Barefoot Landing is a great spot to hang out at during the rally, situated right on the Intracoastal Waterway, with the nostalgic charm of a quaint fishing village, with rows of shops and restaurants along its boardwalk, and plenty of entertainment to check out during Bike Week.

There’s also a ton of new product to check out at the Vance & Hines Show Truck including the upcoming Stainless Hi-Output Duals for Touring models, as well as a brand new true dual system for the Dyna Switchback and the latest version of the Pro Pipe, now available in Black.

Myrtle Beach Bike Week is always a blast and runs through Sunday, May 20. Keep up with all the latest at vanceandhines.com and facebook.com/vanceandhines.

Krawiec, who also won the season-opening event at Gainesville, Fla., qualified in the number two position at Atlanta with an Elapsed Time of 6.895 seconds. Harley-Davidson® Screamin’ Eagle®/Vance & Hines rider Andrew Hines qualified the team’s other V-Rod motorcycle in fifth position at 6.987 seconds. Lucas Oil Buell rider Hector Arana Sr. led qualifying at 6.894 seconds.

Krawiec advanced though the first two elimination rounds on Sunday when his opponents, the Edge Suzuki rider Michael Phillips and Geico Suzuki rider Karen Stoffer, each fouled at the starting line. In round three, Krawiec defeated Prana Z Racing Buell rider Shawn Gann to move on the finals.

Hines, who won in NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle at Houston last weekend, defeated Savoie Alligator Farm Buell rider Jerry Savoie in the first round on Sunday, but lost to Ray by 0.002 seconds on a holeshot in round two. Ray had a 0.023 second reaction time and 6.970 ET to the 0.037/6.958 pass of Hines.

“My bike fell off just a little in performance, and Ray picked up a little, and we lost a really close one,” said Hines. “We are working on a better tune-up for this hot weather for my bike. But it was another great weekend for the team and we stay one-two in points.”

There was no drama in the final, as Krawiec posted a solid 0.028/6.905 run to defeat Ray’s 0.043/7.036 and earn the 13th Pro Stock Motorcycle win of his career. The race was Ray’s first final-round appearance.

“Right now we are getting awesome consistency in the first 60 feet from the V-Rods,” said Krawiec. “From qualifying through four rounds today, my bike was running 1.07 (seconds) and 1.08 except for a 1.09 late today when the track started to get really sticky. That consistent start is so important for us and is one reason why we keep winning rounds.”

With the win, Krawiec jumps past Hines from second into first place in Pro Stock Motorcycle season points. Krawiec leaves Atlanta with 337 points. Hines is 67 points back with 270. Lucas Oil Buell ride Hector Arana Jr., who lost in round one at Atlanta, is third with 224 points. Hector Arana Sr. lost to Ray in round three at Atlanta and is fourth with 190 points. Stoffer is fifth with 182 points.

The Pro Stock Motorcycles will next race on May 31-June 3 at the 43rd annual Toyota NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J

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courtesy of Cycle News:

SONOMA, CA, MAY 6 – Bartel’s Harley-Davidson/Scrubblade’s Michael Barnes made racing history by setting a new record for the interval between two race wins with a thrilling last corner victory in the Vance & Hines XR1200 race on a warm, sunny day at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.

Barnes was part of a three-rider breakaway that included teammate Tyler O’Hara and Kyle Wyman. The Bartel’s boys dropped Wyman around the halfway mark,  in the 11-lap race-Wyman would later say it was an arm pump issue-to settle the race between themselves.

The veteran Barnes appeared to be sizing up his less experienced teammate, never once making a hard charge for the front. Until it mattered. Coming out of the hairpin left final Turn 11, Barnes took the unorthodox step of going around the outside of OHara. At the same time, OHara’s XR1200 jumped out of gear, effectively killing his drive.

The margin of victory was .149 sec.

“I just tried, I tried, I tried so many times and had a good run on him, pulled up beside him and said, no,” Barnes said. “This guys determined. He works hard at it.”

Wyman was a lonely third at more than ten seconds.

The win was the third of the 43-year-old Barnes’ long AMA career. The previous win came in the 750 SuperSport race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 5, 1996, a gap of 15 years, seven months and one day, or 5692 days.

“I’m just so happy to get up here,” Barnes said. “It’s been a long time and I just can’t thank every single one of you for being up here.”
OHara continues to lead the championship with 83 points to 77 for Barnes and 74 for Kyle Wyman.

