| MILLVILLE, N.J. (September 2, 2009)
- The biggest motorcycle road racing event to date at New Jersey
Motorsports Park (NJMP) will take place this Labor Day Weekend,
September 4 - 6, when the 2009 season finales for AMA Pro National
Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited, AMA Pro Daytona
SportBike presented by AMSOIL and AMA Pro SuperSport presented by Shoei
are run on NJMP's Thunderbolt Raceway. The three-day AMA Pro Superbike
Championships event also includes the penultimate round of the 2009 AMA
Pro SunTrust Moto-GT series in a jam-packed holiday-weekend schedule of
six races.
The action begins with practice, qualifying and
Superpole qualifying on Friday, September 4, and continues straight
into the weekend with three races each day on Saturday and Sunday. The
SunTrust Moto-GT enduro on Saturday, September 5, at 11 a.m. will be
followed by the first finals for American Superbike at 3 p.m. and
Daytona SportBike at 4:10 p.m. Sunday, September 6, will see Daytona
SportBike roll off first at 2 p.m., SuperSport following at 3:10 p.m.
and American Superbike closing the weekend at 4:20 p.m. The Superbike
and Daytona SportBike races are each 23 laps for 50 miles on the
2.20-mile Thunderbolt circuit while the SuperSport race is a 19-lap
distance for 40 miles.
All of the action from the AMA Pro
Superbike Championships at New Jersey will be featured in a pair of
same-day telecasts on SPEED. Saturday's American Superbike and Daytona
SportBike finals and other action will be shown that night in a
two-hour show at 7:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. PT) while Sunday's premier
class races and other highlights will air in a two-hour show that
evening at Midnight ET (9 p.m. PT).
Mat Mladin
(No. 1 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) wrapped up the 2009
American Superbike Championship one race ago at last month's Suzuki Big
Kahuna Nationals at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). The
Australian's strong season also helped his Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura
team clinch the 2009 American Superbike Team Championship and anchored
Suzuki's 2009 American Superbike Manufacturer Championship as well.
In
recognition of the championship season and his outstanding career,
Mladin will carry the traditional Champion's No. 1 on his
Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 at this weekend's AMA Pro
Superbike Championships. The event will be both Mladin's debut and
farewell in New Jersey as the record seven-time AMA Pro American
Superbike Champion is retiring at the end of the weekend. He has left
a lasting mark on the sport, including this year's unmatched record of
10 wins that started with a streak of seven in a row to open the
season. In addition to years of American Superbike success, Mladin has
been AMA Pro Road Racing's top rider in 2009, winning all but eight
races and taking the Superpole seven times in this season's 10 race
weekend events.
While Mladin has the title sealed, several other
top American Superbike riders and 2009 race winners will be battling
for the final championship podium spots this weekend. The top
contenders include Mladin's teammate Tommy Hayden (No. 22 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) and five-time 2009 race winner Josh Hayes
(No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1). Hayden is second in the
championship and leads Hayes by just four points, 348 - 344. Although
the oldest of the three racing Hayden brothers is still winless in his
American Superbike career, he has finished in the top three in half of
the year's 18 races. That run includes the Sunday final one race ago
at VIR where Hayden finished second to Big Kahuna Superpole and
double-race winner Hayes. The VIR runner-up placing was Hayden's sixth
of the year and he also took second on Sunday in the Tornado Nationals
at Heartland Park Topeka, the Saturday finals at Road Atlanta and
Infineon Raceway and both rounds in March at Auto Club Speedway in
California.
Hayes trails only Mladin on the 2009 race win list
and his dominating weekend at the Big Kahuna followed a similar sweep
at Mid-Ohio in July. He became the first rider other than Mladin this
season to earn the top spot in Superpole qualifying on Friday at
Mid-Ohio and then went out and won both weekend races. Hayes also put
a stop to Mladin's 2009 race win streak, and Suzuki's multi-year lock
on the American Superbike division, with a breakout victory in Race 1
at Infineon in May, where he also led the most race laps.
