PIETRI ON THE PODIUM AT ROAD AMERICA, BARNES FIFTH

Team Roadracingworld.com overcame adversity to claim a tremendous double top-five result in this weekend's AMA Superstock race at Road America.

The weekend started on a down note when Chris Ulrich, who entered the weekend ranked fourth in the Superstock points chase, was injured in a Thursday practice crash and was forced to join teammate Santiago Villa on the shelf. However, reigning Latin American and Venezuelan Superbike champ Robertino Pietri and super-sub Michael Barnes came through and stepped up in his absence.

On Saturday Pietri earned another front row grid position by posting the fourth fastest time of qualifying at 2:16.431 aboard his Pirelli-shod GSX-R1000. Barnes lined up a row behind after clocking the seventh quickest time of the session at 2:17.398.

After the two settled into the fight for the podium, Pietri made a late push past Alastair Seeley for third on the penultimate lap and held on for his first-career AMA podium finish. He crossed the stripe just over three seconds behind race winner Blake Young on the Team M4 EMGO Suzuki.

'Barney' scored a fifth-place finish, making good on Ulrich's pre-race goal for the team to place both riders in the top five in the 10-lap race.

Pietri said, "It was fully wet at the beginning and my visor was fogging up a little bit. Towards the end starts drying a little bit, but since the fog was there I couldn't really see, so it took me a little bit to get into a rhythm. The first four laps were a disaster, I think I was back in seventh or something. Barney passed me and I knew I could roll with him because in the morning I was faster than him and he passed me and he looked very smooth while I was like fighting with the bike. I said, 'Okay, you need to relax, breathe in, start hitting your marks and ride like you did in the morning'. You know I started doing it and I started to feel I was catching the guys at the front a little bit and it was great.

"I'm super excited. This is my first podium and this is my dad's birthday today too, so happy birthday!"

Ulrich explained what happened in his fall. "I've been healthy for a few years now and it seems like we've had pretty good luck crashing lately. It was one of those deals where we looked at what we did last year here in the wet and it was because we went out on Thursday and fine-tuned the bike and tried some settings. With that in mind, we did the same thing this year; I tried some different suspension stuff and we were going okay -- we were already faster than we qualified last year with minimal effort -- and I didn't feel I was pushing that hard. I don't think I was taking any risks because I knew in the back of my head it was only Thursday and we didn't have to. I was just exploring and seeing how everything goes.

"The lap before I went pretty quick and I just went through Turn 6, up shifted into second, went into 7 and just cracked the throttle and it spun. I knew I was in trouble when I was holding onto the bars, looking down at the gas tank. It spat me off, I hit my head a little bit. I landed on my left side, hand-first. I bent my hand back to the point where it blew a 3mm hole in my hand. But that finger was fine. I ended up breaking my second metacarpal and my thumb.

"It's unfortunate. We're out for this weekend for sure but we've got six weeks until Laguna for Superbike and we're going to do that and I should be 100% by Mid-Ohio."

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki will be back in action at Laguna Seca as the AMA series plays host to the MotoGP World Championship on July 18-20.

INJURED VILLA OUT FOR 2008 SEASON

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki's Santiago Villa will miss the rest of the 2008 AMA road racing season due to injuries suffered in a crash Sunday at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.

Villa, a promising racer from Bogota, Colombia with several Colombian National Championships to his name, joined Team Roadracingworld.com for 2008 and has been competing in the AMA Superstock Championship. Villa broke his femur and his hip at Miller Motorsports Park and doctors have told him he will be unable to race for three to four months while he recovers.

Santiago hopes to return to racing at Daytona in October.

"Santiago was making steady progress despite injuries from his crash in April at Fontana and the serious burns he suffered--while riding for another team--in a refueling accident at Daytona in October, 2007," said Team Roadracingworld.com's Chris Ulrich. "He was soldiering on like the true motorcycle racer that he is and was making progress at the difficult tracks. It's a bummer for us and for Santiago. We know he wants to be out there competing and learning. It's a big disappointment for us because he is a pleasure to work with and we were pleased with his efforts. We hope his recovery goes to plan so he can get back to racing, which is something he loves doing and certainly has a talent for."

TOP FIVE IN SUPERSTOCK POINTS FOR PIETRI AND ULRICH OF TEAM ROADRACINGWORLD.COM

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki rung up two more top-ten finishes in AMA Superstock competition on Saturday at Miller Motorsports Park, near Salt Lake City, UT. Despite a rocky weekend, Robertino Pietri and Chris Ulrich came through in the 9-lap race to finish sixth and seventh, respectively.

The two leave Utah ranked in the top five in the championship hunt, with Ulrich fourth with 128 points and Pietri fifth at 113.

