COVID-19: financial support measures for teams announced
Friday, 03 April 2020
The ongoing coronavirus outbreak is affecting many people, industries and sports across the world, including the MotoGP™ World Championship.
With the agreement of the FIM and the full commitment from shareholders Bridgepoint Capital and CPP Investments, Dorna Sports is proud to be able to assure help for MotoGP™ Class Independent Teams through this difficult moment in the history of our sport, as well as teams in the Moto2™ and Moto3™ classes.
Through the International Road-Racing Teams Association, MotoGP™ Independent Teams will each receive considerable advance payments during the months of April, May and June, irrespective of whether activity is restarted or not. This is in order to guarantee the economic well-being of the Independent Teams and their staff, as well as to secure their subsistence for the future.
In addition, IRTA has already made payments to all Moto2™ and Moto3™ teams to support them during this difficult period. Further measures for the intermediate and lightweight class teams will be considered in due course.
As previously stated, Dorna Sports is working hard to try and ensure that this crisis leaves all those in the MotoGP™ World Championship with only one consequence; that of a modified calendar.
MV AGUSTA DONATES PCR MACHINE FOR QUICK COVID-19 TESTING TO VARESE HOSPITALS
in collaboration with local charity Fondazione Circolo della Bontà
Varese, April 3, 2020 – MV Agusta takes the field in the solidarity race to support Varese community hospitals facing the coronavirus emergency. The company donated a sophisticated testing machinery able to process up to 96 swabs in just 30 minutes. The system can also be used remotely and will be deployed in Professor Fausto Sessa’s department.
The machine, by the name of QuantStudio TM 5 Real-Time PCR System is produced by British Thermo Fisher Scientific, and is a welcome addition to the equipment already in use by the Varese hospital. It will help address the growing needs for testing in the area, rapidly identifying affected individuals. Health workers and the medical staff will also have access to the testing, for their own protection and that of their families. This particular machine is not specifically dedicated to Covid-19, but it will also greatly improve, once the emergency is over, the hospital’s diagnostic capabilities in the entire virology field.
MV Agusta’s initiative stems from its collaboration with Fondazione Circolo della Bontà Onlus, a local charity who started raising funds for the coronavirus emergency on March 8, which already resulted in the donation of important intensive care equipment to the Varese hospital.
Timur Sardarov, CEO MV Agusta Motor S.p.A. commented: “It is important for us to do our part in this particular moment, supporting those who are working to address this situation and protect our community. Fondazione Circolo della Bontà helped us single-out some critical needs, so we were able to act swiftly and efficiently. We are also keeping in touch with the Varese hospital to identify further opportunities of intervention.”
“We are grateful for this constructive collaboration, and for the support we received from the company”, said Gianni Spartà, President of the Circolo della Bontà foundation, “the local community is responding to the situation in a formidable way. The hashtag we launched in 2011, #takecareofwhotakescareofyou, seems today more appropriate than ever”.
When the 2020 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship begins there will be some familiar faces on the grid, but there will also be a whole lot of newness: New bikes, new teams, new crew chiefs, and new classes.
To help preview the season, we’ve enlisted the help of Josh Hayes.
Not only has Hayes won four AMA Pro Superbike Championships, he’s won a total of 83 AMA Pro/MotoAmerica races and three support class titles; raced in the Endurance World Championship; run at the front in Supersport World Championship races; and finished seventh while competing in his first MotoGP race as a substitute rider at Valencia in 2011.
More recently, Hayes won two races at the International Island Classic vintage event in January of this year at Phillip Island; raced at the front throughout the 2019 Daytona 200 and was on provisional pole position for the 2020 Daytona 200; and finished on the podium in the MotoAmerica Supersport class in 2019.
Josh Hayes (4) at speed on his MP13 Racing Yamaha during the opening practice session at the 79th Daytona 200. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
When he’s not racing, Hayes is a rider coach for top competitors, including Bobby Fong and Jake Gagne, as well as working with Garrett Gerloff.
And if these weren’t enough qualifications to preview the upcoming season, Hayes rode in place of injured Mathew Scholtz on Westby Racing’s 2020-model Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike during the official MotoAmerica pre-season test at Barber Motorsports Park in March. So, he’s had a close look at most of the field.
This preview series is highlighting one Superbike or Superbike Cup/Stock 1000 rider each day, but it will not feature every rider entered in the two classes. Riders will be listed in the order they finished the 2019 Superbike Championship with riders who were not in the 2019 Superbike Championship listed in alphabetical order.
Kyle Wyman, after winning the 78th Daytona 200 in 2019. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Kyle Wyman
After spending most of his youth as a dirt track racer based in his native New York, Kyle Wyman switched to road racing and soon found himself in the AMA Pro Harley-Davidson XR1200 series. Although Wyman never won the title, he won several races across several seasons and built up his own team, fielding as many as nine riders at a single event.
Wyman switched to racing in the AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike Championship in 2014, but at the end of 2015, he decided to run a Yamaha YZF-R1 in the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 class at the season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP), which is essentially his home track. Wyman finished second and fourth in the two Superstock 1000 races at that event.
Loving the bigger bike and seeing the incentives that MotoAmerica offered in the Superbike class, the team owner side of Wyman led him to take his Superstock-spec Yamaha and move up to the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship in 2016, when he finished in a tie for 12th.
Wyman upgraded his Yamaha with some Superbike parts for 2017, and even though his R1 was still closer to Superstock trim than it was to a factory Superbike, Wyman took four top-five finishes, including finishing second in Superbike Race Two at NJMP, nearly beating factory rider Roger Hayden for the win.
Wyman placed 10th in the 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, even though he missed the final two races of the season due to injury.
In 2018, Wyman improved to eighth in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship with a highlight of a fourth-place finish in the rain at Road Atlanta.
Wyman then made a bold move for 2019. Rather than continue to sharpen his Yamaha and utilize the readily available parts and tuning information for the machine, Wyman chose to race with the new Ducati Panigale V4 R.
While on paper the machine looked ready to win races right out of the crate, this was not actually the case, as Wyman found out in the little time he had to prepare his machines for the 2019 season.
For starters, Wyman had to come up with a solution to increase fuel capacity to complete the full distance of MotoAmerica Superbike races, and then there was the matter of acquiring race kit electronics and software. Fortunately, Wyman won the Daytona 200 on a N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto/KWR Yamaha R6 at the start of the season, making it possible for him to afford Superstock-level electronics for his new Superbike.
In spite of this and the willing support of the Ducati Corse department in Italy, developing the Kyle Wyman Racing Ducati into a finely tuned weapon was still challenging. A mid-season crash and injury that kept Wyman out of a few rounds did not help the cause, either.
Wyman was able to return to action before the end of 2019, and he ended the season with his best performance yet at Barber Motorsports Park. There, Wyman finished 7th in Superbike Race One and in Race Two he was in the hunt for a podium position for most of the race and was demoted to fifth place by Toni Elias on the final lap.
During this past off-season, Wyman underwent surgery to replace a herniated disc in his neck that had causing him pain and a lack of movement for a long time, and after the surgery he said he immediately felt better than he had in years.
