Geico Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing Reviews Season-Opening AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series from Daytona

A pair of Tyler O'Hara's #29 JCR/Scrubblade/Bartel's H-D/RS Taichi-sponsored XR1200s get some attention during the lunch break at the Indy Tire Test on August 11, in preparation for their next event as the undercard of the 5th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP Weekend on August 17-19 in the 2012 AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series.  O'Hara won his initial event in the then-two year old series at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the previous year's first race, in what was the series' first appearance at The Brickyard.

O'Hara has been one of the top contenders in what has now been rebranded as the AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series in his three seasons of campaigning the spec series events, contending for the crown last season up until the last event of the year, when the championship was won by Michael Barnes.  The series was renamed this year due to the fact that H-D did make the XR1200 available for U.S. sale for the 2013 model year.

At the season-opening round at Daytona eleven days ago, the #29 Bartel's-sponsored rider took the glory again for the first round of the year, leading a pack of ten bikes across the line, all separated by just .792 seconds after the 7-lap main event.  O'Hara beat out 2nd-place finisher Kyle Wyman by just .075 seconds, and the top seven machines crossed the line within less then .5 seconds of the 25 machines that started the final, to ensure another exciting year of racing in the 2013 AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series.

Check out the full press release of the wrap-up to the season-opener below, thanks to AMA Pro Road Racing.

Tyler O'Hara Wins AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series Race at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla (March 26, 2013) - Just about everyone expected the AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series to deliver the kind of wild and entertaining racing action it has in the past as it officially kicked off the 2013 GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season on Friday, March 15, 2013 at Daytona International Speedway, and did it ever.   While a pack of Harley-Davidson XR1200s dueling in the draft around the high banks was to be expected, few were optimistic enough to predict an eleven-rider pack from green light to checkered flag with head-shaking moments of eight abreast as they crossed the stripe to start another circulation in the hard-fought seven-lap contest.   With no one able to make a break, the race took shape as a strategic affair, each man testing their ability to pick off multiple opponents for one last run to the flag and positioning themselves accordingly on the crucial final lap.                             Tyler O'Hara on the #29 Bartel's Harley-Davidson XR1200 leads the pack during the running of the season-opening round of the AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series at Daytona during the kick-off round to the 2013 Geico Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing Series.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.     In the end, it was Tyler O'Hara (Eco Fuel Saver/ Scrubblade) who was able to strategically maneuver himself through the field of talented riders and cross the finish line first. The win for O'Hara couldn't have come at a better time as the Californian has had a bitter taste in his mouth all offseason after barely missing the AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Championship.   O'Hara followed the lead of two-time DIS Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson race winner, Kyle Wyman, who cut a path through the pack as he raced to the checkered flag.  Wyman appeared set to make it three-for-three aboard the Revolution Performance/Millennium Technologies machine, but O'Hara had just enough momentum to blast past at the drop of the checkered flag.   "It was crazy," race-winner O'Hara said. "It was almost like riding a Pro Single on a mile. I'm just happy everybody rode respectfully.  I was just riding the rear brake a lot and trying not to hit the guy in front of me. We had the whole team working extremely hard this offseason and to come away with a win is just an amazing feeling."  O'Hara spoke on being given the chance to make up for last season's narrow runner-up championship result, "I've been working extra hard. When something slips out of your fingers like that, it makes you realize how bad you want it. There's a long off-season but that's past us, and we're all looking forward now. It was a good lesson learned. We came prepared and we're in it for the long haul."   Second-place finisher Wyman spoke on behalf of the close quarters he was forced to race in throughout the duration of the race, "I know a little bit about the draft but that was the first time I've ever experienced anything like that in my entire life. That's drafting at a whole different level and it's so hard to figure out where you want to be. I kind of played with a lot of different stuff throughout the race -- I kind of put myself in a lot of different spots to see where I would end up by the end of the straightaway. Twice, I think I came out like fifth or sixth and ended up leading that lap so that's where I wanted to be. However, I'm aware that when you've got 15 XRs all trying to occupy the same piece of real estate, you're going to run into some problems. I'm just thankful that nobody crashed into each other, and we were able to come out of their safely. You could have thrown a tissue over all of us."   Rossmeyer's Harley-Davidson's Bobby Fong kicked off what turned out to be a spectacular weekend by crossing the line in third (he also finished third the following day in the 72nd running of the DAYTONA 200).  "I thought the race went well," said Fong. "It was just a scrap the whole time with all of us banging bars. It was one of the best races I've ever been in. There was a huge group of us up front, and it all came down to the draft on the final lap. I'm happy with how we ran and the hard work our team put in leading up to this race."  Rossiter's Harley-Davidson of Sarasota's Michael Corbino took fourth while Canadian Steve Crevier was credited with fifth on the Motosports Plus Harley after Carlson was DQ'd following the post-race technical inspection. Defending 2012 AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Champion Michael Barnes crossed the finish line less than a half-second behind the race winner, but only earned sixth-place on the Rossmeyer's Harley-Davidson.

