The weather was almost perfect, the girls where better than that.  Mid Ohio 2009 was one of the most competitive weekends of the season, this isn’t about that. Wives, Girlfriends, Models and maybe even a couple Moms, it’s one of the fun parts of a the race weekend for sure….

Michael Jordan Motorsports (MJM) wrapped up a weekend of exciting racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates capturing his third consecutive podium of the season. The Lexington, Ohio track hosted Round 8 of the AMA Pro Racing National Guard American Superbike Championship, giving fans something to cheer for as they witnessed two of the best Superbike races of the 2009 season. With just one second covering the top 10 for much of the weekend, Yates and his MJM teammate Geoff May ran strong across all three days and went into the races knowing they had winning motorcycles underneath them.

Aaron Yates, Jordan Suzuki No. 23
Known for his speed at Mid-Ohio and with an impressive win list at the Ohio track to back it up, #23 Aaron Yates came into Round 8 raring to go. Coming off back-to-back podiums at Road America (P3) and Laguna Seca (P3), Yates and his Jordan Suzuki GSX-R 1000 were on a roll and had momentum entering the weekend at Mid-Ohio.

2nd PLACE, SATURDAY RACE 1 – In Saturday’s Race 1, Yates made an impressive run up to
the front of the field after suffering a poor start from P2 on the grid. After settling into the race, Yates began his charge to the front, picking off rider after rider, until he found himself on the rear wheel of eventual race winner Josh Hayes. As Yates closed into position on lap 18 of 21, however, a lapped rider disrupted Yates’ determined charge to the front. After losing vital ground to the factory Yamaha, Yates, who set the fastest lap of the race (1:25.666), soon remounted the charge and was poised to continue to challenge Hayes for the lead when the checkered flag fell with Yates crossing the line a mere .183 seconds behind. With his second place finish, Yates matched his 2009 season-best finish (P2 at Barber Round 4) and gave Jordan Suzuki its third straight podium in four races, for four total on the season.

“It was a pretty good race, though we didn’t get off the line like we hoped to,” said Yates. “Some guys came by and we were a little slow getting into turn one, but we set in and had a good race. I knew it was going to be a pretty good sized pack up front and everybody was running pretty close, so it was going to be interesting to see who was there at the end. The Jordan Suzuki worked great today as the result shows and it’s nice to be on the podium again for the team and our fans.”

DNF, SUNDAY RACE 2 – As Sunday’s Race 2 was about to get underway, the stage was set for another strong #23 showing. With Yates topping the time sheets in Sunday’s brief morning warmup session, the veteran rider was feeling confident and hoping for his first Superbike win of the 2009 season. Unfortunately, on lap three of the 21 lap contest, Yates’ GSX-R 1000 accidentally slipped out of gear just before the front straight, causing him to go lowside unharmed.

“The transmission hopped out of gear as I was entering the corner and that was that,” said Yates. “You grab a few backshifts coming into the Carousel and as I settled into the turn, it slipped into first, which upset the bike quite a bit and I lost it. It’s too bad, as my Jordan Suzuki felt great and it was some good racing out there this weekend. That’s racing, however, and we’ll be back at it in Topeka.”

Geoff May, National Guard Jordan Suzuki No. 54
National Guard Jordan Suzuki rider Geoff May and his crew came into Round 8 looking to
regroup after a tough Round 7. The #54 team came out swinging, with May taking P3 in
Superpole on Friday to place his Suzuki GSX-R 1000 on the front row for Saturday and Sunday’s races.

8th PLACE, SATURDAY RACE 1 – Race 1 at Mid-Ohio saw a fierce battle amongst the top eight riders for much of the 21-lap feature American Superbike race. Included in the group was May, who was a threat for the front until about the halfway point where the bike lost rear grip, causing May to slide slightly backward through the lead pack and eventually finish in eighth position.

“We missed it by a small amount today,” said May. “The setup we went with caused the rear tire to go off a bit quicker than we’d hoped and after about mid-distance it was pretty loose. Everyone is riding so close this weekend so even the smallest issues are having a big impact. We have Race 2 coming up tomorrow so we’ll make some adjustments and get back out there.”

8th PLACE, SUNDAY RACE 2 – Race 2 for the National Guard Jordan Suzuki team produced the same result, but came about it in a different manner. The front pack ran nose-to-tail all race long with less than one second covering the top 10 after Sunday morning’s warm-up. May had a back and forth race through the lead group and battled with six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin for the majority of the contest. Unable to find a way past, May was forced to settle for another eighth place for the weekend, bringing the #54 home with his second top 10 finish of the weekend.