In the meantime, Wyman’s Ducati has been fitted with new chassis parts, improved electronics, and a new fuel tank with a better shape for its rider. And Wyman also has a new, Ducati Corse Superbike engine ready to install for the start of the 2020 race season to replace the Superstock engine he used throughout last year.
Now with a healthy body and the steepest part of the Ducati development curve behind him, 30-year-old Wyman could be challenging on the factory riders more frequently in 2020.
“It’s a little bit hard to tell on some of these things because I’m on the outside to some extent,” said Hayes. “But that being said, we’ve seen Kyle have some flashes of brilliance, like his ride [to second place] at New Jersey.
“We know he’s gotten himself into the mix whatever type of motorcycle he’s ridden, whether it’s a Harley or a 600. But again, like David Anthony, Kyle’s also a businessman and team owner, so that’s always going to add to his complications. A lot is going to depend on how much trust he can put into his crew to handle all of the business side of things at the track so he can focus on the riding part of things.
“Again, his talent is not in question. Look at what he’s done. He won the Daytona 200 last year. He and his team took a brand new bike [Ducati Panigale V4 R] that no one has any information on and was able to get in there and actually make it look pretty good against factory Superbikes several times during the season.
“However, it’s always difficult to be the lone wolf on a motorcycle that doesn’t have a lot of information available. And how much of the information is actually relevant? Every other Ducati V4 in the world that I know of running any kind of Superbike series is on Pirellis. So, if information comes from Ducati Corse, it’s likely coming from World Superbike and Pirelli tires, and I can tell you from what I learned about the Yamaha World Superbikes and our Superbikes that’s a huge gulf to try and navigate! So, Kyle and his team have an uphill battle.
“Now, with a year of experience, I would say that there’s probably quite a bit of weight on Kyle’s shoulders to get up there and show what he can do. It’s getting to where Kyle has been in the paddock for quite a while and he needs to show what his prowess is and that he can figure out how to get there.
“I think he needs a breakthrough performance for his confidence. If he can make that happen early in the season and battle with the front-runners, get on the podium and be within a second or two of the win, that confidence could take him to the next level where the bike starts becoming less and less of the issue of him being at the front.
“At some point your confidence can take over. That’s what happened with Garrett Gerloff. He had the machine and he was always searching for a setting, but once he won his first race and his confidence started to come around, he believed that he belonged there. One of his crew members told me, ‘We couldn’t mess up the setting on the bike if we wanted to. No matter what we do, he just goes fast.’
“I think with Kyle it could be the same scenario. I think if he could make a statement with a breakout ride early in the season, we could be talking about Kyle Wyman a whole lot more in 2020.”
Roadracing World started this exclusive special feature recognizing the most promising young road racers as an answer to pessimists who claimed America had no new, up-and-coming young racers. This edition of the Roadracing World Young Gun Awards marks the 24th consecutive year of showcasing an abundance of new talent.
Roadracing World Young Guns have won:
FIM MotoGP and FIM Superbike races and World Championships;
AMA Pro races and Championships, including eight AMA Pro Superbike Championships;
A KTM RC Cup World Final race;
The Daytona 200 (8 times);
WERA National Endurance Championships and WERA National Challenge Championships;
ASRA/Formula USA Grand National and CCS National Championships;
AMA Road Racing Grand Championships and Horizon Awards;
USGPRU National Championships;
Many regional and local titles.
The competition has continually become more intense as more – and younger—racers with higher levels of accomplishment are nominated, and the level of achievement required to make the grade keeps getting tougher.
We’ve spent the last several months accepting nominations and evaluating road racers between the ages of 11 and 18 (as of the start of the 2020 season) who have, at a minimum, won Expert-level road races and/or Championships on a 125cc two-stroke/250cc four-stroke or larger racebike or had outstanding results as an Amateur/Novice. Most of the riders included here have done far more than the minimum.
The young riders recognized here are the most promising young road racers in North America. All have earned the title of Roadracing World Young Gun.
We will feature one Young Gun per day, presenting them in alphabetical order.
Blake Davis, winner of the 2019 Nicky Hayden AMA Road Race Horizon Award. Photo by Brian J. Nelson, courtesy of AMA.
Blake Davis
Age: 13.
Current home: Lynchburg, Virginia.
Current height/weight: 5’1”/100 pounds.
Current school grade level: 7th grade.
Began riding at age: 3 years.
First road race: Talladega, Alabama, WERA, Formula 3 and E Superstock, 1st place in both.
Current racebikes: Kawasaki Ninja 400, Suzuki SV650.
Current tuner/mechanic: Mike Davis (father).
Primary race series: WERA Sportsman, WERA/N2 Endurance, MotoAmerica Junior Cup.
Top sponsors: Lucas Oil Products, RS Taichi, Moto Liberty, Shoei, Highside Photo.
Recent racing accomplishments: 2019 season, won AMA Nicky Hayden Road Racing Horizon Award, won Lightweight Twins Superstock Expert and Formula Two Expert WERA National Challenge Championships, won D Superstock Expert WERA Sportsman National Championship, won 7 WERA Sportsman Regional Championships (won 20 WERA races); 2018 season, named AMA Youth Road Racer of the Year, won AMA 300 Superstock Grand Championship, won 3 WERA National Challenge Championships, won 13 WERA Sportsman Regional Championships, won 41 of 60 WERA races started; 2017 season, won 3 WERA Sportsman Regional Championships.
2020 racing goal: Win a MotoAmerica Junior Cup race.
Racing career goal: Race on the world stage.
Racing hero: Scott Russell.
Favorite track: Road Atlanta.
Favorite hobby: Riding anything on two wheels.
If I wasn’t racing I would be…: Maybe competing in triathlons or mountain bike races.
Round One of the 2014 GEICO Motorcycle Superbike Shootout Presented by Yamaha, the Yamaha SoCal Nationals, was held April 26-27 at Auto Club Speedway, in Fontana, California. This is the broadcast video coverage of RaceFuelz Pro Superbike race one, which aired on MAVTV.
The three-round televised series was set up by race team owner John Ulrich and racer Chris Ulrich, to fill an 11-week gap in the 2014 AMA Pro Racing schedule, which initially consisted of five rounds without any TV coverage, with no rounds west of the Mississippi River (the AMA Series later picked up a sixth round, at Laguna Seca, again without TV). Each Superbike Shootout round included one Superbike and one Sportbike race (along with dedicated practice and qualifying sessions for each class) dropped into an existing club race weekend run by WERA at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California; AFM at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California; and USBA at what was then known as Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.
Teams and riders needed TV coverage to maintain sponsorship, and getting that coverage was a major goal of the series. The father/son duo started a new business unit, Team Hammer Promotions, hired Greg White’s production company to produce six one-hour TV shows, covering the Superbike and Sportbike races from each round, with White and Jason Pridmore commentating and Laurette Nicholl handling pit reporting. John and Chris Ulrich met with the president of MAVTV and reached an agreement for the network to broadcast each show, one per week, on consecutive Thursday nights, and to then repeat the series. After seeing the shows, MAVTV decided to broadcast each show an additional four times, totaling 36 hours of TV coverage for the series. Chris’ sister Natalie Ulrich was recruited to sell series and event sponsorship as well as TV commercials.
