TT 100 Hero’s and History An exhibition of original artwork, five years in the planning, depicting TT racing over the past 100 years, is being put on by two of the finest professional motorcycle artists working today. From an original concept by Rod Organ, both he and Peter Hearsey will be taking a decade each from 1907 to 2006. Peter will start the ball rolling with 1907 to 1916. Rod will then take over with 1917 to 1926, and so on. Both are highly acclaimed artists. Rod is official artist for Ducati, the TT Riders Association, and Riders for Health and has been a professional Motorcycle artist since 1970, one year after his first visit to the TT Races. Probably, no one has painted the TT Races more than Rod has. Peter too has many honours to his name. He is one of the few British Artists to be invited to join the American Society of Automobile Artists, and every year paints the picture used to advertise the hugely popular Festival of Speed at Goodwood. Peter’s style is impressionistic, he lives in Douglas and his Motorcycle prints are promoted by Duke Marketing. With two very different, distinct styles, this exhibition will be a treat for all visitors to the TT Centenary Celebrations. A preview open evening, for invited guests and the press, is on Sunday the 27th May, from 7pm until 9pm, at the Courtyard Gallery, Tynwald Mills, St. Johns Tel; 01624 801108 Open times for the public will be 10am to 5pm Daily, From Monday the 28th May until Sunday 10th June, Inc. At least one of the artists will be in attendance at the exhibition most days.

Superpole®, an exclusive characteristic of the SBK Superbike World Championship®, will be enhanced by an awards ceremony which takes place at the Superpole parc ferme’. A trophy will be given to the poleman, in order to give photographers and TV cameramen a chance to capture the event. Receiving the trophy does not give the riders any points, it’s a token of their pre-race success.

Bridgestone Bolsters MotoGP Activities for 2007 Friday 23 February 2007 Bridgestone Motorsport is preparing to kick-start its 2007 MotoGP season in the best way possible as the final pre-season test gets underway in Jerez, Spain today. After its most successful season to date last year, Bridgestone has bolstered its MotoGP activities over the winter with new teams and riders and a streamlined motorsport management structure as the Japanese tyre manufacturer begins its sixth season at the pinnacle of motorcycle racing. In 2006, Bridgestone-shod riders claimed a total of four victories, frequented the podium on 11 occasions and took pole positions six times in the 17 events that comprised the championship. Ducati’s Loris Capirossi scored a hat-trick of victories on his way to a determined third in the rider’s championship, underlining the full potential of Bridgestone’s MotoGP tyres over the course of the season. For 2007, Bridgestone has seen an increase in the number of teams it supplies from three to five. In addition to its existing, strong relationships with the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, Kawasaki Racing and Ducati Marlboro teams, Bridgestone is also working with Honda Gresini and Pramac D’Antin, further enhancing its team and rider portfolio for the coming season. “I believe we will really benefit from having such a strong, complete team and rider line-up this season,” explains Manager of Bridgestone’s Motorcycle Sport department, Hiroshi Yamada. “We can draw on many years experience with Kawasaki, Suzuki and Ducati as we further develop our tyres for 2007. We have already seen significant improvements in the off-season testing with some exceptional testing times being recorded by all three teams. We have also been able to accrue extra data through our newly-established relationships with Honda Gresini and Pramac D’Antin. We welcome both of these teams to the Bridgestone family and look forward to helping them in their championship endeavours this season.” Bridgestone’s global motorsport activities have been streamlined over the winter months. The MotoGP programme, which was formerly under the control of the motorcycle tyre sales department, has now been moved under the management of the motorsport department. Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, Mr. Hiroshi Yasukawa and Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development, Mr. Hirohide Hamashima will head up Bridgestone’s MotoGP activities, in addition to their existing duties in Formula 1 and GP2. Hiroshi Yamada remains Manager of the renamed Motorcycle Sport department, where his responsibility is now concentrated fully on MotoGP. The decision to bring together four-wheeled and two-wheeled motorsport activities is a deliberate move to reflect Bridgestone’s unified approach to global racing. The move will allow a greater exchange of racing knowledge and experience, which in turn will drive forward tyre technology on the race track and ultimately on the road. MotoGP tyre development for the coming season has been largely influenced by the introduction of new less-powerful 800cc machines for 2007, in addition to the implementation of new tyre restrictions during the GP weekend. Yamada explains: “The new tyre regulations for this year will mean that tyre manufacturers will have to do their homework more thoroughly than ever before. Riders will only be able to use 31 tyres per weekend and these must be selected at the very start of the GP weekend. Qualifying tyres are also part of the strict 31 tyre