Racing update

Suzuki wins Le Mans 1-2

21 April, 2008: Suzuki Endurance Racing Team's number two squad (pictured on the podium) led a SERT GSX-R1000 one-two at the opening round of the World Endurance Championship at Le Mans in France over the weekend.

Riders William Costes, Guillaume Dietrich and Barry Veneman took the lead from World Champions Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa when the number one machine crashed during the night session of the 24-hour race, to win by 11 laps

SERT 2 led for the first hour from Yamaha GMT94 and SERT 1. Yamaha took over temporarily at the second hour and then SERT 1 made a charge to the front - a lead they kept for almost half the race until a crash in the dark, thought to be due to a rabbit running onto the track.

From 16 laps down, the defending champions gradually moved back through the field, climbing into second place behind SERT 2 with five hours to go - a position they held until the flag.

Provisional results: 1 SERT 2 (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 770 laps, 2 SERT 1 (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 759, 3 Acropolis Moto Expert (Yamaha) 756, 4 Infini Team/ Yohann Moto sp (Suzuki) 755, 5 Junior Team Suzuki - LMS (Suzuki) 753.

AMA win number 65 for Mladin

20 April, 2008: Australian Suzuki rider Mat Mladin (pictured on his superbike) picked up his 65th career AMA Superbike (USA) victory after leading every lap and winning last Saturday's race at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

This race is the first of two in the double-header AMA Superbike weekend and also saw the second victory of the season for six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mladin, as well as his sixth win at Barber.

All of this comes on top of Mladin picking up his 54th career AMA Superbike pole position on Saturday morning.

Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Tommy Hayden joined Mladin on the podium, thanks to an impressive third-place finish. This result marks Hayden's second AMA Superbike podium with Suzuki.

Defending AMA Superbike Champion Ben Spies crashed on lap two, but rejoined the race and worked his way up into 11th place to salvage as many championship points as possible.

Mat Mladin: "It was a pretty good race for us, though the guy I like to race with the most wasn't in it. We got a good start and I had my head down, so I didn't realise Ben had crashed. But he'll be back tomorrow and we'll put on a great show and hopefully we'll win another one. I'd like to keep it going as long as we can. I have to thank my guys for giving me a Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 that will hopefully give us another win tomorrow."

Top 10:

1. Mat Mladin (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
2. Jason Disalvo (Yamaha)
3. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
4. Jamie Hacking (Kawasaki)
5. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
6. Miguel Duhamel (Honda)
7. Eric Bostrom (Yamaha)
8. Geoff May, (Jordan Suzuki)
9. Chris Peris (Suzuki)
10. Jordan Szoke (Kawasaki)

Hollis wins Australian 4-Day Enduro

A4DE, final day, April 20: Ballard's Yamaha Off Road frontrunner Chris Hollis (pictured) has stormed to an incredible outright win at the Australian 4 Day Enduro (A4DE) in rural Victoria, capping off a dominant performance for the manufacturer across a number of classes.

Hollis, who currently leads the Australian Off Road Series, was rated a strong chance to fight with international stars for victory, and he did just that, topping the timesheets after each day and battling through a tough motocross final to take the trophy with a 32-second lead over the next placing.

The 23-year-old from Port Macquarie is the first Australian rider to win the A4DE since former Ballard's rider Glenn Kearney took the crown in 2004.

"I am really stoked, winning the four day is a huge honor and I am also proud to have won it for Australia - the last two years it has been won by overseas riders," Hollis said.

"I just kept giving it everything and knew that a good buffer back to second and third would really help me come today's motocross event."

"I am a little bit disappointed with today's final motocross, I got stuffed up on the start when Ben (Grabham) took out the gate and it nearly hit me, AJ got the hole shot and I finished a few back, I would have liked to have won it," he said.

"But a win's a win. I have pretty much dominated this season, I won the first two rounds of the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championships and now the four day so I am pretty happy with how things are going."

"The WR250F worked incredibly well, I have never had an issue with my Yamaha and this event was no exception, aside from changing the tyres and oil I had very little to do to it between days."

"As a whole the course was very dusty, even 30 seconds after the rider ahead of you the dust would still be flying. It was good though, a few tough, technical parts."

The outright runner-up in 2007, Hollis' pre-season training and dedication to fitness and nutrition paid dividends from the outset, able to bounce back strongly after an average of over 7 hours on the bike per day.

"We were using a plunge pool for recovery, it was probably around 12 degrees and definitely not something I looked forward to at the end of the day, but it helped. Getting in and out helped to remove lactic acid which can almost stop you in your tracks if if builds up when riding."

Hollis' outright win saw him claim honours in the Motorex Championship Class 4 (270 - 450cc 4T) as well.

A4DE, day 3 update, April 19: At end of the third day of racing at the 2008 Hog’s Breath Cafe Australian Four Day Enduro Chris Hollis (Yamaha) has extended his lead outright in the provisional results.

In the final day of Enduro riding Hollis put in a strong performance, increasing his lead to nearly more than a minute!

Hollis is followed by Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) in second who made some solid ground and Anthony Roberts (Honda) in third.

Hollis was happy with how his A4DE was progressing and was looking forward to the final Motocross at Lardner Park tomorrow.

A4DE, day 2 update, April 19: At the end of a warm second day Chris Hollis (Yamaha) is still leading outright in the provisional results clear of second placed Anthony Roberts (Honda) and International rider Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) in third.

With the track already carved up from yesterday’s racing, today, the difficult course soon became a dust bowl with many riders commenting on the conditions.

The Honda Test was particularly nasty for the riders, with many coming to grief on the spongy and slippery surface.

Hollis was happy with how he rode and was not particularly fond of the Honda Test.

“I’m feeling really good actually,” Hollis said.

A4DE, day 1 report, April 17: The 2008 Hog’s Breath Café Australian Four Day Enduro kicked off this morning with overcast skies as riders hauled their bikes out of Parc Ferme.
With the skies still overcast, some of the riders will soon be heading back to base for a frantic 15 minutes fixing their bikes before lock down.
Lyndon Heffernan, of Lyndon Heffernan’s Detour, said that the day got off to a smooth start despite the dry conditions.
“It’s all good, it is quite dry and dusty, but so far the timing has been good,” Heffernan said.
“We’ve only had three people DNF (Did Not Finish) this morning, with two seized bikes and another mechanical problem but everyone finished the first trail section and the Pro’s have completed their third special test now.
“Conditions are a little bit dry but still nice and cool, everything is running smoothly at the moment, but some rain would be really nice.
“It’s tough for the riders because the surface is very loose, so what would normally be easy riding has actually become quite tough conditions, and the trails are very rough as well which is making some people loose time already.
“The leaders have probably already done two thirds of their day, they’re doing another lap now and they’ll be heading in for the MOTUL test, which is their final test for the day.”
Currently leading outright after two tests is Chris Hollis (Yamaha) just under two minutes clear of Kirk Hutton (Yamaha) chasing in second place.

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