From a press release issued by Pirelli’s advertising and public relations agency, Plummer Menapace Group:

PIRELLI’S RACE MOMENTUM CONTINUES IN U.S., CHINA, GERMANY

Pirelli Is 4th, 5th, And 6th In AMA Superbike Points After Infineon; Earns Multiple WERA Victories in Nashville; Captures World Endurance Roadrace Win In China; Sweeps World MX GP Podium In Germany

(Rome, GA) Pirelli’s momentum continued this past weekend, gaining speed in race action in the United States, China, and Germany, in both road racing and motocross.

Prieto Racing’s Geoff May continued to impress fans and competitors alike with two more Superbike top-tens at Infineon. (He also caught the attention of the folks in AMA Tech Inspection who wanted a closer look into how the young, second-year AMA privateer could be going that fast that far up the racing order. Reportedly, all they found was a very tired, stock GSX-R1000 motor that had already done three races over the weekend.) May stands in fourth place in AMA Superbike points after five rounds. Fifth and sixth places also belong to Pirelli racers, with Empire Racing’s Lee Acree and Triangle Cycle’s Larry Pegram respectively. Pegram had two eighth-place finishes at Infineon; Acree, a 13th and an 11th .

Meanwhile, over on the right coast, reigning WERA National Endurance Series champions, and longtime Pirelli team, Vesrah Racing owned the top of the box after the four-hour National Endurance Series race at Nashville Superspeedway with riders Mark Junge, Tray Batey, and John Jacobi. Batey also won the 750 Superstock and Heavyweight Twins Superstock races in the National Challenge series. Other Pirelli race winners included Logan Young in 750cc Superbike (who finally bested Keith Marshall, also on Pirellis, after a race-long dogfight), Mark Biletnikoff in Formula Two, and Matt Furtek in Lightweight Twins Superstock.

Further east – much further east, in fact – the Pirelli-sponsored Yamaha GMT94 FIM World Endurance team won the first-ever “internationally-sanctioned motorsport championship to visit the People’s Republic of China”. They beat arch rivals Suzuki Castrol in the six-hour battle at the Zhuhai circuit, Suzuki Castrol unfortunately crashing out near the end.

In the weekend’s world motocross action, Pirelli racers swept the top four places in the MX1-class at the German round of the World MX GP championships in Teutschenthal. Brian Jorgensen won both motos to take the GP win. Current champion Stefan Everts was second, Cedric Melotte third, and Joel Smets fourth. Pirelli’s Mickael Pichon could do no better than eighth following a crash in qualifying. Everts and Melotte currently hold first and second respectively in the points standings; Pichon is fourth, and Smets is sixth.

It should also be noted that the Victory Gods smiled on Pirelli racers last weekend, too, as all three winners on Sunday’s shortened Formula USA National races at a cold and foggy Road America were on Pirelli tires. Michael Barnes lit things up by winning both the Sportbike and Superbike finals on his Pirelli-equipped Championsline.com/Prieto Racing Yamaha R6. Shawn Conrad, the former AMA Pro Thunder champion, finished third behind Barnes in Superbike, and won the Formula Sportbike race on his Lake County Powersports Suzuki GSX-R750. And Dan Bilansky won the Thunderbike final on his Hal’s Performance Buell Firebolt, going wire to wire for the win. And to finish off where we started, Geoff May – there he is again – Barnes’ Prieto Racing teammate, won the Unlimited Grand Prix Suzuki-contingency CCS race by over eight seconds on Saturday on his GSX-R1000 on Pirellis.



More, from a press release issued by Joe Rocket:

MIGUEL, MAT AND BEN LEAD ROCKET DOMINATION!!!

The AMA Superbike Championship returned to action this weekend for round 3 at Infineon Raceway, in sunny Sonoma, California. While the venue may have changed, the results did not as the Rocket Racing Team followed up on their success at California Speedway last month to put on an absolutely dominating performance and take eleven of the possible fifteen-podium position.

Four time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin started the weekend where he left off, breaking the Infineon Raceway Superbike lap record on his way to his 35th career pole and his 28th AMA Superbike win on Saturday aboard his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000. Mat was followed to the checkered flag by his Rocket Racing teammates Miguel Duhamel and Superbike rookie sensation Jake Zemke, aboard their factory Honda CBR1000RR’s. On Sunday’s Superbike event, Miguel showed why he’s called the “Living Legend”, charging back from a distant second on the last lap to slip by team mate Zemke for his 27th career Superbike win. The top spot of the podium must have felt pretty good to Miguel as he also rode his factory Honda CBR600RR to his third straight Formula Xtreme win of the season. Again Miguel was followed to the finish line by Zemke and Rocket Racing’s six time Canadian Superbike Champion Steve Crevier, in fourth.

Earlier in the day 19-year-old Superstar Ben Spies put on a clinic and took his GSX-R600 to a wire-to-wire victory in the Pro Honda Oils Supersport Class. Rocket Racing’s Tommy Hayden rode his Kawasaki ZX-6RR to a third place podium finish that puts him on top of the championship chase.

The Rocket Racing Team returns to action May 14-16, 2004 at Barber MotorSports Park, Birmingham, Alabama.