great weekend at AMA Barber Superbike series for AGV Dainese riders

Awesome! There's no other words to describe the weekend at round 8 & 9 of the 2011 AMA Pro Road Racing series.

American SuperBike:
Martin Cardenas takes his first win on the big bike on Saturday, ahead of Jordan Suzuki's Ben Bostrom and Rockstar Makita Suzuki Blake Young, making it an all Dainese podium.

 

 

 

On Sunday, Blake Young wins SBK race 2, Martin takes 3rd, followed by Steve Rapp in 4th, B-Boz in 5th.

AMA SBK Riders Standings:
1 - Josh Hayes - 235
2 - Blake Young - 233
3 - Tommy Hayden - 182
4 - Martin Cardenas - 155
5 - Ben Bostrom - 130
9 - Steve Rapp - 95
10 Geoff May - 82

AMA Pro SuperSports:

Good weekend for the Dainese and AGV youngsters with James Rispoli leaving Barber with the series lead after a 2nd place on Saturday and a win on Sunday. Superbe ride for M4 Suzuki Elena Myers who went 3rd and 5th.

Very difficult weekend for David Gaviria and Tomas Puerta who both suffered crashes in both races.

Steve Rapp takes the win in the AMA Vance & Hines XR1200 race

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.

Kevin Schwants rides 500cc again!

Kevin Schwantz went around the Indy track riding his 1993 World champion 500cc bike again. For this celebration  of Kevin's title and years in 500cc GP, we made a replica suit of his 1993 leathers. Pretty cool.

 

 

Video: How fast is Dainese's Yates at New Jersey

OnTheThrottle's Dave Williams goes through Aaron's lines and speeds at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Very fun little video where you can also spot AGV's Neil Hodgson and Dainese's Geoff May and Steve Rapp.

Video: Dainese's Aaron Yates by the OTT crew

Very good video-terview of Dainese and Jordan Suzuki rider Aaron Yates by the OnTheThrottle crew.

Dainese's Aaron Yates Gatorade Commercial

After having his picture on a limited edition Michael Jordan Gatorade bottle, Jordan Suzuki's #23 aaron Yates is featured on this national TV Gatorade ad. It's short, it's fast but it's good.

Better late than never: AMA Pro Mid-Ohio photos

Miscelanious photos from Mid-Ohio. You can click on the slideshow if you wish to watch the photos in bigger size.

AMA Pro Road Racing at Mid-Ohio 2009

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

AMA Pro Racing at Mid-Ohio - Race Day 1

It was a pretty good race day at the Mid-Ohio Sport Cars Course track in Lexington, OH for the AGV Dainese riders. Mid-Ohio is a very fun track set in the beautiful green Ohio countryside, and the racing today, both in Daytona Sportbike and AMA Superbike was excellent. Especially in the superbike race where we saw a train of 9 riders racing it out all race long, all withing 1 second for a while.

Daytona Sportbike:
Our star rider in this class, Steve "The Rapper" Rapp had another great performance, battling all race long with Aprilia's Chaz Davies. Despite being in Davies' wheel most of the race, Steve didn't manage to pass the liter bike and settle for 6th, equaling his Laguna Seca results. Let's keep in mind that this is a class with 41 riders.
AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Presented by AMSOIL - Race 1 Mid-Ohio
1. Danny Eslick (Buell 1125R), 21 laps
2. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R6), -2.317 seconds
3. Tommy Aquino (Yam YZF-R6), -2.365
4. Jake Zemke (Hon CBR600RR), -4.744
5. Chaz Davies (Apr RSV1000R), -7.653
6. Steve Rapp (Yam YZF-R6), -8.421
7. Taylor Knapp (Buell 1125R), -18.154
8. Chris Peris (Hon CBR600RR), -18.284
9. Jason DiSalvo (Suz GSX-R600), -20.303
10. Shawn Higbee (Buell 1125R), -39.115
16. Barret Long (Duc 848), -61.727
20. Santiago Villa (Suz GSX-R600), -63.480
26. Russ Wikle (Suz GSX-R600), -97.155

