Motorcycle Performance’s Ed Key was the big winner Saturday on the bumpy 2.1-mile, 15-turn South Circuit at Autobahn Country Club, in Joliet, Illinois, winning three races on his Pirelli-shod Suzuki SV650s.
Key’s day began with a win in Lightweight Grand Prix, in which he beat Yamaha TZ250 riders Mark Stiles and Bruce Lind. Win number two for Key came in Lightweight Superbike over Yamaha FZR400 Superbike-mounted Jason Temme and SV650 pilot Brian Lacy. Key took his third victory of the day (over Jonny Moore and David White) in Lightweight Supersport on a borrowed motorcycle.
“On my out-lap Thursday, I blew up my Supersport bike. It dropped a cylinder and started making a bunch of expensive noises,” Key told Roadracingworld.com. “So I got on the phone and called my buddy (Guy Bartz), who has a Supersport bike but wasn’t racing this weekend. I said, ‘Hey, why don’t you bring your truck down here instead of your car. And while you’re at it, why don’t you just throw your SV in the back because I just blew mine up?’ He was pretty excited because it was the first time his bike had ever won a race.”
Key used Bartz’s SV650 to win Lightweight Supersport and Friday’s Lightweight Formula 40 race. Key also won Friday’s GT Lights solo endurance contest, for a total of five wins over two days.
Team Stargel’s Brian Stokes won Saturday’s SuperTwins race on a Michelin-fitted Aprilia RSV1000, but the Georgian’s bid for a second win, in Heavyweight Supersport, ended on the first lap in the run-off area outside of turn 13. Stokes said he pushed too hard going into the turn and lost the front.
Stokes had planned to leave Autobahn, drive all night Saturday night and race in the WERA National event at Nelson Ledges, in Ohio, Sunday, but at posttime, Stokes was contemplating going home to Georgia because not only had he crashed his GSX-R750, he said he has never raced at Nelson Ledges before and would only get one practice session to learn the track.
Running near-lap-record lap times, Kneedraggers.com’s Robert Jensen won the Suzuki-contingency-paying Heavyweight Supersport race on his Michelin-backed Suzuki GSX-R750. Arclight Suzuki’s Jeff Wood finished second after fending off Argo Cycles’ Jesse Janisch.
Janisch’s team owner Scott Greenwood won the Middleweight Superbike sprint on his 636cc Kawasaki ZX-6R. Champions/Martin Moto Yamaha’s Michael Himmelsbach placed second, well clear of MD Racing’s Dan Ortega.
Greenwood’s Middleweight Supersport race did not go as well. Greenwood was running second behind Wood until the last lap when his Kawasaki blew a fuse, a problem that knocked Greenwood out of both of his last Formula USA races, at Barber Motorsports Park. Wood, who had the race well under control from the early-going, went on to win. Ortega inherited second. Baker Race Gear’s Andy Feuersthaler scored third.
Earlier in the day, Feuersthaler won the seven-rider Unlimited Superbike race on his Suzuki GSX-R750.
Young gun Garrett Carter won the red-flag-shortened 125cc Grand Prix on his Team Stargel Aprilia.