2013 Indianapolis AMA XR1200 Class Results
In two thrilling races set on the world stage, a pair of international wildcard riders split the AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson series double-header races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Red Bull Indianapolis GP round of the FIM MotoGP World Championship.
In Saturday’s Race 1, Northern Ireland’s Jeremy McWilliams (H-D of Bloomington Indiana) won a wild four-way shootout on the draft heavy 2.6-mile road course at the famed Brickyard.
The MotoGP veteran, who last raced in the Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson series at Indy in 2011, started from second on the front row and fell back as far as fourth as polesitter Steve Rapp (Aerostar Global/Suburban Motors H-D) built a gap at the front, amassing nearly a one-second lead by the fourth of the race’s 10 laps.
But by mid-distance, just as it appeared Rapp might be on his way to a fifth-straight class win, the chasing pack of McWilliams, Eco Fuel Saver/Scrubblade’s Tyler O’Hara, and Malaysian rider Hafizh Syahrin (PETRONAS/KWR) had reeled him in, and by lap seven, McWilliams was at the front.
Rapp reclaimed the lead on the next lap, but was swallowed up in the draft as the white flag flew, falling back to fourth place at the start of the final lap. McWilliams held on for the win, just 0.039 second ahead of O’Hara, with Syahrin in third. Rapp came home in fourth, only 0.188 second behind the winner. Harv’s Harley-Davidson’s Travis Wyman chased hard to keep the leaders in sight, finishing in fifth about one second back.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” McWilliams said. “I sort of lost my way a little bit at the beginning and these guys started moving ahead. I thought I better dig in or it wasn’t going to work. I just wanted to be in a position at the end to give myself half a chance. Hafizh passed me and at that stage I thought Tyler and Steve were going to get away. Luckily it came back with the draft and if it wasn’t for the draft, I don’t think I would have got back on their tails.”
Sunday’s Race 2 quickly turned into a two-rider affair between Rapp and Syahrin after O’Hara crashed on the opening lap, which slowed up McWilliams. The leading pair quickly checked out as McWilliams battled with Wyman and 2012 defending series champion Michael Barnes (Spyke’s H-D). McWilliams would eventually also crash out of the race on lap nine, allowing Wyman to cruise onto the third step of the podium as Barnes went backward and was passed for fourth by Suburban Motors’ Benny Carlson.
If the battle for third was somewhat anti-climactic, the fight for victory was anything but, with Rapp and Syahrin rarely separated by more than a tenth of a second on any lap past the start-finish line. Each led five of the race’s 10 laps, but it was Syahrin who led the most important, drafting past Rapp to take the win by a mere 0.060-second margin.
“I tried to keep improving every session,” said Syahrin, who was racing in the Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson class for the first time at Indy. “We found a very good setting in the first race and then we just tried to improve the rear suspension just a little bit for today’s race because yesterday I had just a little bit too much slide. It improved a lot and that’s why I was able to run up front. Steve Rapp and I were the only two in the front and I kept in the second position until the very end. I passed him in the slipstream.”
With wildcards McWilliams and Syahrin not factoring into the XR Showdown that began this weekend, Rapp was the big winner in the four-race playoff competition that reset the points of the top ten riders after the regular season to 1,000 each. He now leads the XR Showdown standings with 1,045 points, 8 points ahead of Wyman and 15 points clear of Barnes, with two races remaining.
The next race in the AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson series is Sept. 14-15 at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, N.J.