The seven-rider battle for fourth petered out into a two-way fight. It was won by Suburban Harley-Davidson’s Shane Narbonne over Michael Corbino (XP Motorsports/Rossiter’s Harley-Davidson of Sarasota).

In the A class, V&H rider Steven Tokarski looked to regain his speed and confidence after a long break coming back from a hand injury earlier this year. Steven took home 2nd place overall in the 250A and 450A Southwest region.

Paul Coates, picked up where he left off in Alabama, continuing to show the B class he is at the top of his game and a national contender. Paul dominated his class taking home 1st place overall with wins in 250B and 450B for the Northwest region.

With the solid results from this weekend, both riders have now made it through to the next round of qualification at the Regional championships back at Honey Lake MX in June.  Keep up with all the action at vanceandhines.com and facebook.com/vanceandhines.

Courtesy of AMA Pro Racing

SONOMA, Calif. (May 2, 2012) – Infineon Raceway has been a staple on the AMA Pro Road Racing calendar for over four decades, and the series makes a return to the picturesque 2.32-mile natural road course located in Sonoma, Calif. this weekend for the Great Clips West Coast Moto Jam. Based on the fierce battles witnessed during the opening two rounds of the 2012 season, the cool climate of California’s wine country is set to turn red hot beginning with the first official practice session, scheduled for Friday, May 4 at 12:00 p.m. noon.

SPEED will once again feature the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike and AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike race finals in a set of same-day delayed broadcasts scheduled to begin during primetime on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. PT) and on Sunday at 11:00 p.m. ET (8:00 p.m. PT).

Follow along live as the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com SuperSport and AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series riders battle it out by logging onto http://www.speed2.com. SPEED2 is a broadband service available to customers of Time Warner, Bright House Networks, Cablevision, DISH and Cox. For more information and instructions on gaining access to all of the AMA Pro Motorcycle-Superstore.com and AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series races, please review the SPEED2 FAQ located at http://www.speed2.com/faq.

Live Timing & Scoring of all on-track sessions is available at http://live.amaproracing.com/rr/. Between the races, stay connected with AMA Pro Road Racing at www.twitter.com/AMAProSBK and www.facebook.com/AMAProRoadRacing; keep up with Infineon Raceway at http://twitter.com/infineonraceway and http://www.facebook.com/infineonraceway

AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series

The AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series is an exciting and unique division of AMA Pro Road Racing featuring Harley-Davidson XR1200s modified with a special parts and accessories kit provided by famed tuner Vance & Hines. With two AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series races completed in the 2012 season, three dominant riders have taken each of the podium spots in hotly-contested and highly-competitive battles.

Tyler O’Hara (No. 29 Bartel’s Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson XR1200) has made it known that he is a force to be reckoned with. He backed up his breakthrough victory in AMA Pro Road Racing’s inaugural event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year with a solid performance in this year’s season-opener at Daytona International Speedway and an impressive point sweep at Road Atlanta.  The 25-year-old, who hails from Petaluma, Calif., took his first AMA Pro Road Racing pole position, led the most laps and grabbed the race victory in Braselton, Ga., taking the points lead in the process. O’Hara’s last race at Infineon resulted in a fourth-place finish.

Defending Vance & Hines XR1200 Series Daytona winner Kyle Wyman (No. 33 KWR/ Vesrah/ Kuryakyn Harley-Davidson XR1200) took an early lead with another impressive victory at Daytona International Speedway in March. Despite a Road Atlanta crash in the AMA Pro GoPro Daytona SportBike division that resulted in a broken heal, the New Yorker persevered and gridded up for the Vance & Hines XR1200 Series final. Heading into Turn 10a at Road Atlanta on the sighting lap, Wyman’s Harley-Davidson hit fluid dropped by another competitor which sent him crashing to the ground yet again. Unable to continue on his primary machine, he switched to a back-up bike and started the 10-lap race from the back of the field. In a dedicated march reminiscent of Blake Young’s dramatic come-back in AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Race 1 at Road Atlanta the day before, Wyman picked off competitors lap after lap to finish third and maintain second in the point standings.

O’Hara’s teammate is longtime AMA Pro veteran Michael Barnes (No. 34 Bartel’s Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson XR1200), who currently sits third in the standings with a season-best finish of second at Road Atlanta. Still looking for his first AMA Pro Vance & Hines Series victory, Barnes has collected four podiums in the class since 2010 including a second-place finish in last year’s race at Infineon Raceway.