“The bike was a podium bike today for sure,” said May. “It felt really good and I felt we had
laptimes in us but just couldn’t get it inside the top five. While I’m not thrilled about the finishing position, I am happy with the motorcycle. Now we head to New Jersey for testing this week so we can keep pushing the National Guard Jordan Suzuki forward.”

Yates exits Round 8 in eighth place in the Championship with 198 points, with MJM teammate May (199) within striking distance.

Corona Extra Honda Riders Neil Hodgson and Jake Holden each took home a ninth place finish at the Mid Ohio Superbike race this weekend. Both riders had their share of struggles and challenges getting up to speed in the races but worked hard and came home with top-ten placings.

The weekend started off well for Jake Holden with a set of blistering laps in opening practice that saw him second on the leader board. Jakes speed through qualifying put him in seventh and into Superpole. Neil Hodgson struggled at the track, citing his recovering shoulder as holding him back on the many side-to-side transitions the technical Mid Ohio circuit provided. Neil qualified in twelfth position. In Superpole Jake was not able to hold his speed and had to settle for tenth. Jake said; “We tried a tire that I just couldn’t get confidence in so had to take it easy!”

In the first race, both riders got good starts and were well in with the front group, Jake in tenth and Neil a position up in eleventh. The two stayed in this position for much of the race when a late charge by Jake netted him another position on the penultimate lap so at the finish it was Jake in ninth and Neil in eleventh. Holden commented that it was his front tire that held him back at the start: “The front didn’t feel planted for the first few laps and I just didn’t push it. I sort of lost touch with the leaders!”  Thereafter Jakes lap times were equal to most of the front group.

In race two, both riders got away with an extra spot at the start, Jake in ninth and Neil eleventh. Holden lost a position to Mladin on lap two but both moved up a spot with Yates crashing out on lap three. On lap five Jakes bike started to misfire, forcing him to retire. Neil held his position to the finish, duplicating the ninth place of Jake the day before. Neil said; “I just tried to ride as smoothly as possible. This track is really physical and so I was having a hard time getting a a rhythm going!”

Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Racing/RMR/GEICO Powersports rider Danny Eslick swept both races of the AMA Pro Racing Daytona SportBike double-header weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, clinching victory in Sunday’s second race with a dramatic last-lap pass on rival Jamie Hacking. With the double wins, Eslick closed the gap on championship points leader Martin Cardenas to 10 points with six rounds remaining in the 2009 season.

Eslick and Monster Attack Kawasaki’s Hacking battled for the lead throughout the race, with an official six lead changes coming between them and Graves Yamaha’s Josh Herrin, until Eslick took control on the final lap, forcing his Buell 1125R past Hacking on the inside of the lefthand entrance to the Esses on the track’s technical back section.

“It was so close. Jamie went by [on the last lap]. I made a little mistake, missed a gear-­it just kind of caught a false neutral. He put a good gap on me but I ran him back down,” Eslick said. “He slid through on a lapper and I got hung up around the outside and he made up a little ground. I knew I could catch him. I was a little bit faster in some spots. We had some contact. That was my opening. I had to do it and that was the last place I could do it. My hat’s off to Jamie. That was a heck of a race.”

With the double-header sweep, Eslick moved to within 10 points of the Daytona SportBike championship lead behind Team M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas, who finished third in Sunday’s race. Heading into round nine at Heartland Park Topeka July 31-Aug 2, Cardenas leads with 285 points, followed by Eslick with 275 and Hacking with 241.

Fourth place in Sunday’s Daytona SportBike race went to Latus Motors’ Taylor Knapp, equaling his best class result of the season. Knapp pulled double-duty at Mid-Ohio, also piloting the new Buell 1125RR in its AMA Pro American Superbike competition debut to a 10th place finish in Sunday’s American Superbike race.

In other results Sunday, Eslick’s teammate Michael Barnes finished 13th on his GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell in Daytona SportBike, while Bartels’ H-D/Higbee-racing.com’s Shawn Higbee finished in 20th in the Daytona SportBike race and 15th in Sunday’s American Superbike contest.

The next round of the championship is set for July 31-Auguest 2 at Heartland Park Topeka, Kansas.

Josh Hayes started from pole and swept the Honda Super Cycle Weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, earning his third career AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited victory in Sunday’s race.  Danny Eslick matched Hayes’ effort, claiming victory in a hard-fought AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL battle earlier in the day.