By all accounts, the series and the shows were a success, and played a part in keeping professional road racing alive in the United States. There were plans to run a 10-round Superbike Shootout Series in 2015. But when MotoAmerica was founded, bought the AMA Pro Racing series, and announced it would take over running the AMA series starting in 2015, John and Chris Ulrich decided to support MotoAmerica and go back to concentrating on running the family’s race team, known as Team Hammer, Inc. The rest is history…
April 2, 2020 / Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association, Waco, TX
With social distancing orders in Texas extended through May 4th, the CMRA will be cancelling the MSR Houston event scheduled for April 24-26.
We appreciate everyone’s understanding as the health and safety of the CMRA Family and Competitors remains paramount.
We are in the process of reaching out to all impacted competitors regarding outstanding March NOLA race entries that were moved to the now canceled April MSR Houston weekend.
With this change, the CMRA’s focus and preparations turn to the May 22-24 event at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit. The Memorial Day weekend event at the historic Hallett Motor Racing Circuit holds a special place on the CMRA calendar as it hosts the Sixth Annual Westby Classic.
Weekend action will include:
Friday full-day CMRA racer practice
CMRA License School
Saturday 6hr Ultra Lightweight Endurance event
Saturday & Sunday Championship Sprints
Please note the 8hr endurance format scheduled for the canceled April MSR Houston event will be pushed to the June MSR Houston event weekend.
With over seven weeks until the Hallett event and the impact of COVID-19 evolving daily, we will continue to monitor public directives for any potential adjustments to upcoming events and provide any updates.
The CMRA staff and Board appreciates the overwhelming support shown by the racing community and looks forward to returning to competition as quickly as possible
For updates visit:
CMRA website cmraracing.com
CMRA on Facebook
About
The Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association (CMRA) is a motorcycle racing league that holds events in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Operating continuously since 1974, it remains one of the oldest and largest active amateur racing clubs in the U.S. For more information visit our website at: http://www.cmraracing.com/
Interview with Danilo Petrucci: “This Championship will be a surprise for everybody”
While the wait continues for the 2020 MotoGP World Championship to start, the Ducati Team rider revealed in this interview how he is spending the days and what he expects from the new season.
The 2020 MotoGP Season was supposed to begin nearly one month ago in Qatar for the Ducati Team, where just a few weeks earlier they had completed the last MotoGP pre-season test. Unfortunately, at the same time in Europe, the Covid-19 started to spread, stopping not just the sporting world but also whole countries, like Italy, which was one of the worst-affected nations by the virus.
A mandatory isolation period has been introduced by the Italian Government to stop the spread of the virus, and of course, also Danilo Petrucci is respecting the measure in his house in Terni.
“For sure spending so much time at home, staying away from our friends is not the ideal situation. But at this time it is the only way that we have to solve this problem together. By staying at home following the instructions that are given us by the Government, we can help each other. The situation is difficult, but it can only improve if we endure it a little bit more”.
The Ducati rider also explained how he is spending these days at home:
“I am trying to use this time to solve some physical issues, like the problem I had at my shoulder last year in Valencia and some that I have in a leg. I am doing some physiotherapy at home, some light training and I am also focusing on my diet”.
Of course, during these days of lockdown, Petrucci doesn’t have the chance to train on a bike, and he declared that what he is missing the most is doing motocross with his teammate Andrea Dovizioso.
“I hear Andrea nearly every day, and we text each other a lot. In these days, I miss the most doing motocross with him and training together, also because right now I can’t really ride anything!”
The last time the Ducati riders were able to sit on the Desmosedici GP20 bikes was more than a month ago, during the final winter test that was held in Qatar from 22nd-24th February 2020:
“I was delighted with the test at Losail. I think I was one of the few riders that covered the whole distance in the race simulation by completing 22 laps. The bike is an evolution of the previous year, but the big difference now is the tyres. We worked a lot on trying to adjust the bike setup and the riding style”.
Speaking about the future, Petrucci declared his goals for 2020 and his expectations from the championship, now that the new calendar has tightened up towards the end of the season:
“This is my second year with the Ducati Team, and I am proud of it. This year I would like to improve my performance compared to last season. In 2019 I got my first win in MotoGP, and I was able to fight for the third position in the standings until there were two races to go. This year I want to fight for that placement during the whole championship. For sure, this season will be a surprise for everybody. We are not used to such an intense programme! The calendar is extremely tight, especially in the last months, so we need to do a good mental and physical preparation and try to rest now because then we won’t have time. Honestly, I can’t wait to face this demanding calendar!”
Watch the whole interview on the Ducati Corse Instagram and Twitter accounts.
Due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, the event at Le Mans has been postponed
Thursday, 02 April 2020
The FIM, IRTA and Dorna Sports regret to announce the postponement of the SHARK Helmets Grand Prix de France, which was set to be held at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans from the 15th to the 17th of May. The ongoing coronavirus outbreak has obliged the event to be rescheduled.
As the situation remains in a state of constant evolution, new dates for the French GP and the recently-postponed Gran Premio Red Bull de España cannot be confirmed until it becomes clearer when exactly it will be possible to hold the events. A revised calendar will be published as soon as available.
When the 2020 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship begins there will be some familiar faces on the grid, but there will also be a whole lot of newness: New bikes, new teams, new crew chiefs, and new classes.
To help preview the season, we’ve enlisted the help of Josh Hayes.
Not only has Hayes won four AMA Pro Superbike Championships, he’s won a total of 83 AMA Pro/MotoAmerica races and three support class titles; raced in the Endurance World Championship; run at the front in Supersport World Championship races; and finished seventh while competing in his first MotoGP race as a substitute rider at Valencia in 2011.
More recently, Hayes won two races at the International Island Classic vintage event in January of this year at Phillip Island; raced at the front throughout the 2019 Daytona 200 and was on provisional pole position for the 2020 Daytona 200; and finished on the podium in the MotoAmerica Supersport class in 2019.
Josh Hayes (4) at speed on his MP13 Racing Yamaha during the opening practice session at the 79th Daytona 200. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
When he’s not racing, Hayes is a rider coach for top competitors, including Bobby Fong and Jake Gagne, as well as working with Garrett Gerloff.
And if these weren’t enough qualifications to preview the upcoming season, Hayes rode in place of injured Mathew Scholtz on Westby Racing’s 2020-model Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike during the official MotoAmerica pre-season test at Barber Motorsports Park in March. So, he’s had a close look at most of the field.
This preview series is highlighting one Superbike or Superbike Cup/Stock 1000 rider each day, but it will not feature every rider entered in the two classes. Riders will be listed in the order they finished the 2019 Superbike Championship with riders who were not in the 2019 Superbike Championship listed in alphabetical order.
“Aussie Dave” Anthony, circa 2019. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
David “Aussie Dave” Anthony
David Anthony began his road racing career in his home country of Australia, before chasing professional rides in England.
After one disappointing racing trip to England, Anthony, who originally made his living as a professional motorcycle mechanic, stopped over in the United States to have a holiday before heading home to Australia.