 AMA Superbike:

What a race we got (don't miss the broadcast on Speed TV!). From Superpole where Dainese riders scored 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 10th to today's thrilling race, the fans were treated to some exciting racing.
the first laps saw Yamaha's Josh Hayes and Tommy Hayden lead the pack while Dainese riders Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Blake Young and Jordan Suzuki's aaron Yates were battling it for 4th. Very quickly Young and Yates passed Hayden and pushed towards Hayes. Aaron passed Blake towards the mid-point while behind them Matt Mladin was working his way up the field. With 6 laps to go Aaron Yates was about to make a pass on Josh Hayes when they both got slowed down by a lapper who didn't move out of the way and held Yates back. The #23 charged in the last two laps, trying to catch back the time lost on Hayes but could get there on time before the checkered flag. Josh Hayes won the race 0.183 seconds ahead of the Yates. Exciting race and best results for aaron after two 3rd place finishes at Road America and Laguna Seca.
Blake Young, who had suffered a big crash in qualifiers on Friday, finished in 7th, ahead of National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Geoff May and Corona Extra Honda Jake Holden.
Finishing 11th was AGV's Neil Hodgson who is still not physically 100%, especially on a track like Mid-Ohio where his shoulder is working hard.

AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike Presented by Parts Unlimited - Race 1 Mid-Ohio
1. Josh Hayes (Yam YZF-R1), 21 laps
2. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000 K9), -0.183 second
3. Mat Mladin (Suz GSX-R1000 K9), -3.055 seconds
4. Ben Bostrom (Yam YZF-R1), -3.251
5. Larry Pegram (Duc 1098R), -5.300
6. Tommy Hayden (Suz GSX-R1000 K9), -6.792
7. Blake Young (Suz GSX-R1000 K9), -7.746
8. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000 K9), -16.261
9. Jake Holden (Hon CBR1000RR), -31.205
10. Michael Laverty (Suz GSX-R1000 K9), -22.997
11. Neil Hodgson (Hon CBR1000RR), -31.205
12. Taylor Knapp (Buell 1125RR), -47.247
13. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000 K9), -55.379
14. Scott Jensen (Suz GSX-R1000 K8), -80.927
15. Shane Narbonne (Suz GSX-R1000 K8), -81.021
16. Russell Holland (Yam YZF-R1), -81.496
17. Barrett Long (Duc 1098R), -82.090

Laguna Seca AMA Superbike

Better late than never. :-)

Great performance for the AMA Superbike AGV Dainese riders at Laguna Seca with more podium for Rockstar Makita Suzuki' Blake Young and Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates. Despite a nasty crash in the first lap, followed by a re-start, AGV's Neil Hodgson took his Honda to 6th, followed in 7th by his teammate Jake Holden. National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Geoff May in 9th and Chris Ulrich in 12th close the AGV Dainese Top 15.

Series standings:
6th - Aaron Yates 173 pts
7th - Geoff May 173 pts
8th - Blake Young 169 pts
11th - Jake Holden 101 pts
12th - Chris Ulrich 92 pts
14th - Neil Hodgson 72 pts

Action Video from the Red Bull US MotoGP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGnNOk9Fn9o

Aaron Yates return to the podium, OTT Video

another great piece from the guys at onthethrottle.com with this post-Barber interview of Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates, a Dainese rider.

AMA Superbike raced against weather at Barber

The weather could have not been worse at Barber, in Birmingham, Al, this Sunday. numerous tornado alerts along with heavy downpours disturbed the racing program. The day's three races were delayed by two hours and each race was shortened five laps from its scheduled distance as a band of severe thunderstorms passed through the area bringing tornado warnings in the early afternoon.

