Ace Racing Finishes Season Strong At Infineon
The following is from Ace Racing, LLC... September 20, 2009 Ace Racing riders Michael Hannas and Ace Robey ended the 2009 season with some of their best finishes of the year at Infineon Raceway during the AFM Season Finale, with Hannas earning a seventh place finish in 750 Superbike and Robey getting into the top fifteen in Open Production and top twenty in Open Grand Prix. Brian Parriott was not racing for the team on the weekend as he was already in Spain, where he and his family reside during the winter, so the pressure was on Hannas and Robey to deliver results for the team and complete the season on a good note. Ace Racing Results 750 Superbike: 7th Michael Hannas (Hon) Open Production: 15th Ace Robey (Hon) Ace Racing would like to thank our partners 2WheelTimes.com, Bazzaz Performance, Catalyst Racing Composites, CRG, Concept Five, Epic Images, Kyle Racing, Leo Vince, Motion Pro, Parriott Motors, Pirelli, PSR, Shift, and Yoyodyne. Please visit our website at www.AceRacingLLC.com for more info.
Photos courtesy of www.4theriders.com
Sunny blue skies and the promise of hot temperatures greeted the riders on Sunday morning as Hannas was the first Ace Racing rider to take the grid, for the 750 Superbike race. With a good start from his fourth row grid position and some aggressive moves on the first lap, Hannas was able to work his way into the top ten before the field completed the first lap. Continuing his charge, Hannas was able to stuff the Ace Racing CBR6000RR past a couple more riders and up into seventh position before his forward progress was halted by the multi-rider battle in front of him. While Hannas was perhaps being a little too patient looking for a way through the gaggle of riders fighting for fourth position, he lost another position and was back to eighth. After regrouping, Hannas was able to regain the seventh position but had lost contact with the battle for fourth. Although once he had clear track Hannas was able to set lap times that would put him in the top three and close on the battle for fourth, there were not enough laps left to completely bridge the gap and Hannas was forced to settle for seventh, still his best finish of the season. Hannas still wasn’t happy after the race, saying, “Man, I was way too nice out there and got stuck behind those guys, I know if I would have been a little more aggressive I could have had fourth at least, no problem; the bike was working great, the rider just needed a little more balls!"
Next up was Ace in Open Production, with the Ace Racing CBR1000RR gridded on the fourth row. Ace launched the big CBR well but was pinched off going into turn one and mired back around 20th position. With a few brave moves on the first lap he was able to work his way up to sixteenth, and spent the next couple of laps working on trying to break into the top fifteen. After studying and figuring out his opponent’s weak spots, Ace made his move on the brakes and put the Ace Racing machine into the fifteenth position. He was able to hold on for the final laps to earn a strong top fifteen finish, and was looking forward to Open Grand Prix later in the day.
Hannas was up first thing after lunch for 600 Superbike, once again starting the Ace Racing CBR600RR from the fourth row. After completely botching the start Hannas was outside of the top twenty going into the first turn, but a couple moves on the first lap put Hannas up to around fifteenth by the time the pack crossed the line for the first time. Once again Hannas found himself stuck behind a pack of five riders battling amongst themselves into every corner, leaving no room for Hannas to get around. After a few scary moments Hannas decided he would have to just pick his way through one at a time, making his moves where the other riders weren’t trying to make an out-of-control pass at the same time. Once again Hannas was too patient and by the time he made his way through the pack and up to eleventh, the gap to Tom Montano in tenth was too much to overcome. Hannas settled for eleventh, once again displeased with ability to get through the pack but happy that he was able to set his fastest time of the season on his final lap, saying, “I was too cautious through traffic again, I just have a hard time stuffing these guys when I know they have to go to work the next day, I mean, it is just club racing. My times I set at the end of the race would have put me top five, but when you lollygag around for the first four laps it doesn’t matter!”
The last race of the day for Ace Racing, and the season, was the Open Grand Prix, with Ace gridding up on the sixth row. Starting on the inside, once again Ace got pinched off into turn one, but this time was able to make some of the spots back around the outside in turn two. Just outside the top twenty, Ace found himself in a multi-rider battle that ended up lasting the whole race. With the riders swapping positions multiple times per lap over the next few laps, Ace was finally able to work his way up to 21st with only one rider left directly in front of him and two laps to go. Ace spent a lap figuring out where he wanted to make his move, and looked set to go for the spot into the chicane on the final lap, leaving his opponent no time to retaliate. However, one of the lead riders went down on the final lap in the last turn, which brought out a waving yellow from the entrance of the chicane to the exit of the final turn, meaning no passing in those sections and little hope for Ace to get into the top twenty. Not to be denied, Ace followed patiently through the no passing zone and lined himself up for a killer drive out of the final turn to the finish line. Squaring the big CBR up and hammering the throttle, Ace rocketed towards the flag and blasted by the rider in front just before the line, earning a hard-fought 20th place.
Looking back on the season, Ace was satisfied with the results achieved and knowledge learned by Ace Racing throughout the year, and was looking forward to 2010 with much anticipation. Said Ace, “This season was really just messing around, gaining experience and building for 2010 more than going all out for results, so considering that I am satisfied with the results we have achieved but even more pleased with the team structure we have put together and the amount of knowledge the team has gained this season. We definitely have some bigger and better things going on for the 2010 season, which we hopefully will be able to announce soon, and this season has been an excellent preparation for that. We may have just been having fun and learning this season, but trust me, 2010 will be a little more serious!”
AFM Round Seven
Infineon Raceway
September 20, 2009
600 Superbike: 11th Michael Hannas (Hon)
Open Grand Prix: 20th Ace Robey (Hon)
