ULRICH, VILLA, AND GUEVARA EARN VALUABLE POINTS AT DAYTONA

Roadracingworld.com Suzuki leaves the AMA Pro Road Racing season opener at Daytona International Speedway with strong results in all three classes and excited about their prospects for the remainder of the 2010 season.

After his sterling sixth-place ride in Thursday's AMA Pro American Superbike opener, Chris Ulrich found himself fighting an uphill battle in Friday's outing after getting pulled into the draft and running wide in the opening corner of the race. However, Ulrich sliced his way from outside the top 15 to ninth place before the spec tire spun on the rim and forced him to back off his charge in the closing moments of the race.

Ultimately coming home in twelfth on his Monster Energy Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R1000, the Californian was encouraged with his race pace, which he improved upon significantly from his impressive ride the day before.

Following Friday's Superbike final Ulrich said, "I made a mistake right away and that put us behind. I've been racing Daytona long enough to know there's going to be a big draft but I hadn't been that close to a big group all weekend. I really thought I was going to crash. The front started going and going and going and it was either bin it or run off, so I ran off. It messed my race up but the positives are that my race pace was over a second a lap faster and I rode well. I went through a lot of guys in a really short time. But I spun a tire on the rim and it started bouncing and kicking me out of the seat on all the left-handed turns. I had no drive and it was trying to crash me everywhere so I did what I had to do to finish the race."

"It bodes well for the season. If we wouldn't have had the issues, I think we could have been good for another top six today. We got a lot of positives out of the weekend including my best Superbike qualifying performance ever and my best Superbike finish ever. We're going to be up there this year."

The never-say-die attitude of Santiago Villa makes him an ideal competitor for the grueling Daytona 200 and the Colombian proved that to be the case on Friday night under the lights. After qualifying 27^th at 1:55.303, Villa methodically worked his way up in the 69^th running of the prestigious 200-mile contest despite a broken collarbone, eventually securing a 15-place result at the checkered flag.

Meanwhile, team newcomer Daniel Guevara kicked off his AMA Pro career by claiming an 8^th place finish in the AMA Pro SuperSport East opener on Thursday after qualifying eighth at 1:46.288. The rapidly developing 20-year-old Venezuelan saved his best for last, edging rivals Huntley Nash and Elena Myers at the flag by just fractions of a second to scoop a fifth-place finish in Friday's final.

Ulrich said, "Daniel and Santiago both did a really nice job too and they're continually improving and that's what we really want to see. I know what the potential is for the team for the rest of the season and I'm excited."

Roadracingworld.com Suzuki will next head to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA for round two of the 2010 AMA Pro Road Racing season on March 26-28.

Chris Ulrich Turned 180 Two-up Laps (414 miles) At Auto Club Speedway To Raise Money For More Airfence

AMA Pro American Superbike racer Chris Ulrich, working with significant support from track day provider Fastrack Riders, broke several records during the fifth annual Thanksgiving weekend fundraiser for the Roadracing World Action Fund November 28-29 at Auto Club Speedway, in Fontana, California.

For a minimum $50 donation to the Roadracing World Action Fund, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization which advocates and promotes the use of soft barriers to help prevent rider injuries at racetracks, Ulrich took donors for fast, multi-lap rides on his 185-horsepower Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R1000K8 racebike around the 2.3-mile, 21-turn infield road course. And by the end of the two-day fundraiser, Ulrich had set records for number of two-up rides given, 57; two-up laps completed, 180; and money raised, $3270.

Over the last five years Ulrich has raised a total of $9000 giving two-up rides. That's in addition to raising the awareness of motorcycle road racing by giving general interest media representatives rides at AMA Nationals, the two-seat Superbike's primary mission.

“We had a really good turn out,” said Ulrich. “We’ve been building this event over the years, and we promoted this one pretty well. In spite of some inclement weather and delays on Saturday we ended up taking 57 people for rides. 

“We couldn’t have done that many if it hadn’t been for the durability of our AMA-spec Dunlop slicks. We used one front the whole weekend, and one Dunlop 6680 Medium compound rear lasted for well over 90 laps of two-up rides, which is really impressive.

“It’s really good that even in these trying economic times people are willing to come out and donate their hard-earned money to help keep racers and track day riders safe. I just want the thank all of them for coming out and supporting the Roadracing World Action Fund and to thank all the people who made it possible -- everyone at Fastrack Riders, the staff at Roadracing World Publishing.”