Hayes teams with Ben Bostrom
(No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) who is fourth in the
championship with 315 points. Bostrom joined Hayes on the box at both
Big Kahuna finals with a pair of third place showings that are part of
a strong streak of eight podium finishes in the last 13 races. Bostrom
earned his second straight runner-up finish in the Saturday final at
Topeka one race after following Hayes across the finish line in Race 2
at Mid-Ohio. He also finished second in the Sunday final at Infineon
in May.
Three-time 2009 race winner Larry Pegram
(No. 72 Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R) is fifth in the
championship with 313 points and is the final rider with a realistic
chance to crack the top three in the final standings. Pegram dominated
the Tornado Nationals and led every lap in both finals from the
Superpole for the biggest weekend of his American Superbike career.
Earlier this season, Pegram out-raced Mladin and the rest of the field
at Road America for his first win in 10 years. Other highlights this
season include a third-place showing in the Saturday final at Infineon
and his first podium of the year in Race 2 at Auto Club Speedway with
another third.
Blake Young (No. 79
Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) joins Mladin and Hayden on
the powerhouse Yoshimura Suzuki team. The 21-year-old overcame severe
injuries to his left pinkie and ring finger in a Sunday final accident
at Barber Motorsports Park to remain a threat for his first American
Superbike win at every race. His best run of the year came in the Red
Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on the July 4th
weekend where he led the most laps for the first time this season
before finishing second to Mladin. That finish matched two other
runner-up showings in the last two races before his accident, which
were the Saturday final at Barber, the day before his spill, and Race 2
at Road Atlanta in early April. He most recently hit the podium with a
third-place showing in the Saturday final at Topeka.
Aaron Yates (No. 23 Brand Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) and his Jordan Motorsports teammate Geoff May
(No. 54 National Guard Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) both head to New Jersey
looking for their first victories of the season. Second-place finishes
by Yates in the Sunday final at Barber and Saturday at Mid-Ohio are the
best showings of the year for the Jordan team. Yates backed those
podium placings up with back-to-back third-place showings in Race 2 at
Road America and at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. May's best results
this season have been three third-place showings within the year's
first five races, including both rounds at Road Atlanta in April.
Two
top privateers that have consistently raced and been ranked in the
American Superbike top 10 this season are looking to hit the podium at
New Jersey. Jake Holden (No. 59 Holden Racing Honda
CBR1000RR) has been racing his own Honda under Corona Extra colors for
the majority of the season and scored a career-high fourth place finish
in the Sunday final at Topeka. He also qualified an impressive third
in the Topeka Superpole after setting the fastest overall lap of the
weekend earlier on Friday in the group qualifying session, two more
career milestones. The other quick privateer is Taylor Knapp
(No. 44 Taylor Knapp Racing Buell 1125RR), who Holden led across the
finish line on Sunday at Topeka. Knapp's fifth-place Kansas finish was
the best of his career and is part of a steady run of 11 top-10
finishes this season.
Holden first returned to the Corona Extra team when he filled in capably for Neil Hodgson
(No. 100 Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR) earlier in the season. Hodgson
has recovered from a post-Daytona motocross training injury to score
sixth-place finishes at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and in the Sunday
finals at Topeka and Road America. The results were the former World
Superbike Champion's best showings since taking second in the Daytona
opener. Hodgson missed a total of six races during his early-season
recovery.
Other riders to keep an eye on in New Jersey include Damian Cudlin (No. 8 Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000), who will ride the same bike that finished second in the Road America Saturday final, Chris Ulrich (No. 18 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R1000), VIR Superpole qualifier Jeff Wood (No. 19 Higgins Powersports/Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Cory West
(No. 53 Erik Buell Racing Buell 1125RR). West will make his 2009 AMA
Pro Road Racing debut this weekend and joins Knapp as one of two riders
entered on the new Buell 1125RR. A total of 32 American Superbikes are
entered for the AMA Pro Superbike Championships.
