The popular Aaron Yates, injured back in March, will make his return to the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike series at this weekend's Suzuki White Lightning AMA Pro Nationals Presented by Foremost Insurance at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia. Yates will practice his #23 Jordan Suzuki and make a further evaluation if he will race after that. Brett McCormick, Aaron's teammate who has been riding the second Jordan Suzuki in Yates' absence will also compete along with National Guard Suzuki Jordan rider Jake Zemke.
"I'm excited about riding again," said Yates. "And really looking forward to getting back out there."
In a correction, Blake Young, rider of the Rockstar Makita Suzuki will not be riding this weekend at VIR. Young continues his recovery from injuries suffered in a testing accident at Barber Motorsports Park, not at VIR as erroneously reported by AMA Pro. Rockstar Makita Suzuki's team manager Peter Doyle is hopeful that Blake will be able to return to racing soon but isn't putting a date on Young's comeback.
"I think it's one of those injuries that you just have to let heal in its own time," Doyle said. "We want Blake back 100 percent healthy so we can go out there and try to win some races full force. We'll just have to take it a day at a time."
The AMA Pro Vance & Hines XR1200 Series will also compete this weekend. Danny Eslick and Jake Holden will again lead the field of Harley-Davidson XR1200s in the third race of the season for the big twins. Eslick, winner of the first two races and his teammate Holden, will be back aboard their RMR Bruce Rossmeyer Daytona Racing XR1200s with support from GEICO Powersports and Lucas Oil.
Joining them on the grid will be the Wyman brothers, Travis and Kyle. Kyle will be on another RMR Bruce Rossmeyer Daytona Racing XR1200 and Travis will be on the Harv's Harley-Davidson Racing machine. Eric Stump will be back on the AbsoluteCycle.com XR1200 and Paul James will be returning on the James Gang Hoban Brothers Racing XR1200 with support from Harley-Davidson of Appleton. Matthew Heidel makes his series debut on the Shar-Tuff Uniforms Harley-Davidson and Mark Cernicky joins the series on the Hog Racing XR1200. Practice and qualifying will be on Saturday, August 14th and the 18 lap race will be on Sunday, August 15th.