Farrell, Spalding Set New Marks at HPT

While the official forecast was for less than 30% chance of rain, a light drizzle put a damper on Round 2 of the Michelin Pro Series at Heartland Park Topeka, so only the bravest of riders took to the track to further their championship hopes.В The amazing part is that even with poor track conditions, new records were set by some of the veteran ASRA racers at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit.В
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Even though it was Eric Bowyer on the Yamaha R-1 with the Hole Shot, it didn't take long before Brian Hall on his Schaumburg Audi sponsored Kawasaki ZX10В jumped out to a comfortable lead after lap 1 and he never looked back. Hall was able to move to a 9.303 second margin of victoryВ over Joel Spalding on the Turn One Racing KTM RC8R.В В Bowyer was able to keep his R-1 in third after a terrific race long battle with Calvin Martinez, taking theВ position by .844 seconds.В
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From the start of Michelin Pro Series SuperBike,В it wasВ Jason FarrellВ on his Kawasaki who was the class of the field, as he simply dominated the competition with a 14.271 second margin of victory.В В Farrell not only tookВ a the winВ but established aВ new class recordВ with a 1:40.696 on his Speed TechВ Racing ZX6R, bettering the old mark of Marcos Reichert and his Yamaha R-6В byВ 1.8 seconds.В Second position was takenВ by SuperStock winner Brian Hall on his ZX6R followed by the Yamaha R-6 of Tony Kasper 1.684 seconds later. Jordan Richardson on the Ray Price Triumph 675 finished fourth, earning enough points to take the class lead by 6 points, after 2 rounds of the championship.

After ThunderBike qualifying, it looked like the Ducati of Indy sponsored Ducati 749В of Joel Spalding was the odds on favorite to take the win over all comers, but late entrant Walt Sipp on his Buell had other ideas. Sipp started on the back row of the gridВ and was soon up to second place, pressuring Spalding for first and ultimatelyВ setting a new lap record for the class, a 1:45.231 on lap 7 of 10.В Sipp, a former winner at Heartland Park, rodeВ the wheels off the Buell but came up just 2.269 seconds short of Spalding after the 25 mile sprint.В В This was Joel Spalding's second win of the season in ThunderBike, giving him aВ 23 point lead in the class standings for theВ championship. Third place wentВ toВ Ray Hofman on his Sam's Well Drilling Suzuki 650, moving him to second in the ThunderBike championship standings behind Spalding.В

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The SportBike class saw another record run for Jason Farrell on his Kawasaki ZX6R. Within the first 3 laps, Farrell had lowered the record set by Matt Hall in 2009 by just over 1 second, to a1:40.130 and that catapulted him into a commanding lead the runner Tony Kasper couldn't overcome.В В While Kasper on his Yamaha R6 held Farrell's margin of victoryВ to justВ overВ 5 seconds, the front two riders put over 48 secondsВ between them and the third placeВ R6 of Aaron Colton.
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The next event for the Michelin Pro Series is the 9th Annual Summit Point Cyclefest on May 29-31 at Summit Point Motorsports Park. ThisВ Memorial DayВ tradition includesВ the Championship Cup Series Mid-Atlantic and Atlantic Championships,В forВ three full days of motorcycle road racing action on the Summit Point Circuit.