AGV Dainese Riders Invade Top 5 at Daytona 200

Photo by John Hanson (Hanson Images)

Costa Mesa, CA – March 15^th, 2011

During a sunny weekend in Florida, at Round 1 of the series at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona last weekend, the AGV Dainese AMA riders started their 2011 campaign with bravado.

When the AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike class returned to the track in Daytona, the Dainese line up was stronger than ever with Rockstar Makita Suzuki Blake Young, Jordan Suzuki Ben Bostrom, 2010 Daytona SportBike Champ Martin Cardenas on his M4 Suzuki along with teammate Chris Ulrich, and Geoff May on the new Erik Buell Racing, along with privateers Shane Narbonne and Eric Haugo.  The AGV Dainese riders rode very strong races both on Saturday and Sunday with Blake Young making us all very proud at Dainese when he rode his Rockstar Makita Suzuki to victory in both races, taking the “double”!  Behind Blake, Ben Bostrom and Martin Cardenas were dicing it out in very close racing with a group of pretty fast contenders, Ben and Martin scoring Top 5 overall finishes.

AMA Pro National Guard American SuperBike Points Standings (after 1 of 21 races) for AGV Dainese riders:

Blake Young – 1st

Ben Bostrom – 4th

Martin Cardenas – 5th

Chris Ulrich – 10th

In the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Supersport.com SuperSport Class, Dainese’s Tomas Puerta was the strongest, leaving Daytona with a win in race 1 and a second in race 2.  David Gaviria was the surprise rider of the weekend with two podiums: a third in race 1 and a victory in race 2!  He is riding with Dainese and alongside Tomas Puerta on the Team LTD Yamaha squad.  He should be someone to watch!  AGV Dainese rider James “The Rocket” Rispoli, a favorite, struggled with his bike set up in race 1 and ended up 7^th, just behind Dainese rider Elena Myers (6^th).  In race two, James had a much better bike after discussing the problems with AGV Dainese rider Jason Pridmore and was able to stay close to the leaders and manage a podium finish, giving Dainese a sweep of the SS podium in race 2!  Elena Myers felt strong in race 1, but lost out in the drafting sequence on the banking coming out of turn 4.  She performed better on the final lap in race 2, but could only manage 7^th.

AMA Pro Motorcycle-Supersport.com SuperSport Class Daytona 200 Race 1 for AGV Dainese:

1^st – Tomas Puerta

3^rd – David Gaviria

6^th – Elena Myers

7^th – James Rispoli

AMA Pro Motorcycle-Supersport.com SuperSport Class Daytona 200 Race 2 for AGV Dainese:

1^st – David Gaviria

2^nd – Tomas Puerta

3^rd – James Rispoli

7^th – Elena Myers

In the AMA Pro Vance & Hynes XR1200 series, long time faithful AGV Dainese rider Steve Rapp took his Harley-Davidson XR1200 to a 4^th place finish on the Daytona International Speedway.

AGV Dainese would like to congratulate all of our riders for racing hard and representing us with pride on the always difficult Daytona speedway.

Great photo of Slammin' Sammy at Daytona 2011

Great shot by Andrea Wilson seen on Cycle News, of AGV Dainese Sammy Halbert during his successful Daytona weekend. Sammy scored two wins back to back at the season opener.

Congrats Bud!

Sammy is wearing his AGV AX-8 motocross helmet in the Kaleidoscope graphics

AGV Dainese’s Sammy Halbert does it again at Daytona

Costa Mesa, CA – March 15^th, 2011

Always know for charging and never giving up, Slammin’ Sammy goes for a double-header at Daytona Short Track for the 2011 season opener.

It is in dominant fashion, even winning with a 5 seconds lead on the second night, that et Halbert and his Woody Kyle Racing/Fredericktown Yamaha took victory on both nights at the AMA Pro Grand National singles championship.  Sporting his new AGV AX-8 Kaleidoscope, Sammy looked comfortable all weekend, confirming the speed he displayed last year on this track.

When the series return to the track at round 3 in Du Quoin, Illinois, on April 16^th, the AGV Dainese rider will try to confirm his lead in the series and position himself as a contender for the 2011 title.