Thursday Friday Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series

About GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing:   GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing is the premier motorcycle road racing series in North America and is universally regarded as one of the most competitive road racing organizations in the world. The 2012 schedule consists of 12 rounds of competition on the country's finest road courses. The Series is comprised of four production-based classes: AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike, AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike, AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport and the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series. Learn more about GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing at www.amaproracing.com/rr/. About AMA Pro Racing:   AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines.  Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.   For additional information contact: AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com

Geico Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing Reviews the 72nd Annual Daytona 200

Cameron Beaubier's #6 Yamaha Extended Service/Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6 sits on display under the tent at the Yamaha vendors display during the 5th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP Weekend on August 17, 2012.  On a like-machine, Beaubier captured the 72nd running of the Daytona 200 last Saturday, winning by over 22 seconds to team mate and runner-up Garrett Gerloff, and leading 50 of 57 laps (including the last 36 go-arounds) in the annual race at Daytona International Speedway. 

The event had the largest drop-off in entries recently witnessed in the annual season-opening event, with close to 28% less entries then what were seen in the 2012 race, further showing the recovery in the two-wheeled high speed racing series as being one of the hardest hit and slowest to recover after the global recession.  This year's event paled in comparison to last year's run to the checkers, which was won by Joey Pascarella, where Jason DiSalvo, Beaubier and Martin Cardenas all finished within .112 seconds of one another.

Geico Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing reviews the event in the press release below.

Beaubier, Gerloff Lead Yamaha Charge with First and Second Place Finishes in Historic DAYTONA 200