Venezuelan Pietri qualified on the second row with a quick time of 2:51.421 aboard his Pirelli-shod GSX-R1000, while Ulrich was a row further back, qualifying ninth at 2:51.697. Teammate Santiago Villa qualified on the fourth row, posting the 15th best time of the session at 2:55.070.

Pietri, reigning Latin American and Venezuelan Superbike champ, held down his qualifying position most of the race and ultimately finished in sixth position. Ulrich fought his way up from 10th early and chased Pietri to the checkered flag, finishing just over a second back in seventh.

Villa climbed up to as high as 13th before registering a DNF and being awarded 25th after completing 7 laps.

Afterwards, both Pietri and Ulrich expressed disappointment, expecting even more this weekend.

"It was a very tough weekend," Pietri remarked. "We didn't expect it to be to be this tough. We came in here after a couple good runs and we went great here last year, and last year Fontana and Infineon were my weakest tracks. The expectation for this race was pretty high even though it was a new track with the longer configuration. We knew were behind because we didn't test here and we ran intoa lot of problems. My guys worked so hard and I really appreciated their
effort.

"We qualified sixth and finished sixth. That's not too bad and we leave here in fifth place in the championship. It was a great team effort but we're ready to move onto Road America."

Ulrich said, "I'm upset. For me, we had some technical problems at the start of this four-day marathon and it put us behind the eight ball. We were catching up and catching up but it was a little too little, too late. For sure I'm disappointed, I don't feel I should be racing for seventh or eighth, I should be up in the top five. The gap to the frontrunners that tested here was a little disturbing.

"We're going to go the next round and put the hammer down. We're going to charge at Road America pretty hard. I'm not finishing seventh there."

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki will be back in action next weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI on June 6-8.

PIETRI ON FRONT ROW, ULRICH THIRD IN SUPERSTOCK POINTS AFTER INFINEON

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki scored a pair of top-ten finishes in the AMA Superstock race on Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. Robertino Pietri and Chris Ulrich were awarded sixth and seventh place, respectively, after the race was red flagged and called complete following 14 of the event's scheduled 17 laps due to a two-rider incident.

Venezuelan Pietri continued to show his speed with Pirelli's sticky qualifying tires on his GSX-R1000 racebike, circulating with a fast time of 1:37.315 on Saturday to qualify fourth and log a second consecutive front-row qualifying performance.

Meanwhile, Ulrich struggled with mechanical woes during the session and could do no better than tenth with a best time of 1:38.659. The team's third rider, Colombian Santiago Villa, qualified in 17th with a best time of 1:41.866.

Pietri got away in fifth in the race with Ulrich ninth, but the two came together as the South American fell to eighth and the Californian closed in on his teammate.

A collision involving Jason Pridmore and Lee Acree stopped the race late and ultimately promoted the Pietri to sixth and Ulrich to seventh in the final results. Villa matched his qualifying effort by finishing 17th in the race -- a fine result in a difficult race for the Colombian racer who spent his time off the bike at Infineon getting around on crutches because of his injuries from a crash earlier this season.

Following four rounds of the 2008 AMA Superstock Championship, Ulrich is tied for third in the points with 104. Pietri is sixth at 88 while Villa is 17th with 38.

Afterwards, Ulrich said, "For sure for me it was frustrating. It was difficult from the get-go. We had some problems we tried to work out and we tried some different forks. We went back to the standard stuff this morning and that's what we raced on.

"Qualifying was definitely really hard on me. I ended up tenth on the grid due to a mechanical problem we had with the shocks. A little part failed on it and ruined our qualifying.

"But on the bright side, 'Tino did a good job this weekend and sixth and seventh isn't too bad. We got a little bit of help, but we'll move on from here to Miller. This was a hard, hard weekend for me and I'm glad to get out of here with good points. VIlla had a tough challenge this weekend but he put in a fine effort."

Ulrich admitted that his expectations have been raised as the team has continued to improve. "Last year this would have been a fantastic result for us. But this year we're leaving frustrated about the finish. We need to keep digging and I'm excited about what's to come. 'Tino goes really well at Miller and I go really well at Road America. I'm looking forward our team leading more races and getting some more podiums this year. Hopefully, Santiago will continue to recover and we're trying to get him up to speed as well."

Next up for Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki is the combined AMA/World Superbike race weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT on May 29-June 1.

Ride with Chris on G4 TV!

PIETRI LEADS AT FONTANA, FINISHES FOURTH IN SUPERSTOCK

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki backed up their first-ever AMA Superstock podium finish a week earlier at Barber Motorsports Park with another tremendous showing this weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA.

