Monday, March 29, 2010

Max Biaggi goes 1-1 at WSBK Portimao

Congratulations to the Roman Emperor who took his Aprilia to two beautiful race wins in Portugal this weekend, after great battles with Leon Haslam.

With this perfect weekend in Portimao, the Dainese star now holds 2nd in the series tanding, 16 pts behind Haslam.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Dallas SX: Davi Millsaps and AGV on the podium again


COSTA MESA, Calif., Feb. 24, 2010 – AGV’s Davi Millsaps had a pretty successful first race in the new Dallas Cowboy stadium this past weekend in Arlington, TX
Despite a big crash at the Toronto SX and not riding during the week in order to recover for Dallas, it was a good day in Texas for a very sore Millsaps. After being 2nd fastest in the timed practice sessions on the technical track, Davi easily scored the win in Heat 1. On a track that saw a lot of riders going down earlier in the night, Davi came out almost mid-pack at the start of the Main Event and charged towards the front, passing Josh Hill for 2nd very early. Despite making time on Ryan Dungey during the first stage of the race, Davi could not get close enough to battle Ryan Dungey for the win and finished 2nd.
“Davi is having a good SX season with 4 podiums and a win and we are very proud of his results at mid-season” said AGV Dainese USA’s Roberto Sadowsky “Furthermore he has continued, with the other AGV riders, to help us develop our motocross helmets and has been a very valuable source of advices”.
Millsaps’ podium in Dallas is his 4th of the 2010 AMA Supercross season after a 3rd in San Francisco and Atlanta and a win in San Diego. Davi now sits in 4th in points standing.

Part of the Dainese group, AGV helmets are the results of 63 years of hard work in finding the best solution in terms of safety and design. A tradition carried on by some of the most important riders of all times who helped AGV make motorcycling history. Among them Giacomo Agostini, Angel Nieto, Barry Sheene, Kenny Roberts, Gennady Moiseev, Randy Mamola, Ezra Lusk, as well as Formula 1 racing legends such as Niki Lauda and Emerson Fittipaldi.
 Today the legend is carried on by the 9 times MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi, who is wearing an AGV helmet since the beginning of his thrilling career, 2008 250cc World Champion Marco Simoncelli and motocross freestyle legend Travis Pastrana and Women Motocross star Ashley Fiolek.
AGV helmets are distributed by Parts Unlimited in the USA and by Steen Hansen in Canada.

Video Presentation Team Monster Energy Yamaha

With our 2 MXGP stars, David Philippaerts and Gautier Paulin.

http://www.motocross-attitude.com/videos/video-presentation-team-monster-energy-yamaha-motocross/

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

AGV Dainese Sammy Halbert Leaves Daytona with great results

After winning the first night of the Daytona 2010 Short Track, taking his brand new AGV motocross helmet on the podium for the first time, Sammy had a difficult night on Day 2. Despite a great qualifiers race the start of the twenty five lap National saw Johnson on the point with Sammy Halbert right on his heels. As Halbert tried to shoot under Johnson exiting turn two he hit a slick spot starting and started a slow spin right in front of the entire field. Somehow everyone missed him and with the engine still running Halbert rejoined the chase.
While Johnson was cruising, the large crowds attention was riveted on the # 7 as Halbert caught the back of the pack by lap night and started working his way to the front, by lap fourteen he was in tenth place and still working forward. That was where the fairytale ended however as his Yamaha gave up and Sammy's night was over too soon.

In the GNC Dash Sammy Halbert showed the same speed and determination as he had with last night's win. Halbert stayed glued to the bottom while Joe Kopp had his # 3 American Agip / Latus Harley-Davidson backed Honda riding the rim.

GRAND NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. Jake Johnson (42 pts / 1 win); 2. (TIE) Henry Wiles / Joe Kopp / Johnny Lewis (34); 5. Sammy Halbert (33 / 1 win); 6. Kenny Coolbeth (32); 7. Jethro Halbert (29); 8. Jared Mees (25); 9. Bryan Smith (18); 10. Don Mullen (17).

PRO SINGLES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Jeffery Carver (42 pts / 1 win); 2. JD Beach (35 / 1 win); 3. James Rispoli (32); 4. Stephen Vanderkuur (31); 5. Brad Baker (30); 6. Mikey Avila (29); 7. Mikey Martin (19); 8. John Long (14); 9. (TIE) Cory Strickler / Mike Poe (13).

