New Jersey Motorsports Park Hosts AMA Pro Road Racing 2009 Season Finales This Weekend
The biggest motorcycle road racing event to date at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) will take place this Labor Day Weekend, September 4 - 6, when the 2009 season finales for AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited, AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL and AMA Pro SuperSport presented by Shoei are run on NJMP's Thunderbolt Raceway.
The three-day AMA Pro Superbike Championships event also includes the penultimate round of the 2009 AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT series in a jam-packed holiday-weekend schedule of six races. The action begins with practice, qualifying and Superpole qualifying on Friday, September 4, and continues straight into the weekend with three races each day on Saturday and Sunday. The SunTrust Moto-GT enduro on Saturday, September 5 at 11 a.m. will be followed by the first finals for American Superbike at 3 p.m. and Daytona SportBike at 4:10 p.m. Sunday, September 6 will see Daytona SportBike roll off first at 2 p.m., SuperSport following at 3:10 p.m. and American Superbike closing the weekend at 4:20 p.m. The Superbike and Daytona SportBike races are each 23 laps for 50 miles on the 2.20-mile Thunderbolt circuit, while the SuperSport race is a 19-lap distance for 40 miles.All of the action from the AMA Pro Superbike Championships at New Jersey will be featured in a pair of same-day telecasts on SPEED. Saturday's American Superbike and Daytona SportBike finals and other action will be shown that night in a two-hour show at 7:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. PT), while Sunday's premier class races and other highlights will air in a two-hour show that evening at Midnight ET (9 p.m. PT).
Mat Mladin (No. 1 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000)wrapped up the 2009 American Superbike Championship one race ago at last month's Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals at Virginia International Raceway (VIR), but several other top American Superbike riders and 2009 race winners will be battling for the final championship podium spots this weekend. The top contenders include Mladin's teammate Tommy Hayden (No. 22 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) with 348 points, five-time 2009 race winner Josh Hayes (No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) with 344 points, Ben Bostrom (No. 2 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) with 315 points and Team AMSOIL star and three-time 2009 race winner Larry Pegram (No. 72 Foremost Insurance/Pegram Racing Ducati 1098R) with 313 points. Pegram dominated the Tornado Nationals and led every lap in both finals from the Superpole for the biggest weekend of his American Superbike career. Earlier this season, Pegram out-raced Mladin and the rest of the field at Road America for his first win in 10 years. Other highlights this season include a third-place showing in the Saturday final at Infineon and his first podium of the year in Race 2 at Auto Club Speedway with another third.All three titles in AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL will be decided this weekend. Each championship will likely come down to a battle between points leader Danny Eslick (No. 9 GEICO Powersports/RMR Buell 1125R) and 2009 race-win leader Martin Cardenas (No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600). Eslick and the No. 9 RMR Buell team are on top of the rider and team entrant standings with 357 points, 17 ahead of Cardenas and the No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki. The dominant duo has combined to win 13 of the 18 Daytona SportBike races this year, with Cardenas one up on Eslick in the win column with seven victories. Josh Herrin (No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) is third in the championship with 321 points and is the only other rider alive in the title chase heading to the finale.
TORC Makes Its Live Broadcast Debut on ABC
The Traxxas TORC Truck Series presented by AMSOIL will make history this weekend, broadcasting live for the first time on network television from the Crandon International Off Road Raceway on September 6, 2009 at 4 p.m. ET on ABC (1 p.m. PT)."This will be the first time that the TORC Truck Series will be carried live on a major network, and represents the next step in the evolution of our sport and our series—the premier off road series in the world," stated Ricky Johnson of TORC. "Throughout the season we have had great ratings, and we expect the trend to continue for this live telecast. With our time slot and the racing competition, this will be a phenomenal show.""This will be another groundbreaking weekend for TORC. It's amazing what we've accomplished in just a few short months; it just keeps getting bigger and better," added Mitch Covington, co-owner of TORC. "Labor Day weekend with two days of off-road racing, we expect to draw a crowd of more than 40,000 spectators. Add live network t.v. and it just doesn't get any better than this."The final two rounds of The Traxxas TORC Series presented by AMSOIL will be held at Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, Calif. (September 24-25) and Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nev. (October 23-24). 