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla (March 21, 2013) - The history of the DAYTONA 200 boasts signature weekends from some of the all-time legends of the sport. Most of the all-time greats from American road racing have at least one of the substantial and unique trophies from winning the 200. Kenny Roberts, Kevin Schwantz, Eddie Lawson, Miguel DuHamel, and Mat Mladin can all be introduced with the phrase "DAYTONA 200 winner" for the rest of their lives. Not all of the men who have won the DAYTONA 200 fall under the heading of all-time greats, however, since the DAYTONA 200 checkered flag is such an intriguing prize, it's been something for the legends to shoot for and conquer. Daytona is so important to the manufacturers and teams because winning the race shows that a rider can perform under pressure at such a difficult circuit.                               Cameron Beaubier #6 leads team mate Garrett Gerloff #8 in route to winning the 72nd running of the Daytona 200 on March 16.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.     A DAYTONA 200 win can springboard a rider into greatness on an international level, too. Kevin Schwantz and Nicky Hayden won Daytona and then moved on to international acclaim and eventually each of them won a World Championship.  Part of the allure of Daytona happens before the race even starts. The Rolex watch that Daytona traditionally awards to the pole winner is a fantastic prize. When one talks to a legend like Scott Russell, and he's wearing a Daytona Rolex, it's a subtle reminder of his accomplishment.    Cameron Beaubier had one of those weekends. How far the 20-year-old Yamaha Extended Service/Graves/Yamaha pilot goes in the future remains to be seen, but the Californian proved his ability once again at the 72nd DAYTONA 200. Beaubier dominated the weekend, putting his stamp on the event in a way some of the legends have. Simply put, he owned it.   Beaubier looked to be on a higher level than his competition all weekend, as he started out by outdistancing himself from the field in practice, then taking care of business in qualifying. In the race, he managed to earn a gap and avoid the multi-rider passing battles that are a trademark for the 3.51-mile circuit and eventually claimed victory in the 200-mile race by 22.254 seconds in dominating fashion.  "I rode as hard as I could the first stint and then tried to be super-consistent," said Beaubier. "I had one little mess-up where I ran wide in Turn 1, and then, after that, I just calmed down and kept clicking off laps. My Yamaha Extended Service/Monster Energy/Graves/Yamaha ran awesome. They gave me two awesome pit stops, and I just rode as hard as I could. I can't thank them enough."   Beaubier's teammate Garrett Gerloff took second place at the track where his 2012 season was ruined by a practice crash that broke his leg. Gerloff shined brightly this time around and, apart from Beaubier, had everyone covered. The young Texan was able to hang with Beaubier until his teammate motored away before the first stop.  "The race was longer than I thought it would be, but it was awesome," said Gerloff. "It was awesome to be in the front group at the beginning and then Cameron started pulling away and we started pulling him back. Every once in a while, we'd pass him and then he made a run for it and kind of got away. I tried to catch up but I just couldn't do it. Big thanks to my team for awesome pit stops and all the testing we do. That's why we're 1-2 on the podium. I think this is going to be an awesome year and I just want to keep it rolling."   Bobby Fong earned a hard third place for RMR/Triple Crown Industries Racing. Fong, in his first ride for the team, showed the heart to win but didn't quite have the ultimate pace to make it happen.  "It was a long race but the training I did this off-season paid off," said Fong. "My bike worked great the whole time as I was just out there circulating, trying to maintain my position. It's the best finish I've ever had at Daytona so thanks to everyone for helping me out."   The RoadRace Factory teammates Jake Gagne and J.D. Beach were fourth and fifth. Gagne turned the fastest lap of the race (1.50.087) but both finished over a minute behind Beaubier. The two young upstarts continue to hone their skills and show they are men to watch in the AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike class.   Steve Rapp had a wild weekend and took sixth as he filled in for pre-race contender Dane Westby, who crashed on Thursday and had to miss the race. Rapp, known for riding a multitude of bikes over the years, hopped on the GEICO Honda in Friday morning's cold session and was able to translate his experience to perform admirably. Rapp stayed out of trouble and was lapped just before the end to bring home a solid finish one second ahead of reigning SuperSport champ James Rispoli.  Rispoli, on the National Guard/Celtic Racing Suzuki, looked very racy early on before settling into the 200-mile groove.  Canada's Ben Young earned eighth place. Young kept the #86 bike out of trouble and completed the 200 miles as he continues to learn and improve his skill set.   The battle for ninth would also mark the best DAYTONA 200 finish ever by a woman. Melissa Paris (MPH Racing) and Elena Myers (Sturgess Cycle Triumph) battled for the spot and, at one time, it looked like Paris would take the position but she was assessed a penalty for her last pit stop and lost ground because of it. That meant Myers, a SuperSport winner at Daytona, took the spot by a little more than 16 seconds in her first DSB race. Paris also posted her best-ever finish in the class, however.   Some big names fell by the wayside in the event with mechanical issues, including the last two winners of the race in Joey Pascarella and Jason DiSalvo. Jake Zemke, who qualified on the front row and ran near the front, also retired after 31 laps. Huntley Nash looked to have a top-ten finish in the bag, but his bike expired after the last pit stop. For Beaubier, the bigger picture now is the championship. After impressing despite injury last year on the way to third place, Beaubier is off to an excellent start. With last year's number two in Dane Westby scoring no points, Beaubier is in better position to secure the elusive Daytona SportBike championship for Yamaha.

