Orient Express has stepped up their support to become a co-title sponsor and I thank them for that. With the signing of Corey Alexander and the National Guard Fairhills Group program, Celtic has the strongest team it has ever had.”

Skip Dowling of Orient Express stated, “We are pleased to again be working with Celtic Racing and especially excited to support two talented, up-and-coming young racers for 2012. These riders impressed us with their professionalism and success both on and off the track. We’re glad to be able to support the team with some of the best components on the planet. Being associated with the Army National Guard is an honor we will not take lightly and will strive to be worthy representatives.”

AMA Pro Racing has added USA Raceway in Tucson, Arizona to the 2012 AMA Pro Racing Flat Track Schedule. The event will fill the October 6, 2012 TBA date on the previously-announced 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track schedule.

Arizona’s premier 3/8-mile dirt track, USA Raceway, is a relatively new track. The modern facility, which opened in 2005, normally hosts Late Model Stock Cars and Sprints Cars, but the AMA Pro Grand National Championship has visited Tucson before. In 2007, the facility hosted two Nationals in one weekend.

The Raceway hosted both GNC Singles and GNC Twins rounds in what would be the last races of the year. Jake Johnson, aboard a factory-backed Suzuki, won the first night over teammate JR Schnabel and Bryan Smith on a Honda. The next night, Kenny Coolbeth locked up the number one plate with a second-place finish behind Joe Kopp, with Rich King taking third to make it an all Harley-Davidson podium.

The AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com and the AMA Pro Flat Track Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles will conclude the 2012 season on the west coast, the October 6 date placing the Tucson event on the weekend between California races in Santa Rosa and the finale at Pomona.

2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Schedule:

March 15, 2012
Daytona Flat Track I
Daytona Flat Track, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Short Track

March 16, 2012
Daytona Flat Track II
Daytona Flat Track, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Short Track
Read more…

From a Maverick Moto Media press release:

Lucky Management is proud to announce the formation of Team Rotobox/Nexx. For the 2012 season, Bryce Prince and Luke Lucky Huff will be competing in the full AMA Pro Racing seasons, as well as entering WERA, WSMC, and the California State Championship. Both Bryce and Luke will be racing with Rotobox carbon fiber wheels and Nexx helmets on for all of the club racing rounds. Bryce will be defending his Overall California State Championship title, as well as the six additional championships he brought home in 2011. Luke is the rapidly progressing upstart featured in Roadracing World’s December 2011 issue, on pages 76/77.

Bryce Prince talks with Speed's Greg White

The two European brands are constantly developing revolutionary products to aid motorcycle racers and enthusiasts in their pursuit of speed and style. Rotobox’s revolutionary boxed-spoke construction increases the rigidity and strength of the wheels without adding weight. Nexx has a solid history in the helmet market in Europe producing numerous popular helmet styles since 2001. Currently, Nexx is sold in 46 countries around the world and expanding rapidly.

Rotobox and Nexx will have a booth set up at the upcoming Long Beach International Motorcycle Show on December 9-11. One of the Team Rotobox/Nexx bikes will accompany them in the booth, and both riders will also be in attendance to sign autographs and answer questions. Everyone involved is very excited about bringing a new team and presence to the racing world in the US.

Evan Steel Performance (ESP) has signed Jake Holden to race a BMW S1000RR in the AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike class in 2012. Holden, a former Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki factory rider, has raced in nearly every AMA class, finishing as high as third in the final standings in two classes – the 2008 Superstock class and the 2010 XR-1200 class. He has 14 AMA national podiums, including three wins. He substituted for John Hopkins and Ben Bostrom in 2010 on their respective factory-supported Superbikes.

Holden joins the ESP crew, which ran BMWs in the 2011 AMA Superbike series with success, including two front-row qualifying efforts, a top-five finish, and numerous top-10 finishes. ESP has numerous AMA podiums and wins, including winning the 2009 AMA Supersport East championship, as well as one Superbike pole position. Additionally, ESP has achieved success in the Canadian national road racing series, with wins, podiums, race lap records, and third overall for the 2009 season in the Pro Sportbike class.

