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Michael Barnes best qualifier with a top speed of 225km/

28th July 2012

Press Office

AMA favorite and star rider Eric Bostrom (Team Icon Brammo) divides team Barracuda Lightning riders Michael Barnes and Tom Montano on the challenging Californian Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca circuit. Matthias Himmelmann was the first rider to set a time under 1.40 mark, quickly followed by Michael Barnes who set his fastest time on the third lap out. Tom Montano and Eric Bostrom joined them and set the tone for the qualifying session.

1 - Michael Barnes, USA (Barracuda/Lightning) – 1’33.860
“I know both the Lightning SB2 and I have it in us to beat the lap record, I want to win the race tomorrow but i also want to prove that my team has come a long way and we are not to be ignored. This year we come with a major new sponsor with Barracuda Networks providing the electricity needed from solar panels to power my Barracuda Lightning team superbike making it truly clean energy. We are excited to be out proving speed can be achieved in a sustainable way.”

2 - Eric Bostrom, USA (Team Icon Brammo) – 1’37.171
“Michael Barnes set the bar really very high and I am absolutely certain we can get there too. We had a little bit of a shaky start and it was nice to see that in spite the lack of track time we were able to get at least within striking distance. Tonight we are going to do a few tweaks and make the bike a little better and hopefully bridge that gap and I think it is going to be a darn good race tomorrow.”

4 - Matthias Himmelmann, GER (Münch Racing TTE) – 1’38.951
“All the work we did with the suspension worked fantastic and the result were brilliant. I am very happy going 6 seconds faster today and hope to shave off some more tomorrow.”

6 – Katja Poensgen (GER) (Münch Racing TTE) – 1’48.587
“During the second practice I was able to improve my lap time by 4.8’. I feel more comfortable and confident and I found out that I need a lot of courage to keep the throttle open past start and finish and over the hill which is a blind corner. I can still ride a little faster tomorrow. I am happy for Matthias who also improve his lap time by 5.2’ and very close to Tom Montano who qualified 3^rd.”

Oriol Gallemi FIM e-Power International Championship Technical Director
“This year lap times improved for the top six riders from however the circuit record from Steve Rapp in 2011 with a time of 1’33.194 remains intact. On the technical side, we don’t have any motorcycle any longer equipped with direct current (DC) type motor, this because of the overheating problems which the teams faced in previous years. The batteries are more compact this year and evacuate the heat much faster than before. This is the first year where all machines are fitted with thermal sensors in all components, meaning the controller, the battery pack and the motor, a big improvement safety wise. The teams still have plenty of work to do on aerodynamics and we are confident that they will enhance the overall efficiency in the years to come.”

Kenyon Kluge (K Squared Racing) said “We worked on our setting and find a fee items to get some more power for tomorrow’s race. All Zero Riders are close together so it will be an interesting and fun battle.”
Jeremiah Johnson (BE.EV.com) having experienced technical issues on his machine was fortunate to be offered a Zero S motorcycle for the qualifying session.
Robert Hancock (Virginia Tech) although he did not qualify today, his practice time set on Friday allowed him to be on the grid. His team was able to fix a short in the wire loom between the controller and the motor but was only able to join the other during the last two minutes of the qualifying session.”

Tomorrow the e-Power/TTXGP race (9 laps) will start at 10.25am.

	ePower-TTXGP
	Mazda Raceway Updated
	Qualifying Practice
	3610 m. 28/July/2012
						TIME	LAP	TOTAL LAPS
1	80	Michael BARNES	USA	Barracuda/Lightning	LIGHTNING	1'33.860	3	8			225.4
2	32	Eric BOSTROM	USA	Team Icon Brammo	EMPULSE RR	1'37.171	8	11	3.311	3.311	210.5
3	89	Tom MONTANO	USA	Barracuda/Lightning	LIGHTNING	1'38.664	5	7	4.804	1.493	216.5
4	49	Matthias HIMMELMANN	GER	Münch Racing	TTE MÜNCH	1'38.951	5	6	5.091	0.287	197.5
5	58	Steve ATLAS	USA	Team Icon Brammo	EMPULSE RR	1'41.044	2	2	7.184	2.093	196.2
6	65	Katja POENSGEN	GER	Münch Racing	TTE MÜNCH	1'48.587	7	8	14.727	7.543	176.5
	Not qualified (Out 120%)			1'55.878
	18	Ely SCHLESS	USA	Promoto	HONDA RSE	1'57.990	4	5	24.13	9.403	149.2
	*11	Ted RICH	USA	Zero Motorcycles	ZERO	2'00.057	3	11	26.197	2.067	123.2
	*96	Kenyon KLUGE	USA	K Squared Racing	ZERO	2'01.101	3	9	27.241	1.044	122.9
	64	Jeremiah JOHNSON	USA	BE:EV.com	BE.EV.COM - LELI	2'07.185	11	11	33.325	6.084	122.3
	Not Classified
	* 72	Robert HANCOCK	USA	Virginia	Tech	HONDA CBRE

	Fastest Lap:				Michael BARNES 1'33.860 138.461 Km/h
	Circuit Record Lap:				Steve RAPP 1'33.194 139.451 Km/h
	Circuit Best Lap:		2011 Steve RAPP 1'31.376 142.225 Km/h
	Dry	Air: 19°	Ground: 28°			Humidity: 62%