During that trip, he met his now-wife Crystal, decided to stay a while, and had a go at club racing in America. Anthony quickly discovered that he had the speed to win club race events and, when using the right motorcycle, he could earn a significant amount of contingency money.
Anthony parlayed that financial success into another run at racing as a professional in America’s top motorcycle road racing series and even started his own race team, Aussie Dave Racing.
In spite of racing as a privateer on a limited budget for most of his career, Anthony showed flashes of his potential as a top level Pro, as in 2014 when he raced elbow-to-elbow with the top factory Superbike riders in the GEICO Motorcycle Superbike Shootout round at Auto Club Speedway.
The following season, 2015, when MotoAmerica took over as the top motorcycle racing series in the U.S., Anthony signed with Team Hammer to race an M4 Suzuki GSX-R600 in Supersport. Anthony had spent most of his time as a Pro on 1000cc machines, but he adapted well to the 600cc Suzuki, reached the podium twice, finished in the top five 10 times in 15 races, and placed fourth in the Championship.
After that, Anthony went back to racing for his own team on a Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbike. While Anthony routinely won races and broke track records on his Ninja at club races, he struggled with achieving consistent results near the top at MotoAmerica races while developing the ZX-10R himself on a limited budget. And when development work turned into technical problems, it not only cost Anthony money, it also cost him the invaluable track time he needed to keep his riding at the top level.
Anthony finished 10th in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship in 2018 and 2019, with a best race finish of fifth in Race One at Circuit of The Americas in 2019.
For 2020, Anthony has decided to change course. He will still continue to race for his own team, Aussie Dave Racing (which will continue to field self-supported riders Sam Verderico and Bradley Ward), but Anthony has switched motorcycles. Anthony, who is now an American citizen, has swapped out his Kawasaki, which was fitted with Kawasaki race kit engine electronics, buying the Team Hammer racebike Jake Lewis raced in 2019, a Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike equipped with MOTEC advanced electronics.
The switch to a motorcycle that is more proven appeared to have already paid off at the official MotoAmerica pre-season test at Barber Motorsports Park in March where Anthony was sixth among 1000cc riders on Day One and just 0.1-second behind Yamaha factory rider Jake Gagne.
With a reliable and capable machine underneath him and consistent track time to hone his riding, Anthony, age 38, may have all the pieces he needs to improve on his recent results and challenge the factory Superbike riders again.
“Dave is just a solid, solid motorcycle rider,” said Hayes. “Right now, there’s a bit of a gulf between Pro-level racing and club racing. He is a top-level club racing guy who pushes the local guys to their absolute limit, and he is a guy who is capable of doing quite a bit in a National race if his focus would allow him to do that.
“But the other side of that, Dave is a businessman running not one but two race teams [including an AMA Supercross team]. I can tell you how tough it is to be a racer and a husband and a father, and he is all of those things as well as a team owner trying to figure out how to make a living from racing. So, he doesn’t have an easy job.
“The things Dave does have is he’s experienced, he has a lot of confidence, and he’s a pretty clever guy. So, whenever conditions are not optimum, guys like Dave and I go out with the attitude of ‘let me go figure it out for a little while’ and we do pretty well.
“When all things are perfect, Dave will find himself in a bit of a struggle racing against the young hot heads. The top guys in this sport are out there working their butts off and focusing solely on racing day-in and day-out. They maintain that intensity and focus all-day every-day, and when they go home at night all they dream about is how they’re going to win the next weekend.
“It’s hard for a guy like Dave to compete against that when he’s trying to be a businessman and managing multiple teams and riders and a few other things.
“Again, any time things are not optimized, Dave is capable of getting in the mix and getting up there and doing something impressive. But on a perfect day when everyone is at their top level, I think Dave is going to be Steady Eddie in those situations.”
Roadracing World started this exclusive special feature recognizing the most promising young road racers as an answer to pessimists who claimed America had no new, up-and-coming young racers. This edition of the Roadracing World Young Gun Awards marks the 24th consecutive year of showcasing an abundance of new talent.
Roadracing World Young Guns have won:
FIM MotoGP and FIM Superbike races and World Championships;
AMA Pro races and Championships, including eight AMA Pro Superbike Championships;
A KTM RC Cup World Final race;
The Daytona 200 (8 times);
WERA National Endurance Championships and WERA National Challenge Championships;
ASRA/Formula USA Grand National and CCS National Championships;
AMA Road Racing Grand Championships and Horizon Awards;
USGPRU National Championships;
Many regional and local titles.
The competition has continually become more intense as more – and younger—racers with higher levels of accomplishment are nominated, and the level of achievement required to make the grade keeps getting tougher.
We’ve spent the last several months accepting nominations and evaluating road racers between the ages of 11 and 18 (as of the start of the 2020 season) who have, at a minimum, won Expert-level road races and/or Championships on a 125cc two-stroke/250cc four-stroke or larger racebike or had outstanding results as an Amateur/Novice. Most of the riders included here have done far more than the minimum.
The young riders recognized here are the most promising young road racers in North America. All have earned the title of Roadracing World Young Gun.
We will feature one Young Gun per day, presenting them in alphabetical order.
Dallas Daniels, after winning MotoAmerica Junior Cup Race Two at Utah Motorsports Campus in 2019. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Recent racing accomplishments: 2019 season, finished 21st in wild card Supersport 300 World Championship ride on Yamaha YZF-R3 in Qatar, finished 3rd in MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship in spite of missing 6 of 17 races (1 win, 9 podiums in 11 race starts), finished 11th in American Flat Track AFT Singles Championship in spite of competing in only the second half of the season (2 wins, 4 podiums); 2018 season, awarded AMA Nicky Hayden Horizon Award in Road Racing and Flat Track (the first rider to do so), named AMA Rider of the Year, finished 17th in MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship (best race finish was 3rd at Laguna Seca, 5 top-10 finishes).
2020 racing goal: Win AFT Singles Championship.
Racing career goal: Be a dirt track Grand National Champion.
Racing hero: Nicky Hayden.
Favorite track: Utah Motorsports Campus.
Favorite hobby: Motocross.
If I wasn’t racing I would be…: Going to school and working some job I hate.
Jack Miller (43). Photo courtesy of Pramac Racing.
COVID-19: financial support measures for teams announced
Friday, 03 April 2020
The ongoing coronavirus outbreak is affecting many people, industries and sports across the world, including the MotoGP™ World Championship.
With the agreement of the FIM and the full commitment from shareholders Bridgepoint Capital and CPP Investments, Dorna Sports is proud to be able to assure help for MotoGP™ Class Independent Teams through this difficult moment in the history of our sport, as well as teams in the Moto2™ and Moto3™ classes.
Through the International Road-Racing Teams Association, MotoGP™ Independent Teams will each receive considerable advance payments during the months of April, May and June, irrespective of whether activity is restarted or not. This is in order to guarantee the economic well-being of the Independent Teams and their staff, as well as to secure their subsistence for the future.
In addition, IRTA has already made payments to all Moto2™ and Moto3™ teams to support them during this difficult period. Further measures for the intermediate and lightweight class teams will be considered in due course.