AGV Dainese James Rispoli update From Daytona

The long awaited season opener for the AMA Pro Singles Flattrack season has come and gone. I had such an awesome time the last two weeks and while I feel I could of done better, I was able to achieve a couple of podium finishes for the week and got out of there in 3rd place overall for the championship which was much better than last years start.  My highlight of the week was making the podium and getting a second place finish on the new short track on its inaugural night at the famed Daytona Speedway in front of a sell-out crowd of more than 5,000.  The only thing better was winning at the famed Daytona Stadium in 2009, the last time anyone will get a chance to do it again.  Cool stuff for sure!!!

My trip started out a bit sketchy.  Like every Daytona, you prepare all winter long yet some how it always comes down to the last minute for everything to come together. This year was no different.  We managed to get it all covered with our new 2009 Cycle Dynamics CRF 450 getting prepped with components from RHC, Boughner Racing, K&N, Motion Pro, Spectro Oils, DP brakes, Engine Ice, Vortex gears and D&D pipe.   My trusty Bettencourt Suzuki which I used last year to take a win at Daytona was also prepped with a full rebuild from top to bottom.  I was ready for racing.  I couldn't have done all the prep work without the support and sponsorship help from my crew chief Dustin Say. Dustin put in a ton of hours stripping my bikes down to the bare frames and rebuilding them back to mint race condition.

On the trip down I stopped off at Neeses SC to get some testing in since I have never ridden  a fuel injected dirt tracker before.  I changed suspension companies and also wanted to see how well my new Boughner Racing suspension was going to work.  The tests went well and the Honda was hooked up and handled better than I expected.  The Suzuki felt great too and it was really hooked up as well.  I left Neeses and made my way to Savannah, GA for some half mile testing.  I sat out the first two nights because I didn't want to put too much time on my new engines.  I waited to Saturday night so I could make some money.  During the evening it was clear the guys who raced the previous nights had their set ups dialed and already knew which lines were good on the track.  It took me a while to get adjusted to the new 09 CRF too, since the fuel injection made throttle control quite a bit trickier. I took my time getting up to speed, qualified fine and was ready to race.   In the race I had a problem with my bike really hooking up. I worked the entire track looking for a good line but ended up taking 5th overall.  While I wasn't particularly happy I made a few bucks to offset some fuel costs.  Later the next day working with Kenny Tolbert we discovered my tire gauge was reading 6 lbs off.  That meant I was running like 21lbs in my front Goodyear and 26lbs in my rear.  And I wonder why I couldn't get any grip.....

The next day we had a race at Barberville.  I made sure this time the air in the tires was correct and went out for practice.  The track was really rough, but I like it when the track is challenging like that.  I ran pretty good but wanted to slow the bike down a little for the heat race so I added a tooth to the rear gear.  I managed to win my heat and got ready for the main event.  In the main my bike was working really good and I felt strong. I managed to take a second place finish and collected a few more bucks and continued to learn about the new bike.

I finally made it to the short track at Daytona for a practice day.  When I got off the track the first time I was convinced it was not very good and it stayed not very good the entire day.  I knew that anything we did to set up the bikes to work in these conditions was going to be useless for the next days race and that was very true.  The next day was race one and it started around 10AM with the first free practice.  The next two practices would be timed and they would count for the qualifying positions.  I had a first good run and was fifth but on the second timed run I ended up eleventh.  I was not happy but since I still got a front row start I knew I could do something in the heat . I was on the outside of the front row but got an awesome start. We ended up with a red flag because a couple of riders got into each other.  On the restart I nailed it again and managed to run up front chasing Carver as we broke away from the pack.  I was catching Carver a little bit at a time but was making little mistakes here and there.  We both did, but in the end I had to settle for second place.  It was way cool and I really wanted to get up there on the podium the first night and thank all the great people who have been supporting me.

After a little celebration from the night before we knew things were going to be tougher on day two.  By now everyone was getting a feel for the track conditions and I expected it to be harder to qualify well too.  The track unfortunately was nothing like the night before.  Whatever set up worked on Wednesday was not working on Thursday.   Mike Boughner came over and worked on the suspension and things go a little better each time but I was really spinning up the rear tire.  It was too late but I knew half way through the practice that I should have used my Suzuki instead.  The Suzuki has less power and the day before I didn't use it because it hooked up too much!  I was committed now and had to make it work.  I ended up qualifying like eight and that was a little better than the day before. In the heat I felt confident I could make it work and end up either first or second but I got stuck behind a rider and couldn't get enough grip to make the pass.