limit, so we will have to find a compromise between our qualifying and race preparations to make sure we do not over-compensate in either direction. We have developed solid foundations with our five teams over the winter tests, so we can adapt quickly to these regulations with their support.” Tests with the 800cc machines have yielded unexpected surprises with some exceptionally quick lap times. The reduced power output that lowers top speed has been compensated by increased cornering speeds leaving the 800cc bikes quicker at some circuits than their 990cc predecessors. “In initial tests with the 800s, our standard 2006-spec tyres already worked well,” says Yamada. “But it was quickly apparent that the faster cornering speeds would change the focus of tyre development. We have had to look at enhancing edge grip but at the same time address problems we had at specific tracks last season. The new bikes, new regulations, new teams and riders, as well as the continuous improvements we search for year on year have all combined to raise the pressure this season, but it is a healthy pressure.” Bridgestone hopes that its hard work and effort over the winter will pay dividends in 2007, but it is not underestimating the challenge ahead. Yamada concludes: “Our ultimate goal is to see a Bridgestone-shod rider win the championship, but that is easier said than done. The competition is tough. Our motivation and target is always to win races and to give our teams championship-winning tyres, but we will take things on a race-by-race basis to make sure that we have consistently competitive tyres at each GP. This will be the key.”

FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Losing the “Greatest Job in the World” Back in the early 1990s I was a club racer like many Roadracing World readers. Over the years I made many friends in the small world of racers in the Southeast region. The more talented ones moved on to the rarified world of AMA Pro Racing. A couple of times I even helped crew for some of those racers at Daytona and got to know some of the AMA pit lane officials. After working on the grid for CCS at Daytona during the spring races in 1996, I was encouraged to apply to Ron Barrick for a position working grids at the AMA races. Although there weren’t any openings for that race weekend, Ron offered to let me work at the inaugural Homestead, FL race. I can’t begin to tell you how nervous and excited I was about this opportunity. To a small-time club racer, AMA Pro Racing was a Really Big Deal. I would be working for people I respected a great deal and I would be around the racers and crews that I read about in all the glossy magazines. From that first weekend at Homestead, through the next ten years, I was lucky to be able to work at most of the AMA Superbike races. Over the years I moved from one of Jerry Derhammers “grid squids” up to the Pit Steward job. A couple of years ago, I was surprised to be offered the Chief Steward job. I felt like it was both an awesome responsibility and the opportunity of a lifetime to be in enough of a senior position to really make a difference in the operations and safety aspects of race weekends. I was happy to be able to achieve some of the goals I set from the beginning. I developed a staff of workers who all worked several races instead of the one-race “volunteers” of the past. We instituted many new processes and procedures to smooth out the control of pit lane and race starts. There were also several times when I was able to “make things happen” to address rider concerns about safety issues. From the beginning, I looked at things from a rider/crew member perspective as much as possible. I suppose that may not have been the expected or accepted attitude of a full time official. Late last year, I received a call from Ron Barrick saying I would not be asked to work AMA Superbke races in 2007. Needless to say, I was devastated! I had been looking forward to working with the new management and had been asked if I would stay on as Chief Steward only a couple of weeks before getting that call from Ron. Due to the circumstances at the last Mid-Ohio race, I was not even able to say end-of-year goodbyes. Now I’d like to take this opportunity to say goodbye to all my friends in the AMA paddock. I will miss you more than I can say. So many times over the years different people have come up to me during a weekend to say “You have the greatest job in the world.” I would think to myself how little they knew about the work involved in keeping things running smoothly while dealing with all the issues that come up during a race weekend. Deep in my heart I knew they were right. It was great to have the opportunity to do a job I loved so much. Laura Perry Athens, Alabama FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Reading Laura Perry’s goodbye note reminded me of why she was promoted to the position of Chief Steward for the AMA Superbike Series. I know well the contribution she made to improving operations, communication, decision making and safety during her tenure there and she deserves our thanks. She wasn’t initially welcomed in the male dominated society she was asked to lead, but she (and the rest of us involved in the decision to appoint her) soldiered through, confident she was the right choice. She proved us right. Thanks Laura, hold your head high. It was a pleasure working with you. Scott Hollingsworth Columbus, Ohio (Editor’s note: Scott Hollingsworth is the former CEO of AMA Pro Racing.)