Hayes has an accomplished history at the 2.4-mile course and this weekend proved to be a continuation for the two-time Formula Xtreme champion.  After claiming Superpole on Friday, Hayes held off a hard-charging pack of riders led by Aaron Yates’ No. 23 Brand Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000 in Saturday’s American Superbike race for the win.  Sunday saw a compelling performance by Hayes, as he held off teammate Ben Bostrom’s No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1 to mark the first time in 15 years that a Yamaha rider has earned three wins in an American Superbike season.  The last rider to complete the milestone was two-time World Superbike champion and MotoGP star Colin Edwards in 1994.

“This is what Superbike racing is supposed to be,” said Hayes, who earned his first American Superbike victory at Infineon Raceway earlier this year.  ”One lap I had a full second gap, and the rest of the time I had these guys breathing down my neck.  This is what you feel good about; when you go home you know that you put it all out there, that these guys were having a good day too and you came out on top.  It doesn’t matter how much you win by, it’s the difference between racing and just going fast around a race track.”

Rockstar/Makita Suzuki rider Tommy Hayden won the hole shot on the No. 22 Suzuki to start the 21-lap sprint race, but gave up the point to Hayes in Turn 6 on the first lap.  Hayes lost the lead only briefly, falling behind Bostrom in Turn 6 on Laps 8 and 11 only to retake control of the field in the next corner.  Bostrom held off the remainder of the lead pack to finish .987 seconds behind Hayes.

“We had a very good bike today,” said Bostrom.  “It seems like when you brake on the inside, you never seem to make the corner, and Josh is real smart, very savvy.  He just kind of high-lowed me back up there, so I tried to get on the gas pretty hard the second time and came pretty far out of the saddle.  I thought I was going to jump on his bike. I just settled down and tried to follow him and figured I’d just make a run on him in the end. I felt like my bike was incredible.”

Hayden looked to the inside of Bostrom in Turn 6 several times during the second half of the race in an attempt to take second, but was never able to get the No. 22 Suzuki into a position to complete the pass.  The Kentucky native scored his seventh podium of the season on Sunday.

“I couldn’t get around those guys,” said Hayden.  “They were pushing really hard.  Towards the middle of the race I kind of felt like I needed to get by and then if I could, I thought maybe I could up the pace a little bit.  The last five laps it was getting pretty difficult just to hold on. We each had our part of the race where our bikes were working a little bit better.  In the end I had to follow those guys home.”

Blake Young was the final rider in the lead pack, finishing in fourth place aboard the No. 79 Rockstar/Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000.  Columbus, Ohio native Larry Pegram’s No. 72 Foremost Insurance Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R rounded out the top five after trading fifth position with Michael Laverty’s No. 8 Celtic Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 four times in the final 10 laps.

Championship leader Mat Mladin finished seventh on the No. 7 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 and leads Hayden by 126 points in the American Superbike championship standings.

Sunday’s American Superbike race can be seen later this evening at 1 a.m. ET (10 p.m. PT).  Next up for AMA Pro American Superbike is a doubleheader at the Tornado Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka on the weekend of July 31-August 2.

Eslick Earns Fifth Daytona SportBike Win
Danny Eslick’s No. 9 GEICO Powersports RMR Buell 1125R came out victorious in a battle that went down to the wire with the eventual second-place No. 88 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R of Jamie Hacking in the second of two AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.  Six official lead changes came between the riders that claimed the top two spots over the course of the 21-lap sprint race that opened Sunday’s races at the Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tires.

The excitement began on the sighting lap, with Jake Zemke’s No. 1X Erion Honda CBR600RR losing power in Turn 4.  Last season’s Formula Xtreme champion was forced to run back to the pits and start from the rear of the grid on his backup bike.  A clean start followed and Eslick led the field through the first set of turns before being passed by Hacking in Turn 6.  Eslick regained the top spot in Turn 1 on the following lap.  That set of passes would set the tone for the two riders, occurring in the same fashion on Laps 14 and 15.  Hacking recaptured the lead in Turn 6 on Lap 16 and was able to hold off a rushing Eslick for four more laps.

On the final lap, Eslick took a page from the Kawasaki rider’s book and looked to the inside in Turn 6, but was unable to complete the pass.  This set him up for an inside line through the Esses and the pair leaned on each other as they made their way through.  The No. 9 Buell emerged as the leader and led the field to the finish.