Seventh win in a row for Mladin in the AMA Pro American Superbike race where AGV Dainese riders had up and downs.
Unfortunately Blake Young, who was very fast in the morning warm-up, tangled with Yamaha's Josh Hayes and crashed, resulting in a left-hand fingers injury that needed a quick surgery (wishing Blake a prompt recovery). After the full-course caution and subsequent restart Jordan Suzuki's Aaron Yates took his #23 GSXR-1000 and Dainese leathers to a very well deserved 2nd place finish, 2.741 seconds behind Mat Mladin.

Aaron Yates said “It’s great to be on the podium again, it’s been a while. This weekend has been up and down for us. We only got the 2009 Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 a few weeks ago and we’re still getting it sorted out. But I’m feeling pretty good about the bike, and it’s running pretty good. It just feels great to get back up on the podium and show how hard the Jordan Suzuki guys are working.”

On a mostly dry track, National Guard Jordan Suzuki's Geoff May scored another very good Top 5 finish reinforcing his 3rd overall in the point standings.

AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike Presented by Parts Unlimited - May 3rd, 2009
2nd. Aaron Yates (Suz GSX-R1000K9)
5th. Geoff May (Suz GSX-R1000K9)
11th. Chris Ulrich (Suz GSX-R1000K9)
20th. Barrett Long (Duc 1098R), -81.179
21st. Shane Narbonne (Suz GSX-R1000K8)

Championship Point Standings (after 7 of 21 races):
3rd. May, 122 points
4th. Young, 114
7th. Yates, 98
13th. Ulrich, 53
16th. Neil Hodgson, 25
17th. Long, 23

AMA Pro Daytona SportBike Championship Presented by AMSOIL - May 3rd, 2009
9th. Russ Wikle (Suz GSX-R600)
14th. Steve Rapp (Yam YZF-R6)
33rd. Santiago Villa (Suz GSX-R600)
36th. Barrett Long (Yam YZF-R6)

Championship Point Standings (after 7 of 20 races):
8th. Rapp, 67 points
14th. Long, 40

Another great podium finish for Roadracingworld.com's Russ Wikle who's sitting 3rd overall, 1 points behind Leandro Mercado.

AMA Pro SuperSport Championship Presented by Shoei - May 3rd, 2009
2nd. Russ Wikle (Suz GSX-R600)

Championship Point Standings (after 3 of 9 races):
3rd. Russ Wikle, 48 points
14th. Long, 40

Friday at Barber with Aaron Yates and the #23 Jordan Suzuki team

Enjoy this great little video inside the life of the #23 Jordan Suzuki team

Aaron Yates and James Rispoli on Pit Pass Radio tonight Tuesday April 7th

From a press release issued by Pit Pass Moto Weekly

Pit Pass Moto Weekly - Motorcycle News and Talk Show

Advance, North Carolina (April 7, 2009) - Top talent and industry insiders from the motorcycle industry give their uncut opinions and race stories. Get your weekly motorcycle news live from Pit Pass Moto Weekly. Pit Pass Moto Weekly is now heard in 52 countries around the world.

7 pm to 9 pm Central - Motorcycle Radio streaming individual interviews from www.pitpassradio.com, or download the program from our archives to your ipod or mp3 player anytime. The archive is posted 15 minutes after we finish the live show and available at your convenience.

Aaron Yates, Superbike Racer - Jordan Suzuki
Aaron raced in front of his hometown crowd this past weekend at Road Atlanta and finished 6th on Saturday and 5th on Sunday in the Superbike class. He is currently in 8th place overall in the series. Yates is the 2008 Superstock Champion and a five time AMA National Champion. He has won titles in the 1000 cc Superstock, 600 cc Supersport, 750 cc Supersport and SuperTeams classes. The Georgia native has also earned 43 AMA National victories, four wins in AMA SuperTwins (Harley-Davidson 883) class and four wins in AMA Super-Teams Endurance competition.
www.23race.com

