RoadAtlanta07

ELLISON MOVES CORONA EXTRA HONDA CBR1000RR TO EIGHTH
AT ROAD ATLANTA SUPERBIKE

Photo by Brian J. Nelson Road Atlanta
Braselton, GA September 1, 2007

With the East Coast heat wave following the AMA circus, James Ellison continued to improve his riding of the Corona Extra Honda CBR1000RR SuperBike, taking eighth in the second SuperBike event of this weekend’s doubleheader at Road Atlanta. A mechanical problem sidelined him in the first race.

Ellison immediately came to grips with the high-speed Road Atlanta track and was quickly up to speed in practice and qualifying. Within seconds of the close of qualifying he was fourth but ultimately was pipped for that front-row slot by mere tenths of a second so had to settle for fifth, first on the second row. This was his best qualifying all year and boded well for the races!

Come the green flag for the first race, James got a poor start and found himself in eleventh after the first lap. He quickly started making up positions getting to ninth by lap four when championship leader Ben Spies crashed, bringing out the red flag. The restart was very prompt and the crew had no time to change the notoriously delicate clutch of the CBR1000RR Superbike. James tried to feather it but it gave up the ghost and he was forced to retire. The disappointed crew immediately put in a new one for race two!

James was obviously concerned about the clutch in race two and it showed in his cautious start which again found him eleventh on lap one. Once again he put his head down and started making up positions getting three by the finish and ending up in eighth, a solid finish. James said, “I was really gentle on the clutch and lost some positions at the start. After I got around some guys I couldn’t get on the draft of the next group. The track is really fast and the draft makes all the difference. I’m bummed I was not able to capitalize on my qualifying position!”

The weekend has Ellison remaining eleventh in the SuperBike championship series.

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