Kyle Wyman Charges from Back of Grid to Podium
Braselton, GA (April 23, 2012) – Bartels’ Harley-Davidson’s Tyler O’Hara converted pole position to a race win in the second round of the AMA Pro Racing Vance & Hines XR1200 series Sunday at Road Atlanta to earn his second career victory in the class and the championship points lead.
O’Hara survived an opening lap red flag incident that forced fellow front row starter Kyle Wyman (KLR Group/Vesrah) to restart from the back of the grid on a backup motorcycle, and challenges from his Bartels’ Harley-Davidson teammate Michael Barnes and 2011 XR1200 championship runner-up Steve Rapp (Harv’s Harley-Davidson), each of whom led laps early in the race, to earn the hard-fought win.
“What a race today. Rapp passed me in a place I didn’t think I could be passed coming out of [turn] one. I just followed him and learned a couple of things that helped me out for when I got back in the lead, and Barney was there the whole time keeping us honest,” said O’Hara, who led eight of the race’s 10 laps and held off Barnes for a 0.626-second margin of victory.
Wyman, who posted the fastest lap of the race with a 1:39.722, rebounded to an unexpected third place finish after Rapp pulled off with a mechanical problem with two laps to go. Wyman’s race was spoiled by a crash on the opening lap of the original race start caused by oil from another machine that cracked its primary case during the warm-up lap. Unable to repair his primary motorcycle during the red flag period, he was forced to restart the race from the back of the grid.
“Apparently someone dumped something on the sight lap because it wasn’t there before,” Wyman said. “They sent us out to race any way and I got the worst of it. I went down hard and it hurt but all I could think about was getting back to pit row and figuring out how to continue racing.”
Further back in the order, Harv’s Harley-Davidson’s Travis Wyman emerged ahead of Longevity Racing’s Barrett Long and Shane Narbonne (Suburban Motors H-D) to claim a strong fourth place finish from his seventh place starting slot. Ben Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D), Michael Corbino, Gerry Signorelli, and David Estok rounded out the top ten finishers.
Final Results:
1. Tyler O’Hara (Bartels’ H-D/Scrubblade), 10 laps
2. Michael Barnes (Bartels’ H-D/Scrubblade), +0.626 second
3. Kyle Wyman (KLR Group/Vesrah), +6.532 seconds
4. Travis Wyman (Harv’s H-D), +9.280 seconds
5. Barrett Long (Longevity Racing), +9.384 seconds
6. Shane Narbonne (Suburban Motors H-D), + 9.585 seconds
7. Benjamin Carlson (Suburban Motors H-D), +19.414 seconds
8. Michael Corbino (XP Motorsports/Rossiter’s H-D), +23.685 seconds
9. Gerry Signorelli (Kuryakyn), +24.179 seconds
10. David Estok (Trev Deeley Motorcycles), +25.635 seconds
11. Darren James (Ruthless Racing/Deeley), +26.161 seconds
12. Josh Chisum (Bartels’ H-D/Scrubblade), +33.088 seconds
13. Russell Proctor (Shenandoah H-D), +55.984 seconds
14. Paul James (Hoban Cycle/Woodstock H-D), +1:15.395 seconds
15. Aaron Borello (Air Ground Express), +1:17.150 seconds
16. Jeremiah Johnson (BE-EV.com/New Roc H-D), +1:17.338 seconds
17. Steve Rapp (Harv’s H-D), 8 laps, mechanical
18. Matthew Heidel (Online Paddock/Down Home H-D), 7 laps
19. Paul Schwemmer (Peter Brady/Level 10 Contractors), DNF
20. Brice Cooper (Woodstock H-D), DNF
21. Nicholas Hansen (Suburban Motors H-D), DNS
XR1200 Championship Points
1. O’Hara, 57
2. K. Wyman, 52
3. Barnes, 47
4. T. Wyman, 33
5. Estok, 29
6. Corbino, 27
7. D. James, 26
8. Signorelli, 25
9. Carlson, 22
10. Chisum, 21
The next round of the Vance & Hines XR1200 series is May 5-6 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA.