“Jamie was real strong out of the keyhole,” said Eslick.  “He was strong out of it and strong into it, and I was good through the middle.  We went back and forth a couple times.  (The last lap pass) was the cleanest pass I could definitely make.   There was some contact, but it was good.  Jamie would have stuck it in there just as hard as I would have.”

Josh Herrin’s No. 8 Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 also presented a challenge, passing Hacking on Lap 3 and taking the lead from Eslick on Lap 7.  Herrin officially led two laps, although he and Eslick traded the lead twice on Lap 8 before Eslick was able to take the lead from the Yamaha for the final time on Lap 9.   Herrin finished 12th after an off-course excursion on Lap 13 allowed Hacking to challenge Eslick for the final portion of the race.  In all, Hacking led for seven laps and earned his sixth podium and fifth second-place finish of the Daytona SportBike season.

“The race today was great,” said Hacking.  “We were pushing hard the entire race. I was stronger on this side of the race track and Danny was stronger back there in the back and it just made out for a really good race, close racing.  I put everything I had into the last couple laps there and I thought I had the door closed enough.  He muscled his way in there and made a clean pass.  I had made that pass before and there were no hard feelings. He rode a great race, and we pulled away from everybody else this weekend.”

Martin Cardenas recovered from a crash in Saturday’s Daytona SportBike race to run clean and consistent, claiming the final spot on the podium aboard the No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600.  The Colombian now leads the Daytona SportBike standings by 10 points over Eslick, 285-275. Hacking is close behind in third with 241 points.

“It was a hard race for me because my confidence wasn’t very good after two races, two crashes,” said Cardenas.  “So today that was the best I could do.  These guys were a little bit faster than me, and I tried to stay with them, but five laps from the end I made a mistake and almost crashed and so I decided that third place was good enough for today.”

Fourth place went to the No. 54 Latus Motors Racing Buell 1125R of Taylor Knapp, who pulled double-duty this weekend racing, where he also earned a top-10 finish on the No. 44 Taylor Knapp Racing Buell 1125RR in the final American Superbike race of the weekend.  Roger Hayden encountered electrical problems in Saturday’s race, but had a strong showing Sunday to complete the top five on the No. 95 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R.  Zemke climbed 11 positions on the first lap and powered through the field to salvage a 10th place finish.

Sunday’s Daytona SportBike race can be seen later this evening at midnight ET (9 p.m. PT).  Next up for AMA Pro Daytona SportBike is a doubleheader at the Tornado Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka on the weekend of July 31-August 2.

SuperSport East Sees New Winner in Day
Josh Day marched away from the field on the No. 4 Team E.S.P. Yamaha YZF-R6 to claim his first career AMA Pro SuperSport presented by Shoei victory Sunday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Day started from second position and led all but the first of the contest’s 17 laps, passing Ricky Parker’s No. 96 Graves Yamaha YZF-R6 on the second lap and leading the rookie to the stripe by 8.895 seconds at the end of the race.

“It was definitely a good race for us today,” said Day.  “The Evans Steele Performance guys have been working hard all weekend trying to get the setup really good. I couldn’t believe it when I was watching the board, that I was pulling a gap on Ricky Parker with how fast he is and how fast everyone else is out there.  I just kept my head down the whole race and just ended up with the win.”

The battle for the final two podium spots were more difficult to secure, with Parker holding off a hard-charging Garrett Carter.  Carter started from 11th position and took second briefly with a tight pass in Turn 4 on the final lap of the race, but was unable to hold the spot.  Parker powered back past Carter’s No. 31 Yamaha YZF-R6 as the two rounded Turn 6 and held the position to claim his fourth podium in four attempts.

“The setup on the front of the Yamaha was a little off, besides that everything was pretty cool,” said Parker.  “I have to admit that I didn’t have it for Josh today. He was just too fast for me. He is just a great rider, but I am happy to podium and end up with three Yamahas (on the podium).”

After starting 11th, an early racing incident threatened to end Carter’s day early, but he was able to keep his composure and control of his bike and surged to the front.

“It was pretty good,” said Carter.  “I got involved with a little Turn 1 accident at the first lap, first corner.  Someone crashed and hit me pretty hard, and I had to run off the track a little bit and quite a few guys got by me. So really I’m lucky to be here right now.  (Parker) was really good on the brakes today, and it’s such a hard track to pass on, I just couldn’t do it.”

Day now leads the AMA Pro SuperSport East standings by 13 points over Leandro Mercado (No. 92 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R), 94-81.