As previously stated, Dorna Sports is working hard to try and ensure that this crisis leaves all those in the MotoGP™ World Championship with only one consequence; that of a modified calendar.
Varese Hospital, in Varese, Italy. Photo courtesy of MV Agusta.
MV AGUSTA DONATES PCR MACHINE FOR QUICK COVID-19 TESTING TO VARESE HOSPITALS
in collaboration with local charity Fondazione Circolo della Bontà
Varese, April 3, 2020 – MV Agusta takes the field in the solidarity race to support Varese community hospitals facing the coronavirus emergency. The company donated a sophisticated testing machinery able to process up to 96 swabs in just 30 minutes. The system can also be used remotely and will be deployed in Professor Fausto Sessa’s department.
The machine, by the name of QuantStudio TM 5 Real-Time PCR System is produced by British Thermo Fisher Scientific, and is a welcome addition to the equipment already in use by the Varese hospital. It will help address the growing needs for testing in the area, rapidly identifying affected individuals. Health workers and the medical staff will also have access to the testing, for their own protection and that of their families. This particular machine is not specifically dedicated to Covid-19, but it will also greatly improve, once the emergency is over, the hospital’s diagnostic capabilities in the entire virology field.
MV Agusta’s initiative stems from its collaboration with Fondazione Circolo della Bontà Onlus, a local charity who started raising funds for the coronavirus emergency on March 8, which already resulted in the donation of important intensive care equipment to the Varese hospital.
Timur Sardarov, CEO MV Agusta Motor S.p.A. commented: “It is important for us to do our part in this particular moment, supporting those who are working to address this situation and protect our community. Fondazione Circolo della Bontà helped us single-out some critical needs, so we were able to act swiftly and efficiently. We are also keeping in touch with the Varese hospital to identify further opportunities of intervention.”
“We are grateful for this constructive collaboration, and for the support we received from the company”, said Gianni Spartà, President of the Circolo della Bontà foundation, “the local community is responding to the situation in a formidable way. The hashtag we launched in 2011, #takecareofwhotakescareofyou, seems today more appropriate than ever”.
Kyle Wyman (33) at speed during the official MotoAmerica pre-season at Barber Motorsports Park. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
By David Swarts
When the 2020 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship begins there will be some familiar faces on the grid, but there will also be a whole lot of newness: New bikes, new teams, new crew chiefs, and new classes.
To help preview the season, we’ve enlisted the help of Josh Hayes.
Not only has Hayes won four AMA Pro Superbike Championships, he’s won a total of 83 AMA Pro/MotoAmerica races and three support class titles; raced in the Endurance World Championship; run at the front in Supersport World Championship races; and finished seventh while competing in his first MotoGP race as a substitute rider at Valencia in 2011.
More recently, Hayes won two races at the International Island Classic vintage event in January of this year at Phillip Island; raced at the front throughout the 2019 Daytona 200 and was on provisional pole position for the 2020 Daytona 200; and finished on the podium in the MotoAmerica Supersport class in 2019.
Josh Hayes (4) at speed on his MP13 Racing Yamaha during the opening practice session at the 79th Daytona 200. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
When he’s not racing, Hayes is a rider coach for top competitors, including Bobby Fong and Jake Gagne, as well as working with Garrett Gerloff.
And if these weren’t enough qualifications to preview the upcoming season, Hayes rode in place of injured Mathew Scholtz on Westby Racing’s 2020-model Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike during the official MotoAmerica pre-season test at Barber Motorsports Park in March. So, he’s had a close look at most of the field.
This preview series is highlighting one Superbike or Superbike Cup/Stock 1000 rider each day, but it will not feature every rider entered in the two classes. Riders will be listed in the order they finished the 2019 Superbike Championship with riders who were not in the 2019 Superbike Championship listed in alphabetical order.
Kyle Wyman, after winning the 78th Daytona 200 in 2019. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Kyle Wyman
After spending most of his youth as a dirt track racer based in his native New York, Kyle Wyman switched to road racing and soon found himself in the AMA Pro Harley-Davidson XR1200 series. Although Wyman never won the title, he won several races across several seasons and built up his own team, fielding as many as nine riders at a single event.
Wyman switched to racing in the AMA Pro Daytona Sportbike Championship in 2014, but at the end of 2015, he decided to run a Yamaha YZF-R1 in the MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 class at the season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP), which is essentially his home track. Wyman finished second and fourth in the two Superstock 1000 races at that event.
Loving the bigger bike and seeing the incentives that MotoAmerica offered in the Superbike class, the team owner side of Wyman led him to take his Superstock-spec Yamaha and move up to the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship in 2016, when he finished in a tie for 12th.
Wyman upgraded his Yamaha with some Superbike parts for 2017, and even though his R1 was still closer to Superstock trim than it was to a factory Superbike, Wyman took four top-five finishes, including finishing second in Superbike Race Two at NJMP, nearly beating factory rider Roger Hayden for the win.
Wyman placed 10th in the 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, even though he missed the final two races of the season due to injury.
In 2018, Wyman improved to eighth in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship with a highlight of a fourth-place finish in the rain at Road Atlanta.
Wyman then made a bold move for 2019. Rather than continue to sharpen his Yamaha and utilize the readily available parts and tuning information for the machine, Wyman chose to race with the new Ducati Panigale V4 R.
While on paper the machine looked ready to win races right out of the crate, this was not actually the case, as Wyman found out in the little time he had to prepare his machines for the 2019 season.
For starters, Wyman had to come up with a solution to increase fuel capacity to complete the full distance of MotoAmerica Superbike races, and then there was the matter of acquiring race kit electronics and software. Fortunately, Wyman won the Daytona 200 on a N2 Racing/BobbleHeadMoto/KWR Yamaha R6 at the start of the season, making it possible for him to afford Superstock-level electronics for his new Superbike.
In spite of this and the willing support of the Ducati Corse department in Italy, developing the Kyle Wyman Racing Ducati into a finely tuned weapon was still challenging. A mid-season crash and injury that kept Wyman out of a few rounds did not help the cause, either.
Wyman was able to return to action before the end of 2019, and he ended the season with his best performance yet at Barber Motorsports Park. There, Wyman finished 7th in Superbike Race One and in Race Two he was in the hunt for a podium position for most of the race and was demoted to fifth place by Toni Elias on the final lap.
During this past off-season, Wyman underwent surgery to replace a herniated disc in his neck that had causing him pain and a lack of movement for a long time, and after the surgery he said he immediately felt better than he had in years.
In the meantime, Wyman’s Ducati has been fitted with new chassis parts, improved electronics, and a new fuel tank with a better shape for its rider. And Wyman also has a new, Ducati Corse Superbike engine ready to install for the start of the 2020 race season to replace the Superstock engine he used throughout last year.
Now with a healthy body and the steepest part of the Ducati development curve behind him, 30-year-old Wyman could be challenging on the factory riders more frequently in 2020.
“It’s a little bit hard to tell on some of these things because I’m on the outside to some extent,” said Hayes. “But that being said, we’ve seen Kyle have some flashes of brilliance, like his ride [to second place] at New Jersey.
