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WESTBY RALLIES TO FINISH SEVENTH AFTER CRASH AT INFINEON RACEWAY

May 6, 2012

M4 Suzuki's Dane Westby salvaged a strong finish from what could have been a disastrous outing for the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike title contender on Sunday at Infineon Raceway.

Westby's race opened as planned, immediately jumping from his second-row starting position to a close fourth. However, the race was quickly red-flagged. The restart wasn't quite as kind to the Oklahoman, who got away in sixth the second time around.

It soon got worse. While in sixth and involved in a tight scrap for a podium positioning, Westby's front wheel contacted another rider's rear wheel entering Turn 12. Westby suffered a slow-speed fall as a result, and the field trailing behind flowed around him.

The Wolverine' picked his fallen GSX-R600 up off the tarmac and reentered the fray down in 14^th position.

Westby steadily picked his way back up the order, ultimately arriving in seventh position by the time he took the checkered flag.

Thanks to his determined ride, Westby still ranks third in the '12 SportBike title fight with 94 points.

SuzukiScoopFans SportbikeTrackGear.com M4 Suzuki's Elena Myers completed an AMA Pro SuperSport race on Sunday that was similar to her Saturday outing.

Elena again quickly fought forward from her spot on the third row, surviving multiple starts in the twice-red-flagged race to work her way up as high as fifth.

However, the Daytona winner again slowly faded down the order. Still recovering from recent wrist surgery, Myers found herself in a battle for 11^th position on the final lap.

Another rider dove up the inside on the brakes entering Turn 12, but Myers squared him off and accelerated ahead aboard her GSX-R600 to win the position by a scant 0.003 seconds.

Team Venezuela's Robertino Pietri picked up a top-ten result on his birthday in Sunday's AMA Pro Superbike final. The former Moto2 pilot ran in 12^th place early and worked his way forward to a ninth-place finish in the 22-lap final.

M4 Suzuki's Chris Ulrich finished the Superbike race in 13^th aboard his GSX-R1000. "I'm not happy -- I really believe a top ten was in the cards, and we didn't do it," Ulrich said. "We went in the wrong direction with the set-up and the bike was really hard to ride. The result is the result.

"The positive is we made it through another weekend. We're going to go home and regroup over the next couple weeks and then come back stronger at Miller."

Team Hammer will next compete on May 26-28 as the AMA Pro Road Racing series joins the Superbike World Championship at Miller Motorsports Park.

In 2012, Team Hammer, Inc. is competing in its 32nd consecutive racing season and marks its sixth year of offering technical and logistical support through its Contract Services Department. The team has earned 49 AMA Pro National race wins; 115 AMA Pro National podium finishes; 4 AMA Pro Championships; 133 Overall National Endurance race wins; 13 National Endurance Championships and assorted other race wins and titles.

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