Thursday Friday Saturday GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing Finishes Season in New Orleans Benny Solis on Honda CBR600RR

About GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing:   GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing is the premier motorcycle road racing series in North America and is universally regarded as one of the most competitive road racing organizations in the world. The 2012 schedule consists of 12 rounds of competition on the country's finest road courses. The Series is comprised of four production-based classes: AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike, AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike, AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport and the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series. Learn more about GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing at www.amaproracing.com/rr/. About AMA Pro Racing:   AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com. For additional information contact:   AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com

AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series Set to Launch at Daytona Season-Opener

A pair of Bartel's Harley-Davidson XR1200s sit ready to go at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the tire test scheduled with IMS and AMA Pro Road Racing on August 11, 2012.  Josh Chisum's #10 JCR/Scrubblade/Bartel's H-D/RS Taichi-sponsored XR1200 and team mate Tyler O'Hara's #29 like-sponsored mount get the final treatment before the afternoon session begins at The Brickyard, one weekend before the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series is set to compete as the undercard during the 5th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP weekend.

Chisum and O'Hara will again be team mates for the now rebranded 2013 AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series as it kicks off at Daytona International Speedway today, and both will be looking to unseat 2012 XR1200 Champion Michael Barnes, who will be riding for the returning-to-the-series Rossmeyer's H-D team for the upcoming year.  Qualifying is set to go this afternoon at 5:30 PM EDT and the bikes will take to the track for their first race of the year on Friday, March 15 at 2:30 PM EDT.

Here's the link to the full rundown of activities at Daytona for today, tomorrow and Saturday, thanks to AMA Pro Road Racing!

And you can read the full press release below, again thanks to the great folks at Geico Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing.

Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series Riders Set for Impressive Performances at DAYTONA 200 Week

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 14, 2013) - History -- and common sense -- suggest that this weekend's AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway will be nothing short of a multi-rider dogfight to the checkered flag.  Entering its fourth season of existence, the spec class series has quickly earned its place in the GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing line-up by producing reliably close and unpredictable racing, and nowhere has that been more evident than on the high banks of Daytona.   The two previous H-D Daytona clashes were defined by strategic gamesmanship and impossibly close maneuvers and the same will be expected in 2013.  In 2011, Kyle Wyman won by .016 seconds over Chris Fillmore, with Joe Kopp just 0.89 seconds off the win and Steve Rapp missing the podium but only 0.136 seconds short of taking the checkered flag first.  2012 saw Wyman win again in another contest that saw four men take hit the stripe within a second of the win with season-long title rivals Tyler O'Hara and Michael Barnes rounding out the podium.                             Kyle Wyman #33, Tyler O'Hara #39 and Michael Barnes #34 lead the field during the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series race at Daytona during the 2012 Geico Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season.  Barnes went on to clinch the championship in the final round at NOLA to secure his first-ever #1 plate in an AMA Pro Road Racing series in the over two decades he has been campaigning the U.S. road racing series.  Barnes will return to defend his championship in what is now the rebranded AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Series for the 2013 season.  The race is scheduled to be run on Friday, March 15 at 2:15 EDT.  AMA Pro Road Racing photo by Brian J. Nelson.     While Wyman's promising campaign ended early due to injury last season, the championship wasn't decided until after the checkered flag was waved for the final race of the season, with the nod going to Barnes over O'Hara in what was the culmination in the Floridian's long quest to claim his first individual AMA Pro crown.   Barnes is back with the #1 plate in 2013, riding a Rossmeyers Harley-Davidson backed by Bikers Choice. O'Hara (Eco Fuel Saver, Scrubblade, Bartel's Harley-Davidson) and Wyman (Revolution Performance, Millennium Technologies) return as well, as the three men will look to reignite their three-way rivalry for class dominance.   However, there are other riders in the field with the potential to push for the checkered flag. Chief among them are former Superbike hero Rapp, who is back on an XR1200 with Suburban Motors Harley-Davidson, joining ex-Supermoto ace Ben Carlson, who has developed into a fine roadracer aboard the big Harley twin.  New Jersey Motorsports Park winner Shane Narbonne will again compete for Mob Racing, while SportBike race winner Bobby Fong and British sensation Sandra Stammova will team with champ Barnes on Rossmeyers Harley-Davidson equipment.  Michael Corbino (Rossiter's Harley-Davidson of Sarasota), Josh Chisum (Eco Fuel Saver, Scrubblade, JC Racing), Travis Wyman (Harv's Harley-Davidson), and Steve Crevier (Motorsports Plus) are just a few of the other names that could easily prove to be factors up front in what's virtually guaranteed to be a hard-fought AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson opener.   Qualifying for Vance & Hines Harley -Davidson Series grid positions will take place in two sessions, Thursday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. and Friday morning at 9:40 a.m. The 7-lap contest will kick off the 2013 GEICO Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season's race action on Friday at 2:15 p.m. local time.   Live Timing & Scoring of all on-track sessions will be available at http://live.amaproracing.com/rr/   Between the races, stay connected with AMA Pro Road Racing at www.twitter.com/AMAProSBK and www.facebook.com/AMAProRoadRacing; keep up with Daytona International Speedway via Twitter (www.twitter.com/DISupdates) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/DaytonaInternationalSpeedway).   For tickets and additional event information, visit www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or call 1-800-PITSHOP.

AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com. For additional information contact:   AMA Pro Racing Communications, (386) 492-1014, communications@amaproracing.com

Aaron Yates Signed to Ride for Erik Buell Racing in 2013 AMA Pro Superbike Championship

Aaron Yates and members of the GPTech team take a final look at the team's #20 BCL Motorsports/GPTech GP212 before Double A-ron heads out for another practice session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, August 11, 2012.  Yates and the team were taking part in AMA Pro Road Racing's and IMS's hosting of the pre-race testing held at The Brickyard the weekend before the 5th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP.  After getting used to the team's Suzuki GSX-R1000 set-up, Yates and the GPTech team were ready to do some tire testing with the Bridgestone 'Battlax' spec tire of choice for the MotoGP and CRT class.  

Yates, in his first big return to racing after suffering a severely broken leg at Fontana in March '10, went on to finish 16th at Indy the next weekend in his and the team's MotoGP debut.  After having raced a couple of WERA events before the Indy round, Erik Buell Racing brought him back to the Superbike class in AMA Pro Road Racing's premier U.S. series towards the end of last season, and Yates rewarded himself and the team with a 4th-place finish in one of the season-ending rounds.

EBR announced yesterday that Yates would be back with the team, and full-time for the 2013 AMA Pro National Guard Superbike Championship season and along with returning sponsors AMSOIL and Team Hero will be on-board the team's EBR 1190RS superbikes, starting with the upcoming Daytona doubleheader opening round in less then 40 days.  Great news for EBR and for Aaron!

You can read the full press release below and we're looking forward to seeing #20 back on the track full-time again for the 2013 season!


Thanks to RoadRacing World.com for this press release announcing Aaron Yates' signing to ride for Erik Buell Racing in the 2013 AMA Superbike Championship.

Merry Christmas from Stu's Shots!

From Stu's Shots to you and your's around the world, we want to take the time to wish you a VERY Merry Christmas and thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to come by and hang out with us here.

Peace, love and happiness to everyone around the world on this blessed holiday as we celebrate the glory of Christmas from our border to yours.

God Bless and Merry Christmas to all!

Team Ohio Racing Will Again Compete in AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series Along with Wounded Warrior Project for 2013 Season

Team Ohio Racing's Pete Cline talks with members of his team in between test sessions at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 11, 2012.  Cline, a former WERA championship winner and founder of Team Ohio, was on hand along with his team to take part in the IMS and AMA Pro Road Racing-hosted test at the Brickyard in preparation for round 8 of the 2012 AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series to be held the next weekend as the undercard for the 5th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP Weekend.

The team has been involved with the Wounded Warrior Project, a most worthy cause that helps injured veterans to better transition into a return to a normal lifestyle after being injured while serving in the military.  Inviting members of the WWP to AMA Pro Road Racing rounds, the team uses these great heroes who have served their time in the military and been injured along the way as crew members over the course of each weekend.

