Safety First Suzuki to ride on Michelin Tires in 2007 AMA Series When the Safety First Suzuki GSXR 600’s take to the track this year, they will be astride Michelin tires. Team Owner Kevin Hanson indicated, “I am really looking forward to this year, both riders have been on Michelin in the past, and we’ll be able to test and develop some compounds for Michelin as the year goes along. Michelin is excited to be on board with Safety First with our kids safety program due to their bicycle tire production. It’s the purest reflection of a win-win relationship.” Rider Bobby Fong commented, “I am very pleased and excited to be offered the opportunity to compete on the Michelin tires for my first professional year in the AMA FX and Supersport racing season. With Michelin’s help in 2006, I was able to achieve 2 AFM championships as well as high point scorer in the AFM series. I am proud to know that Michelin Tires will once again provide me with the finest tires available.” “I am also really excited to be working with Michelin again this season” quoted rider Scotty Ryan. “I always know that Ron Wood, Tommy Mason and Walt Schafer are going to point me in the right direction. I think that the familiarity that Bobby and I have with the Michelins combined with Jim and Kevin’s expertise with the Suzuki’s – we will have a really strong team this season.” Ron Wood, Michelin’s Manager of Road Racing and Sales added, “Michelin is proud to be associated Safety First Racing for 2007. The 2007 AMA race season should prove to be interesting with the addition of exciting new riders, Bobby Fong and Scott Ryan. We are also excited and anxious to work with Kevin on the kids program. Michelin is a family oriented company and the kids program fits well with our company.” Safety First Suzuki was formed in 2004 by police officer/racer, Kevin Hanson, based out of Chicago, IL. For 2007, Safety First Suzuki will be competing in the AMA Superbike series in the Supersport and Formula Xtreme classes. Checkout www.SAFETYFIRSTRACING.com to see the Safety First Suzuki line of apparel and casual wear. Kevin Hanson continues to educate elementary school aged children nationwide about the importance of helmet usage.

Team NB, team boss Norris Farrow, yesterday announced support from both Pirelli UK Tyres Ltd and Maxima Racing Oils (UK) Ltd, for the commencement of the Teams testing schedule, and the duration of the 2007 British Superbike season. Farrow made comment “both myself and the crew are really looking forward to working with two such premier brands and are looking forward to a good working relationship with both parties. We believe, we have a unique opportunity to evolve and develop both the Pirelli tyres within the British Superbike Championship, and the excellent range of lubricants supplied by Maxima Racing Oils, we look forward to good success with both parties during our testing schedule and for the 2007 season”. The Boston based team, leave for a three day test at the Almeria circuit in Spain at the end of February, followed by a further three day test at the Gaudix circuit in Spain during the first week in March. Both riders, Ollie and Tommy Bridewell, commented, “we can not wait to get back on the bikes, after what seem’s to have been a very long winter, we are both looking forward to working with Pirelli Tyres and Maxima Racing Oils, and are very keen to impress during the upcoming tests”. Farrow, once again, made comment ” we at Team NB continue to support the youth of the industry, and by doing so, hopefully enhance their future opportunities within the British Superbike Championship”. Team NB, would also like to take this opportunity to thank, their title sponsors ‘Naturally Best’, for its continued support for the 2007 season.

DVS Honda’s 2007 Superbike campaign kicked off this weekend with round 1 of the YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship taking place at Eastern Creek. The round also marked the teams first official race with Adam “Krusty” Fergusson wasting no time in putting the team’s CBR1000RR on its first race podium and finishing the round one point away from 3rd position in the championship. Shane Trovato Team Principal DVS Honda “We’re really pleased with the weekend our first competitive run. This was only our second outing on Dunlop tyres, our first here at Eastern Creek. The team concentrated on getting a good race setup and got the job done, as our race lap times showed. More time on these tyres and we’ll be further up the front chasing Jamie.” “We really need make a special mention of Garry and Aaron from Dunlop for their awesome support. This weekend they were just like extra team members and were always there when we needed them. I also want to thank James and Dave for putting together a terrific bike the DVS shock is already performing above expectation.” Adam “Krusty” Fergusson (Race 1 7th, race 2 3rd, 4th overall) “I need to work on my starts! Either that or I secretly love making life harder for myself. We had some “excitement” in qualifying – firstly a 240km/hr tank slapper when a steering damper failed and then having the red flag come out when Jamie went down cutting the session short just as we were on a flyer. This left us stuck back in 8th on the grid, but I struggled getting off the line – I must have been back in 20th in race 1 and 10th in race two!” “The bike had good speed and we had a pretty good setup in the end, I think I set the 2nd fastest race lap in race one, but just started from too far back. Race two wasn’t as bad and I was closing in on Shawn when he went down and from there it was a straight forward ride to 3rd.” The team are now looking ahead to the next round, a double header at Winton (March 22/25) a track that Krusty has always performed strongly at. The 2004 dual championship winner added “Winton should be an even better round for us we’ll now have a bit more time to get the bike setup properly for these new Dunlops. They’re a very different tyre to what we’ve previously had and we just need to learn how to use their extra grip.”