“We know he’s gotten himself into the mix whatever type of motorcycle he’s ridden, whether it’s a Harley or a 600. But again, like David Anthony, Kyle’s also a businessman and team owner, so that’s always going to add to his complications. A lot is going to depend on how much trust he can put into his crew to handle all of the business side of things at the track so he can focus on the riding part of things.
“Again, his talent is not in question. Look at what he’s done. He won the Daytona 200 last year. He and his team took a brand new bike [Ducati Panigale V4 R] that no one has any information on and was able to get in there and actually make it look pretty good against factory Superbikes several times during the season.
“However, it’s always difficult to be the lone wolf on a motorcycle that doesn’t have a lot of information available. And how much of the information is actually relevant? Every other Ducati V4 in the world that I know of running any kind of Superbike series is on Pirellis. So, if information comes from Ducati Corse, it’s likely coming from World Superbike and Pirelli tires, and I can tell you from what I learned about the Yamaha World Superbikes and our Superbikes that’s a huge gulf to try and navigate! So, Kyle and his team have an uphill battle.
“Now, with a year of experience, I would say that there’s probably quite a bit of weight on Kyle’s shoulders to get up there and show what he can do. It’s getting to where Kyle has been in the paddock for quite a while and he needs to show what his prowess is and that he can figure out how to get there.
“I think he needs a breakthrough performance for his confidence. If he can make that happen early in the season and battle with the front-runners, get on the podium and be within a second or two of the win, that confidence could take him to the next level where the bike starts becoming less and less of the issue of him being at the front.
“At some point your confidence can take over. That’s what happened with Garrett Gerloff. He had the machine and he was always searching for a setting, but once he won his first race and his confidence started to come around, he believed that he belonged there. One of his crew members told me, ‘We couldn’t mess up the setting on the bike if we wanted to. No matter what we do, he just goes fast.’
“I think with Kyle it could be the same scenario. I think if he could make a statement with a breakout ride early in the season, we could be talking about Kyle Wyman a whole lot more in 2020.”
Blake Davis (122) in action at the 2019 WERA Grand National Finals (GNF) at Barber Motorsports Park. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
24th-Annual Roadracing World Young Gun Honors:
By David Swarts
Roadracing World started this exclusive special feature recognizing the most promising young road racers as an answer to pessimists who claimed America had no new, up-and-coming young racers. This edition of the Roadracing World Young Gun Awards marks the 24th consecutive year of showcasing an abundance of new talent.
Roadracing World Young Guns have won:
FIM MotoGP and FIM Superbike races and World Championships;
AMA Pro races and Championships, including eight AMA Pro Superbike Championships;
A KTM RC Cup World Final race;
The Daytona 200 (8 times);
WERA National Endurance Championships and WERA National Challenge Championships;
ASRA/Formula USA Grand National and CCS National Championships;
AMA Road Racing Grand Championships and Horizon Awards;
USGPRU National Championships;
Many regional and local titles.
The competition has continually become more intense as more – and younger—racers with higher levels of accomplishment are nominated, and the level of achievement required to make the grade keeps getting tougher.
We’ve spent the last several months accepting nominations and evaluating road racers between the ages of 11 and 18 (as of the start of the 2020 season) who have, at a minimum, won Expert-level road races and/or Championships on a 125cc two-stroke/250cc four-stroke or larger racebike or had outstanding results as an Amateur/Novice. Most of the riders included here have done far more than the minimum.
The young riders recognized here are the most promising young road racers in North America. All have earned the title of Roadracing World Young Gun.
We will feature one Young Gun per day, presenting them in alphabetical order.
Blake Davis, winner of the 2019 Nicky Hayden AMA Road Race Horizon Award. Photo by Brian J. Nelson, courtesy of AMA.
Blake Davis
Age: 13.
Current home: Lynchburg, Virginia.
Current height/weight: 5’1”/100 pounds.
Current school grade level: 7th grade.
Began riding at age: 3 years.
First road race: Talladega, Alabama, WERA, Formula 3 and E Superstock, 1st place in both.
Current racebikes: Kawasaki Ninja 400, Suzuki SV650.
Current tuner/mechanic: Mike Davis (father).
Primary race series: WERA Sportsman, WERA/N2 Endurance, MotoAmerica Junior Cup.
Top sponsors: Lucas Oil Products, RS Taichi, Moto Liberty, Shoei, Highside Photo.
Recent racing accomplishments: 2019 season, won AMA Nicky Hayden Road Racing Horizon Award, won Lightweight Twins Superstock Expert and Formula Two Expert WERA National Challenge Championships, won D Superstock Expert WERA Sportsman National Championship, won 7 WERA Sportsman Regional Championships (won 20 WERA races); 2018 season, named AMA Youth Road Racer of the Year, won AMA 300 Superstock Grand Championship, won 3 WERA National Challenge Championships, won 13 WERA Sportsman Regional Championships, won 41 of 60 WERA races started; 2017 season, won 3 WERA Sportsman Regional Championships.
2020 racing goal: Win a MotoAmerica Junior Cup race.
Racing career goal: Race on the world stage.
Racing hero: Scott Russell.
Favorite track: Road Atlanta.
Favorite hobby: Riding anything on two wheels.
If I wasn’t racing I would be…: Maybe competing in triathlons or mountain bike races.
Round One of the 2014 GEICO Motorcycle Superbike Shootout Presented by Yamaha, the Yamaha SoCal Nationals, was held April 26-27 at Auto Club Speedway, in Fontana, California. This is the broadcast video coverage of RaceFuelz Pro Superbike race one, which aired on MAVTV.
The three-round televised series was set up by race team owner John Ulrich and racer Chris Ulrich, to fill an 11-week gap in the 2014 AMA Pro Racing schedule, which initially consisted of five rounds without any TV coverage, with no rounds west of the Mississippi River (the AMA Series later picked up a sixth round, at Laguna Seca, again without TV). Each Superbike Shootout round included one Superbike and one Sportbike race (along with dedicated practice and qualifying sessions for each class) dropped into an existing club race weekend run by WERA at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California; AFM at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California; and USBA at what was then known as Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.
Teams and riders needed TV coverage to maintain sponsorship, and getting that coverage was a major goal of the series. The father/son duo started a new business unit, Team Hammer Promotions, hired Greg White’s production company to produce six one-hour TV shows, covering the Superbike and Sportbike races from each round, with White and Jason Pridmore commentating and Laurette Nicholl handling pit reporting. John and Chris Ulrich met with the president of MAVTV and reached an agreement for the network to broadcast each show, one per week, on consecutive Thursday nights, and to then repeat the series. After seeing the shows, MAVTV decided to broadcast each show an additional four times, totaling 36 hours of TV coverage for the series. Chris’ sister Natalie Ulrich was recruited to sell series and event sponsorship as well as TV commercials.
By all accounts, the series and the shows were a success, and played a part in keeping professional road racing alive in the United States. There were plans to run a 10-round Superbike Shootout Series in 2015. But when MotoAmerica was founded, bought the AMA Pro Racing series, and announced it would take over running the AMA series starting in 2015, John and Chris Ulrich decided to support MotoAmerica and go back to concentrating on running the family’s race team, known as Team Hammer, Inc. The rest is history…
The start of a CMRA race at NOLA Motorsports Park in 2019. Photo by David Gillen/dgillenphoto.com, courtesy of AMA.