Team Ohio Racing's #26 Oxford Consulting Group/RevZilla.com/RIDER Insurance/XR1200 Owners Group-sponsored XR1200 sits in the garage ready for the afternoon practice session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 11, 2012.  The team was taking part in the AMA Pro Road Racing-hosted special test the week before the 5th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP.  Looking over the team's mount is Maverick Moto Media's Lance Lau and one of the team's helpers and close friends, Nan Algieo, a long-time WERA scorer and friend of Stu's Shots.

TOR announced yesterday that they will be continuing their affiliation with the Wounder Warrior Project into the 2013 Geico Motorcycle AMA Pro Road Racing season and again will be contesting select rounds of the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series. 

The WWP helps America's veterans who have incurred an injury while serving in the military.  Team Ohio has been inviting some of those members of the WWP to help out at various events that they contest on the series' schedule in order to help enhance their overall abilities and to better help them transition back into what most of us know as a normal lifestyle.

You can check out their press release and find out more about Team Ohio Racing and the Wounded Warrior Project below.


A big thanks to RoadRacing World.com for this press release from Team Ohio Racing concerning their renewed plans to contest the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series and will again be working with the Wounded Warrior Project for the 2013 season:

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=50504

You can follow more from Team Ohio Racing via their Facebook link here:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/TeamOhioRacing

And you can find out more about the Wounded Warrior Project here:

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

You can check out Team Ohio Racing's bio here thanks to AMA Pro Road Racing:

http://www.amaproracing.com/rr/teams/team.cfm?tid=2292

Attack Performance MotoGP CRT Team Granted Wild Card Entries for Three 2013 U.S. MotoGP Rounds

Rider Steve Rapp works on seating position just outside the Attack Performance garage at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the open test hosted by AMA Pro Road Racing and the Hulman Family-owned facility on Saturday, August 11, 2012.  The California-based team and rider were on-hand to get more rider and machine input prior to the running of the 5th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP over the August 17-19 weekend ahead on the #15 Attack Performance APR CRT-based mount.

The Richard Stanboli-built and designed Attack machine is fitted with a modified Kawasaki ZX-10R motor and coupled to a hand-built chassis of Stanboli's design, in accordance with the CRT (claiming rules team) guidelines and rules as set forth by Dorna and the powers that be in the MotoGP World Championship rule book.  The 2012 season saw the first year that the machines, running production-based power nestled into special chassis' were allowed to run in the prestigious MotoGP class alongside the multi-million dollar factory prototype machinery.

Along with the U.S.-based GPTech team that saw former multi-time AMA Pro Road Racing champion Aaron Yates campaign the Indy round of the MotoGP schedule, former Daytona 200 winner Rapp and the AP team made it two CRT-based teams that were home grown in the U.S. rounds in the 2012 season.

 

The Attack Performance technicians go about dialing the APR machine in prior to the afternoon testing session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the tire warmers get the Bridgestone rubber up to operating temps.

Team owner and machine designer Richard Stanboli (right) helps one of the team's technicians get the Attack Performance Kawasaki-based mount buttoned up prior to another test run at IMS.

Attack Performance and team owner Stanboli can be seen talking with a member of the media while the team goes about the finishing process of readying the APR machine for the next test session at Indianapolis.

With owner Stanboli and rider Rapp talking in the background, right of this shot, the Attack Performance technicians ready the team's CRT effort for the afternoon of testing on the MotoGP-spec Bridgestone Battlax rubber.

Steve Rapp gets a push start from two of the Attack Performance team members as he heads out for the afternoon testing session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 11, 2012.  With only six days until the opening day of practice for the 5th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP round, the team had their work cut out for them in getting ready to qualify for their first MotoGP event in the new-for-2012 CRT entry class.

It obviously paid off.  Rapp ended up putting the APR machine in the field at Indy the next weekend, qualifying in the 21st-place spot just ahead of the final grid position held by Aaron Yates and the GPTech team.  Rapp went on to finish in the 14th-place spot in his first-ever grand prix after having just missed the show at the Laguna Seca round just weeks before.  Rapp and the rookie team also garnered two points in the 2012 MotoGP World Championship for their hard earned results at Indy.