In addition to his other records, Ulrich also set a new personal two-seater lap record. After mounting a new Dunlop rear tire on Sunday, Ulrich took 14-year-old USGPRU racer Ryan Matter around the track in just 1:34.606, undercutting his previous best, a 1:36.2 he did last year with racer Melissa Paris riding as a passenger. To put that in perspective, Ulrich’s best lap times during the AMA American Superbike National earlier this year at Auto Club Speedway were in the low-to-mid-1:26 range.

Fastrack Riders has partnered with Ulrich and the Roadracing World Action Fund to hold the Thanksgiving weekend fundraiser each year for the last five years, providing track time, riding gear and staff support.

Ride On The Back Of An AMA Superbike And Help Raise Money For More Airfence

Team Roadracingworld.com and professional racer Chris Ulrich, the 12th-place finisher in the 2009 AMA Pro American Superbike Championships, will be holding a fundraising event November 28-29 at Fontana, California's Auto Club Speedway, in association with Fastrack Riders Association (FRA).

In exchange for a cash donation, which will go to the Roadracing World Action Fund--a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization which advocates and promotes the use of soft barriers to help prevent rider injuries at racetracks--Ulrich will take donors for a couple of fast laps around Auto Club Speedway’s 2.3-mile, 21-turn infield road course on the back of his 185-horsepower, 195-mph Suzuki GSX-R1000 racebike, which has been fitted with a passenger seat, passenger foot rests and a grab handle on the fuel tank.

Ulrich normally uses the retired racebike as an outreach tool during the race season, giving rides on the racetrack to local mainstream media representatives prior to AMA Championship events to help them better understand the sport of motorcycle road racing.

Prior to past AMA events at Auto Club Speedway, Ulrich has given KTLA-TV Sports Anchor Damon Andrews, KNBC-TV’s Amanda Maynard and G4 Network “Attack Of The Show” correspondent Alison Haislip two-seater rides. And over the course of the last several years, Ulrich has given rides to people ranging from small town newspaper reporters to Indy Car drivers to TV/movie stars to 1993 500cc Grand Prix World Champion Kevin Schwantz.

This Thanksgiving Day weekend will be the fifth consecutive year Ulrich, Team Roadracingworld.com and FRA have held the ridealong fundraiser to benefit the Roadracing World Action Fund.

Full professional riding gear will be provided on loan free of charge courtesy of FRA and Team Roadracingworld.com, however, due to limited supplies, all sizes may not be available and not everyone will be able to ride. All rides will be on a first-come, first-served basis. No reservations are required.

The minimum donation amount will be $50. Larger donations will earn additional laps. Photos and videos of the rides may be available for an extra donation.

For additional information on the Roadracing World Action Fund, go to: http://actionfund.roadracingworld.com/

To see actual video footage from a two-seat ride with Ulrich at California Speedway, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9G1kVY0OPo

Or go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpeCEPSjRxI&feature=fvw

To see the “Attack of the Show” segment with Chris Ulrich, go to: http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/exclusives/64491/Road-Report-Suzuki-GSXR600-Motorcycle.html

For more information about Fastrack Riders track days, go to http://www.fastrackriders.co

TEAM ROADRACINGWORLD.COM SUZUKI SECOND IN 8 HOURS AT DAYTONA

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki extended a perfect record of top-two results in the 8-Hours At Daytona on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, claiming a runner-up finish in the grueling contest.

The team's record in American endurance racing since the formation of Team Hammer in 1980 is remarkable and the organization has won 132 endurance races and 13 National Endurance Championships since then.

Attacking the Moto-GT season finale with a trio of proven AMA Pro race winners in Chris Ulrich, Martin Cardenas, and Jason DiSalvo, the Roadracingworld.com Suzuki squad came into the weekend viewed as race favorites every bit capable of building upon their two-race 8-Hours A Daytona win streak.

This time, however, a combination of misfortune and difficulties in finding an ideal set-up compromise for three riders of contrasting physical dimensions -- along with an extremely solid performance by the No. 13 Westby Racing team -- prevented the team from claiming a third consecutive victory in an exciting two-team battle for the overall win.

