Even More From This Past Weekend’s Various Motorcycle Road Races (Updated)

Even More From This Past Weekend’s Various Motorcycle Road Races (Updated)

© 2014, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

WATERS BATTLES FOR OULTON PARK PODIUM

Following his maiden British Superbike Championship victory at Brands Hatch last month Josh Waters finally came of age in his short BSB career to date with three impressive finishes during the weekend’s triple header at Oulton Park.

The Australian build-on his ninth place in race two on Sunday with sixth in the third race whilst battling for the final podium position.

John Hopkins’ cruel lucked continued at Oulton Park with a retirement from race one; then in race two the American came to grief after a coming together with another rider, just three laps from the end. The former GP rider will have an X-Ray today (Monday) to hopefully rule out any significant damage to his left ankle.

Josh Waters:

In race one the conditions were a bit iffy and we went with an intermediate front and slick rear, so I was happy to finish where I did, especially with the track drying fast. In race two I got a good start and was amongst the freight train battle for a podium position, so overall I very pleased with the weekend having three top-10 finishes. I felt like I rode a lot better and the boys put together a good package on the Tyco Suzuki GSX-R1000 so I’m leaving Oulton satisfied, but there’s more to come.”

John Hopkins:

“I’ve banged up my shin and foot so will have it X-rayed on Monday morning. Unfortunately it was another tough weekend. Again we proved that the potential is there and we’re no doubt crawling our way towards the front, but we just need to put it all together and turn it into race results.”

Taylor Mackenzie gained valuable set-up experience during the weekend at Oulton Park and added a 10th-place finish in Sunday’s second outing on his GSX-R600. He said: “I was really confident in the early laps when it was wet and was in the leading group but once it started to dry I struggled to keep with the front guys and am disappointed with 10th. We can take the positives away from the weekend and look ahead to Cadwell now.”

Philip Neill – Team Manager:

“A triple-header weekend is always hard work and the weather changes at Oulton certainly added to the tension. Overall we still aren’t quite at the level we want to be but I am really pleased with the turnaround in Josh Waters.

“In my opinion this was Josh’s strongest weekend since he arrived in BSB. After running comfortably in the top-10 throughout most of the sessions, three fighting top-10 race finishes will do wonders for his confidence.

“Hopper once again started the weekend strongly and showed signs of his undoubted ability during qualifying and race one. Unfortunately a wrong tyre choice and a rear wheel vibration problem ended his hopes in race two during the early laps, and also left him starting race three at the back of the grid.

“Unfortunately whilst trying to fight through the field he was unlucky to come together with another rider and the accident has left John with an ankle injury, which will be diagnosed later today.

“Taylor is pushing hard in the ultra-competitive Supersport class and again he showed some great potential this weekend. However we know what he’s capable of and with some set-up changes over the weekend providing a confidence boost, I’m certain we will see him run with the front group very soon.”

British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, race two:

1. Ryuichi Kiyonari (BMW)

2. Josh Brookes (Yamaha) +0.167s

3. Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) +1.199s

4. Dan Linfoot (Kawasaki) +23.664s

5. Chris Walker (Kawasaki) +23.819s

6. Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) +23.842s

7. Tommy Bridewell (Yamaha) +24.081s

8. Jon Kirkham (Kawasaki) +24.224s

9. Josh Waters (Tyco Suzuki) +26.377s

10. Patric Muff (BMW) +30.284s

British Superbike Championship, Oulton Park, race three:

1. Josh Brookes (Yamaha)

2. Shane Byrne [Kawasaki) +7.509s

3. Dan Linfoot (Kawasaki) +7.986s

4. Ryuichi Kiyonari (BMW) +8.111s

5. Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) +10.049s

6. Josh Waters (Tyco Suzuki) +10.430s

7. Chris Walker (Kawasaki) +11.067s

8. Tommy Bridewell (Yamaha) +12.451s

9. Jon Kirkham (Kawasaki) +12.948s

10. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) +24.728s

More, from a press release issued by Proforma:

BEST RESULT OF THE SEASON FOR HAYDEN SCHULTZ IN AMA PRO VANCE & HINES HARLEY-DAVIDSON XR1200 SERIES AT INDIANAPOLIS DOUBLE-HEADER

