To the casual observer, it would seem that Kenny Van Buren's second outing on his AGP Turbo Suzuki
was just north of futile, landing him No. 18 out of 18 riders after one day of qualifying, but for
the 57-year-old power lifter, the day was a huge step forward in the big picture of his dreams. Van
Buren made two runs today in the Mopar HRA Mile High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway netting a best
effort of 7.743 at 170.15 mph in his first lap.
"These are the first runs on our new Vance & Hines motor, so we wanted to take it easy on the first
few passes," Van Buren explained. "The first run, we went out and just tested the waters and the
setup, and got a .73 - definitely not earth shattering or record breaking, but clean,
none-the-less."
The second round of qualifying was delayed due to rain, but resumed after 10 p.m. local time under
clear skies and with cool temperatures. Van Buren suffered severe tire shake and held on for a
7.848 at 171.38 mph.
"Second lap, after the rain delay, we tried to step it up just a little, but I think we
under-estimated the track and didn't give it enough power. I had terrible tire shake - it was
almost hard to see at 100 feet. I held on, though, and got an .84 - not a step up, but another
break-in lap," he said.
Although he has been racing motorcycles for years, this weekend is only the second Pro event for
Van Buren and the AGP Motorsports team, but he said he is optimistic about where the team is going
and how they are moving forward.
"Our crew chief, Mitchel Lippen, has his hands full with the new motor and setup, but we're all
coming together really well as a team and we're advancing together. Everyone is doing a great job,
and I can't thank Ben Kriegsfeld and AGP Turbo enough for the opportunity to be out here.
"One thing that's really exciting about the weekend is that we've had a lot of fans come by the
pits, signed a lot of hero cards and talked to a lot of people. We've been able to bring some
exposure to Committed to Freedom, and that's really important to us as well," he said.
Committed to Freedom is an organization that provides abuse survivors - whether physical, emotional
or sexual - with, spiritual tools to help them move beyond their circumstances.
"We'll come back tomorrow and hit it again, hoping to get into the show for Sunday. I've been in
this situation before, trying to get into the show, so I'm not worried. We'll just keep moving
forward," Van Buren said.
Qualifying continues Saturday with rounds scheduled for 3.45 and 7:15 p.m. Eliminations are
scheduled to begin at noon on Sunday.
ABOUT COMMITTED TO FREEDOM
Abuse survivors have difficult questions, and the damage is physical, emotional, relational, and
Spiritual. Committed to Freedom offers Spiritual tools to help survivors of childhood or adolescent
abuse - especially sexual abuse - move beyond their abuse experiences through various programs,
including retreats, seminars, self-help curriculum, support group studies, and other sources of
information and encouragement. For more information, visit their website:
www.committedtofreedom.org.
ABOUT AGP TURBO
Headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., AGP Turbo is an aftermarket performance company specializing in
niche turbocharger applications. For more information about the company, visit their website:
www.agpturbo.com.