“I am really excited to be back in the Superbike class, especially on a BMW,” said Jake Holden. “The bike is so fast, and fun to ride. The S1000RR has more motor than anything I have ever ridden; 2012 is gonna be good. I have moved down to Arizona so I will be close to the ESP shop, and with the weather out here we should be able to test quite a bit over the winter. I have been riding a lot of supermoto at the Mussleman Honda Circuit, a kart track in Tucson, as well as testing on the ESP boys’ S1000RR to make sure I’m ready to go when the season starts. I’m really looking forward to working with Phil and Evan; they have the drive and desire to build a competitive team. It’s going to be tough to beat the factory teams, but we’re eager for the challenge. I love being the underdog.”

“We’ve tested with Jake several times now, and I’m really impressed with his professionalism, focus, and speed,” said Evan Steel. “His past results and level of experience make him the most successful racer to have ridden for the ESP team to date. I am really happy to welcome him on board, and the whole ESP crew is eager to work with Jake. He is a calm and determined rider, and his work ethic suits our team very well. I’m hugely excited to be running a BMW again; the S1000RR is an amazing platform for a privateer team to launch from…. Phil Allison will be our primary engine builder as always, and we are welcoming Grant Guerrero onto the team as a chassis mechanic. Tom Savoca is returning, this time to help with management and logistics. Dave Ciesielski from U.S. Mega-Max will be continuing to help with geometry and chassis set up, as well as welding and machining. I’m proud that Jake chose to ride with us; I feel we have an incredibly strong team for 2012.”

2011 BSB Championship runner up and former MotoGP and AMA man John Hopkins plans to make another go at the World Superbike Championship after signing with Crescent Suzuki, as the UK-based team makes the move from the national to the world stage. Hopkins completes the two-man lineup with his new teammate, Leon Camier, who makes the move from the Alitalia Aprilia team. Camier will begin testing the Crescent Suzuki Powered by Yoshimura GSX-R1000 at Portimao, Portugal later this month, with Hopkins joining him in the tests in early 2012. The first race of next year’s calendar is scheduled for Sunday, February 26 at Phillip Island, Australia.

Hopkins is currently at his U.S. home in California, recovering from surgery to correct a finger injury he sustained at Brno while riding as a wild card for the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team. He had a successful first season with Crescent Suzuki in the British national series, narrowly missing out on the championship at the last race of the year to Swan Yamaha’s Tommy Hill. Hopkins contested the World Superbike Series in 2009 as a mid-season replacement for Robbie Rolfo at the ill-fated Stiggy Honda team, but injuries – and a horrific crash at the Nurburgring – coupled with Stiggy’s decision to pull out of the series, ended Hopkins WSBK hopes. He signed with John Ulrich’s team in AMA Superbike the following year but was again hampered by injuries. Earlier this season, he captured Superpole at the Silverstone WSBK weekend before finishing fifth in race 1 and seventh in race 2 as a wild card.

John Hopkins:
“I am really happy to be joining up with the Crescent guys again. We had a great year in British Superbike and I’m sure we can continue that in WSB. I wanted to get back into world championship racing and this is a natural progression from last year. The difference this time is that I will be going to tracks that I already know and have some reference from, so that should make some things a bit easier.

Read more…

Crescent Suzuki will collaborate with Yoshimura for the 2012 World Superbike Championship in a move that that will see the Japanese tuning company supporting the team as it enters its first year of WSBK action.

2009 ASBK champion Josh Waters rode for the Yoshimura Suzuki team in three WSBK sevents in 2011

Yoshimura will build, supply and develop the engines for the Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 that will participate in the 2012 World Superbike Championship, as well as supplying bespoke race performance exhausts. The Yoshimura engineers have already spent some time at the Crescent race headquarters in Verwood, Dorset, England and evaluated the development that Chief Engineer Lez Pearson and his team have already made with the 2011 GSX-R engine. The Japanese company will work alongside Crescent to develop the motors further and make them as competitive as possible in time for the start of the 2012 season.

Yoshimura has an enviable record in the world of motorcycle racing and tuning. The company was started in 1954 by Hideo “Pops” Yoshimura in Japan, followed by the opening of a tuning shop in North Hollywood, California in 1971. The work ethic and dedication installed into the company from day one by Pops still holds strong today and has seen Yoshimura have success in MotoGP, WSB and many national championships as well as in the world of motocross and supercross racing. Recent members of the Rockstar Mikita Yoshimura Suzuki Racing Team in the AMA Pro Racing American Superbike class include Tommy Hayden, Blake Young, Mat Mladin and former WSBK world champion and current Factory Yamaha MotoGP rider Ben Spies. Pops passed away in 1995, but his legacy will live forever in the history of motorcycle competition and it is that spirit and drive that Crescent Suzuki will now be a part of for its attack on the World Superbike series next year.