Kyle Wyman’s younger brother Travis Wyman (No. 24 Harv’s Harley-Davidson XR1200) is fourth in the Vance & Hines XR1200 Series points heading into the third race weekend of 2012, followed by veteran David Estok (No. 123 Trev Deeley/Ruthless Racing Harley-Davidson XR1200).

Michael Corbino (No. 15 XP Motorsports Harley-Davidson XR1200), Darren James (No. 229 Ruthless/Deeley Racing Harley-Davidson XR1200), Gerry Signorelli (No. 88 Kuryakyn/Racing for a Wish Harley-Davidson XR1200), Bennie Carlson (No. 45 Suburban Harley Davidson ·Bell Harley-Davidson XR1200) and Josh Chisum (No. 10 Bartel’s Harley-Davidson XR1200) hold positions six through 10 in the point standings, respectively, and all but Carlson are entered in this weekend’s event. Chisum is another rider with local ties, hailing from Bakersfield, Calif.

Post-entries for the AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series are accepted until Saturday morning. The first practice for the class will begin on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and a 45-minute qualifying session starting at 4:15 p.m. will set the XR1200 Series grid and close out the day’s on-track AMA Pro Road Racing activity. The big twins will begin their 11-lap battle at 12:30 p.m. local time on Sunday afternoon.

The Vance & Hines Show Truck is parked at Club LaVela, one of the most popular spots of the rally, made famous by MTV’s Spring Break shows. In addition to seeing and hearing the latest in Vance & Hines exhausts, customers can also purchase and get their installation done right on the premises through a local Drag Specialties dealer.

There’s lots of new products coming out for 2012, including new fitments for the 2012 Softail and Dyna models, available now during the rally. Also on display, customers can check out the brand new Switchback Twin Slash Duals system for the Dyna Switchback. Consisting of true dual headers and 4-inch Twin Slash Round slip-on mufflers, this is the only system available on the market to put the finishing touch of a dual exhaust on the Switchback.

The Thunder Beach Rally runs through Sunday, so come on down and check it out. And right after this weekend, the Vance & Hines Show Truck will be heading up to Myrtle Beach Bike Week from May 11th through 20th. The Show Truck will be parked at Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach. Keep up with all the latest events at vanceandhines.com and at facebook.com/vanceandhines.

Arana Jr. set the low Elapsed Time of the weekend with a 6.846-second pass in the third round of eliminations on Sunday, and never ran slower than 6.897 seconds. Hines’ best pass coming to the final round was a 6.902 run in the first round.

“It was going to take a really good start to beat Hector today,” said Hines. “I knew we could push the tree if we needed to, and I was trying for a double-00. My brother and crew chief Matt found me a really good tune up for the V-Rod, and I think I did some of the best riding of my career this weekend. This is a very satisfying win for the Screamin’ Eagle team.”Hines qualified fifth for the event with a time of 6.877 seconds. Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle/Vance & Hines rider Ed Krawiec qualified the team’s second V-Rod in third place at 6.864 seconds. Hector Arana Sr. was the top qualifier at 6.850 seconds on a Lucas Oil Buell.

Krawiec, who won the opening event of the season at Gainesville, Fla., defeated Jerry Savoie on the Savoie Alligator Farm Buell in the first round of eliminations on Sunday. Krawiec lost on the second round to Geico Suzuki rider Karen Stoffer.

“I lost a little performance between the first and second rounds as the weather got hotter,” said Krawiec. “We are still working on our performance off the line, but we’ve got a good handle on it. We’ll just keep working at winning rounds.”

Hines got wins over Suzuki Extended Protection rider Jim Underdahl and John Hall on the Sovereign/Star Racing Buell in the first two elimination rounds, and advanced to the final when GottSpeed Racing rider Michael Ray fouled at the starting line.

In the final, Hines combined a perfect 0.000-second reaction time and a 6.905-second ET to overcome the 0.026/6.886 pass of Arana Jr., and crossed the finish line 0.0077 seconds (approximately two feet) ahead of the Buell rider.

Hines, who lost in the final round at Gainesville to Krawiec, now leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle division with 216 points. Krawiec is second with 210 points, followed by Arana Jr. with 184 points, Stoffer with 129 and Buell rider Matt Smith with 127 points.

The Pro Stock Motorcycles will next race May 4-6 at the 32nd Annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Ga.

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However, races are rarely won easily in the Vance & Hines XR1200 Series and that proved to be the case in Georgia as well.

Pulling double-duty on the weekend, AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike contender Steve Rapp fought for the lead in Sunday’s Vance & Hines XR1200 Series slugfest. The Harv’s Harley-Davidson pilot swapped the lead back-and-forth with O’Hara before a mechanical issue ended his race a couple laps short of the checkered flag.