In the final I initially got a great start but the race was red flagged.  On the restart I got pinched out and had to fight for every position.  I just couldn't get a lot of forward motion out of the bike and was forced to settle for a 6th place finish. I was not a happy camper about that. After I had a chance to cool down I reviewed the night with Dustin and realized some things we would do differently.  I got out of Daytona by making the main events on both nights out of 75 riders. I made it on the podium in the most prestigious of all short track races and came away with enough points to put me into third place in the championship.  Now all I have to do is find the funds to be able to make the west coast rounds so I don't fall behind in the points too much.

I want to thank all my sponsors for all their help.  To David Ashi for letting me crash in the RV at Daytona and to all the support, grub and everything.  I couldn't do it without friends like you.  To my bud Scott Rosey for being the man.   To my crew chief Dustin who flew down on his own dime to work with me, I couldn't of done it without you. To Rhonda and Dave Waters thanks for all the help down there I hope I made you laugh, the same to my good friend Broc, who had a tough Daytona but let me crash with him in Savannah.

James"the Rocket" Rispoli

Friday, March 5, 2010

AGV's Davi Millsaps gets on the box at Atlanta SX

(very late update - busy week :-) )

Honda Red Bull Racing Davi Millsaps had another succesful weekend in Atlanta last weekend when he took his AGV helmet to a 3rd spot finish in the Main event.

Davi, who won the Atlanta SX in 2008, had won his Heat race earlier in the night, fending off attacks from a fast Ryan Dungey.

After his 3rd podium finish of the year Davi is still 4th in the standings, 13 pts behind Ryan Villopoto.

Photos by GuyB @ www.Vitalmx.com

Sammy Halbert Wins First AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National to Kick Off 2010 Season

 Slammin' Sammy takes a great win at Daytona with his brother Jethro in 4th. James "The Rocket" Rispoli takes 2nd in the Single Pro. First win for the AGV off-road helmet in Dirt Track and a first podium in Single Pro.


DAYTONA BEACH, FL (March 4, 2010) - (www.amaproracing.com) AMA Pro Racing kicked off the 2010 AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship before a standing room only crowd at the "World Center of Racing" on the brand new DAYTONA Flat Track.
The large crowd that braved the cold temperatures were treated to some very hot racing all night. Woody Kyle Racing / Fredericktown Yamaha / Kings Kustoms/AGV/Dainese backed Sammy Halbert blasted around early leader Joe Kopp on lap eight and pulled to over a two second lead by the end of the 25 lap National.
"I just found my line on the track and was able to get out to a good lead," said Halbert. "I looked back late in the race and had a good lead. I yelled a few times in my helmet, I was pretty sure I had it won. It's really special to be the first winner at this new facility."
Kopp had gotten the hole shot and was settling into a lead over Coolbeth when AGV Dainese's Halbert came knocking on Coolbeth's door on lap three. Halbert wasted no time in his charge to the front and by lap ten he had pretty much locked the win away.

The sixteen lap Pro Singles National got off to a rough start when JD Beach hit the ground on the first lap in turn three.The restart saw AGV Dainese's James Rispoli off first but, Jeffery Carver sliced his way into the lead on lap four and was never headed. Rispoli pressured in second while Stephen Vanderkuur grabbed the last podium position. Mikey Avila made his Pro debut a success with a fourth place finish.


RESULTS:
GNC SINGLES: 1. Sammy Halbert (Yam); 2. Henry Wiles (Kaw); 3. Jake Johnson (Hon); 4. Jethro Halbert (Yam); 5. Joe Kopp (Hon);

PRO SINGLES: 1. Jeffery Carver (Yam); 2. James Rispoli (Hon); 3. Stephen Vanderkuur (Hon); 4. Mikey Avila (Hon); 5. Brad Baker (Hon);

Monday, March 1, 2010

Max Biaggi at WSBK Philip Island

With a 5th in Race 1 at Philip Island, Dainese's Max Biaggi leaves Australia in 7th in the point standing, after round 1 of 13 in the WSBK.