From a press release issued by Army of Darkness Ministry of Information:

Two weeks before the start of the 2003 WERA National Endurance Series, four time Middleweight Superbike Champions Army Of Darkness shook down their ’03 race bikes and tested a variety of Michelin slicks on March 14th. Army of Darkness is defending their 2002 championship title with AOD veteran riders Mark Crozier and Sam Fleming with the addition of first year expert Jeff Walker on equipment prepared by AOD tuner Tim Gooding.

After testing two front tires and three rear tires Crozier was able to break the one minute barrier at the tight track lapping just 1.4 seconds off the lap record. “Considering that was on a rear tire with forty laps on it, I’d say I am very satisfied with the new bike” offered Mark “And I want to use those tires for the rest of the season.”

Sam Fleming of Army of Darkness. Photo by Scott Fisher.

Neighbor of the Beast was testing their 2003 Yamaha R6s with riders Melissa Berkoff, Scott Fisher and newcomer Roman Kilgore. With only four weeks from the receipt of the bikes to the test Melissa was concerned that the bikes would be far from a proper race set up but it all came together at the test. “We got the sprockets yesterday, Mike Fitzgerald called me from Daytona with geometry numbers and we got the fuel map from Graves yesterday to compliment the Graves FI hop up parts. It was hectic, but we found on the track today that all the parts worked flawlessly together. We changed a few front fork settings but basically just concentrated on riding the bikes, testing the fuel mileage and the different combinations of the Michelin DOTs.”

Roman Kilgore of Neighbor of the Beast. Photo by Scott Fisher.

Army Of Darkness is sponsored by: ArmyOfDarkness.com, Tower Analysis, LoudounMotorSports.com, CooperPerformance.com, Michelin, WERA, Vesrah, M4, Sprocket Specialists, Battley Cycles, Traxxion Dynamics, Zero Gravity, Tapeworks.

Neighbor Of The Beast is sponsored by: RoadracingWorld.com, Yamaha, Graves Motorsports, Walt Schaefer, Michelin, Woodcraft, Sharkskinz, Sprocket Specialists, Vesrah, WERA, Fisher Technical Services, Tower Analysis, ArmyOfDarkness.com, CooperPerformance.com, LoudounMotorSports.com, Battley Cycles, Traxxion Dynamics, Tapeworks.