For the upcoming 2013 season the team will have three rounds in which to improve their results with their newly-granted wild card entries into next season's three United States rounds at the COTA in Austin, Texas, Laguna Seca and Indy.  It wasn't announced whether rider Steve Rapp would be back on board, but we can't see where this won't happen after Rapp's good showing at Indy and his long-time association with Stanboli's team and Attack Performance.  Rapp won the 2007 edition of the Daytona 200 while riding an Attack-prepped and sponsored Kawasaki ZX-6R and finished out the '07 season ranked 2nd in the now-defunct AMA Formula Xtreme Series Championship class and has continued his association with AP riding this last season in the AMA Pro National Guard Superbike Championship on the team's ZX-10R-based superbike, garnering 13 top-10s and four top-5s along the way.

Here's wishing the team the best of luck in the coming year, they definitely deserve it for their great efforts on this beautiful machine, as does rider Rapp.  You can read the official news below and check out some more reading on owner Richard Stanboli's efforts to build a competitive CRT MotoGP entry from scratch.

Thanks to Motorcycle.com's Dennis Chung for this news out yesterday concerning Attack Performance's entries being accepted for the CRT class in all three of the rounds in the U.S. for the 2013 MotoGP season.  The article reference's GPTech's entries for next year also, which we covered earlier this month:

http://blog.motorcycle.com/2012/12/14/manufacturers/kawasaki/attack-performance-gptech-to-race-all-three-us-motogp-rounds-in-2013/

Attack also campaigned the Laguna Seca and Indy rounds during the 2012 season.  Here is one of the articles that talked about this from back in April, again thanks to Dennis Chung and Motorcycle.com:

http://blog.motorcycle.com/2012/04/09/manufacturers/kawasaki/attack-performance-announces-motogp-crt-effort/

Motorcyclistonline.com's James Parker penned this story of Attack's Richard Stanboli and Steve Rapp contesting the two rounds in the CRT class during the 2012 season:

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/features/columns/122_1211_steve_rapp_attack_performance/


You can also find out more about the fine line of Attack Performance's wares here via their official site:

http://www.attackperformance.com/

AMA Road Racing: KTM/HMC Superbike Team Signs Taylor Knapp as Team Mate to Chris Fillmore in AMA Superbike for 2013 Season

KTM/HMC Superbike Racing's KTM RC8R superbikes sit on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the 5th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP in August 2012.  Chris Fillmore's #11 and Stefan Nebel's #12 adorn the KTM display that also featured many of the company's other wares throughout the weekend.

In the first full season for the team in the 2012 AMA Pro National Guard Superbike Championship Fillmore took the #11 KTM/HMC Superbike Team's machine to three top-5 finishes, two of which came at the season-ending round at New Orleans (4th/5th-place) and also managed to pull-out nine top-10s in a season that saw the former AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series winner sit out three races due to a broken hand suffered at the Mid-Ohio round in July.  Tally all of that together and Fillmore still pulled out an 11th-place overall finish in the superbike standings.

German team mate Nebel, a former 2-Time IDM German Superbike Champion and IDM Superstock Champion, also competed in nine races with the team with two top-10 finishes.  At the end of the season, Nebel was ranked as the 17th-place rider in the overall championship standings.

After only running a handful of events in the 2011 season, the team is now geared up to run it's second full season in the series, and announced on Friday that they had signed rider Taylor Knapp to compete alongside Fillmore for the 2013 AMA Superbike Championship.  Knapp had previously competed in the superbike, supersport and Daytona SportBike classes in the previous few seasons and brings another fresh and young face to the HMC squad.

You can check out the full press release below along with some other links to what and how the KTM-based team will be moving forward for the 2013 season.