Highlights from Sunday’s SuperSport race can be seen later this evening at 1 a.m. ET (9 p.m. PT).  The next round for AMA Pro SuperSport will be held at Tornado Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka on the weekend of July 31-August 2.

Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden brought home a podium finish in the second of two AMA Superbike races in the series double-header weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on Sunday afternoon. Although Hayden had struggled in Saturday’s race and finished sixth, on Sunday the Kentucky native put all the proverbial pieces together and captured a third-place finish on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000. This result marks Hayden’s seventh visit to the AMA Superbike podium this year and he is currently second overall in the championship points standings. Rockstar Makita Suzuki teammate Blake Young was right there with Hayden all the way and finished in fourth place. Superbike rookie Young got a good start and battled with his teammate before settling into fourth place in the 21-lap race. Finally, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin struggled a bit with set-up this weekend and finished in seventh position. Despite this result, the six-time AMA Superbike Champion still leads the overall championship points standings by more than100 points with just three rounds left in the season.

Tommy Hayden:
“I was trying to get as close as I could to the guys in front of me, but this place is tricky to pass. There’s only a couple of places where you can really get by. One is off the back straightaway and both these guys are really strong there. They were definitely making the race a little tougher for me. The Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 was pretty good, though, and we made a few small changes so it was a little bit better than yesterday… I’m feeling good – the whole weekend has been strong, I’ve been on pace and was definitely disappointed yesterday. I felt we were way better than that and it feels good to bounce back a little bit. I’ve come close to winning a few times this year but I just can’t seem to make that next step. So we’ll keep working on that and hopefully we’ll get there.”

Blake Young:  
“I had a good start today on the Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000. We weren’t leading but we were definitely there and I ran in third for a few laps. Then some guys came by and they were setting a really good pace compared to yesterday. All our laps today were more consistent, a lot better and a lot faster. We made some improvements on the bike that really helped us and that we’ll be able to benefit from at the next race.”

Mat Mladin:  
“It’s no secret that we’ve struggled a bit this weekend. We have some issues that need to be sorted out. We’ve been working on it, but so far we haven’t come up with anything that allows me to feel comfortable enough on the bike to really push it. But we’ll keep trying and hopefully come back stronger for the next race.”

Rockstar Makita Suzuki Factory Racing will race next at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, Kansas, the weekend of July 31 – August 2, 2009.

It’s officially ‘Josh Day’. If you’ve been paying attention you already know that the rider Josh Day won the Supersport race going away.  In the ‘Big Boy’ races Josh Hayes also (as well as Eslick) had a perfect weekend.  Pole Position and Both Superbike races, it doesn’t get any better than that.  It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, Congratulations to all Josh’s!

Danny Eslick has a perfect weekend at Mid-Ohio.  He took the Pole, won Daytona Sportbike Race 1 and 2 and had the funniest comment in the press conferences (I’ll have to get back to ya on that one it’s worth getting the quote right).  Not Bad!

M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas Podiums in Round 8 – AMA Daytona Sportbike Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

Team M4 Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas celebrated another podium finish in the AMA Daytona SportBike class on Sunday afternoon at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.  The Colombian rider got a good start on his M4 Suzuki GSX-R600 and battled for the final podium position for the first half of the 21-lap race.  At about the mid-way point in the race, though, Cardenas took over third position and held on to the checkered flag. This result marks Cardenas’ ninth visit to the AMA Daytona SportBike podium this year, with six of those appearances being for victories. Sunday’s impressive performance was particularly important for Cardenas, considering that he suffered crashes in the previous two AMA Daytona SportBike races.  Despite this unfortunate luck, Cardenas continues to lead the overall championship points standings in the AMA Daytona SportBike class.

Martin Cardenas – 3rd place, Race 2 (Sunday):
“It was a hard race for me because my confidence wasn’t very good after two races and two crashes. At the Laguna Seca crash, I really don’t know what happened. I wasn’t going any faster than on other laps so I don’t really know what happened there except that I lost the front. That’s all I know. Here (at Mid-Ohio), yesterday, I think I know what happened. I made a tighter line than on all the laps before and I lost the front again, so my confidence wasn’t really good.

“So, today third was the best I could do. These other guys were a little bit faster than me and I tried to stay with them, but about five laps from the end I made a mistake and I almost crashed. So I decided that third place was good enough for today. My GSX-R600 was working really good, so thanks to M4 Suzuki for giving me such a great bike and to all my sponsors for their support.”

M4 Suzuki Racing will race next at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, Kansas, the weekend of July 31-August 2, 2009.