Cardenas, who took seven Daytona SportBike victories this season, rode brilliantly early on in his return to action following his late-season injury that curtailed his Daytona SportBike championship challenge. The Colombian turned the fastest lap in the race by over a half-second, clocking a 1:50.863 aboard the #18 Suzuki GSX-R600. But the team was hit with a ride-through penalty for clipping an adjacent pit stall while coming in for a refueling stop. A late-race problem with a loose footpeg cost the team additional time, and they ultimately finished in second place two laps off the victory with 245 laps completed.

"We felt we put together a really strong team and Martin was very strong for us," Chris Ulrich said. "The settings are never perfect in a race like this, and we knew from last year that Martin's setting would be difficult for me to ride. But my plan was to limit our losses and take advantage of his speed with his preferred settings. The big question was DiSalvo, and we felt he'd be able to ride pretty well on Martin's settings but it just proved a lot more difficult for him than we anticipated. We ended up with a pretty lopsided lineup and the results showed that.

"I'm probably 6-8 inches taller and 45 pounds heavier than Jason and 30 pounds heavier than Martin. In the first stint I was in the 1:53s even though I was on the bottom of the front fork, and that was OK considering I was just looking to limit the loss. I knew that was going to be the case, and I was just going to do what I could and then hand it off to Jason and Martin and let them turn some fast times and extend the lead. But unfortunately at the end of my stint I made a mistake that cost us a ride-through, which put us a minute-and-a-half behind and we never recovered. Then we had a small problem with a loose footpeg in the last 90 minutes and that was all she wrote.

"I'm happy the Roadracingworld.com Suzuki team has been on the podium for the last four seasons at this race, including two wins and two second places. That's a great track record for us, but I wanted to be fighting closer for the win to be honest.

"The No. 13 team ran very well the whole race and their rider lineup was very strong. They ran a mistake-free race while we had a few mistakes. There's no shame in second, but the history of this team is not one to be second," added Ulrich. "What the No. 13 bike did to us is what we usually do to everybody else. Usually we're perfect in execution; don't incur any penalties, don't make any stupid mistakes, don't have any problems with the machinery. Unfortunately, this year's race didn't play out that way for us and we had a bad day but we still were able to take second place. It wasn't for lack of trying, however, and we'll be back next year stronger than ever."

TEAM ROADRACINGWORLD.COM SUZUKI WRAPS UP 2009 IN NEW JERSEY

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki's Chris Ulrich ended his 2009 AMA Pro American Superbike campaign on an encouraging note in the New Jersey Motorsports Park season finale.

Over the course of the weekend Ulrich unlocked some crucial secrets to his '09 Suzuki GSX-R1000 and showed competitive speed despite being prevented from displaying his true potential in either race.

The Californian opened the weekend's twin 23-lap Superbike main events from the inside of the fourth row after qualifying 13^th with a best time of 1:22.615.

In Saturday's final Chris battled with some well-proven Superbike contenders for a top-ten finishing position before ultimately accepting twelfth. He was anxious to capitalize on the positive outing and improve even further on Sunday but was controversially judged to have jumped the start. Even after serving his ride through penalty, Ulrich raced his way to a 13^th-place result but felt he was good for much more on the day if not for the call.

Ulrich closed out the season ranked 12^th in the 2009 AMA Pro American Superbike standings with 156 points and a pair of top-ten finishes.

"It was a positive weekend for us actually," Ulrich said. "We made some drastic changes during the Thursday test day here, some stuff that I would have never thought of. Mike Fitzgerald from Öhlins brought over some information and we made the change and it was worth 1.2 seconds. It was a significant for my confidence with the K9. That was big.

"We also had a new engine package with our in-house program that was very, very good. I'm very pleased with the hard work our guys have been putting in.

"On Saturday I was in the fight for ninth with Geoff May and Jake Holden. I made a couple mistakes but the pace was good. I was very happy with that. Today we felt like we could build on that and improve and we had good pace but we got robbed. The officials said I jumped the start, but I saw the video and I did not move at all. It's unfortunate because I feel a strong earned top-ten finish was stolen from me today."

Russ Wikle impressed in Saturday's AMA Pro Daytona SportBike final, claiming 18^th in the extremely competitive class. Unfortunately, the youngster suffered a Sunday morning crash and sat out the day's SportBike and SuperSport finales as a result.

He joined Santiago Villa on the sidelines after the Colombian wisely decided to rest his healing leg after making a courageous effort early in the weekend.