Halbert Does It Again At Daytona

Nobody Can Stop Sammy Halbert by Cycle News

DAYTONA BEACH, FL., MARCH 11 - From the time a wheel was turned in anger at the Daytona Short Track this year, if your name wasn't Sammy Halbert then you were racing for second place. If that wasn't a certainty after last night's victory, it most definitely was tonight as Halbert made it look easy in completely dominating qualifying, his heat race, the Dash For Cash and the National. And when the 25 laps were in the books, Halbert had half a lap lead on second place and he did it without breaking a sweat.

"This is what we expected," Halbert said. "We had so much speed at this track last year. I know how to set up my bike and I know how to ride this track."

Halbert and his Woody Kyle Racing/Fredericktown Yamaha crossed the finish line some five seconds ahead of Johnny Lewis, the former Supermoto racer having the best flat track weekend of his young career with the second place tonight bettering his third from last night.

But even that was nothing compared to the weekend that Halbert had: Two heat race wins, two Dash For Cash wins and two National wins. It all adds up to a 16-point lead in the championship after two races. Not a bad weekend if your name is Halbert.

Third place tonight went to Brad Baker, the rookie earning the first Expert podium of his career in just his second race as an Expert. Baker finished fourth last night.

Fourth tonight was Jake Johnson, the defending AMA Grand National Champion almost seven seconds behind Halbert and barely ahead of former Grand National Champion Kenny Coolbeth Jr.

Matt Weidman was sixth with Jared Mees seventh. Chad Cose had his best Expert-class finish in eighth and Henry Wiles and rookie Jeffrey Carver Jr. rounded out the top 10.

Short Track Final
1. Sammy Halbert (Yamaha)
2. Johnny Lewis (Honda)
3. Brad Baker (Honda)
4. Jake Johnson (Honda)
5. Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (Kawasaki)

AGV's Support-rider Jarek Balkovic scores 3rd in his class at Daytona Amateur SX

Congrats to one of our fast Amateur riders for his performance at the Daytona Amateur SX with a 3rd spot finish in the Schoolboy 2 class.

Below helmet cam video by the crew at MXPTV.com

Davi Millsaps goes Top 5 at 2011 Daytona Supercross

Davi takes his AGV AX-8 to another Top 5 finish in the 2011 AMA Monster Energy Supercross series with a 5th at Daytona.

Photo by GuyB at Vital MX

Dainese USA MTB riders hit Nevada State DH Championship 2011

Here's a great little video of the Nevada State DH Championship 2011 shot at Bootleg Canyon a couple weekend ago. Dainese USA's "privateer" team members Erik Nelson, Cris Ries and Washington State's Bob Stenson made the trip to Nevada as part of their 2011 race program and preparation for the 2011 Pro GRT tour.

Check Bob sporting his Dainese Roar Evo pants at 40 sec into the movie.

Nevada State DH Championship 2011 - Bootleg Canyon - SickLines from Sick Lines on Vimeo.

9th for Erik nelson despite a big crash, 11th for Bob Stenson, 21st for new Team Geronimo and Dainese member Lear Miller and a good job in 3rd (Cat 1 - 19-29) for one of his last races as an Amateur beofre turning Pro for Cris Ries.

Results Men - Pro.
Place	Points	Name	City, State	Time	License	Bib	Team
1	60	Mitch Ropelato	Ogden, UT	3:11.18	240150	11	SPS NA
2	Exp	Michael Sylvestri	Truckee, CA	3:19.69	288977	7	Specialized Allride
3	Exp	Bryson Martin	Castaic, CA	3:20.35	295629	37	Oakley / Marzocchi /
4	0	Tyler Allison		3:21.37		19
5	Exp	Derek Teel	Roseville, CA	3:22.00	250236	24	Team Teel / Race Bra
6	35	Tyler Immer	Rancho Murieta, CA	3:24.01	276049	32
7	30	Jonathan Widen	Mammoth Lakes, CA	3:24.87	217988	10	All Mtn Cyclery/Canf
8	Exp	Cameron Zink	Reno, NV	3:25.36	112265	30
9	26	Erik Nelson	Gilbert, AZ	3:25.52	240674	39
10	24	Naish Ulmer	Park City, UT	3:26.44	175253	16	KHS / Spy Optics / D
11	22	Robert Stenson	Bellevue, WA	3:26.52	279077	18	Absolute Bikes Team
12	20	Arthur Babcock	Fulton, NY	3:26.54	312428	14
13	19	Spencer Mehr	Saint George, UT	3:28.57	321450	21
14	Exp	Jon Wilson	Carson City, NV	3:29.23	38543	31	Northstar/Giant
15	17	Evan Geankoplis	Goldriver, CA	3:29.45	290045	33
16	16	Dante Harmony	Sedona, AZ	3:29.77	192657	40	All Mountain Cyclery
17	14	Troy D'Elia	Moreno Valley, CA	3:31.28	224206	28	FOES/MARZOCCHI
18	13	Michael Nash	Auburn, CA	3:31.83	277198	36	Canfield Brothers
19	12	Christopher Mari	San Luis Obispo, CA	3:31.89	249170	26	Zeal Optics
20	11	Ethan Quehl	Grayson, GA	3:32.34	175816	5
21	10	Lear Miller	Sedona, AZ	3:33.56	221501	12

