From a press release issued by Corona Extra Suzuki:

TOP TEN SUPERSPORT FINISH FOR ATTARD AT BARBER AMA NATIONAL

Corona Extra Suzuki rider Ben Attard placed tenth in this weekend’s AMA National held at Barber Motorsports Park. Marty Craggill is still recovering from surgery and missed the event.

The Barber event saw Italian pilot Christian Pistoni on board the Corona Extra Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superstock bike. Christian, who rode World MotoGP in 125 and 250 classes for Italjet and Aprilia, found the big Suzuki a real eye-opener. “It has much power, it wishes to stand up everywhere! Also, much work to turn at the corners compared to GP bike!” he said.

Getting used to the bike and a new track took some time, but Christian was still able to qualify on Row 5 for the event. Unfortunately, Christian’s first start in AMA racing was not as good as he had hoped for. He got caught out by the start light sequence and lost a number of positions by turn one but made it up to 18th by the end of the first lap. He moved up two more positions by lap 3 and held 16th until lap 8 when he lost the rear tire in turn two and went down.

Pistoni confessed, “I make terrible start, not being ready for the lights, then try hard to catch riders in front. My back tire slides much and then spit me off in turn two. I think that bike set-up not quite right, but only find out in race!”

In Supersport, Ben Attard struggled to find the right chassis set-up for his Suzuki GSX-R600. His crew made numerous suspension changes prior to qualifying, but failed to find the right one. Ben qualified 13th saying, “We could not get the bike handling right and I wasn’t able to push it in the turns!”

The crew made some major changes after qualifying that really helped with Ben going nearly a second quicker in morning practice than his qualifying time. In the race, Attard got a good start but found himself off the racing line going into turn one and in the “marbles”. He lost momentum and some positions, not getting into his stride until half way through the next corner. He finished the first lap in 13th.

On lap two he moved into 12th and to 11th on lap five. Then the Pistol began a spirited dice with the factory Kawasaki of Tony Meiring, passing him on lap six. The two were a bike length apart for most of the race, each leading off and on. Attard passed Meiring on the last corner, going in really deep but losing drive coming out onto the start/finish. Meiring held Ben off by 2/100th of a second at the line leaving Ben in tenth.

After the race Ben said, “I really messed up the start, I should have gone to the outside – not the inside. It took me a while to get back into the rhythm and then I think I cooked my tires going after Tony. His bike was really fast! My bike was really sliding around at the end. I passed him on the last corner but went in too deep and lost the drive coming out. I just didn’t have enough motor to hold him off!” Attard is currently 13th in the Supersport Championship.


More, from a press release issued by Joe Rocket:

“Roger Lee Hayden and Jake Zemke achieve firsts!”
The dust has settled, the lights are out and the dance floor has been swept clean after the Rocket Racing team celebrated victory at Barber Motor sports Park this past weekend. Joe Rocket and the AMA Superbike Series have once again packed enough excitement into one weekend to keep the late John L. McAdam grinning in wonderment.

Topping past performances, the Rocket Racing team has captured 12 of the possible 15 podium positions at Barber. Of special note Roger Lee Hayden earned his first ever AMA Supersport victory.

Putting on a great show, he and older brother Tommy Hayden danced their Kawasaki ZX6-RR motorcycles round the track, swapping paint all the way to the spectacular finish. Speaking from his Owensboro, Ky. home this morning, a very hoarse Roger Lee said the he is still buzzing from the weekend and that he looks to keep the momentum heading into the next round at Pikes Peak Intl. Raceway. Jake Zemke also achieved a first ever victory as he raced to the checkers in the Lockhart Phillips Formula Extreme race. From the Series’ inception Zemke has relentlessly battled fellow Rocket Racer Miguel Duhamel for a win. Jake was surely smiling under his helmet Saturday as he crossed the line in front of Duhamel. Congratulations to Jake and all at Erion Honda!

Sharing the Victors’ duties this weekend, Mladin and Miguel each come away from the Double Header weekend with a Superbike win each. Reigning AMA Superbike Champion, Yoshimura Suzuki’s’ Mat Mladin leads the series with 243 points. Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke are close in pursuit, trailing by a mere 25 points. Stay tuned; the GSXR 1000 and CBR1000RR motorcycles meet on the field when the Rocket Racers joust again this coming weekend at Pikes Peak International Raceway May 21 – 23.



