2010 AMA Pro Racing Mid-Ohio Preview

The 2010 AMA Pro Racing Championship will be heading to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to kick off Round 6 of the series. Featuring another doubleheader, each class will compete in two contests over the picturesque, 2.4-mile Ohio course. The Mid-Ohio circuit is rich in AMA Pro Road Racing history, with motorcycle giants like Fred Merkel, Kevin Schwantz, Bubba Shobert, Mat Mladin and many others registering important victories at the circuit tucked within the Ohio countryside. There will be nothing peaceful about this weekend’s racing, however, as the three classes continue in what has already been an exciting and unpredictable season.
 
AMERICAN SUPERBIKE

Currently leading the American Superbike Championship, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden has been enjoying a successful season of racing. Hayden had his inaugural win in the Superbike class at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, and he recently went 2-1 at Road America after some tense battles with Team Graves Yamaha rider Josh Hayes. With just one point separating the two for the championship lead, there will be a lot riding on their performances in Ohio.

Hayes is another rider who’s been at the top of his game this season. At Infineon Raceway he crushed the competition by taking the double win, and in Race 1 at Road America he earned a hard-fought win over Hayden. Hayes will be looking to put up a strong fight in Ohio and potentially take over the lead in the championship.
 
National Guard Jordan Suzuki rider Jake Zemke had a strong start to the year when he stormed to victories at Daytona International Raceway earlier this year. He’s consistently been in the top-five all season long and had a recent result of 5-3 at Road America. Zemke trails Hayden in the championship by only 14 points – an amount that easily could be made up when you consider there’s still half a season of racing left.
 
Fourth in the championship is Yoshimura Suzuki’s Blake Young. Unfortunately, Young recently suffered a vertebrae fracture while testing at Barber Motorsports Park. The Wisconsin-native will not be taking part in races at Mid-Ohio, and his return to Superbike racing during the ’10 season is unknown at this time. Australian Superbike champ Josh Waters was set to fill in for Young, but he also suffered an injury and will be unable to compete at Mid-Ohio.
 
Ohio’s own Larry Pegram will be out to please his home crowd this weekend. The Foremost Insurance Ducati rider experienced his greatest success this season when he took the win in Race 1 at Fontana. His most recent performance at Road America saw him just miss the podium in fourth during both races and he’s currently fifth in the series, trailing Young by 27 points.
 
DAYTONA SPORTBIKE
 
In the nine Daytona SportBike races that have taken place so far in the 2010 season there have been three riders taking victories. Winning five times and taking one pole position has been M4 Monster Energy Suzuki’s Martin Cardenas. Despite taking so many wins Cardenas is only third in the championship, with Team Graves Yamaha rider Josh Herrin leading the series by 16 points ahead of GEICO PowerSports RMR Suzuki’s Danny Eslick. Herrin took the win at the Daytona International Speedway and afterward took wins at the Auto Club Speedway, Road Atlanta and Infineon Raceway in addition to winning the most recent round at Road America. He’s taken one pole victory at Road America and has earned four other front row starts leading up to the Mid-Ohio race.
 
Meanwhile Eslick has been hot on the heels of Herrin with top-three finishes in just about every race so far this season. Along with his race win at Infineon and his two poles at Fontana and Infineon, Eslick led temporarily at both Fontana and Road Atlanta. Add the fact that he won both races at Mid-Ohio last year to his favor.
 
Currently fourth in the championship is Project 1 Atlanta Yamaha’s Dane Westby. The Yamaha rider has continually been involved in duels for top positions this year, but is still looking for his first win of the season.
 
SUPERSPORT
 
Kicking off the ’10 season in strong form was Rockwall Yamaha’s Cameron Beaubier, who took first at Daytona by a narrow margin of 0.001 seconds ahead of LTD Yamaha’s Joey Pascarella. After being absent from the West Division races,  Beaubier returned at Road Atlanta and took a 2-3 result with Rockwall Yamaha teammate, J.D. Beach, taking victories in both races. Traveling outside of his points division to Infineon Raceway,  Beaubier had a strong pole victory but was plagued by red flags during Race 1, which saw Elena Myers take the first AMA Pro Road Racing win for a female rider in the history of the sport.  Beaubier quickly returned to take the win in the second contest. Most recently,  Beaubier took sixth-place in Race 2 at Road America and is currently second in the Supersport Championship with 117 points.
 
Leading the series is  Beaubier's teammate, Beach, who took the victory in Race 1 at Road America. With a 22-point lead in the series and with Beaubier right behind with 117 points, the Rockwall Yamaha duo have both put in impressive seasons thus far for their team.
 
However, the plot thickens as a tie currently exists between  Beaubier and LTD Yamaha’s Tomas Puerta. In a steady and consistent manner Puerta has built-up a solid season with numerous top-five finishes, including his most recent second and third-place result at Road America. He heads to Ohio eager for another strong showing and possibly his first win of the season.
 
XR1200
 
After making its debut race last month at Road America, the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series will be returning for Round 2 at the Mid-Ohio course. After some intense battling between Eslick and Jake Holden at Road America, the two will continue their battle for the lead in Ohio after Elisck’s win. Third-place finisher Eric Stump will also be in the line-up on his Rapide Manage Dan Chivington XR1200, as will be brothers Kyle and Travis Wyman.
 
After coming together with another rider at Road America, Paul James will be hoping to improve in the XR1200 series. Brady-Schwemmer Racing’s John Ashmead will also look to improve on his first performance in the series after a mechanical problem prematurely ended his race.
 
TV Schedule for AMA Pro Road Racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Broadcast on SPEEDTV):
Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 11:00 p.m. ET - SuperBike Race 1
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 12:00 a.m. ET - Daytona SportBike Race 1
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 12:00 a.m. ET - Daytona SportBike Race 2
Monday, July 19, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. ET - SuperBike Race 2
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 3:00 a.m. ET - SuperBike Race 1 (RERUN)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 4:00 a.m. ET - Daytona SportBike Race 1 (RERUN) 
Highlights from both SuperSport races will be included in the broadcasts