Dainese 2011 Riders line-up

DAINESE INVESTS IN 2011 RACING TALENT

The 2011 race season is fast approaching with the World Superbike Championship kicking off in Australia this weekend. Italian leathers giant Dainese is investing in a whole host of talent in 2011.

Dainese will continue its support of reining World Superbike champion Max Biaggi as he fights to keep his title-crown firmly in place. Other riders under the Dainese banner in SBK include Joan Lascorz, Mark Aitchinson, Maxime Berger, Tom Sykes and popular Brit Leon Haslam, who makes a return to Dainese for the forthcoming season.

Nine-time MotoGP world champion and Dainese ambassador Valentino Rossi will be wearing red leathers this year following his move to Ducati. Rossi’s new team mate and former world champion Nicky Hayden will also be Dainese-backed for the first time in his career. Rossi and Hayden will be joined on the grid by fellow Dainese-protected Marco Simoncelli.

In Moto2 Dainese is supporting six riders in total including Pol Espargaró, who has moved up from 125cc after finishing third in 2010. Other riders in Moto2 include Simone Corsi, Mattia Pasini, Ratthapark Wilairot and Stefan Bradl. In the 125cc class Dainese will support Luis Salom, Sergio Gadea, Alessandro Tonucci, Luigi Morciano and Niklas Ayo. The MotoGP championship kicks off at the Losail Circuit in Qatar on 20 March.

The Italian company has continued its investment in lovable rogue Guy Martin for his 2011 assault on the roads and British Superstock Championship. His Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing team mate and British Superbike contender Josh Brookes has also been snapped up by Dainese. Brookes heads to Spain for the opening test of the year at Cartagena from 3-6 March ahead of the first race on 25 April at Brands Hatch.

Selected riders will be continuing to help develop and test D-Air Racing – Dainese’s revolutionary airbag system. The invaluable feedback from the supported riders is vital for the development of the system, which is due to launch in the UK in late Spring. D-Air Racing is a world first in airbag technology as unlike many of its rivals is not connected to the motorcycle. The device works on clever telemetry that reads track conditions and recognizes when a bike starts to slide. The airbag is deployed within 45 milliseconds and takes 10 seconds to deflate, so the rider can remount and continue to race. For more information visit: www.dainese.com

Supported riders wearing D-Air Racing include:

MotoGP:
Valentino Rossi | Nicky Hayden | Marco Simoncelli

Moto2:
Pol Espargaró | Stefan Bradl | Mattia Pasini | Simone Corsi

WSBK:
Max Biaggi | Leon Haslam

Leon Haslam, World Superbike Championship
"I'm very happy to be rejoining Dainese. Having visited the Dainese headquarters it's clear that the heritage of motorcycle racing and safety protection is synonymous with the Dainese name. I'm also very much looking forward to having the D-Air technology - I just hope I don't need it!"

Nicky Hayden, MotoGP
“I know Dainese has a long history, you know a couple fast guys have worn Dainese in their life. I’ve tried the leathers, I’ve been to the factory, seen all the technology before I made the decision to go that way. I’ve seen the products, seen the science that goes into it, and I’m on board.”


AGV is investing alongside Dainese to provide head-to-toe protection for selected riders. Under the banner of Italian Legendary Protection both iconic brands join to create 'ILP' and provide the ultimate in head-to-toe protection. The two brands are also supporting a host of riders in off-road championships and riders throughout Europe in their selected championships.