Hayden Schultz’s ‘home’ track is now only an hour away from his new home in Cicero, Indiana, and just happens to be the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which hosted the Red Bull Indianapolis GP last weekend. Two races of the AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson XR1200 series were held as support races for the MotoGP event, one each on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

After qualifying 10th on Friday, Chili Pepper Racing’s Schultz found himself in Saturday’s race in a fierce drafting duel for 6th place with fellow regulars Danny Eslick, Tyler O’Hara and Travis Wyman. “We were drafting and passing each other all around the track,” said Hayden. “We had a problem with a lapper on the white flag lap, and Tyler and I got separated from the other guys. I came up just a half bike’s length short on the run to the checkered flag to finish ninth.”

In Sunday’s race, Hayden was in a similar position when a red flag was thrown on lap five for a rider down on the track. After a lengthy delay, the race was restarted and Hayden made the most of his situation for the remaining five lap race. “On the restart, another rider fell coming onto the front straight,” Hayden said. “Everyone scattered and I was lucky to keep from getting taken out myself. I put my head down and was able to pull a half-second gap on the guys behind me for sixth place. I’m happy with that!”

With the weekend’s results, Hayden has moved up to eighth place in the season point standings.

Hayden’s next event of the 2014 AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson XR1200 series is the season finale at the Kawasaki Devil’s Showdown at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey on September 13-14, 2014.

Hayden is proud to receive support from Indian Motorcycles of Lafayette (IN), Chili Pepper Racing, Paul Diener, Lenny Albin/Nitron USA, Arai, AXO, Racer Gloves, TCX Boots, Silkolene, Leatt, Leo Vince, Speedmob, Moto Skiveez, Spy Optic, Lenny Albin/Nitron USA and Anthony & Joanne Cardarelli.

To learn more about Hayden Schultz, visit him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hayden.schultz.

More, from a press release issued by Team WD-40:

Mixed weather and fortunes at Oulton Park, Superbike triple header

Sheffield based Team WD40 by GR Motosport were again in action in the MCE British Superbike championships for the 7th round at Oulton Park. The back to back weekends meant a quick dash from Thruxton to the Cheshire circuit to set up for the event. The Team looked forward to Barry Burrell taking the extra few days rest, helping his continued healing process. The weather forecast for the weekend looked to be able to cause quite a few issues with the possibility that Oulton would get caught by the tail end of Hurricane Bertha.

Practice and qualifying went extremely with Bertha staying to the south allowing the sun to blaze on Oulton as Team WD-40 took full advantage with our best Superbike qualifying to date, on the second row in 5th for the first of 3 superbike races. Tarran Mackenzie also continued his form qualifying mirroring the Superbike with 5th on the grid.

SBK:- Geoff, Dan and Tom put a fantastic package together for Barry allowing him to push hard even with his quickly repairing injuries. Their strategy throughout helped Barry through practice and into qualifying where for the first time this season we pushed into Q3 giving Barry a shot at the top 10. Geoff and Dan worked out a setting showing the true potential of our ZX10 where Barry even though still carrying a few aches and pains could push for the front times just missing the front row by 2/10th of a second.

Race1 held on Saturday in brilliant sunshine, Barry made a good start and was running with the leading group when a mistake forced him to run on at ‘Hizzy’s’ losing valuable places, although disappointing he still managed to bring her home in the points but with a lower grid position for race 2.

Race 2/3 the tail end of Bertha hit Oulton on Sunday causing all sorts of havoc for the BSB community, the changing weather made tyre choice a lottery and rider decisions hard where we were unable to finish either race.

Barry Burrell “Had some good pace in the free practises. Made a change to the suspension for qualifying that give me a little bit more confidence to push on. Ending up 5th. In race one I glazed my pads up n struggled to stop from lap one. Race 2 I choose the wrong tyres. Played it a bit to safe. Race two we didn’t know till it was to late that it was a dry race. I thought it was gona rain again after the start and already been at the back I was gona take a gamble but by the time we seen it was a dry race it was to late to change back to slicks like everybody else. Positives we found some more speed but need to turn that into race results for the second half of the season”

STK 600:- MCE British Superbike race director ‘Stuart Higgs’ has one of the hardest jobs anywhere and looking to the weather mans forecast made a controversial decision, fully supported by Team WD-40 and the majority to run the Superstock races on Saturday evening, with hindsight on Sunday it was pure brilliance on his part. After the warm up lap Tarran reported a problem with the ZX6 gear box making it difficult to select 5th gear. As the race got underway it was clear Taz could not match the leaders pace slowly dropping back as the race went on , Tarran started to slowly move forward again putting in a huge effort on the last lap to grab 6th the points moving him up to 7th in the title chase.