Crescent Suzuki SBK Powered by Yoshimura will begin testing later this month with Leon Camier who was recently named as the first racer to join the team. His teammate will be announced soon, as will further sponsorship and partner agreements. The 2012 World Superbike championship kicks off at Phillip Island in Australia in February.

Fujio Yoshimura, Owner, Yoshimura Japan:
“We at Yoshimura greatly appreciate this collaboration and it will be our highest priority. Thanks to Paul and Crescent Suzuki for trusting our engine tuning capabilities and our passion towards competing at the front of the 2012 WSBK Championship Series. We believe Crescent Suzuki has a record of structuring the best racing team in the BSB championship series, with very dedicated technical and supportive team members presenting the most competitive machinery and riders at all races. We hope that the partnership between Yoshimura and Crescent Suzuki will be the most perfectly matched racing team on the WSBK circuits!”

Paul Denning, Crescent Suzuki Team Principal:
“When Fujio and Yohei came to see me at the Japanese Grand Prix to discuss this partnership, it was clear that their passion and enthusiasm to work with Crescent Suzuki on the global stage was genuine and something they felt strongly about. For us as a team it is a significant level of assistance and a substantial boost to our performance potential. The Yoshimura company was built on engineering the best possible performance from engines and exhaust systems, and that principle has never changed. It is also very pleasing that the whole attitude to the project is of open communication and using the best combination of Yoshimura’s own concepts and ideas and those which already exist in the Crescent developed engine. Yoshimura is a global household name in the motorcycle industry and we are very proud that they have shown such trust in the Crescent Suzuki World Superbike team to partner us so closely, and for us to uphold their honor on the world stage.”

Jack Valentine, Team Manager:
“I’m very excited with the ‘Powered by Yoshimura’ partnership for next year and after spending time with Fujio, Yohei and the Yoshimura team both in Portimao and at the Crescent workshops, I can see they share the same passion and vision as our team. With that in mind it should make for a formidable partnership in SBK 2012.”

9,000 people cheered on a star-studded AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Flat Track field when the championship returned to the Cal-Expo Fairground’s Sacramento Mile, and the sold-out, standing-room-only crowd was treated to one of the most dramatic wins in recent history. After 25 furious laps, Bryan Smith claimed victory over local hero Chris by a margin of just .042 seconds.

“Nobody is more surprised than me,” said Smith. “I thought Chris was just playing with me – it seemed like he could pass me any time he wanted to. He has that ‘Tolbert Horsepower,’ you know.”

Carr led the eighteen-rider field into turn one, but had fallen back to third by the end of the lap, trailing defending Grand National Champion Johnson and reigning points leader Sammy Halbert. By lap two, Carr was back at the front – looking to repeat the ’99 Sacramento victory he’d earned when the series last visited the venue – and had Johnson in his hip pocket. Harley-Davidson Motor Company’s Kenny Coolbeth slipped into a short-lived third place, but with the two leaders pulling away, Smith took over third and set out after them.

Carr and Johnson continued to swap the lead all around the track, but by lap 16, Smith had caught the leaders and split them. From there it was a battle to the finish, all while Carr craftily managed to rack up laps-led honors by frequently leading the trio across the line. However, Carr wasn’t satisfied with the point for most laps led.

“I thought I could draft him at the line,” said Carr. “But I spun up off [turn] four and that was the end. Throughout my career I’ve said second sucks, and I haven’t changed my mind.”

Johnson filled out the podium, just .139” behind runner-up Carr, while last round’s winner, Jared Mees, recovered from a second-row start to finish fourth over Halbert. Lloyd Brothers Motorsports’ Brad Baker came out on top of a very tight race for sixth, bringing his Ducati in ahead of Coolbeth and Jeff Carver, while Luke Gough and Willie McCoy rounded out the top 10.

The results added a single point to Halbert’s overall lead, but both Mees and Johnson now trail by only four points as the series looks toward Halbert’s hometown track in Castle Rock, Washington.

In the Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles contest that preceded the Expert main, California’s Mikey Avila and Mike Martin waged war over the Pro Singles spoils, taking turns at the front. While the two leaders were fighting it out, Shayna Texter stalked them from third.