O’Hara’s Bartel’s Harley-Davidson teammate, Michael Barnes, picked up the pursuit from close behind to push the Californian to the line from second position for his second career AMA Pro victory.

“Every win is very special,” O’Hara said. “I’m super excited. The whole goal this weekend was to have fun and that’s what we did. We put in a good lap in qualifying and won pole. And what a race today. Rapp passed me in a place I didn’t think I could be passed. I followed him a little bit and learned a lot and that helped me out when I got back in the lead. And Barney was there the whole time keeping us honest. There’s no down time on these Harleys. It’s pretty much pinned wire-to-wire.”

After receiving his Big Kahuna surfboard trophy, O’Hara added, “It just works out. I’m from California. I don’t surf but I think I might start now.”

Barnes said, “The last couple of laps I was doing what I could, but I know Tyler and he was doing everything he could. He was going so deep into [Turn] 10 and I didn’t really have a run on him out of [Turn] 7. He was really strong, as was Rapp until he broke or whatever happened to him. He must have downshifted a bit too hard because I heard that thing pop coming out of 10b. He put his hand up and that made it a little easier for me, but Tyler was just too tough to latch onto. Steve and Tyler were slowing each other down a little bit and keeping me there. Today wasn’t the one but it’s coming soon. It’s been 16 years, I think, since I got one and I’m pretty hungry to get a win and determined to get one, one of these days.”

Daytona winner Kyle Wyman made the most of what could have been a championship-killer. The KLR Group/Vesrah crashed in oil on the opening lap of the contest while running in second. He was forced to start from the back of the field after switching to his backup bike for the restart, but still managed to pick his way up to third in the end.

“I guess there was some fluid down in Turn 10a that I didn’t know was there. I guess someone had an issue on the warm-up lap. Before I knew it I was on my head. I just tried to hustle and get back to pit lane to get back out there. I’m glad we did because we got back out there and got on the podium.

“I put my head down. I wanted to get back up there as quick as I could. I had only done three laps on the backup bike ever. That one just got built and brought down here. I’m just happy I had an opportunity to get back out there; I’ve never had a spare bike before, actually. It’s really nice.”

Gerry Signorelli (Kuryakyn/Racing for a Wish) now leads the Sunoco “Go The Distance” Award, given to the rider that completes the furthest total distance in 2012 AMA Pro Road Racing race-weekend events, with 280.65 miles to second-place Darren James‘ (Deeley Racing/ Ruthless Racing) 280.02 miles.

Next Event
AMA Pro Road Racing will next head west for Round 3 with a stop at scenic Sonoma, Calif. The Great Clips West Coast Moto Jam will take place at Infineon Raceway in two weeks time, May 4-6. For tickets and event information, please visit www.infineonraceway.com.

This year, Vance & Hines will be working with J&P Cycles for sales and installation of Vance & Hines exhausts, VO2 air intakes and Fuelpaks throughout the rally.

The Vance & Hines Show Truck will have on display all of its latest products for the most popular Harley-Davidson Touring models including slip-ons like the Hi-Output, Monster Round, Monster Oval and Twin Slash Round. And all of the slip-ons pair up nicely with Power Duals or Dresser Duals head pipes.

For Softail and Dyna riders, there will be plenty of choices as well from dual systems like Big Shots Staggered and Big Radius to the newest 2-into-1 designs like the Pro Pipe Chrome. A particular favorite at Laughlin is always Softail Duals paired with Fishtail end tips, giving a slammed Deluxe or any other Softail model the perfect old school look.

Another new model that will be on display is the 2012 Dyna Switchback. Fitted from the factory with a 2-into-1 style exhaust, Vance & Hines offers two true dual options to turn the Switchback into a real bagger with its Switchback Twin Slash Duals and Switchback Monster Duals.

And Sportster riders will also be glad to see there are plenty of offerings available just like what the big twins get, including Big Radius 2-into-2 and Shortshots Staggered.

For three decades, the River Run has been the largest motorcycle rally on the westcoast. Whether riding from the east or west, Historic US Route 66 makes for a great ride through the desert to get to Laughlin. And there’s plenty of great riding in the area going up to Kingman or Oatman. And when the bikes are parked, there’s tons of entertainment to enjoy including concerts, vendors, and of course a little time spent with Lady Luck at the tables. Keep up with all the latest at vanceandhines.com and at facebook.com/vanceandhines.