Tarran Mackenzie said “that was a hard race I lost 5th gear and was struggling with a couple of the others, It took me quite a few laps to understand the problem and figure out a way round it so I could bring her home. I was changing from 6th to 4th and back which was quite funny as it really did not have drive then. At the end I was really happy to finish 6th and more importantly move up the championship standings. I want to really thank my Team Garry and Big Mark who again did a fantastic job, roll on Cadwell Park!”

STK 1000:- Ben continues to improve throughout the weekend with his fastest laps again coming in the race, He is still hovering around gaining his first points in the British Championships and with the races coming thick and fast over the next few weekends he needs to carry the momentum to achieve that goal.

Ben Young said “It was great to have my Dad and Mike Rice fly over from Canada for the weekend – Mike was blown away by the whole experience of the BSB stating that the AMA could learn a huge amount by visiting and taking on some of the ethics and principals of the series to help American racing back on its feet. I had a good weekend we made a few small changes to the bike which really helped, I am enjoying the racing and just focused on grabbing my first points for the Team which I hope will come by Donington. We have a weekend off which I will spend with my family in Scotland and a little later in the month I might get back to the states for a flying visit. Really looking forward to Cadwell as I have done a few laps around there and loved the place”

Brent Gladwin Team WD-40’s manager, said: “A strange weekend really, Sunday was disappointing, we are showing what we are capable of with the Superbike but I suppose we need just a little more consistency. Ben is improving all the time but when he gets his first point I see his momentum gaining ground fast. Little Taz is our Star when we stripped his gear box to see what was going on, none of us could understand how he had brought her home never mind in 6th we have ordered the new parts from Kawasaki and will refresh the whole motor for Cadwell Park. We have some fantastic news next week which as a Team we can’t wait to share with you all so watch this space”

Please take the time to follow us :- www.teamwd40.com Twitter @GRMotoSport, @tazmac95, @Ba77a, @bcyoung86 – Facebook GRMotosport – Instagram TeamWD40

More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone:

Indianapolis MotoGP™ debrief with Masao Azuma

Tuesday, August 12 2014

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium & Hard; Rear: Soft, Medium & Hard (Asymmetric)

Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative)

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez won at Indianapolis to continue his perfect run of form and make it ten wins from ten starts in 2014. Finishing in second and third place respectively were the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.

Conditions for the race were warm and dry with a peak track temperature of 48°C recorded at the start of the race. The combination of the improved pace on the new Indianapolis circuit and warm temperatures resulted in all rider except one selecting their harder rear slick option for the race, while all except two of the twenty-three starters selected the medium compound front slick, which was a new addition to the Indianapolis tyre allocation for this year.

Q&A with Masao Azuma – Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department

How did Bridgestone approach this year’s Indianapolis Grand Prix, given the new track layout and tarmac that made its debut in 2014?

“The new layout features more open corners and the new tarmac has better grip and consistency, but the general characteristic of the Indianapolis circuit is still the same as it was before. There are a lot of acceleration and braking zones, but the most stressful part of the circuit for the tyres are still the linked, left-handed corners from turns twelve to fourteen. So the tyre development for Indianapolis this year wasn’t vastly different to previous years, we just provided an extra choice of front slick tyre, the medium compound, and had to make sure our whole tyre allocation could deal with the improved pace the new circuit would provide.”

The new Indianapolis circuit is slightly shorter but considerably faster as the pace was over five second a lap quicker than last year. How much extra stress did this place on the tyres?

“The much quicker pace this year at IMS did make the track more severe for tyres, but not to an extreme level. The extra grip of the tarmac and change to the layout resulted in higher cornering speeds in some sections, which in turn resulted in higher loads being placed on our tyres. Some riders experienced high tyre wear early in the race weekend, but this is usually the case on new, high-grip surfaces which don’t have much rubber laid down on them. As the race weekend progressed, both the performance and durability of our tyres improved and during the race the riders said tyre performance over race distance was very consistent. Overall, our tyre allocation at Indianapolis was more than able to meet the demands of the new Indianapolis circuit.”

