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MAY AND BARNES ON THE ELKHART LAKE PODIUM FOR TEAM M4 EMGO SUZUKI

By June 4, 2006April 26th, 20212006 News

Team M4 EMGO Suzuki enjoyed a spectacular trophy-winning day at Road America in AMA roadracing action on Sunday. Geoff May and Michael Barnes battled at the front of the Supersport final and ultimately came away from the Wisconsin weekend with a pair of podium finishes for their efforts.

Barnes fought in the top three for the entire 60k contest and made his way from third into the runner-up spot on lap five of ten. He was soon joined by his charging teammate, however, who clawed up from seventh-place into podium contention over the race’s first half.

May slipped into third behind Barnes on lap 7 and then took over second from him a lap later. The two Pirelli-shod GSX-R600-mounted aces contested the position from that point to the flag. Barnes was able to gain a small advantage using the draft on occasion, but the Georgian proved especially adept under breaking and fought off the Floridian’s challenge to the stripe. May crossed the line in second with Barnes less than a tenth of a second behind in third.

Afterwards, May credited his crew for their quick thinking as they made some key changes to his GSX-R’s Öhlins suspension just prior to the race.

“I feel great,” May said after picking up his second podium result of the season. “I’ve been feeling like this is where we were going to be all along. I just put my head down and I really wanted it bad this weekend — I really wanted to be on the podium and it turned out like it did. I just kept getting more and more comfortable as the race went on.”

Barnes’s third-place result was his second Supersport podium of ’06. “Geoff kind of surprised me. I looked back one time and I saw a blue bike coming. And then sure as can be Geoff started showing his face in Turn 5 over and over. I’d draft him down the straightaway and he’d still outbrake me. I was strong in the last segment but it wasn’t enough to do something in the end.”

“My Pirelli tires work great at the end,” he added. “I just wished I would have gone with a little bit firmer set-up. Overall I can’t complain. To have Geoff and I both up on the podium is great for the team. M4 EMGO Suzuki did a great job this weekend.”

May also put in an impressive ride in the earlier Superstock final, guiding his GSX-R1000 to a fifth consecutive fourth-place result. After the Supersport race, May claimed that just missing out on the podium once again in Superstock provided him with added motivation for the 600 race. He explained, “I thought the Superstock race was going to be our ticket but after that race I said, ‘Well, I’ve got to do it in 600 now.’”

Following five of eleven races, May is right in the mix of two separate title races. He currently sits second in Supersport with 111 points and fourth in Superstock at 136. Meanwhile, ‘Barney’ is quickly making up points after missing the Daytona season opener, moving up to seventh in Supersport with 85 points.

Team M4 EMGO Suzuki will travel to Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT for the sixth round of the 2006 AMA roadracing season on June 16-18.