Robertino Pietri scored his best finish of the season and equaled the best of his AMA career by finishing fourth in the AMA Superstock race aboard his Pirelli-shod GSX-R1000. Meanwhile, teammate Chris Ulrich fought up from outside the top ten to take seventh in the race and hold down third in the 2008 points race.

Venezuelan Pietri demonstrated his speed in qualifying, securing his first-career AMA front row grid position by clocking the fourth best time of the session at 1:25.744. He elevated his game another notch in the 16-lap, red-flagged race, taking control of the contest on lap 2 and leading until lap 14, earning the bonus point paid for most laps led.

Pietri was ultimately shuffled back to fourth in the late stages of the race but made his mark with a breakthrough, confidence-building ride.

After the race he explained that this result was even sweeter than his fourth place taken last year at Miller Motorsports Park. "This time I earned the fourth because I really had to fight for it. Before this weekend, I never earned a front row start and I never led a lap in the AMA and today I led the most laps, which was great. And nobody crashed ahead of me or anything so I was the fourth fastest guy in the race, which I'm very proud of.

"I want to thank my dad for believing in me, John Ulrich for giving me a chance, and my mechanics for working so hard. The first couple races this year have been pretty tough for me. I've always been fast but for some reason something always happened but this time everything went great.

"I asked my guys to believe in me and they did. This is a real confidence booster; now we know we can run up front with these guys."


Following a restart due to a red flag brought out by teammate Santiago Villa's early race crash, Ulrich didn't get the opening lap his was looking for coming off his Alabama podium result, running off course momentarily and falling well down the order.

However, the Californian battled his way up through the field, ultimately climbing to seventh position and holding off Scott Jensen for the position at the flag by less than two tenths of a second.

"We had a pretty good run back up from as low as 14th place," Ulrich said. "I had a great launch but I ran off the track. From there, I was just working my way back up. We'll take the points and that will go towards our season's goal.

"It was a great day for the team with 'Tino leading most of the race. I could see what was happening in the lead pack ahead of me and as you might imagine it was fantastic to see our bike out front. We're always working hard to improve as a team and today was a great day for us."

Unfortunately, after qualifying on the fourth row with the 16th best time of qualifying at 1:30.143, Villa's early-race crash brought out a red flag, and the Colombian was transported to a local hospital for further treatment.

Thanks to another consistent run, Ulrich now sits third in the points at 80 while Pietri is ranked sixth at 63.

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki will head to Infineon Raceway on May 16-18 for the fourth round of the 2008 AMA Superstock Championship.

ULRICH THIRD IN BARBER SUPERSTOCK

Chris Ulrich earned the first-ever AMA podium finish for Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki on Sunday afternoon at Barber Motorsports Park, claiming a spectacular third-place result in the Superstock final with a charge to the podium.

Starting from the second row after qualifying seventh (1:27.769) on Saturday, the Californian found himself in seventh position following the first of 17 laps. He bettered his position to fifth place on lap 2 and quickly stretched out a gap behind him.

What looked to be shaping up to a lonely ride for a fine top-five result became considerably more nerve-racking when first Blake Young, and later Geoff May, crashed out of contention in front of him and Chris found himself in third on lap 13.

Ulrich brought his Pirelli-shod GSX-R1000 home safely, claiming his first top three of the 1000cc Superstock era. He was a race-winner in the previous version of the class, AMA 750 Supersport.

Venezuelan Robertino Pietri nearly added to the team's joy, working his way up from tenth after qualifying on the third row (9^th -- 1:27.940) into an intense four-rider duel for fourth. Unfortunately, Pietri crashed out of seventh on the race's final lap and was ultimately credited with 19^th.

Colombian Santiago Villa fought up from 29^th to 21^st in the race after qualifying 22^nd (1:31.119).

After standing on the podium to receive his trophy, Ulrich said, "Well for sure I didn't really expect to be up here 100%. My start was good and I was sitting in fifth and trying to run Blake down. He was just pushing too hard and he tucked the front. Then I was trying to hang on to Geoff and he was just edging away and I needed to think about my tires. I just decided to take fourth and then I came over the hill and saw him on the ground and I couldn't believe it.

"After that I saw '+10' on my board and, man, I just made sure I didn't crash. It's been a long road to get back on the podium. It's very difficult and a few of these guys are very, very fast and they're on good equipment. To get out of Barber with a podium at what I would say is Pirelli's toughest track on the entire tour is fantastic.

"I can't thank my crew and my team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki and Pirelli enough. We kind of gambled on a race tire and we've got a new tire technician who knows what he's going. I'm just looking forward to a long hard season and a lot of fun racing, that's it."

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki will be back in action next weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA for the third round of the AMA Superstock Champion on April 25-27.