Daytona SportBike Down To the Wire
While
Mladin, Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura and Suzuki have wrapped up their
respective American Superbike Championships, all three titles in AMA
Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL will be decided this
weekend. Each championship will likely come down to a battle between
points leader Danny Eslick (No. 9 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R) and 2009 race-win leader Martin Cardenas
(No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600). Eslick and the No. 9 RMR Buell team
are on top of the rider and team entrant standings with 357 points, 17
ahead of Cardenas and the No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki.
The dominant
duo has combined to win 13 of the 18 Daytona SportBike race this year,
with Cardenas one up on Eslick in the win column with seven victories.
The riders were actually tied for first in the championship heading
into the Big Kahuna weekend only to see Cardenas suffer a compound
fracture of his right hand in a Friday morning practice crash at VIR.
The tough Colombian raced despite the painful injury but could do no
better than finishes of ninth and 11th, losing valuable ground to
Eslick.
Eslick and Cardenas have both been on the podium an
impressive 10 times in this year's 18 races. Each rider has also
turned in respective streaks of domination which have kept them at the
forefront of the Daytona SportBike points race all year. Eslick has
two weekend sweeps to his credit and first gave notice he would be a
challenger for the Daytona SportBike crown when he went two-for-two at
Auto Club Speedway in March. He also muscled his way to victories in
both Mid-Ohio rounds in addition to his most recent win on Saturday at
Topeka and a Sunday final victory at Road Atlanta in April. In total,
the young Oklahoma rider has finished eighth or better in 16 of 18
races this year.
Cardenas has also doubled up on event weekend
sweeps and scored four wins in a row by dominating the Infineon and
Barber weekends. His victory in Race 1 at Road Atlanta was the first
Daytona SportBike victory of his career. Cardenas also won the Sunday
finals at Road America and again two races ago at Topeka.
Josh Herrin
(No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) is third in the championship with 321
points and is the only other rider alive in the title chase heading to
the finale. He dealt himself into the Daytona SportBike championship
picture big time with a weekend sweep of his own at the Big Kahuna.
The victories were Herrin's first in Daytona SportBike and have
highlighted a strong late-season charge that has also produced three
second-place finishes in the last six races, including both Topeka
finals. Herrin also finished second on Saturday at Mid-Ohio and has
additional runner-up showings this season in the Daytona 200 and Race 2
at Road Atlanta. He also has third-place finishes at Laguna Seca and
the Sunday race at Infineon. Herrin's teammate Tommy Aquino
(No. 6 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) hit the podium for the first time
this year at Mid-Ohio, finishing third just behind Herrin on Saturday.
Aquino backed it up with additional third-place showings in Race 1 at
Topeka and in the Sunday final at VIR. He also crossed the finish line
just behind Herrin at Infineon and Laguna Seca for then season-best
fourth-place finishes.
Jamie Hacking (No. 88
Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) is fourth in the
championship with 274 points. Although still looking for a 2009 win,
Hacking may be one of the most consistent riders in AMA Pro Road
Racing. He has finished out of the top five just seven times in his 16
races this season, out of the top-10 just twice and his best results
have been five second-place showings, including most recently on Sunday
at Mid-Ohio. Hacking also finished third in the Saturday final at VIR
one race ago. His teammate Roger Hayden (No. 95
Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) has season-best results of
second in the Saturday finals at Road Atlanta and Road America. Hayden
also led and finished fifth on Sunday at VIR.
Joining
Cardenas and Eslick as 2009 race winners are Bostrom, who has gone a
perfect two for two in Daytona SportBike cameos on his No. 1s Graves
Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6, and Canadian rider Chris Peris
(No. 10 Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR). Bostrom won both the
season-opening Daytona 200 and at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in his only
scheduled Daytona SportBike races of the season. Peris won Race 1 in
the rain at Road America and also has a third-place finish at Road
Atlanta to his credit.