Wikle finished the season ranked fifth in the SuperSport East Division with 90 points and 26^th in SportBike at 41 points. Villa ended the year 31^st in SportBike with 23 points.

"Santiago tried to give it a go, but it was too dangerous," Ulrich explained. "Two-and-a-half weeks post-op on a broken leg isn't exactly a great idea, but hopefully the toughest man in racing will be back with us next year.

"We diverted Santiago's crew to Russell. He learned a lot of stuff this weekend and did a good job on Saturday. But he had a big crash in practice this morning and was pretty beat up. We opted to sit it out. I know how it is -- it's no fun after you crack your head that hard. It's tough luck, but he showed some great progress this year."

Ulrich summed up the season by saying, "100% I wish this was the first race rather than the last. We finally got everything together. I just needed to get a bike under me that allowed me to prove what we can do. I'm happy with that and confident for next season. I think we can be competitive for top tens in AMA Superbike next year."

WIKLE SECOND IN AMA PRO SUPERSPORT EAST POINTS

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki continued to make progress during the penultimate round of the 2009 AMA Pro Road Racing season at Virginia International Raceway.

Chris Ulrich found some more positives with his '09 GSX-R1000 and left the weekend optimistic that the team is headed in the right direction while Russ Wikle picked up a top-ten result in SuperSport to enter the final race of the East Division season ranked second in the points.

Ulrich helped initiate a new program by legendary tuners Yoshimura by running a customer engine at VIR as Yosh prepares to offer those services in the paddock next season.

The Californian qualified 14^th fastest at 1:26.856 for the weekend's twin 50-mile AMA Pro American Superbike races.

Saturday's final was a grueling affair with the bike's set-up proving uncooperative, further exasperating the difficulties created by the hot and humid conditions along with a less than ideal start. Chris battled up from 18^th after the opening lap to finish 13^th.

Sunday's setting was much improved but another imperfect start and an early incident that tore off his knee puck prevented him from finishing higher than 12^th.

"I think there are a lot of positives from the weekend," Ulrich said. "Right off the bat we got a new engine from Yoshimura and that helped quite a bit. It's a new deal for them; they're going to offer customer engines next year and they wanted us to try it out. I was happy to be a part of that and my guys were on board and positive about it.

"We looked pretty good in qualifying on Friday but we went with a different combination and different rear tire on Saturday. It turned out over race distance it was really difficult to ride the bike that way. We faded and it was physically draining; my right shoulder was very sore after that.

"This morning we changed the gear back and did some other stuff. We went to the shorter gear and it made life easier so we went back to Friday's setting but it turned out in the race we needed a little bit taller gearing. It cost us some speed down the front straight but everywhere else it was pretty good.

"Yesterday's race was so hard but we got a 13^th. Today's was a lot easier but we shot ourselves in the foot both days with bad starts. Today I got in on the first lap in the chicane and stuck my knee into the curb and my knee puck went flying off and ripped my suit open. I was pretty lucky Dainese has pretty good protection there and I didn't damage my knee. It just meant I had to ride the race without a knee puck but I still went faster than yesterday's race and the gap was closer."

Ulrich heads into the season finale ranked 12^th with 139 points.

Russ Wikle continued to show competitive form in the AMA Pro SuperSport class, qualifying on the second row aboard his Suzuki GSX-R600 at 1:31.404 in eighth position and then picking up a tenth-place race result in Sunday's race.

While he was unable to challenge for a podium finish at VIR like he has on multiple occasions this season, Wikle sits second in the SuperSport championship standings on 90 points with just one East Division round remaining.

Chris said, "Russ struggled a little bit. I think the time off will do him some good because he can go back to being a teenager for a little bit, go home and hang out with his friends, and then come out fresh in New Jersey. Sometimes in racing when you spend so much time on the road and if you're not really used to it, it can burn you out. That said, Russell is still doing well. We all worked with him at the WERA weekend and tried to help educate him about what different changes do to his motorcycle and we got some positive things out of that."

Unfortunately, Colombian Santiago Villa suffered a setback this weekend, injuring himself in a practice crash while riding for a Moto-GT team not associated with Team Roadracingworld.com and being forced to sit out the two AMA Pro Daytona SportBike races.

"Santiago broke his leg," Ulrich said. "That's tough luck for the toughest man in racing. He did the right thing this time instead of gutting it because there could be some serious damage."

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki will head to the 2009 AMA Pro Road Racing season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park on September 4-6.

