Titles on the line in Topeka

From AMA Pro Racing

TOPEKA, KS - At least one 2009 championship will be decided and several other season titles could be on the line at this weekend's Tornado Nationals presented by BriggsAuto.com, which marks the return of top-level AMA Pro Road Racing to Heartland Park Topeka for the first time since 1991.

The highlight of the Tornado Nationals will be dual Saturday and Sunday races for the premier AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike and AMA Pro Daytona SportBike divisions.  Also on the card is the season-ending event for the West-division riders of AMA Pro SuperSport, who will compete head-to-head with their counterparts from the East in the last of this season's three dual-championship shootouts. The schedule also includes a two-hour AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT race.

Championship points leader Mat Mladin (No. 7 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) is a virtual lock to win the 2009 AMA Pro American Superbike title and he could do just that at Heartland Park. The Ironman Australian has an unmatched record of 10 wins so far this season, including a streak of seven in a row to open the year. He has been AMA Pro Road Racing's top rider in 2009 and has won all but four races and captured seven of eight pole positions. The most recent round at Mid-Ohio marked the only event this year where Mladin failed to win a race or the pole, but he still managed to finish third in the Saturday final and left Ohio having given up just one point of his big championship lead. 

He has a strong 126-point championship lead, 390 - 264, over Yoshimura Suzuki teammate and nearest challenger Tommy Hayden (No. 22 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) and Mladin will seal a record-extending seventh AMA Pro American Superbike title if he maintains or builds on that gap by the end of the Tornado Nationals weekend.

Mladin's teammates Hayden and Blake Young (No. 79 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) have been among the handful of riders that have challenged the American Superbike leader this year. Hayden is still winless in his American Superbike career but he has been on the podium in half of the year's 14 races. Hayden's best finishes have been seconds in the Saturday finals at Road Atlanta and Infineon Raceway and both rounds in March at Auto Club Speedway in California.

Young has overcome severe injuries to his left pinkie and ring finger in a Sunday final accident at Barber Motorsports Park to remain one of Mladin's strongest challengers. His best run of the year came two races ago in the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca where he led the most laps for the first time this season before finishing second to Mladin. 

Although a solid sixth in the championship standings with 201 points despite missing a pair of races, Young has been eliminated from the title picture.

Yamaha's American Superbike riders Ben Bostrom (No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) and Josh Hayes (No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) rank third and fourth, respectively, heading to Topeka. Bostrom, who is third in the championship standings with 246 points, finished second to Hayes in Race 2 at Mid-Ohio as Yamaha scored a rare one-two American Superbike finish.

Hayes dominated the Mid-Ohio weekend after becoming the first rider other than Mladin this season to earn the top spot in Superpole qualifying on Friday. He then won both of the weekend's races and joins Mladin as 2009's only American Superbike repeat race winner with three victories. He heads to Heartland Park fourth in the championship with 245 points, just one behind teammate Bostrom. 

The year's only other American Superbike race winner is Larry Pegram (No. 72 Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R) who is fifth in the American Superbike standings with 223 points. Pegram out-raced Mladin and the rest of the field three races ago at Road America for his first win in 10 years.

Geoff May (No. 54 National Guard Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) and his Jordan Motorsports teammate Aaron Yates (No. 23 Brand Jordan Suzuki GSX-R1000) rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in the American Superbike standings. May's best finishes were three third-place showings within the year's first five races while Yates has posted back-to-back third-place showings of his own in Race 2 at Road America and at Laguna Seca. Yates has also given the Jordan team its top results of the year with second-place finishes in the Sunday final at Barber and one event ago at Mid-Ohio in Race 1 on Saturday.

A pair of top privateers completes the American Superbike top 10 but one will miss this weekend's race at Topeka and the rest of the season. David Anthony (No. 25 Aussie Dave Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000) remains 10th in the championship despite missing both Mid-Ohio races after a spill in Saturday's final qualifying. He is currently recovering from surgery to repair a fractured femur.

Taylor Knapp (No. 44 Taylor Knapp Racing Buell 1125RR) is ninth in the standings and his season has been anchored by eight top-10 finishes, including the Sunday final at Mid-Ohio. In that race Knapp debuted the Buell 1125RR and two more of the new machines will be on track at Topeka in the hands of veteran Buell rider Shawn Higbee (No. 11 Higbee-Racing.com Buell 1125RR) and Walt Sipp (No. 221 Walt Sipp Racing Buell 1125RR).

Honda has been competitive in American Superbike this year despite an early season injury to top rider Neil Hodgson (No. 100 Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR). The former World Superbike Champion has recovered from an early-season motocross training injury to score strong sixth-place finishes in the recent races at Road America and Laguna Seca.