2013 Indy AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Race 1 Results:
1. Jeremy McWilliams (H-D of Bloomington Indiana), 10 laps
2. Tyler O’Hara (Eco Fuel Saver/Scrubblade), +0.039 second
3. Hafizh Syahrin (PETRONAS/KWR), +0.130 second
4. Steve Rapp (Aerostar Global/Suburban Motors H-D), +0.188 second
5. Travis Wyman (Harv’s H-D), +1.089 second
6. Hayden Schultz (Happy Trails M/C Connection), +14.727 seconds
7. Michael Barnes (Spyke’s H-D), +15.979 seconds
8. Shane Narbonne (MOB Racing/Empire H-D), +17.816 seconds
9. Gage McAllister (Folsom H-D), +25.571 seconds
10. Eric Stump (Fernet Insurance), +25.702 seconds
11. David Estok (Thrashed Bike Racing), +38.763 seconds
12. Josh Chisum (Eco Fuel Saver/Scubblade/Bartels H-D), +38.914 seconds
13. Nicholas Hansen (Suburban Motors H-D), +1:00.400
14. Ricky Parker (ChilliPepperRacing), +1:00.483
15. Sam Rozynski (Sound-Waves.com), +1:21.523
16. Paul James (Hoban Cycle/Spectro Oils), +1:23.560
17. Logan Hanks (Reddit), +1:52.969
18. Greg Hutcheson (Grand Rapids H-D), +1:54.158
19. Shelina Moreda (Spyke’s H-D), +1:57.414
20. Aaron Borello (Air Ground Xpress), +1:57.725
21. Brian Mullins (SMP Installations), +1:58.251
22. Nadieh Schoots (SSI/Spyke’s H-D), +1:58.336
23. Barrett Long (Longevity Racing), 8 laps
24. Michael Kim (None listed), +2:22.132
25. Dave Rhinehart (Rhinehart Development), 6 laps
26. Benjamin Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D), 4 laps
27. Todd Keesee (Brevard Superbike), 3 laps
28. Joseph Tiredo (Thor Labs), +2.326 seconds
29. Michael Henao (Awesome Personal Friends), DNF
30. Brice Cooper (Aerostar Global/Suburban Motors H-D), DNS
2013 Indy AMA Pro Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson Race 2 Results:
1. Hafizh Syahrin (PETRONAS/KWR), 10 laps
2. Steve Rapp (Aerostar Global/Suburban Motors H-D), +0.060 second
3. Travis Wyman (Harv’s H-D), +4.529 seconds
4. Benjamin Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D), +8.645 seconds
5. Michael Barnes (Spyke’s H-D), +11.482 seconds
6. Shane Narbonne (MOB Racing/Empire H-D), +14.512 seconds
7. Hayden Schultz (Happy Trails M/C Connection), +15.238 seconds
8. Gage McAllister (Folsom H-D), +26.969 seconds
9. Eric Stump (Fernet Insurance), +27.051 seconds
10. Barrett Long (Longevity Racing), +37.315 seconds
11. Nicholas Hansen (Suburban Motors H-D), +40.503
12. David Estok (Thrashed Bike Racing), +40.622 seconds
13. Josh Chisum (Eco Fuel Saver/Scubblade/Bartels H-D), +40.767 seconds
14. Ricky Parker (ChilliPepperRacing), +56.134 seconds
15. Paul James (Hoban Cycle/Spectro Oils), +1:16.988
16. Michael Henao (Awesome Personal Friends), +1:17.330
17. Sam Rozynski (Sound-Waves.com), +1:18.615
18. Greg Hutcheson (Grand Rapids H-D), +1:24.895
19. Logan Hanks (Reddit), +1:39.884
20. Shelina Moreda (Spyke’s H-D), +1:53.862
21. Nadieh Schoots (SSI/Spyke’s H-D), +1:54.398
22. Aaron Borello (Air Ground Xpress), 9 laps
23. Michael Kim (None listed), +1.960 seconds
24. Dave Rhinehart (Rhinehart Development), +25.131 seconds
25. Todd Keesee (Brevard Superbike), +1:06.980
26. Brian Mullins (SMP Installations), +1:33.612
27. Jeremy McWilliams (H-D of Bloomington Indiana), 8 laps
28. Joseph Tiredo (Thor Labs), 6 laps
29. Tyler O’Hara (Eco Fuel Saver/Scrubblade), DNF
30. Brice Cooper (Aerostar Global/Suburban Motors H-D), DNS
2013 AMA Harley XR1200 Showdown Points Standings (After Two of Four Races):
1. Rapp, 1,045
2. Wyman, 1,037
3. Barnes, 1,030
4. Narbonne, 1,028
5. O’Hara, 1,025
6. Estok, 1,019
7. Carlson, 1,018
8. Hansen, 1,018
9. Chisum, 1,017
10. Long, 1,011