James 'The Rocket" Rispoli, Dirt Track Racer - Weirbach Racing and NPS Racing Engines
James has been racing dirt track since the age of 6. Last year he raced for the factory supported Aprilia dirt track team run by Lloyd Brothers Motorsports and finished 6th nationally on a limited schedule. He placed 2nd at the Indy Mile in 2008 on the only stock framed twin in the basic expert class. In 2009, James is challenging for the title in the new AMA Pro Flattrack class and will run a limited WERA National Road Race series and limited AMA Supersport series on the east coast. In 2009, he is racing for the Weirbach Racing team for dirt track and the NPS Racing Engines team for road racing.
www.jamestherocket.com

Other guests include Josh Strang, GNCC Racer, Mike Quindazzi, Online Director - Ultimate Motorcycling, Neale Bayly, Moto Journalist - SPEED Channel,

Crew at Pit Pass Radio
Scott Casber, Tony Wenck, Tony Tice, Jack DeLeon and Ed Kuhlenkamp.

Pit Pass Moto Weekly is a syndicated motorcycle talk show heard across the U.S. on radio stations and around the world via the internet at www.pitpassradio.com. The show airs every Tuesday from 5-7 pm Pacific, 6-8 pm Mountain, 7-9 pm Central, and 8-10 pm Eastern at www.pitpassradio.com. Companies interested in advertising on the show or marketing partnerships can contact Ed Kuhlenkamp at (336) 293-9103, or click on contact in the menu and make sure to list advertising in the email.

AGV Dainese USA Introduce their 2009 AMA Pro riders

[This P.R. was edited by the author :-)]

2009 AMA SPONSORED RACERS BY AGV DAINESE USA

AGV Dainese USA introduced their 2009 AMA Sponsored Racers. For 2009, Dainese and AGV USA, have a line up of Top riders that reinforce the strong commitment that the Italian apparel and helmet companies made to the motorcycle racing scene in the US.

Jordan Suzuki #23 Aaron Yates (2008 AMA Superstock Championship) and National Guard Jordan Suzuki #54 Geoff May (2nd place 2008 AMA Superstock Championship) will wear the Italian manufactured racing leather suits that made Dainese a leader in the motorcycle protective gear.

Corona Extra Honda #100 Neil Hodgson, who finished 6th in the AMA 2008 season, will be an important ambassador for AGV helmets in the US premium racing class.

Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki #79 Blake Young, who finished the 2008 AMA Superstock and AMA Supersport with a very respectable 4th place, will be the youngest rider in the Suzuki factory-backed team to represent Dainese.

The Roadracingworld.com Suzuki team (including riders Chris Ulrich, Santiago Villa and Russell Wikle) will be the only team in AMA to be protected "head to toes" by Dainese and AGV. Thanks to the acquisition of AGV helmets, Dainese is now one of the only manufacturers offering full protective gear for motorcyclists.

18 years old Garrett Willis in AMA Supersport along with 2007 Daytona 200 Champion and 3rd place 2008 AMA Formula Xtreme Steve Rapp and Paragdim Racing's Barrett Long, a Top 10finisher at the 2009 Daytona 200, complete the 2009 AMA AGV Dainese line-up.

To strengthen its dedication to grass-roots racing in the US, Dainese and AGV will continue to support the Vesrah Suzuki team (made of Mark Junge, John Jacobi, Tray Batey and Cory West), winner of the last three WERA Championships, sponsoring the team "head to toes".

James "The Rocket" Rispoli, Tony Davila and Sammy Halbert will carry the AGV Dainese colors in the 2009 AMA Flat Track Championship.

The legendary Kevin Schwantz along with Aaron Yates, Geoff May, Blake Young, Santiago Villa stopped by the Dainese D-Store Orange County, before the 2nd round of the 2009 AMA National Guard Superbikeseries at Fontana, to visit the store that has become a unique place for motorcycle aficionados.

“Providing people with head-to-toes protection in dynamic sports” has been the corporate mission since 1972 when the company was founded by its current President Lino Dainese.