Barber07

Barber Motorsports Park
Leeds, Alabama April 22, 2007

CORONA EXTRA HONDA RACING ELLISON TAKES TENTH AND ELEVENTH
AT BARBER DOUBLEHEADER

James Ellison put in two strong rides to place his Corona Extra Honda Racing CBR1000RR SuperBike in tenth and eleventh places at the Barber Motorsports SuperBike doubleheader this weekend. Having had the benefit of testing earlier in the year, James was able to get up to speed quickly in practice and qualifying. Changes in the bike since the test and a couple of mechanical hiccups left Ellison short on track time which handicapped his qualifying, settling for fifteenth on the grid, half a second slower than he had achieved in the earlier test.

In the first race James was not able to get the best of starts, but did make up a couple of places on lap one and ending up thirteenth by the end of the lap. He then set about a spirited dice with the factory Kawasaki of Roger Hayden and the MV Augusta of Matt Lynn. Eventually he passed both, but by then was too far from the front pack to make up so settled for the top ten position.

In race two a tire problem in the warm up lap meant a quick change on the grid before the start. Unfortunately the replacement was not much better which made Ellison ride conservatively to avoid a fall during the race. He said, “Early in the race the tire was very unpredictable and so I backed it down a notch!” As the race progressed, James found that when the tire started going off he could anticipate its response and actually gain confidence and go faster.

He started moving up from his first lap fifteenth position eventually getting to eleventh, almost catching factory Honda rider Jake Zemke in tenth. All-in-all, a very good performance for the second race of the season! Ellison is currently eighth in the SuperBike Championship points order.

In other Barber news, Balch and Bingham, the area’s second largest law firm, partnered with the Corona Team and the Barber Motorsports track to bring company personnel to the event for hospitality and to see the excitement of Superbike racing. The feedback - a great time was had by all!

Corona Extra Honda Racing is proud to be partnering with industry-leaders; Parts Unlimited, Cycle Gear, Ti Force, Joe Rocket, Castrol, Dunlop, Sidi, Hotbodies, GPR, Motion Pro, K&L, HRC, Ohlin?s, VP Racing, Vortex, CR&A, Adran, DynoJet, RK, Brembo, Marchesini, JETT Tuning, EFI Technology, Performance Solutions, EBSCO Media, MTS.