Bel-Ray Racing-Weekend Racing Preview – May 4, 2012

For
decades, professional racers have experienced the performance advantages
that Bel-Ray powersports lubricants provide. This weekend, Bel-Ray’s
professional racers will be competing around the
world in various types of competition.

MotoGP

The
Grand Prix of Portugal will take place this weekend at the famous
Estoril circuit. Situated along the Atlantic coast of the country, the
track is just 28km from the capital city of Lisbon.
The long, high speed front straight could prove difficult for the
Bel-Ray backed Power Electronics Aspar team of Aleix Espargaro and Randy
De Puniet, as their CRT bike are slower than the factory backed MotoGP
machines.

De
Puniet is committed to giving it his all despite the handicap. "We are
going to be struggling down the long straight compared to the MotoGP
bikes, so it is up to us to make the most of the bike's
other strengths."

Teammate
Espargaro echoed his sentiment, “at Jerez, I had the best top speed of
all the CRT bikes, but I was still 20km/h shy of the best MotoGP bike on
a straight that is 350m shorter than this.
But our job is to keep progressing and working twice as hard if we can,
with the added confidence of a good result at Jerez behind us."

Coming into this weekend, Espargaro is ranked 12^th and De Puniet 15^th in the World Championship point standings.

Moto2

The 3^rd
round of the 2012 Moto2 championship series continues this weekend in
Portugal. Both riders on the Bel-Ray backed Mapfre Aspar team, Nico
Terol and Toni Elias, have had success
at the Estoril circuit in their careers, a trend they hope to continue.
Known as the “fifth home race” for the Spanish racers on the tour,
thousands of fans cross the border to cheer for their favorite riders.
Terol’s success at Estoril came as recent as last
season where he was the 125cc class winner, while Elias has won
multiple times including an unprecedented victory in the MotoGP class in
2006.  

Elias is in 11^th while Terol is unranked in the 2012 series' point standings.

Moto3

Following
disappointing results at the opening 2 rounds, the Bel-Ray sponsored
Bankia Aspar team of Hector Faubel and Alberto Moncayo hope to turn
their season around this weekend in Portugal.
After they both suffered crashes last week in Jerez, they look to
Estoril to turn it around. Both riders have had success at this circuit
in the past and look to use that confidence to perform well over the
course of the event.

After the first 2 rounds of the season, both riders are in the top 10 in world championship points. Faubel is currently 10^th while Moncayo is 9^th.

World Superbike

Monza,
Italy will host round 4 of the 2012 World Superbike Championship series
this weekend. Following a double podium finish in the rains at Assen,
the Bel-Ray supported Althea Ducati team of
Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano comes to the Italian round with
confidence. The Monza track puts the teams Ducati at a disadvantage due
to the 1195m straightway and the rules set in place by the sanctioning
body.  Both Checa and Giugliano spoke about this
disadvantage prior to the event. “We know that Monza will probably be
the hardest round on the calendar for us and the Ducati, something we
have also seen in the last two seasons. We will do our best to take as
many points as possible, but realize that this
weekend will be mainly about containing the damage. Two top ten
finishes would be good, and closing inside the top five would feel like a
win for us here!” Teammate Giugliano added, “Reaching the podium at
Assen has really boosted my confidence. I realize
that a similar result will be almost impossible at Monza, as the bike
is disadvantaged at tracks with long straights, but I’ll be fighting to
improve my position in the standings with a good performance in the two
races on Sunday. It’s always great to race
at ‘home,’ so I’ll be doing my best to please the Italian crowds!”

Going into the 4^th of 14 rounds, Checa is in 2^nd while Giugliano is 10^th in the 2012 series' point standings.

AMA Supercross

The
2012 Monster Energy Supercross series concludes this Saturday night at
Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas Nevada. The Bel-Ray sponsored Team
Rockstar Energy Racing Suzuki will field all 4 of their
riders this weekend, as the Lites series concludes for both the East
and West division. Saturday night will also feature the Dave Coombs Sr.
East/West Shootout, a winner take all event that features the best
riders from each division. Last week, for the first
time in the team’s history, both riders raced to podium finishes. Jason
Anderson was 2^nd and Martin Davalos was 3^rd at the checkered flag. East coast division riders Blake Wharton and Hunter Hewitt will both rejoin the team for this final
Supercross of the season.

In a
year marred by injuries, the Dodge/ Sycuan Casino/ Hart &
Huntington/ Bel-Ray Racing team comes to their home race prepared to end
the series on a high note. Much like the rest of the season,
last week’s race in Salt Lake City had its ups and downs with team
rider Tyler Bowers finishing a strong 10^th place in only his 2^nd
ride for the team, while Kyle Regal was the victim of a crash that took
him out of the main event.  Both
riders are grateful for the opportunity that they’ve had to act as fill
in riders and look to reward them for their confidence on Saturday
night.

World Enduro Championship

The
Euskadi region of Spain will host round 2 of the 2012 FIM World Enduro
Championship series this weekend. Following events in Argentina and
Chile, the competitive series will make its first
appearance in Europe this season.  The Bel-Ray supported Factory TM
racing team enters 3 riders in 3 different divisions at each event. The
E1 class entry is Finish rider Antti Hellsten, Estonian Aigar Leok is
the E3 class entry and Italian Nicolo Mori is
the EJ class entry. Both Hellsten and Mori are in the top 15 in the
series' standings with Hellsten in 13^th and Mori in 14^th. Leok is a strong contender for victories and is currently in 3^rd in the series' standings with 2
of the 8 championship events completed.

British Motocross Championship

The
2012 ACU Maxxis British Motocross Championship continues for round 3
this weekend in Lyng, Norfolk at the Cadders Hill track. This
spectacular, physically demanding track has hosted British
Championship events for more than 25 years. Bel-Ray’s professional
entry in the series is the MVR-D Honda Race Team of Jason Dougan, Gert
Krestinov and Brad Pocock. After 2 of the series 8 rounds, the team has
both MX1 riders, Dougan and Krestinov, in the
top 10 in the series' standings, while the teams MX2 entry, Pocock, is
in the top 20 at 18^th.  Round 2 of the series took place at
the Canada Heights Circuit in Swanley, Kent with mixed results for the
team. Krestinov was 9^th overall
and Dougan was 15^th overall in the MX1 class and Pocock was 15^th overall in MX2. The riders all look to improve on their results coming into this weekend’s event.

ATV Motocross Championship

Round
3 of the 2012 ATV motocross championship will take place this weekend
at Budd’s Creek in Mechanicsville, Maryland. Following a 4^th place finish at Round 2 in Tennessee 2 weeks
ago, Bel-Ray sponsored Josh Upperman is looking to put himself back up on the podium after an opening round 3^rd
place overall finish. The high speed sections of the track should prove
to be an advantage for Upperman’s Baldwin Motorsports powered
Honda.

Follow all of Bel-Ray’s racers in action each week on
www.belray.com  and
www.belrayracing.com.