Motourage

It seems hard to believe, but today’s AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike race saw a famous name in motorcycling take his first win in the ultra competitive class. Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider, Tommy Hayden bounced back from a disappointing Saturday race in the windy conditions and came back after an overnight talk to himself to score his very first American Superbike win at the Suzuki Superbike Challenge weekend races at Auto Club Speedway.

Under calm and clear blue skies, the field was missing its’ pole sitter as Aaron Yates suffered an unfortunate fall during Sunday morning’s warm-up session. Yates, who also took pole position at the season opening Superbike race at Daytona, was examined at the track infield care center and then transported to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center for further examination of what was reported initially by the Jordan Suzuki team to be a right leg injury.

At the start, Saturday’s race winner, Larry Pegram on his Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing Ducati, took the lead with a hard charging Josh Hayes in second on his Team Graves Yamaha, followed by another fast starting John Hopkins on his M4 Monster Energy Suzuki, Hayden and his Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate, Blake Young. Hayes showed his intentions early as he passed Pegram for the lead on lap two. Hopkins started to fall back as Blake Young and then, a few laps later, National Guard Suzuki rider Jake Zemke got by “Hopper” also. The first three then broke away and then Pegram showed his strength by just plain powering by Hayes on lap five while Hayden ran a patient third around the 21-turn, 2.36-mile speedway road course.

Young ran impressively as he closed on teammate Hayden but the big change happened up front when, completely unexpectedly, Larry Pegram slid down as he ran back onto the front straight banking on the end of lap nine. He was able to get back up, and after a trip to the pits for an inspection, he rejoined the race and completed fifty percent of the distance giving him three valuable points.

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Heading into round two of this year’s AMA Pro Road Racing championship at California’s Auto Club Speedway, to be held March 26 – 28, riders, teams and fans are ready to rejoin the battles that begin at the opening round last month at Daytona International Speedway.

The Suzuki AMA Pro Superbike Challenge weekend will feature two action packed races in each of the three AMA Pro Road Racing classes.  Practice and qualifying begin on Friday, March 26th at the 2.36-mile combination speedway/road course.  Saturday, March 27th will see more qualifying and the first of two AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike races.  Just prior to the American Superbike race on Saturday, fans will be treated to rider introductions and a Grid Walk.  The second American Superbike race will be on Sunday, March 28th.

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Former AMA Formula Xtreme Champion and MotoGP star John Hopkins will test a GSX-R1000 Superbike at California Speedway on February 2-3, 2010. Team Hammer, which races as Team M4 Suzuki, is in negotiations to sign Hopkins to race the 2010 AMA Pro Racing American Superbike season for Team M4 Suzuki.

Dave from Motourage with John Hopkins at Laguna Seca, 2008

“We’re excited about having the opportunity to test with a rider the caliber of ‘Hopper’ and about the possibility that he might race with us in 2010,” said Crew Chief Keith Perry. “It’s been several years since the team worked with John and we had a lot of success together the last time. John went on to have success in MotoGP and it’s been nice to see him do well on the World Championship scene. The team is hoping this test at Fontana will lay the groundwork for a successful partnership with Hopkins in anticipation of working together this upcoming season.”

Hopkins, 26, won two AMA National Championships with Team Hammer, in 2000 and 2001, before beginning his World Championship career. Hopkins raced with Red Bull Yamaha before joining the factory Suzuki team, then moved to Kawasaki factory squad five years later. Last season, Hopkins raced with Stiggy Honda in World Superbike.

AMA Pro American Superbike racer Chris Ulrich, working with significant support from track day provider Fastrack Riders, broke several records during the fifth annual Thanksgiving weekend fundraiser for the Roadracing World Action Fund November 28-29 at Auto Club Speedway, in Fontana, California.

For a minimum $50 donation to the Roadracing World Action Fund, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization which advocates and promotes the use of soft barriers to help prevent rider injuries at racetracks, Ulrich took donors for fast, multi-lap rides on his 185-horsepower Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R1000K8 racebike around the 2.3-mile, 21-turn infield road course. And by the end of the two-day fundraiser, Ulrich had set records for number of two-up rides given, 57; two-up laps completed, 180; and money raised, $3270.

Over the last five years Ulrich has raised a total of $9000 giving two-up rides. That’s in addition to raising the awareness of motorcycle road racing by giving general interest media representatives rides at AMA Nationals, the two-seat Superbike’s primary mission.

“We had a really good turn out,” said Ulrich. “We’ve been building this event over the years, and we promoted this one pretty well. In spite of some inclement weather and delays on Saturday we ended up taking 57 people for rides.

“We couldn’t have done that many if it hadn’t been for the durability of our AMA-spec Dunlop slicks. We used one front the whole weekend, and one Dunlop 6680 Medium compound rear lasted for well over 90 laps of two-up rides, which is really impressive.

“It’s really good that even in these trying economic times people are willing to come out and donate their hard-earned money to help keep racers and track day riders safe. I just want the thank all of them for coming out and supporting the Roadracing World Action Fund and to thank all the people who made it possible — everyone at Fastrack Riders, the staff at Roadracing World Publishing.”

In addition to his other records, Ulrich also set a new personal two-seater lap record. After mounting a new Dunlop rear tire on Sunday, Ulrich took 14-year-old USGPRU racer Ryan Matter around the track in just 1:34.606, undercutting his previous best, a 1:36.2 he did last year with racer Melissa Paris riding as a passenger. To put that in perspective, Ulrich’s best lap times during the AMA American Superbike National earlier this year at Auto Club Speedway were in the low-to-mid-1:26 range.

Fastrack Riders has partnered with Ulrich and the Roadracing World Action Fund to hold the Thanksgiving weekend fundraiser each year for the last five years, providing track time, riding gear and staff support.