By the halfway point, Briar Bauman had put himself in the middle of the action, the former AMA Horizon Award winner making the most of his first Pro race-start to rise as high as second on the white-flag lap, but was shuffled back by Texter and Martin, the latter drafting from fourth to first on the last lap to secure his third consecutive Pro Singles main even win.

For Texter, who routinely gets huge cheers from the crowd, it marked her first podium finish of 2011. Martin’s win boosted his points lead over Avila to 16 with Weirbach Racing’s Gerit Callies just another four back.

The series next heads to Washington’s Castle Rock Race Park August 6 for the Castle Rock TT. For tickets and information, visit www.mshmc.org or call 1-888-71-TICKETS.

To learn more and be a part of the AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Flat Track Championship, visit www.amaproracing.com and join us on facebook.com/AMAProFlatTrackSeries and twitter.com/AMAProFlatTrack.

After a 10-year hiatus, the Sacramento Mile will once again play host to flat track racing as the AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Flat Track Series returns to Northern California this weekend. The Cal Expo Fair will give California fans the chance to witness one of the most thrilling sights in all motorcycle racing.

Seven-time Grand National Champion Chris Carr – currently in the middle of his Farewell Tour – won the 1999 edition of the Sacramento Mile, his ninth victory overall on the ultra-fast circuit. The AMA Pro Flat Track field is deep, however, with more than enough top challengers to ensure that Carr, and the rest of the pack, have their hands more than full.

Sammy Halbert has held the Combined Grand National Champions points lead since the series’ opening round in Daytona, but he’s come under increasing pressure from Jared Mees in recent rounds. At last week’s I-96 Michigan round, Mees earned his third win of the season, tying Halbert for race victories and narrowing Halbert’s combined lead to very dangerous three points.

Defending Grand National Champion Jake Johnson, who, like Mees, is backed by a California business, lurks just six points behind in third overall and is intent on adding another win to the two race victories he’s managed so far this season. Other riders to keep an eye on are American Harley-Davidson’s Bryan Smith, and White’s Harley-Davidson’s Matt Weidman.

At the opposite end of the strategic and calculating Expert class is the Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles event – a flat-out, wide-open race that sees a deep field of up-and-coming riders push their 450cc singles to the limits. Comprised of the series’ youngest professional racers, the Pro Singles class is unpredictable, and, at any time, a local rider may step forward to make a name for himself on the national AMA Pro Racing stage.

California riders Mikey Avila and Mikey Martin quickly filtered to the top of the 2011 class point standings, but Gerit Callies has so far split the two. Martin leads the Pro Singles Championship by ten points over Callies, who’s currently holding off Avila by three points.

With such slim margins in play and hometown crowds bearing witness, the Sacramento Mile – which represents only the second opportunity the young Pro Singles riders have had to test themselves on a Mile track this year – is sure to present some of the most intense motorsports action fans have seen. Huge losses and huge gains are up for grabs on the mile dirt, with contests rarely decided until the finish.

With the 30-day AMA Pro Racing test ban going into effect next week, this weekend, July 30-31 marks the final opportunity for AMA racers wishing to practice at New Jersey Motorsports Park’s Thunderbolt Course without a starting penalty.

Mark Rozema, of Markbilt Racebikes, will be offering trackside suspension tuning at NJMP Thunderbolt in conjunction with motorcycle trackday provider Absolute Cycle Experience. In addition to their normallyscheduled, four-group, seven-sessions-per-group trackday, Absolute will also host a $150 open test and tune session for licensed racers from 5-6:30 pm on both days. To register, contact Absolute Cycle Experience at 877-382-9800 or visit their website.

About Markbilt Racebikes:
Markbilt Racebikes is a factory-authorized, regional Öhlins Suspension Tuning Center, servicing all brands of suspension. Founded in 1998 by racer and motorcycle enthusiast, Mark Rozema, Markbilt Racebikes is a full service race shop, featuring CNC manufacturing capabilities, welding, fabrication, engine & chassis shop and fully featured Superflow chassis dynamometer and tuning center. Markbilt has had the honor of working with many talented riders, winning over 100 regional and national championships; in every class from 125GP to the prestigious AMA Daytona 200. Markbilt currently supports racers Eric Stump and Miles Thornton in the AMA Pro Racing MotorcycleSuperStore.com SuperSport championship.