Peris is teammates with veteran Honda rider Jake Zemke
(No. 1x Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR) who finished fourth in Race 1 at
VIR for the third time this season. Zemke also factored into Erion's
strong Road America weekend with a season-high finish of second in the
Sunday final. It was Zemke's first podium finish of the season but he
also showed well at Mid-Ohio with his second fourth-place finish of the
year on Saturday. Zemke also finished fourth in the Saturday final at
Road Atlanta.
Cardenas partners with the equally quick Jason DiSalvo
(No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) who has six podium finishes and a
series-leading five poles so far in 2009. DiSalvo has season-high
second-place finishes behind Cardenas in the Saturday final at Barber
and the Sunday race at Infineon. He also finished third in the Daytona
200, the Sunday final at Road America and the Saturday races at both
Auto Club and VIR. DiSalvo rounds out the top five in the championship
with 261 points.
Chaz Davies (No. 57 Factory
Aprilia / Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R) has been this
year's main Aprilia threat and scored a season-high finish of second at
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The British rider also has fourth-place
showings at Barber, Infineon and Race 1 at Topeka that have helped the
former Daytona 200 winner stay in the top-10 championship standings all
season. His fourth-place finish on Saturday at Topeka two races ago
was his sixth top-five result of the year. Davies teams with
Australian Aaron Gobert (No. 97 Factory Aprilia / Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R) as the only two Aprilia riders in the field.
Steve Rapp
(No. 48 Bazzaz / Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6) is another past
Daytona 200 winner who has turned in some solid performances this
season. He scored his first podium of the year at Infineon with a
third-place finish in the Saturday final, in addition to four
sixth-place finishes this season.
Two other Buell riders are
also worth watching at New Jersey. Knapp (No. 54 Latus Motors Racing
Buell 1125R) won his first career Superpole in Daytona SportBike action
at the Big Kahuna and capped the weekend with his fourth fourth-place
finish of the season in the Sunday final. Eslick's teammate Michael Barnes
(No. 34 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R) has a season-best showing of
fifth in the Sunday final at Barber. A total of 47 Daytona SportBikes
are entered at New Jersey.
SuperSport Wraps Up
Both
the East and West division championships have been clinched in AMA Pro
SuperSport presented by Shoei but several young riders will be looking
to end the season on a high note in Sunday's season finale. Josh Day (No.
4 Team E.S.P. Yamaha YZF-R6) clinched the East title with his third
consecutive victory of the season at VIR just one event after Ricky Parker (No. 96 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) wrapped up the West crown with a fourth-place finish at Topeka.
Day's
three-race win streak came at Mid-Ohio, Topeka and VIR while Parker has
won this year at Infineon and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Both champs
are entered at New Jersey where they will battle with fellow 2009 race
winners Leandro Mercado (No. 92 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) and Garrett Carter (No.
31 Garrett Carter Racing Yamaha YZF-R6). Mercado has victories at Road
Atlanta and Road America while Carter won in the rain at Barber in
May.
Russ Wikle (No. 5 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R600) and Huntley Nash
(No. 15 LTD Racing Yamaha YZF-R6) have each hit the podium at least
once this season and could factor into the action in New Jersey.
Next
up on the SuperSport schedule is the National Championship Shootout at
Daytona International Speedway, October 16 - 18. The lucrative
non-points race is open to any rider that has run at least one
SuperSport race this season, with the winner earning the title of
SuperSport National Champion.
SuperSport is AMA Pro Road
Racing's showcase of America's future motorcycle racing stars today.
The proving ground series is reserved strictly for up-and-coming riders
between the ages of 16 and 21 who compete on 600cc bikes that are only
minimally modified from what you will find at your local Suzuki,
Yamaha, Kawasaki, Honda or other motorcycle dealership.
SunTrust Moto-GT Title Too?
Although
the AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT season will not conclude until the Daytona
event in October, one top team could leave New Jersey with a clinched
championship. The GT2 class leading No. 77 Touring Sport Ducshop Ducati
PS1000LE has had a near-perfect season and could leave New Jersey with
the team title in the bag. The No. 77 has the distinction of having
the best finishing record in AMA Pro Road Racing in 2009 with four wins
and three second-place finishes in seven starts this season.