More, from a press release issued by Storyteller Johnson:

William “Storyteller” Johnson finished the weekend with two 18th place finishes. One came in the Repsol SuperStock race and the other in Formula Xtreme race at BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK.

Storyteller ended the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park excited about just qualifying and finishing the races. He started the weekend running lap times that would have surely put him in the spectator stands for the remainder of the weekend. Somehow during qualifying he was able to put his head down and make the BIG SHOW. Struggling with suspension, John of CTR was able to work with him to find a suspension setting that would work for the Formula Xtreme Race but, they struggled right up to the race for the Genuine Suzuki Superstock race making several changes after the last practice before the race.

“After qualifying for both races my goal was to stay on two wheels and finish the race. I really didn’t know what to expect after the 11-hour drive to Alabama. I knew that it was going to be a steep learning curve but, I didn’t know that it was going to be that steep. The track is very nice but it has a ton of blind corners and for a first timer at that track an AMA event is not a good time to try new things. I can’t count how many times I went left when the track went right. It was to the point that I would use all my life lines right before a turn…I would try 50/50…No go…Than I would try calling a friend and they would not pick up the phone… I would look to the spectators but, they were only looking at the factory guys. I was finally able to hook up with my teammate Adrian Jones of OneShot Racing to show me around the track but, even he was leaving me and I didn’t want to slow him down because he needed the quality track time.

I went to every person that I knew and asked tons of questions about everything. I’d like to personally thank John at CTR for working with me all four days on the suspension, Lee and Opie of Empire Racing for all the advice, Moose and crew at Pirelli for my tires and all the good information, Bruce at Arai for the discount on the helmet, CR Gittere, Scott Carpenter for selling me some fuel and providing some good advice, and a host of other racers that were there giving advice and support. The best advice that I received all weekend came from Mike (Thermosman), “Go out and ride the thing and have fun or go home and watch Opera.”

I had to save the best for last; A VERY SPECIAL THANKS goes to my girlfriend Kim Gordon who stayed up with me all night before each of the races telling me, “Go to sleep you punk! Stop being such a sissy. You qualified, so now just go out and ride because, I did not come all the way down here to hold your hand. I can do that at home” I know now how my nephew feels when my sister tries to put him to sleep when he doesn’t want to go to sleep.

Anyway, I managed to run some mid 1:33s on the 600 and a few 1:32s on the 1000. Not bad for the first time at the track. I can’t wait to write the story about the track and people. The next round will be Mid-Ohio or Road Atlanta if money permits. I glad to get some points in both classes.


More, from a press release issued by Buell:

BUELL RACERS IN TOP 10 AT BARBER FORMULA XTREME

Hal’s and Kosco Dealer Teams Take on Factory Teams in AMA Road Racing Competition



BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (May 15, 2004) – Buell Firebolts entered by Hal’s Harley-Davidson/Buell and Kosco Harley-Davidson/Buell ran strongly and finished in the top ten in the Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme class during the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship Series at Barber Motorsports Park. Hal’s rider Mike Ciccotto rode a Firebolt to ninth place in the event, while Michael Barnes placed tenth aboard a Kosco Firebolt.

“It’s really exciting to see our dealer teams out there competing in AMA Formula Xtreme,” said Erik Buell, chairman and chief technical officer at Buell Motorcycle Company. “It was only their second outing in Formula Xtreme, and we all still have a lot to learn to help these riders race with the front-running factory teams in this professional class. I am very excited about the diversity in racing that this class is bringing to AMA fans. This class has a lot of technical innovation going on, with the fastest laps very close to Superbike times, despite the bikes having less horsepower.”

Ciccotto qualified in eighth position on the 2.3-mile, 16-turn Barber Motorsports Park course. Barnes qualified in tenth position.

“We pushed hard but we were a little bit off on our race day set up,” said Ciccotto, who ran as high as sixth position. “The motor ran flawlessly all weekend and I’m really excited for the rest of this season.”

AMA Formula Xtreme is a class open to highly-modified motorcycles with 600cc four-cylinder engines or larger-displacement V-Twin engines. The next stop on the AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship schedule is May 22-23 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo.