Perhaps the most knowledgeable local newspaper reporter covering the AMA Pro SuperBike Series is Rob McCurdy, of the Mansfield News Journal. Check out his editorials, here and here, on this past weekend’s Mid-Ohio event. Rob’s reporting accurately reflects the general consensus that the new management of AMA Pro Racing (DMG) is righting the ship after Pro Racing listed precariously over the past few years.
July 20, 2010
Cardenas Closes Points Gap in Ohio
(News Release)
Martin Cardenas on the grid at Mid-Ohio. (Larry Lawrence photo)
Sunday was a dramatic but ultimately positive day for Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki at Mid-Ohio as Martin Cardenas made a heroic recovery to beat the odds and make up ground in the 2010 AMA Pro Daytona SportBike title fight.
Cardenas was again firmly in the mix at the front of Sunday’s 21-lap SportBike contest, swapping positions at the front of a six-man dogfight. However, apparent disaster struck on lap 11 as the Colombian crashed out of second place while negotiating the Carousel.
Undaunted, Cardenas quickly picked his GSX-R600 up off the ground and re-entered the battle. He raced back up to sixth position with just one lap to go. Unexpectedly, the championship leader crashed on the final lap, elevating Martin to fifth at the stripe while re-energizing his championship hopes.
Cardenas now stands third with 222 points, 27 out of first.
He said, “I started well and the race was much the same as yesterday with the same riders up front. In the first few laps I got a warning from the front tire. I wasn’t ready for that but I saved that one. A few laps after that in the Carousel, I don’t know what happened. Maybe I hit the curb a little bit or maybe was a little too tight with my line and I lost the front tire. I picked the bike up as fast as I could.
“I did what I could to gain as many positions as I could and I finished fifth in the end. It’s bad that I crashed but I think it’s an okay result for crashing.
“I’m going to continue to try to close the gap and try to beat them in every race.”
Chris Ulrich suffered a poor start in the afternoon’s AMA Pro American Superbike race, falling from his second row grid position to 14th at the conclusion of the opening lap. However, Ulrich put his head down and charged his GSX-R1000 back up to eighth at the flag. Still, he was left wondering what might have been.
“Today’s race was over at the start,” Ulrich said. “I rolled a little bit and I pulled the clutch back in and when I let it out it wheelied. I came through the pack but I never completely recovered. I’m disappointed because I felt I had the pace to run in the top five today. Yesterday I picked the wrong tire and today I just had a bad start. If I could merge the two it would be a great day.
“The positives are that I’m much, much faster this year and the bike is pretty good. Last year I would have been doing back flips about eighth place but today I’m gutted. We’re looking forward to getting some redemption next weekend at Laguna.”
Jake Holden was unable to add to his run of two consecutive top-five placings for the team as he was forced to retire from the contest with a mechanical issue.
Holden said, “It was a tough weekend for us, but we’ll regroup and come back strong next weekend.”
Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki will be back in action next weekend, July 23-25 at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California as they share the spotlight with the superstars of the MotoGP World Championship in the highly anticipated combined MotoGP/AMA Pro Road Racing weekend.
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Team M4 Monster Energy Suzuki uses and endorses fine products from M4 Performance Exhaust, Monster Energy, Suzuki, Geico Powersports, Arai Helmet, Dainese Leathers, GPR Stabilizers, Hotbodies Racing, Vortex, Bazzaz Performance, Galfer Brakes, DID Chain, Roadracingworld.com, and Chicken Hawk Racing.
Report from the Champ (Lima & I-96)
(News Release)
JARED MEES REPORT
Lima OH -GNC Half Mile
Jared Mees at Lima. (Provided by: JG Photowerx)
Here we were in Lima, OH, a place where I have had a lot of success over the years, where I won my very first GNC race. The day didn’t start out too badly as I qualified 5th overall. I still had some work to do with getting my times equal to the top spot. The placing put me in the Heat race with Sammy Halbert and Bryan Smith. I came off 2nd to Sammy and could not match his pace, coming in 2nd in the Heat. That did put me in the Dash and on the front row for the Main Event. In the Dash I didn’t get the greatest start and had to battle Joe Kopp, ending up 4th. Still had some work to do before the Main Event, including making some changes to the bike. We lined up and got a good jump this time but faded back and was battling for the 3rd spot for a while. Went backwards to 5th but Jake Johnson got it back, so I ended up 6th. The results were disappointing because no matter what we changed on the motorcycle all day I was a 5th or 6th place guy that day.
I-96 at Lake Odessa MI – GNC Half Mile
I was pretty excited to come back to what is now a hometown track for me. Sleeping in my own bed is always nice. We had a little rain shower earlier in the day which, all in all, helped the track out a lot. We qualified really well, 2nd overall. I was in the 2nd Heat race on the pole. I came off in 2nd and ran there for a while. We had made a bad tire choice for the Heat race as I was spinning all over the place and couldn’t get any traction. I ended up 3rd, missing the Dash and also the front row of the Main.
For the Main we put on the right tire. For sure I had my work cut out for me in this race as the track was really tough to pass on. I got a good jump off the bottom of the track and was running 4th. A few laps later there was a red flag due to oil on the track. We lined back up for another complete restart. This time it wasn’t so good. I was back in about 8th or so. I was able to get around a couple of guys and get up to 6th and then another red flag as Bryan Smith went down. This time it was a staggered restart. I didn’t have the greatest position and went backwards, back to about 8th or 9th. I was able to make a few passes and got back to where I was originally–behind Chris Carr. I followed him for a while and then, on lap 22, I made my way by Chris. I was all over the back of Sammy and was trying to make a move on him as well. I got up next to him and thought I was going to take over 4th but ran out of laps before I could make the pass clean. It was a tough track to pass on. I felt like I had the best motorcycle out there and really felt good, but that is what happens sometimes, especially on a narrow groove race track.
MID-MICHIGAN SPEEDWAY – Fenwick MI.. Sprint Car Fun!!
For being in the Top Three of the Indoor Ice Racing Series this past winter… [www.icespeedway.com] — including winning two Championships–I was invited to drive a full size sprint car the day after the I-96 race (Sunday). Kirk Cheney, who also rides in the indoor ice races, owns and builds these cars at his company, Cheney Racing Engines. We got two sessions to drive the car. It was something I have never done before and it was way cool !!! I now have a lot more respect for the guys who drive these things for a living. Thank you to I.C.E. and to Kirk Cheney for making this happen.
Next GNC race is Calistoga CA. We have a couple of outlaw races we will hit in the meantime. So ‘til then, thanks as always to all you good race fans.
Jammin’ Jared Mees
Picture Provided by: JG Photowerx
2010 Twins Sponsors:
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