AMA Pro Road Racing celebrated a great weekend of racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with battles to the checkered flag in all 3 classes, both Saturday and Sunday.
Since the beginning of the season,
AGV Dainese riders have established their very strong presence in the fields, in American Superbike, Daytona Sportbike and the very disputed youth class, Supersport. All our riders were coming into Mid-Ohio, on the momentum of their good performances at Laguna Seca, especially for Superbike contenders Rockstar Makita suzuki's Blake Young and Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates, Daytona Sportbike racer Steve Rapp and Supersport class Russ Wikle and James Rispoli who all had great finish in California, including podium spots for Young and the #23 of Yates.
American Superbike:
Mixed results with an outstanding performance by the fastest man on track this weekend, Aaron Yates who finished second on Saturday, after being slowed down by a lapper during his battle with Factory Yamaha's Josh Hayes. Despite a heavy crash on Friday Blake Young managed to finish in the Top 10 with
Dainese teammates National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Geoff may and Corona Extra Honda's Jake Holden.
On this physically demanding track,
AGV's Neil Hodgson was still suffering from his previous injury as the Honda rider was suffering from shoulder pain.
Sunday saw the return of a very strong Yates who would clock the fastest lap times in the morning warm-up. Racing was strong and intense between Hayes, Bostrom, Hayden and the #23, but Yates fell victim to a crash due to a gear jump in the carrousel. Blake Young took his Rockstar Makita Suzuki to a 4th place finish while Geoff May finished 8th after a race long battle with Matt Mladin, ahead of Corona Extra Honda's Neil Hodgson and his Roland Sands custom-painted AGV GP-Tech.
AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike
Point Standings (after 14 of 20 races):
1. Mladin, 390 points
2. Hayden, 264
3. Bostrom, 246
4. Hayes, 245
5. Pegram, 223
6. Young, 201
7. May, 199
8. Yates, 198
9. Knapp, 127
10. David Anthony, 120
11. Holden, 113
12. Ulrich, 100
13. Hodgson, 94
AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike Presented by AMSOIL:
We strongly recommend to watch the races on Speed TV because the Daytona Sportbike races at Mid-Ohio were intense from start to finish. On both days, Steve Rapp battled up-front, taking his Yamaha to a 6th finish, on both days, making it 3 in a row since The Rapper also took 6th at the previous round in Laguna Seca. Steve is now 8th in points in a tie with Honda's Jake Zemke.
Point Standings (after 14 of 20 races):
1. Cardenas, 285 points
2. Eslick, 275
3. Hacking, 241
4. Herrin, 211
5. DiSalvo, 201
6. Peris, 177
7. Davies, 176
8. TIE, Zemke/
Steve Rapp, 157
10. Aquino, 155
AMA Pro SuperSport Presented by Shoei:
Depsite excellent qualifying by Roadracingworld.com Suzuki's Russ Wikle and a 4th row on the grid for James Rispoli, our AGV Dainese riders were unlucky in the youth class. Russell crashed out while fighting for 4th in the 5th lap and James "The Rocket" Rispoli suffered a low-side crash, while going for 5th with 5 laps to go. not the expected results for our two riders, but a positively good weekend as they once again showed their speeds and potential confirming their strong presence in the class.
SuperSport East Championship Point Standings (after 5 of 9 races):
1. Day, 94 points
2. Leandro Mercado, 81
3. Wikle, 63
4. TIE, Pascarella/Nash, 62
6. Carter, 52
7. Wacker, 51
8. Kyle Wyman, 48
9. TIE, Worrell/Lazo, 43