April 2, 2020 / Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association, Waco, TX
With social distancing orders in Texas extended through May 4th, the CMRA will be cancelling the MSR Houston event scheduled for April 24-26.
We appreciate everyone’s understanding as the health and safety of the CMRA Family and Competitors remains paramount.
We are in the process of reaching out to all impacted competitors regarding outstanding March NOLA race entries that were moved to the now canceled April MSR Houston weekend.
With this change, the CMRA’s focus and preparations turn to the May 22-24 event at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit. The Memorial Day weekend event at the historic Hallett Motor Racing Circuit holds a special place on the CMRA calendar as it hosts the Sixth Annual Westby Classic.
Weekend action will include:
Friday full-day CMRA racer practice
CMRA License School
Saturday 6hr Ultra Lightweight Endurance event
Saturday & Sunday Championship Sprints
Please note the 8hr endurance format scheduled for the canceled April MSR Houston event will be pushed to the June MSR Houston event weekend.
With over seven weeks until the Hallett event and the impact of COVID-19 evolving daily, we will continue to monitor public directives for any potential adjustments to upcoming events and provide any updates.
The CMRA staff and Board appreciates the overwhelming support shown by the racing community and looks forward to returning to competition as quickly as possible
For updates visit:
CMRA website cmraracing.com
CMRA on Facebook
About
The Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association (CMRA) is a motorcycle racing league that holds events in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Operating continuously since 1974, it remains one of the oldest and largest active amateur racing clubs in the U.S. For more information visit our website at: http://www.cmraracing.com/
Interview with Danilo Petrucci: “This Championship will be a surprise for everybody”
While the wait continues for the 2020 MotoGP World Championship to start, the Ducati Team rider revealed in this interview how he is spending the days and what he expects from the new season.
The 2020 MotoGP Season was supposed to begin nearly one month ago in Qatar for the Ducati Team, where just a few weeks earlier they had completed the last MotoGP pre-season test. Unfortunately, at the same time in Europe, the Covid-19 started to spread, stopping not just the sporting world but also whole countries, like Italy, which was one of the worst-affected nations by the virus.
A mandatory isolation period has been introduced by the Italian Government to stop the spread of the virus, and of course, also Danilo Petrucci is respecting the measure in his house in Terni.
“For sure spending so much time at home, staying away from our friends is not the ideal situation. But at this time it is the only way that we have to solve this problem together. By staying at home following the instructions that are given us by the Government, we can help each other. The situation is difficult, but it can only improve if we endure it a little bit more”.
The Ducati rider also explained how he is spending these days at home:
“I am trying to use this time to solve some physical issues, like the problem I had at my shoulder last year in Valencia and some that I have in a leg. I am doing some physiotherapy at home, some light training and I am also focusing on my diet”.
Of course, during these days of lockdown, Petrucci doesn’t have the chance to train on a bike, and he declared that what he is missing the most is doing motocross with his teammate Andrea Dovizioso.
“I hear Andrea nearly every day, and we text each other a lot. In these days, I miss the most doing motocross with him and training together, also because right now I can’t really ride anything!”
The last time the Ducati riders were able to sit on the Desmosedici GP20 bikes was more than a month ago, during the final winter test that was held in Qatar from 22nd-24th February 2020:
“I was delighted with the test at Losail. I think I was one of the few riders that covered the whole distance in the race simulation by completing 22 laps. The bike is an evolution of the previous year, but the big difference now is the tyres. We worked a lot on trying to adjust the bike setup and the riding style”.
Speaking about the future, Petrucci declared his goals for 2020 and his expectations from the championship, now that the new calendar has tightened up towards the end of the season:
“This is my second year with the Ducati Team, and I am proud of it. This year I would like to improve my performance compared to last season. In 2019 I got my first win in MotoGP, and I was able to fight for the third position in the standings until there were two races to go. This year I want to fight for that placement during the whole championship. For sure, this season will be a surprise for everybody. We are not used to such an intense programme! The calendar is extremely tight, especially in the last months, so we need to do a good mental and physical preparation and try to rest now because then we won’t have time. Honestly, I can’t wait to face this demanding calendar!”
Watch the whole interview on the Ducati Corse Instagram and Twitter accounts.
Johann Zarco (left), Jorge Lorenzo (center), and Fabio Quartararo (right) in a pre-race publicity photo in Paris for the 2019 French Grand Prix. Photo courtesy of Dorna.
SHARK Helmets Grand Prix de France postponed
Due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, the event at Le Mans has been postponed
Thursday, 02 April 2020
The FIM, IRTA and Dorna Sports regret to announce the postponement of the SHARK Helmets Grand Prix de France, which was set to be held at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans from the 15th to the 17th of May. The ongoing coronavirus outbreak has obliged the event to be rescheduled.
As the situation remains in a state of constant evolution, new dates for the French GP and the recently-postponed Gran Premio Red Bull de España cannot be confirmed until it becomes clearer when exactly it will be possible to hold the events. A revised calendar will be published as soon as available.
“Aussie Dave” Anthony (25), as seen during the MotoAmerica pre-season test at Barber Motorsports Park. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
By David Swarts
When the 2020 MotoAmerica Superbike Championship begins there will be some familiar faces on the grid, but there will also be a whole lot of newness: New bikes, new teams, new crew chiefs, and new classes.
To help preview the season, we’ve enlisted the help of Josh Hayes.
Not only has Hayes won four AMA Pro Superbike Championships, he’s won a total of 83 AMA Pro/MotoAmerica races and three support class titles; raced in the Endurance World Championship; run at the front in Supersport World Championship races; and finished seventh while competing in his first MotoGP race as a substitute rider at Valencia in 2011.
More recently, Hayes won two races at the International Island Classic vintage event in January of this year at Phillip Island; raced at the front throughout the 2019 Daytona 200 and was on provisional pole position for the 2020 Daytona 200; and finished on the podium in the MotoAmerica Supersport class in 2019.
Josh Hayes (4) at speed on his MP13 Racing Yamaha during the opening practice session at the 79th Daytona 200. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
When he’s not racing, Hayes is a rider coach for top competitors, including Bobby Fong and Jake Gagne, as well as working with Garrett Gerloff.
And if these weren’t enough qualifications to preview the upcoming season, Hayes rode in place of injured Mathew Scholtz on Westby Racing’s 2020-model Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike during the official MotoAmerica pre-season test at Barber Motorsports Park in March. So, he’s had a close look at most of the field.
This preview series is highlighting one Superbike or Superbike Cup/Stock 1000 rider each day, but it will not feature every rider entered in the two classes. Riders will be listed in the order they finished the 2019 Superbike Championship with riders who were not in the 2019 Superbike Championship listed in alphabetical order.
“Aussie Dave” Anthony, circa 2019. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
David “Aussie Dave” Anthony
David Anthony began his road racing career in his home country of Australia, before chasing professional rides in England.
After one disappointing racing trip to England, Anthony, who originally made his living as a professional motorcycle mechanic, stopped over in the United States to have a holiday before heading home to Australia.
