ndrew Hines successfully defended his POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle championship the weekend of November 6-7 at Pomona Raceway in Southern California. Hines' opening-round win over a red-lighting Chris Rivas combined with an earlier loss by teammate GT Tonglet kept the class crown in the Vance & Hines Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson V-Rod camp for the second straight year.
     Hines later threw away a 7.107 in the final round and handed Team Muzzy Buell's Ryan Schnitz his third win of the season with a -.011-second red-light start. Both men were happy at the top end; Schnitz celebrated his Pomona victory for Buell, and Hines enjoyed his second straight championship on a Harley-Davidson.
"Without a doubt this feels better than last year's title," a teary-eyed Hines said as he received the $50,000 champion's check from Ben Reiling, Senior Manager of Sports Marketing for Coca-Cola North America. "You always want to win the second one to prove the first one wasn't a mistake or dumb luck. We made some mistakes this year and we reached a point where we had to be perfect every round to win this deal, but my dad (Byron Hines) and brother (Matt Hines) and the rest of the Vance & Hines crew gave me an awesome bike and we were able to get it done."
     Andrew joins the late-Dave Schultz, his brother Matt, and Angelle Sampey as the only riders in class history to win consecutive titles. Matt and Sampey went on to win three titles in a row.
     Schnitz had a fairly easy ride to the final round, piloting his Muzzys.com Buell V-Twin past Tom Bradford, Antron Brown, and Craig Treble. "I'm excited," he said, "about the performance of this team and the momentum we have. We need a marketing partner to sponsor this bike, and that's what we'll spend our time in the off-season trying to find. I hope this win and having more wins than everyone else in the class will get us some extra attention."

MA Pro Racing has released the details of the schedule for the 2006 AMA Flat Track Championship. Currently the schedule includes a total of 16 rounds, 12 for the GNC Twins class and four for the GNC Singles class. AMA Pro Racing Flat Track Series Manager Bruce Bober said he is in active negotiations with several promoters and additional Singles dates will be placed on the schedule.
     "The GNC Twins schedule is further developed at this time," commented Bober. "Now our focus is on rounding out the overall schedule with GNC Singles races."

     AMA Pro Racing announced on Nov. 7th that beginning with the 2006 racing season, the championship would be split into two series, one for Singles and one for Twins. They report that the response to that announcement has been positive and Bober has made tremendous progress with tracks and promoters to finalize a complete, two-class championship. "Ideally, we're targeting up to 12 rounds per championship," said Bober. "We're there now with Twins events and expect to complete the Singles schedule soon."
The 2006 AMA Flat Track Championship schedule is as follows:

In November, Harley-Davidson of Glendale's annual Love Ride drew a crowd of 20,000+ riders and raised $1.45 million for charities. The photo on the left shows a portion of the huge crowd gathered at the Lake Castaic destination point enjoying the scene, the music and the cause. That's what the Love Ride is all about.

"American Choppers" star Paul Teutul Sr. of Orange County Choppers "glides" around a turn ahead of his two famous sons.

Buell-mounted Shane Bragg of Atlanta, GA wheelies for the crowd at a recent performance of the Ill Conduct Motorcycle Stunt Team at Irwindale Raceway in Southern California.

Do we even have to warn you not to do this either? Duh. With teammates circling, Aaron Cline balances himself atop his bike. Impressive!

(From left): The Icon-sponsored Ill Conduct crew: Shane Bragg, "Wild Man" Wayne Strickland, Jeff Schneider and Aaron Cline. Check out their website at www.illconduct.com.

illy Lane and the Blood Sweat & Gears crew brought the BSG Tour to a whole new level last October at Biketoberfest. On site at the all-new Destination Daytona, Lane led his Blood Sweat & Gears team through an amazing build with an incredibly emotional outcome.
     In front of thousands, Lane, along with Kendall Johnson, Paul Cox, Aaron Greene and Mondo Lane worked on a bike in memory of fallen soldier Brandon Sapp. Brandon's family was present throughout the build. John Sapp, Brandon's dad along with his brothers and sisters watched as the bike came to life. Guest builder Jerry Covington joined Lane on stage to complete the bike too.
     Legendary painter Jon Kosmoski, founder of House of Kolor, agreed to paint the sheet metal. Jon received the sheet metal at the eleventh hour and began creating the paint that would memorialize Brandon on the bike. "When Billy suggested desert camouflage as part of the paint scheme, I thought, sure, that will be no problem. I soon realized how wrong I was. Camo is tough, it took me over six hours alone to tape the pattern off. When we finished the tank with Brandon's image on it, I knew we had really done something great," explained Kosmoski. The entire Sapp family was speechless when the tank was unveiled. Lane added, "House of Kolor and Kosmoski are the very best, we needed the best for this bike, Brandon earned it."
Brandon Sapp joined the Army to add focus to his life. While serving in Iraq Brandon was killed at twenty-one. While driving a Bradley on a mission. During the mission it was said that he had a feeling about the route they were taking, and suggested they change routes at the last minute. His intuition pushed him to veer right. His quick thinking allowed nine other soldiers to come home alive. Brandon did not. He was killed instantly when a roadside bomb deployed beneath him in the Bradley.

Kosmoski presenting the gas tank

Tim "Mac" McClellan on Brandon's bike

     While serving, Brandon made a great friend, Timothy McClellan. "Mac" as he is called, is originally from Minnesota. Mac was invited by Billy to attend Biketoberfest and help him honor Brandon. Billy asked Mac to represent the Red Cross Real Heroes Award to John Sapp in memory of Brandon. Mac agreed and drove to Daytona from Ft. Hood in Texas.
     With the bike build complete late in the day Saturday, Billy asked the builders to join him and the Sapp family to watch a video Lane had created to honor Brandon. The video played to hushed crowds and many, many tears. Brandon became everyone's son at this moment. Billy asked attendees to please remember what these guys and gals are doing for us, including dying for our freedom.
     Billy started the bike and Paul Cox took the TP Engine through the gears during a crowd pleasing burn out on stage. Following the burn out, Billy presented the bike to Brandon's dad John and asked him what he was going to do with it? Weeping, John stepped back and asked Mac what he thought of the bike. Mac sat on it with Brandon's little brother Harry and said, "I love it and so would Brandon. This is all he ever talked about. His dream was to ride to Daytona with you on a custom bike. His dad sent him Easyriders magazines every month. He shared them with all of us." With that said, John stepped back and told Mac to "take the bike and ride with Brandon forever."
     The bikes built during the Tour are built for one purpose - to thank military personnel serving to protect our freedom. Billy and the Blood Sweat & Gears Tour fabricate live throughout major rallies across the country. The Blood Sweat & Gears Tour is proudly supported by Dodge, Activision and House of Kolor.
     "It is our greatest desire to keep this positive momentum rolling into 2006 and beyond," said Darcy Betlach, Tour Manager. "We really want to be able to give away more custom bikes. In order to do this, we are lining up sponsors for 2006 right now. We've had tremendous support so far, but need more folks interested in showing their support through Blood Sweat & Gears so we can keep delivering the goods."
     For Blood Sweat & Gears Tour sponsorship information, please contact Chrome Marketing Inc at 952-470-4297. Blood Sweat & Gears Tour is owned and copyrighted by Psycho Billy LLC, affiliated with Choppers Inc and Billy Lane. www.choppersinc.com.

The customary BS&G burnout

With Lane on the left, the Sapp family watches the video