Almost every rider selected the medium compound front slick for the race, even though track temperatures were considerably warmer on race day. What is it about that option of tyre that made it so appealing to the riders?

“Last year we brought just two front slick options to Indianapolis; the soft and hard compound. The soft compound front slick offers the better cornering performance, but doesn’t have the braking stability and durability of the hard compound front. The medium compound front slick we provided for the first time at Indianapolis this year combined good cornering performance with a high level of braking stability and most riders felt it was the best all-round performer on the new circuit. Given the track temperatures we had earlier in the race weekend were cooler than Sunday, many riders didn’t take the opportunity to test the hard compound front slick and even in the warmer temperatures on Sunday, didn’t want to take the chance of trying an untested front tyre for the race. I believe if more riders had tested the hard compound front slick during the practice sessions, than more riders would have selected this option for the race.”

More, from a press release issued by FFX Yamaha:

FFX YAMAHA READY TO REGROUP AFTER CHALLENGING OULTON PARK WEEKEND

The FFX Yamaha team have vowed to come back stronger after a tough seventh round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship in Cheshire at Oulton Park last weekend.

Ian Hutchinson returned to the challenging circuit hungry to build on his previous performance earlier in the season, however as he continued to make steps forward he suffered a huge crash during qualifying which left him battered and bruised and starting 20th on the grid.

Hutchinson was forced to retire from the opening race on Saturday afternoon but valiantly was back on Sunday to score a pair of 19th place finishes. He was unable to score points, but the laps gave the team additional feedback ahead of the next round at Cadwell Park over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

In the Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship Andy Reid claimed the pole position by 0.375s however in the race he was vying for the victory when a crash put him out of contention on the fifth lap. Reid still holds second place in the overall standings and is now 26 points adrift of Kyle Ryde, something he is determined to put right at the next event.

Hutchinson said: “I am really disappointed that we couldn’t have had a stronger finish in the races as this was a track we were returning to for the second time and that should have made it a bit easier for us. The crash in qualifying didn’t help and that left me feeling pretty sore for the rest of the weekend, but I want to thank the team for their hard work as they deserved more than we achieved.”

Reid said: “I really wanted to get back to winning again and it was a stupid crash that I want to forget now. I have put Oulton Park behind us and I am already working on coming back even stronger for the next round at Cadwell Park as the Championship isn’t over yet!”

More, from a press release issued by Race Tire Service:

 DUNLOP HAS RECORD-SETTING SHOWING AT THUNDERHILL

Lenny Hale rode Dunlop’s KR451 US Slicks to a new track record at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows, California on Sunday (August 10), earning three first place showings on the day as Dunlop riders combined to pick up 11 podium finishes during the AFM series races.

Hale picked up wins in the Formula Pacific, Open Superbike, and Open GP. Andy DiBrino, in just his second race at Thunderhill, rode Dunlop’s new GP-A Pro to four podium finishes on the day, while Deion Campbell and #1 Plate Holder Ricky Corey each secured two podium finishes. Campbell won the 750 SuperBike and placed second in the 600 SuperBike. Corey finished second to Hale in the Formula Pacific and took home third place in the Open SuperBike.

Corey, an avid fan of Dunlop’s UK tires, tried out the Dunlop US made rear tires in practice. After the practice runs Corey said, “Wow. I actually think (they) gripped better than the UK tire!” Corey then opted to make the switch to the US products for his Sunday races.

Dunlop Race Tire Service will be busy through the rest of the summer with a full slate of track appearances across the country (click here for full listing by week).

About Race Tire Service:

Race Tire Service is the National distributor for Dunlop motorcycle road racing tires and can be reached at www.dunlopracing.com or 800-772-TIRE (8473).

About Dunlop

Dunlop is the largest supplier of original equipment and replacement motorcycle tires in the U.S. and the only manufacturer of motorcycle tires in North America. With North American operations located in Buffalo, NY, Dunlop has been making and selling high-quality tires in the U.S. since 1923. For more information, visit www.dunlopmotorcycle.com.

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