From a press release issued by Hooters Suzuki:

Team Hooters Suzuki Step it Up at Road Atlanta

Hot and muggy temperatures greeted the riders and crew of Team Hooters Suzuki during this past weekend’s AMA Chevy Superbike Double Header at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. Team riders John Haner and Eric Wood rode aggressively and took home some strong finishes and scored some excellent points for the championship standings.

Saturday’s first leg of the Superbike Double Header proved to be a preview of what was to come. Both Haner and Wood worked hard during qualifying, but John posted a 10th and Eric a 17th starting grid position for both Superbike races. Eric battled hard with several riders jumping nine spots to finish in 8th. John raced hard to 6th place finish and the first privateer overall.

Sunday morning brought the fifteen-lap Repsol Superstock race. Both riders had decent qualifying positions from Saturday with Haner posting 8th and Wood a respectable 13th. Unfortunately, Eric’s machine had an electrical glitch and he pulled off the track after seven laps. John dropped back to tenth on the first lap and then fought back to 7th just behind one of the factory Yamaha’s.

After the needed break in the day, Team Hooters Suzuki’s pilots Haner and Wood once again suited up for the second Superbike race. With the drop of the green flag, both Eric and John found themselves in 11th and 12th respectively. Haner eventually came up to 7th, and saw a gap to Larry Pegram in 6th. He passed Pegram on lap eleven and cruised to another 6th place finish. On the other hand, Eric was running in 11th with a five second gap in front of him to tenth place. With five laps left, Wood put his head down and caught the rear wheel of Marty Craggill just missing 8th place, for a deserved 9th.

Eric Wood
Chevy Superbike Race 1: 8th Race 2: 9th
Repsol Superstock Race: DNF

“Well, the boys did some good work between Ohio and Atlanta and the bikes came out of the truck with some good horsepower this weekend. John & I were set for top 10 finishes in every class this weekend. The only blight on the weekend, other than my qualifying, which made the races a little harder than they needed to be, was the battery cable coming loose and ending my Superstock race early, but no one could have anticipated that happening,” exclaimed Eric. “Both Superbike races were similar, coming from our 5th row starting position to work up to the top ten. During the last six laps on Sunday, I charged from 12th to 9th position, missing 8th by 0.1 seconds. If all goes as planned at Virginia, John and I will finish top ten in the Superbike Championship this year. Which is what we both set out to do.”

John Haner
Chevy Superbike Race 1: 6th Race 2: 6th
Repsol Superstock Race: 7th
“Team Hooters Suzuki had a kick *#% weekend. Eric and I started doing some real fast laps. The crew did a great job of keeping us happy,” joked John. I’m pretty stoked being the top privateer in each race. We really pulled in some good championship points over the weekend and hopefully we’ll bring this momentum to Virginia in a couple of weeks. I had a few good battles with some guys this weekend and I’m pretty proud of what we got done.”

For more information regarding the team, please visit www.teamhooterssuzuki.com.


More, from a press release issued by Munroe Motors:

Tag Teams Racing’s Eric Gulbransen rocks Thunderhill

East Coast Ducati Twins racer and recent Bay Area transplant, Eric Gulbransen, showed his mettle at the AFM races held at Thunderhill Raceway this last weekend. In only his second weekend on the new bike, Eric managed to get on the podium in each race he entered – and started to seriously experience the potential of Ducati’s latest flagship sports motorcycle.

His first weekend on the new 2005 Ducati 999R, last month at Infineon Raceway, had proved a little challenging. The main issue was trying to set up the street bike to handle track duty, finding the best chassis and suspension settings to provide a platform that’s stable for Eric’s fast and aggressive riding style. Fortunately the power of the engine and the radial Brembo brakes of the “R” are significantly stronger than his previous race bike, a 2002 Ducati 998S, and needed no attention.

In Saturday practice at Thunderhill, Eric was making progress one session at a time. From the start, the bike was already better than it had been at Infineon, and Eric’s lap times already matched his previous best on the more proven 998. The Tag Team Racing crew, Dennis and Mike Harmon, had made some significant changes during the break after the Infineon weekend, and the differences were huge. The bike held its composure better, it had better balance, and kept a better attitude mid corner. Lap times were hovering in the 1:58 area – OK, but not spectacular. Nick Hayman from Munroe Motors was on hand offering Ducati suspension and chassis advice, and by the end of the day the 999R was really starting to feel predictable to Eric.

In Sunday’s Formula One race, Eric started in 12th place on the grid. By turn one he was third, thanks to Yoyodyne’s great slipper clutch. He soon made his way into second place, but more importantly, made his way down the lap time charts. He broke his Thunderhill personal best lap time set on his Ducati 998 by over three and a half seconds, logging a 1:55:3 – and took second place while giving chase to the leader Jon Bawden.

In 750 Superbike, Eric got another great start, this time from tenth spot to fourth by turn one, and quickly got into a fight for second place with F1 winner, Jon Bawden. Jon passed Eric in a gutsy move around the outside in ultra-fast turn one, but Eric hung close enough to take back second spot on the brakes going into the last turn on the penultimate lap. Eric then held second to the checkers, finishing only three or four seconds behind AFM star rider Dave Stanton, and setting a new personal best lap time of 1:54:98 backed up with a string of low 55’s.

Finally in Open Twins, Eric led flag to flag – but didn’t lose out on an opportunity to make the race more interesting than it needed to be. A confusing pit signal that came from a surprise spot distracted him just long enough to blow the last turn on the third lap, and he went touring in the countryside for a little while. Thankfully Thunderhill has good runoff, and after half a football field he got the 999 Rocket pointed in the right direction, and fired it off for the win.