2012 AMA Pro Vance & Hanes XR1200 Series
KLR Group’s Kyle Wyman held off Bartels’ Harley-Davidson/Scrubblade teammates Michael Barnes and Tyler O’Hara Sunday in a classic drafting battle at Road America to earn his second AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 series race win of the season by a 0.157-second margin.
As has become the pattern in recent XR1200 series races, the trio of Wyman, Barnes and polesitter O’Hara set the pace at the front, furiously trading the lead multiple times per lap of the 4-mile-long road course. O’Hara led the first four of the race’s seven laps, if often only briefly by drafting into the lead at the start/finish line. Wyman took over the lap lead on the fifth lap and held it through to the conclusion of the contest.
Kyle Wyman says: “I figured out that I was pretty quick in the last few corners of the race track, but very weak in the Carousel, so I figured if I could be out front at the end of the Carousel (on the last lap) I’d be alright to the finish.
“A couple times they drafted me but it was kind of on the fence whether they’d be able to get by me to the (finish) line or not. I knew I could get a good drive out of the last corner so that’s what I wanted to do. I was pretty confident I could make it to the line (first).”
Barnes, who came up just short of his second XR1200 win, noted the importance of last-lap positioning at the draft-heavy track,
Michael Barnes says: “I didn’t really have anything in the draft, and that’s what I’m really disappointed about because I felt I had something on the last lap. I got a really good run out of the last corner and I had Kyle set up for a draft (pass). I had to get around Tyler because I didn’t have anything for sitting back in third even to draft into second, so I just took my chances and it kind of paid off 50 percent. I got halfway there.”
Behind the front-running trio, Harv’s Harley-Davidson’s Travis Wyman held off Benjamin Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D) by 0.008 seconds to finish fourth, with Gerry Signorelli (Kuryakyn) and David Estok (Ruthless Racing/Deeley H-D Racing) less than one second behind. XP Motorsports/Rossiter’s H-D’s Michael Corbino and Darren James (Ruthless Racing/Deeley H-D Racing) finished eighth and ninth, with Nicholas Hansen (Suburban Motors H-D) nipping Joseph Rozynski by 0.006 second to round out the top ten finishers.
2012 Road America AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series Final Results:
1. Kyle Wyman (KLR Group/Vesrah), 7 laps
2. Michael Barnes (Bartels’ H-D/Scrubblade), +0.157 second
3. Tyler O’Hara (Bartels’ H-D/Scrubblade), +0.403 second
4. Travis Wyman (Harv’s H-D), +10.437 seconds
5. Benjamin Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D), +10.445 seconds
6. Gerry Signorelli (Kuryakyn), +10.772 seconds
7. David Estok (Ruthless Racing/Deeley H-D Racing), +11.207 seconds
8. Michael Corbino (XP Motorsports/Rossiter’s H-D), +21.391 seconds
9. Darren James (Ruthless Racing/Deeley H-D Racing), +41.683 seconds
10. Nicholas Hansen (Suburban Motors H-D), +57.775
11. Joseph Rozynski (Sound Waves/Kneedraggers.com), +57.881 seconds
12. Brice Cooper (Woodstock H-D/Hoban Brothers), +58.114 seconds
13. Paul James (Hoban Cycle/Woodstock H-D), +58.126 seconds
14. Matthew Heidel (Online Paddock/Down Home H-D), +1:44.274
15. Josh Chisum (Bartels’ H-D/Scrubblade), 1 lap
16. Shane Narbonne (Suburban Motors H-D), DNS
AMA XR1200 Championship Points:
1. O’Hara, 138
2. K. Wyman, 129
3. Barnes, 123
4. Corbino, 74
5. Estok, 70
6. Signorelli, 69
7. T. Wyman, 65
8. D. James, 63
9. Chisum, 49
10. Hansen, 41
The next round of the Vance & Hines XR1200 series is June 23-24 at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Ala.