Here's the official press release from KTM/HMC Racing thanks to AMA Pro Road Racing on the signing of Taylor Knapp to the squad for the 2013 season:

http://amaproracing.com/rr/news/index.cfm?cid=55293

SpeedTV.com's Evan Williams talks about the signing in this article and the bright outlook for the team in the upcoming season:

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ama-sbk-ktm-poised-for-breakthrough-season/

AMA Pro Road Racing talked with team owner Mitch Hansen back at the end of November about the team's off-season testing and keeping rider Chris Fillmore onboard:

http://amaproracing.com/rr/news/index.cfm?cid=55258

And you can check out the KTM/HMC Racing team's link from the AMA Pro Road Racing site here:

http://amaproracing.com/rr/teams/team.cfm?tid=2283

Roadracing World.com Reports GPTech MotoGP CRT Team Awarded Wild Card Entries for 2013 U.S. MotoGP Rounds at COTA, Laguna Seca & Indy

The GP Tech team goes about readying the #20 BCL Motorsports/GPTech GP212 mount for rider Aaron Yates just before the afternoon practice session of testing hosted by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August '12, while The Enforcer waits in the background with his helmet on and his steely-eyed focus on what was yet to come. 

In only their third outing on-track before the next weekend's events surrounding the 5th Annual Red Bull Indianapolis MotoGP, Yates and the team were still in the process of becoming familiar with the MotoGP-spec Bridgestone tires (after testing at two other venues with AMA-spec rubber) and making adjustments to the electronics on the GSX-R1000-powered CRT machine.

Only getting a brief minute to talk before he headed back out for more laps, I took the time to introduce myself to one of the true legends of AMA Pro Road Racing.  Having been a long-time fan of Yates' I explained, that it was great to see him back out at it again and that the sport needed more guys with his personality.  He took the time to thank me and shake my hand while casually saying 'we're just going to do what we can' and try and 'have some fun' in the process.  He also assured me his leg was completely healed from his devastating injuries suffered in an AMA Superbike practice session in California in spring of 2010.

Roadracing World.com reported earlier today that the GPTech team has been granted wild card entries with their CRT (claiming rules team) machine for all of the U.S. rounds in the 2013 season.  You can read more on that below.

Aaron Yates looks over the GPTech MotoGP CRT machine as the team preps the bike for another test run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 11, 2012.  The team had previously entered wild card entries in the Moto2 class at Indy with Jason DiSalvo in 2010 and Jake Gagne during the 2011 round, and decided to 'step-up' to the premier class at the 5th Annual Red Bull Indy MotoGP.

With the new claiming rules team bikes allowed on the grid with the multi-million dollar MotoGP prototypes in order to help fill the grids, the GPTech team was one of the first along with Attack Performance Kawasaki to field entires in the first season with the new rules in one or both of the U.S. rounds of the series. 

Yates put in a great effort for himself and the team in what was his first big race back at the track.  He had previously done some WERA events in order to get re-acclimated to being back in the saddle again after his long break from the track after being injured at Fontana back in early 2010 while still riding for the Michael Jordan Motorsports AMA Superbike team (note Yates' leathers from that season).  Although they finished 16th and first out of the points in the final, they were still running at the end and held the distinction of being the last bike running at the end of the 28-lap race.

Hopefully with the team announcing their intent to run all three U.S. rounds in the upcoming 2013 season they will be able to utilize the fine efforts of 'Double A-ron' again.  With the first U.S. round scheduled in Texas in late April '13, they have just a few precious months to get ready.  And regardless of the outcome, it was great seeing Yikes Yates back on the track again!


David Swarts at Roadracing World.com reports today that the GPTech MotoGP team has been awarded wild card entries for all of the MotoGP rounds in the United States next year for their CRT effort.  Read on:

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=50411

Here's a great glimpse at the team's efforts from their inuagural outing in the MotoGP class at the 5th Annual Red Bull Indy MotoGP round in August, thanks to Dean Adams and SuperbikePlanet.com.  This also has a great shot of the bike in it's 'raced-in' livery as opposed to the 'testing' basic graphics as what were used during the team's initial outing at IMS just a week before the Indy round:

http://superbikeplanet.com/2012/Aug/120817p2wsaxz.htm

And this was posted on Roadracing World.com back in early August '12 about the team's efforts to get ready for the Indy round over the August 17-19 weekend:

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=49267