During that trip, he met his now-wife Crystal, decided to stay a while, and had a go at club racing in America. Anthony quickly discovered that he had the speed to win club race events and, when using the right motorcycle, he could earn a significant amount of contingency money.
Anthony parlayed that financial success into another run at racing as a professional in America’s top motorcycle road racing series and even started his own race team, Aussie Dave Racing.
In spite of racing as a privateer on a limited budget for most of his career, Anthony showed flashes of his potential as a top level Pro, as in 2014 when he raced elbow-to-elbow with the top factory Superbike riders in the GEICO Motorcycle Superbike Shootout round at Auto Club Speedway.
The following season, 2015, when MotoAmerica took over as the top motorcycle racing series in the U.S., Anthony signed with Team Hammer to race an M4 Suzuki GSX-R600 in Supersport. Anthony had spent most of his time as a Pro on 1000cc machines, but he adapted well to the 600cc Suzuki, reached the podium twice, finished in the top five 10 times in 15 races, and placed fourth in the Championship.
After that, Anthony went back to racing for his own team on a Kawasaki ZX-10R Superbike. While Anthony routinely won races and broke track records on his Ninja at club races, he struggled with achieving consistent results near the top at MotoAmerica races while developing the ZX-10R himself on a limited budget. And when development work turned into technical problems, it not only cost Anthony money, it also cost him the invaluable track time he needed to keep his riding at the top level.
Anthony finished 10th in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship in 2018 and 2019, with a best race finish of fifth in Race One at Circuit of The Americas in 2019.
For 2020, Anthony has decided to change course. He will still continue to race for his own team, Aussie Dave Racing (which will continue to field self-supported riders Sam Verderico and Bradley Ward), but Anthony has switched motorcycles. Anthony, who is now an American citizen, has swapped out his Kawasaki, which was fitted with Kawasaki race kit engine electronics, buying the Team Hammer racebike Jake Lewis raced in 2019, a Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike equipped with MOTEC advanced electronics.
The switch to a motorcycle that is more proven appeared to have already paid off at the official MotoAmerica pre-season test at Barber Motorsports Park in March where Anthony was sixth among 1000cc riders on Day One and just 0.1-second behind Yamaha factory rider Jake Gagne.
With a reliable and capable machine underneath him and consistent track time to hone his riding, Anthony, age 38, may have all the pieces he needs to improve on his recent results and challenge the factory Superbike riders again.
“Dave is just a solid, solid motorcycle rider,” said Hayes. “Right now, there’s a bit of a gulf between Pro-level racing and club racing. He is a top-level club racing guy who pushes the local guys to their absolute limit, and he is a guy who is capable of doing quite a bit in a National race if his focus would allow him to do that.
“But the other side of that, Dave is a businessman running not one but two race teams [including an AMA Supercross team]. I can tell you how tough it is to be a racer and a husband and a father, and he is all of those things as well as a team owner trying to figure out how to make a living from racing. So, he doesn’t have an easy job.
“The things Dave does have is he’s experienced, he has a lot of confidence, and he’s a pretty clever guy. So, whenever conditions are not optimum, guys like Dave and I go out with the attitude of ‘let me go figure it out for a little while’ and we do pretty well.
“When all things are perfect, Dave will find himself in a bit of a struggle racing against the young hot heads. The top guys in this sport are out there working their butts off and focusing solely on racing day-in and day-out. They maintain that intensity and focus all-day every-day, and when they go home at night all they dream about is how they’re going to win the next weekend.
“It’s hard for a guy like Dave to compete against that when he’s trying to be a businessman and managing multiple teams and riders and a few other things.
“Again, any time things are not optimized, Dave is capable of getting in the mix and getting up there and doing something impressive. But on a perfect day when everyone is at their top level, I think Dave is going to be Steady Eddie in those situations.”
Dallas Daniels (69) in action at Utah Motorsports Campus in 2019. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
24th-Annual Roadracing World Young Gun Honors:
By David Swarts
Roadracing World started this exclusive special feature recognizing the most promising young road racers as an answer to pessimists who claimed America had no new, up-and-coming young racers. This edition of the Roadracing World Young Gun Awards marks the 24th consecutive year of showcasing an abundance of new talent.
Roadracing World Young Guns have won:
FIM MotoGP and FIM Superbike races and World Championships;
AMA Pro races and Championships, including eight AMA Pro Superbike Championships;
A KTM RC Cup World Final race;
The Daytona 200 (8 times);
WERA National Endurance Championships and WERA National Challenge Championships;
ASRA/Formula USA Grand National and CCS National Championships;
AMA Road Racing Grand Championships and Horizon Awards;
USGPRU National Championships;
Many regional and local titles.
The competition has continually become more intense as more – and younger—racers with higher levels of accomplishment are nominated, and the level of achievement required to make the grade keeps getting tougher.
We’ve spent the last several months accepting nominations and evaluating road racers between the ages of 11 and 18 (as of the start of the 2020 season) who have, at a minimum, won Expert-level road races and/or Championships on a 125cc two-stroke/250cc four-stroke or larger racebike or had outstanding results as an Amateur/Novice. Most of the riders included here have done far more than the minimum.
The young riders recognized here are the most promising young road racers in North America. All have earned the title of Roadracing World Young Gun.
We will feature one Young Gun per day, presenting them in alphabetical order.
Dallas Daniels, after winning MotoAmerica Junior Cup Race Two at Utah Motorsports Campus in 2019. Photo by Brian J. Nelson.
Recent racing accomplishments: 2019 season, finished 21st in wild card Supersport 300 World Championship ride on Yamaha YZF-R3 in Qatar, finished 3rd in MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship in spite of missing 6 of 17 races (1 win, 9 podiums in 11 race starts), finished 11th in American Flat Track AFT Singles Championship in spite of competing in only the second half of the season (2 wins, 4 podiums); 2018 season, awarded AMA Nicky Hayden Horizon Award in Road Racing and Flat Track (the first rider to do so), named AMA Rider of the Year, finished 17th in MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship (best race finish was 3rd at Laguna Seca, 5 top-10 finishes).
2020 racing goal: Win AFT Singles Championship.
Racing career goal: Be a dirt track Grand National Champion.
Racing hero: Nicky Hayden.
Favorite track: Utah Motorsports Campus.
Favorite hobby: Motocross.
If I wasn’t racing I would be…: Going to school and working some job I hate.
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Default
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Default
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Visually Pleasing Experience
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Light Contrast
Monochrome
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High Saturation
Low Saturation
Adjust Text Colors
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Easy Orientation
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Cognitive Reading
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Accessibility Statement
www.roadracingworld.com
November 13, 2026
Compliance status
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience,
regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level.
These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible
to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific
disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML,
adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Screen-reader and keyboard navigation
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with
screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive
a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements,
alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website.
In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels;
descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups),
and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag
for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology.
To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on
as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Disability profiles supported in our website
Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments
Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over seven different coloring options.
Animations – person with epilepsy can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.
Browser and assistive technology compatibility
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Notes, comments, and feedback
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to