A NEW BIKE, NEW TYRES AND A NEW COLOUR SCHEME: THE GRESINI HONDA TEAM FACES THE START OF THE SEASON WITH RENEWED ENTHUSIASM. After a long series of winter testing overseas, the MotoGP comes back to Europe for the last appointment before the start of the championship, on the 10th of March in Qatar. From tomorrow to Sunday all MotoGP teams will be back on track at Jerez, in Spain. The countdown is over. Everything is in place for a fresh, exciting challenge. The Gresini Honda Team unveils the new bike with the new colour, ready for another exciting season. FAUSTO GRESINI, Team Manager and Team owner: ” For 2007, with the motorcycles warming up already, we’re facing a double-edged technical challenge: the 800cc era has got underway and we’ll be tackling it on the back of the Bridgestone-shod RC212V. We’ve got a solid team made up of two young racers we have absolute faith in and who show great promise. There’s Marco Melandri, world championship runner-up in 2005 and a major contender last year: with 5 wins and 12 podiums on our bike, he has been one of the main world title hopes over the past two years. We’ve won a lot together but we are aiming to go even higher. Marco has shown that he’s a very talented rider, capable of amazing feats, who packs a powerful punch and has the will to win. We’re proud that the project we set up together with Honda in 2005 is still going strong and flying our colours. This is the jewel in our crown that we’re counting on in the title challenge. Now in his second year riding a Honda in our team is Toni Elias. Confident as we are of his potential, our goal is to develop this young man’s talents even further and hopefully he’ll carry on making the most of his trademark determination, as he did last year when he was rewarded with his first MotoGP victory at Estoril, the culmination of a race he dominated in true champion style. Our partnership with the multi-award-winning manufacturer, Honda HRC, which has always supplied us with highly competitive bikes, allows us to shine with a starring role in the top class. We have once again got the support of major companies. Some have been with us for many years and along with their products they have helped us achieve our best results. Others have joined us this year, enthusiastically becoming part of the heart-thumping world of motorcycling. We are proud to be so closely associated with Honda Italia and its ever-passionate and professional attitude to competitions. Our partnership with them has been long and fruitful. We are glad to welcome Bridgestone as our new technical partner. We have great faith in this partnership, which is based on a key strategic decision. We are determined to garner impressive results together. MARCO MELANDRI: “I look forward to start a new season. I like a lot my new bike, in particular the rolling chassis. I’ve got faith in the potential of the Honda-Bridgestone package. We’ve got everything we need to compete at the top end of the championship. I feel well supported by all our partners. I’m very confident in our potential. I want to have fun and get my revenge” TONI ELIAS: “I’m very confident, for me it was very important to keep on working with the same team, the same chief mechanic and all the guys. There is still a lot of work to do but I’m very confident. The win in Portugal gave me a major boost. My goal is to feel that amazing sensation again and to do battle with the main players every Sunday”.