"I think New Jersey is going to be good for us," Ulrich said. "We've got Thursday practice and we've got the bikes to a decent baseline. We'll work on our game a little bit. We've got a couple weeks off so I'll get some training in and have some fun and them come out swinging at New Jersey.

"I'd like to close the season out strong for the whole team. I worked hard to develop that K9 by myself and now we've got some good help. This year has gone really fast and it's been a weird year but we've got positives things going."

WIKLE SECOND IN AMA PRO SUPERSPORT EAST POINTS

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki continued to make progress during the penultimate round of the 2009 AMA Pro Road Racing season at Virginia International Raceway.

Chris Ulrich found some more positives with his '09 GSX-R1000 and left the weekend optimistic that the team is headed in the right direction while Russ Wikle picked up a top-ten result in SuperSport to enter the final race of the East Division season ranked second in the points.

Ulrich helped initiate a new program by legendary tuners Yoshimura by running a customer engine at VIR as Yosh prepares to offer those services in the paddock next season.

The Californian qualified 14^th fastest at 1:26.856 for the weekend's twin 50-mile AMA Pro American Superbike races.

Saturday's final was a grueling affair with the bike's set-up proving uncooperative, further exasperating the difficulties created by the hot and humid conditions along with a less than ideal start. Chris battled up from 18^th after the opening lap to finish 13^th.

Sunday's setting was much improved but another imperfect start and an early incident that tore off his knee puck prevented him from finishing higher than 12^th.

"I think there are a lot of positives from the weekend," Ulrich said. "Right off the bat we got a new engine from Yoshimura and that helped quite a bit. It's a new deal for them; they're going to offer customer engines next year and they wanted us to try it out. I was happy to be a part of that and my guys were on board and positive about it.

"We looked pretty good in qualifying on Friday but we went with a different combination and different rear tire on Saturday. It turned out over race distance it was really difficult to ride the bike that way. We faded and it was physically draining; my right shoulder was very sore after that.

"This morning we changed the gear back and did some other stuff. We went to the shorter gear and it made life easier so we went back to Friday's setting but it turned out in the race we needed a little bit taller gearing. It cost us some speed down the front straight but everywhere else it was pretty good.

"Yesterday's race was so hard but we got a 13^th. Today's was a lot easier but we shot ourselves in the foot both days with bad starts. Today I got in on the first lap in the chicane and stuck my knee into the curb and my knee puck went flying off and ripped my suit open. I was pretty lucky Dainese has pretty good protection there and I didn't damage my knee. It just meant I had to ride the race without a knee puck but I still went faster than yesterday's race and the gap was closer."

Ulrich heads into the season finale ranked 12^th with 139 points.

Russ Wikle continued to show competitive form in the AMA Pro SuperSport class, qualifying on the second row aboard his Suzuki GSX-R600 at 1:31.404 in eighth position and then picking up a tenth-place race result in Sunday's race.

While he was unable to challenge for a podium finish at VIR like he has on multiple occasions this season, Wikle sits second in the SuperSport championship standings on 90 points with just one East Division round remaining.

Chris said, "Russ struggled a little bit. I think the time off will do him some good because he can go back to being a teenager for a little bit, go home and hang out with his friends, and then come out fresh in New Jersey. Sometimes in racing when you spend so much time on the road and if you're not really used to it, it can burn you out. That said, Russell is still doing well. We all worked with him at the WERA weekend and tried to help educate him about what different changes do to his motorcycle and we got some positive things out of that."

Unfortunately, Colombian Santiago Villa suffered a setback this weekend, injuring himself in a crash and being forced to sit out the two AMA Pro Daytona SportBike races.

"Santiago broke his leg," Ulrich said. "That's tough luck for the toughest man in racing. He did the right thing this time instead of gutting it because there could be some serious damage."

Team Roadracingworld.com Suzuki will head to the 2009 AMA Pro Road Racing season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park on September 4-6.

"I think New Jersey is going to be good for us," Ulrich said. "We've got Thursday practice and we've got the bikes to a decent baseline. We'll work on our game a little bit. We've got a couple weeks off so I'll get some training in and have some fun and them come out swinging at New Jersey.

"I'd like to close the season out strong for the whole team. I worked hard to develop that K9 by myself and now we've got some good help. This year has gone really fast and it's been a weird year but we've got positives things going."