While Mladin and Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura have all but sealed the American Superbike championships, the title battle in AMA Pro Daytona SportBike is closer than it has been all season.

Danny Eslick (No. 9 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R) muscled his way to a sweep of both races two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio and has moved to within just 10 points of mid-season terror Martin Cardenas (No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600). Cardenas has 285 points and six wins while Eslick has 275 markers and five wins to his credit.

Also firmly in the mix is Jamie Hacking (No. 88 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) who is far from out of it in third place with 241 championship points.

Bostrom has gone a perfect two for two in Daytona SportBike cameos on his No. 1s Graves Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6 and Canadian rider Chris Peris (No. 10 Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR) scored a race win at Road America.

Yamaha's fulltime Daytona SportBike riders are Josh Herrin (No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) and Tommy Aquino (No. 6 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6). Herrin is fourth in the championship standings with 211 points and has finished third in two of the last six races. Aquino hit the podium for the first time this year at Mid-Ohio where he finished third, one spot behind Herrin, on Saturday.

Peris is teammates with veteran Honda rider Jake Zemke (No. 1x Erion Racing Honda CBR600RR) who also factored into Erion's strong Road America weekend with a season-high finish of second in the Sunday final. It was Zemke's first podium finish of the season but he also showed well at Mid-Ohio with his second fourth-place finish of the season on Saturday.

Cardenas partners with the equally quick Jason DiSalvo (No. 40 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600) who has five podium finishes and a series-leading four poles so far in 2009. DiSalvo rounds out the top five in the championship with 201 points.

Chaz Davies (No. 57 Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R) is the main Aprilia threat and scored a season-high finish of second two races ago at Laguna Seca. Steve Rapp (No. 48 Bazzaz/Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6) is another past Daytona 200 winner who is hitting his stride after taking his first podium of the year at Infineon with a third-place finish in the Saturday final.

Sunday's AMA Pro SuperSport sprint is the final combined East/West shootout of the season and is also the final points race of the year for riders contesting the SuperSport West championship but they will be racing head-to-head with a competitive crop of riders from the SuperSport East division.

Ricky Parker (No. 96 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) leads the SuperSport West championship standings with 88 points despite missing the year's first pair of races. Parker is 14 points clear of nearest challenger Tyler Odom (No. 46 Erion Racing/Pro Honda Oils & Chemicals Honda CBR600RR), who won Daytona's season-opening dual division race and led the championship earlier in the year. Distant yet competitive threats for the West crown include Clint Shobert (No. 26 American Honda/Pro Honda Oils & Chemicals Honda CBR600RR) and Bryce Prince (No. 74 Clawson Motorsports/Arai/NJK Leathers/Cycle Gear Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R).

The SuperSport East division will also see its best riders battle for the overall win and their own division points at Topeka. Riders expected to be running at the front include Mid-Ohio winner and new SuperSport East points leader Josh Day (No. 4 Kerker Racing Yamaha YZF-R6), two-time race winner Leandro Mercado (No. 92 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R), Barber SuperSport winner Garrett Carter (No. 31 Ridersdiscount.com/Woodcraft Yamaha YZF-R6, Russ Wikle (No. 5 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R600) and Huntley Nash (No. 15 LTD Racing Yamaha YZF-R6).

The AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT division makes a repeat visit to Topeka after paving the way for AMA Pro Road Racing's return to Heartland Park last August.

Despite being one of just two winless teams in the top six, the No. 41 Liberty Waves Racing Buell 1125R of Eric Pinson and Eric Haugo leads the GT1 championship heading to Topeka. In the GT2 class, championship leaders Frank Shockley and Ryan Elleby made history two races ago at Road America when they finished first overall on the No. 77 Touring Sport Ducshop Ducati PS1000LE. It was the first time a GT2 class bike beat the faster GT1 class machines and Heartland Park could be the type of track where a similar upset could take place.

The action begins with practice, qualifying and Superpole qualifying on Friday, July 31, and continues straight into the weekend with three races each day on Saturday and Sunday. The SunTrust Moto-GT enduro kicks off the weekend's races at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 1, and will be followed that afternoon by the first finals for American Superbike at 3 p.m. and Daytona SportBike at 4 p.m. Sunday will see Daytona SportBike roll off first at 2 p.m., SuperSport following at 3 p.m. and Superbike closing the weekend at 4 p.m. The Superbike and Daytona SportBike races are each 20 laps for 50 miles while the SuperSport race is a 16-lap distance for 40 miles.

The Tornado Nationals will be featured in a pair of same-day telecasts on SPEED. Saturday's American Superbike and Daytona SportBike finals will be shown that night in a two-hour show at 10:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. PT) while Sunday's premier class races and other highlights will air in a two-hour show that evening at Midnight ET (9 p.m. PT).