Updated: Lawsuit Filed Over Pirelli Race Tire Distribution Deal In Pacific Northwest

Updated: Lawsuit Filed Over Pirelli Race Tire Distribution Deal In Pacific Northwest

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Tyson Silva’s Cascade Race Tire Services LLC and Highside Productions LLC dba Cascade Tracktime filed suit in Oregon against Josh Bryan and Charles Burns personally as well as their Tiger Shark Racing, Inc. along with Pirelli Tires LLC for about $219,000 plus interest. In the suit, Cascade Race Tire Services charges Breach of Contract, Fraud and Conversion and requests Declaratory Relief. (Until this year, Tiger Shark Racing was a Pirelli Race Tire distributor operating mainly in the Pacific Northwest, before losing the territory because, according to Pirelli sources, it had not paid for all the tires it purchased. Pirelli officials said they briefly considered attempting to seize Bryan’s racebike and hold it towards payment of his tire bill, before discovering that Bryan does not own the Buell 1125R he currently rides for Latus Motors Buell.) According to the suit, filed Friday in the Clackamas County Circuit Court, Cascade Race Tire Service signed a contract to pay Tiger Shark Racing $225,000 for the exclusive Pirelli race tire distribution rights for Washington and Oregon, when in fact those rights were not owned by Tiger Shark Racing. According to the suit, in January 2008, Cascade Race Tire Service gave Tiger Shark a cashier’s check for $50,000 as a down payment, and provided Tiger Shark with an American Express credit card number to use for additional payments. Tiger Shark ran the credit card for additional payments of $35,000 and $27,500 within 10 days, then gave the card number to Pirelli to pay for tire purchases between April and September 2008. The suit claims that the deal fell apart when Bryan and Burns admitted that they and their company Tiger Shark Racing did not actually control the exclusive right to sell Pirelli race tires in the area. Bryan could not be reached for comment at post time: The Tiger Shark Racing phone number (503-358-5704) publicized in press releases issued by Pirelli and Tiger Shark in the past is no longer a working number, and the Tiger Shark Racing website at ~http://www.tigersharkracing.com/main.sc~ is just a placeholder. Returning a phone call seeking comment, Pirelli North American Racing Manager Chris Jensen (who had not seen the suit) said, “We had some issues with our previous race tire vendor in that area. Our deals are with the actual vendor, but of course they have such large territories that they name sub-vendors, but that’s between them and the sub-vendors. So I’m not sure how they can name us. It is between those two parties.” Jensen said he did not have additional comment. Stay tuned. This just in: Josh Bryan called Roadracingworld.com back and while he disputed the claims in Silva’s lawsuit, he declined to comment specifically for the record, on the advice of his attorney.

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