SunTrust
Moto-GT actually paved the way for AMA Pro Road Racing at NJMP with a
one-off race in 2008. The series will be making its second straight
appearance on Thunderbolt Raceway and features two classes of
motorcycles racing at the same time for overall and class honors. The
faster GT1 class is home to a diverse line-up of motorcycles that
includes big-bore bikes from Buell, Aprilia, Triumph, Ducati, Kawasaki
and Suzuki. The slightly smaller GT2 class features bikes from
Kawasaki, Buell, Suzuki and Ducati.
The only setback the Touring Sport team has had at all this year was a right femur fracture young team rider Cory Rech suffered early in the SuperSport race at VIR on Sunday. One day earlier, Rech co-rode with Ryan Elleby for
his second consecutive win on the No. 77 and the team's fourth
victory. Rech, who is expected to make a full recovery, will likely be
replaced by team principal and rider Frank Shockley
who co-rode with Elleby for earlier season victories at Road Atlanta
and Road America. Another possibility is Nash, who co-rode with Rech
to victory in Topeka.
Regardless of who is riding, the No. 77
could clinch the GT2 crown even if they give up 12 points to their
nearest challengers. Put another way, if they continue the tear they
have been on all season, the No. 77 Touring Sport team will be
champions by early Saturday afternoon.
Part of the No. 77's
impressive season was an overall victory at Road America, the first
time a GT2 class bike beat the faster GT1 machines in a race. Although
that could happen again in New Jersey, the GT1 teams are expected to be
the overall pacesetters. Leading that class is The No. 14 Crozier
Motorsports / R&B Motorsports Triumph Daytona 675 of Mark Crozier and Scott Jensen.
The No. 14 claimed the overall and class victory at VIR to become the
first GT1 repeat race winner of the season after also finishing first
at Barber in May.
Prior to the VIR win, the No. 14 finished second in the previous two races to GT1 upstarts Dane Westby and Dustin Meador
and the No. 13 Westby Racing Yamaha YZF-R6. The Westby team won in its
debut at Mid-Ohio and was victorious again one race later in Topeka.
An early race mechanical issue forced them out while leading at VIR,
but they will certainly be on the pace again in New Jersey.
The
No. 14 Crozier team leads the GT1 standings with 140 points, just 11
clear of the No. 41 Liberty Waves Racing Buell 1125R of Eric Pinson and Eric Haugo. Liberty Waves is winless this season but top consistency has kept them in title contention.
Other GT1 teams expected to be in the hunt at New Jersey include the No. 37 Old Pros Racing Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R of Paul Schwemmer and Brett Ray, the Road Atlanta winning No. 69 TeamHurtByAccident.com Suzuki GSX-R600 and lead rider Rodolfo Ramirez and the Road America winning No. 70 James Gang/Hoban Bros. Racing Buell 1125R of Paul James and Jeff Johnson. Day won the pole at Topeka on the No. 27 Four Feathers Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 and could return with co-rider Dominic Jones this weekend for a third straight SunTrust Moto-GT start.
In the GT2 standings, the No. 77 has a comfortable 202 points and a 44 point lead over nearest challengers Jay Springsteen and Scott Ryan and the No. 9 Pair-A-Nines Kawasaki EX650 team. Springsteen won the Daytona opener on the No. 9 with then co-rider Nick Cummings,
who is recovering from injuries, and that result and four more podium
finishes have kept the No. 9 second in the GT2 championship with 158
points. Third place in the championship with 115 points belongs to the
Barber-winning No. 64 TeamHurtByAccident.com Ducati PS1000LE of John Linder and Robert Fisher. Another team to keep an eye on in GT2 at New Jersey is the No. 10 East Coast Powersports Suzuki SV650 of Kenny Rodriguez and Trey Yonce.
In just three race starts this season, the No. 10 has finished fifth at
Mid-Ohio, third at Topeka and second one race ago at VIR.
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