Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Former racer Kaming Ko has formed a new Superbike team, which will campaign a Ducati in 2003.

Ko, 48, last raced in the 1970s on a Kawasaki H2R; he was a test rider for Yoshimura during development of Yoshimura’s first Suzuki-based Superbike. Ko raced cars after retiring from motorcycle racing, running in Formula Atlantic and also competing in the 24-hours of Daytona three times in the early 1990s. He is currently the U.S. sales rep for various auto-part manufacturing companies owned by the Chinese government.

Ko’s new team, called Dream Team Racing, will be based out of a 5500-square-foot race shop located in Camarillo, California and has a first-year operating budget of $1.4 million.

According to Ko, he has made a deal with Ducati Corse, which will provide an engineer to work with the team; Mike Velasco has been contracted to work with the team and Jeff Nash will build engines.

Ko is also exploring funding a television show, based on the Inside NASCAR model, covering AMA road racing.

The team is likely to run Michelin tires.

Ko declined to name his rider, who he said is still under contract to American Suzuki; reliable sources said the involved rider is Larry Pegram.

Pegram could not be reached for comment at post time.