Good hope for Nakatomi After a learning season in the Superbike World Championship last year, Shinichi Nakatomi is able in 2007 to give his best as he knows better the circuits and the series. Negotiations are still going on for a second rider to join the team after the first two races. Nakatomi, only rider in the team after Norick Abe went back to Japan and Sebastien Gimbert moved to Supersport, had recently a satisfying test session at the Valencia circuit. It was the opportunity for him and the team to tune the Kayaba suspensions that will be used this year on his new Yamaha YZF R1. The Team YZF Yamaha (formerly known as Team Yamaha Motor France) is managed by Martial Garcia and his company MG Competition. The French squad is also responsible for the development and testing of YEC (Yamaha Engineering Company) customer racing kit parts, available through www.yamaha-racingparts.com. Martial Garcia (team manager): “For the first two races, we have only one rider, Shinichi Nakatomi. But we hope to be able to find the financial possibilities for a second rider to join our team. There are important negotiations going on right now with two important sponsors.” Shinichi Nakatomi The Japanese rider is born on October 30, 1978 in Fukuoka. Champion of Kyushu in the 250cc class in 1996, he wins two years later the 250 Western Japanese title. In 2000, he is All Japan Champion in the 250 category, then finishes third of the Superbike All Japan Championship four years later. For his first World Championship season last year, he ended up 17th in the final standings, earning points 11 times and with an 8th position for best result. The track The circuit features 16 bends (10 right, 6 left) and is 5380 m long, 12 m wide. The main straight is 1068 m long. This will be the third time the WSBK championship comes to this circuit, which was opened in July 2004. It was built in about two years at a cost of around $58 million. December 2006 tests: 1-Bayliss (Ducati) 1:58.1, 2-Corser (Yamaha) 1:58.9, 3-Biaggi (Suzuki) 1:58.9, 4-Toseland (Honda) 1:59.1, 5-Laconi (Kawasaki) 1:59.2, 6-Lanzi (Ducati) 1:59.3, 7-Nieto (Kawasaki) 1:59.5, 8-Haga (Yamaha) 1:59.7, 9-Kagayama (Suzuki) 2:00.1, 10-Rolfo (Honda) 2:01.7 February 11 and 12, 2007, tests: 1-Corser (Yamaha) 1:59.1, 2-Biaggi (Suzuki) 1:59.3, 3-Haga (Yamaha) 1:59.9, 4-Kagayama (Suzuki) 2:00.3 2006 final World Championship standings: 1- Bayliss (Ducati) 431 points, 2- Toseland (Honda) 336, 3- Haga (Yamaha) 326, 4- Corser (Suzuki) 254, 5- Pitt (Yamaha) 250…13- Abe (Yamaha) 112, 17- Nakatomi (Yamaha) 48, 19- Gimbert (Yamaha) 23 Losail stats Track record (December 2006): 1:58.1 Troy Bayliss (Ducati) Lap record (best race time 2006): 2:00.061 Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) 161.318 kph 2006 Yamaha Motor France practice times: Nakatomi: 2:03.741 / 24th; Abe: 2:03.026 / 19th; Gimbert: 2:02.710 / 18th Race 1 results 2006: 1- Toseland (Honda), 2- Bayliss (Ducati), 3- Pitt (Yamaha), 4-Corser (Suzuki), 5-Fabrizio (Honda) 2006 Yamaha Motor France race 1 results: Nakatomi: 16th; Abe: 11th; Gimbert: 14th Race 2 results 2006: 1-Corser (Suzuki), 2-Bayliss (Ducati), 3-Haga (Yamaha), 4-Toseland (Honda), 5-Pitt (Yamaha) 2006 Yamaha Motor France race 2 results: Nakatomi: 17th; Abe: 11th; Gimbert: 15th 2nd round of the Superbike World Championship: March 4th at Phillip Island (Australia)

FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Fortunately or unfortunately Fastrack Riders has provided the AMA Privateer Promoter Practice at California Speedway since 2003. The first year Fastrack went it alone and lost well over $10,000 that day doing it. Larry Pointer, my partner, and I decided to “not do that again” as we were trying to help the privateer rider that got limited practice time get up to speed and get their bikes dialed in before the National event. Any racer knows it can take all day to sort out a new track both for the rider and bike which is what the Privateer Practice was set up to do. It was about rider safety and giving the privateer a chance to be somewhat competitive since most factory teams got two to three days of testing on a track that a privateer would only have a few sessions to get up to speed. The next year California Speedway offered the date to Fastrack Riders again and we declined and informed John Ulrich of our decision. He made some calls and we got help from California Speedway and Mr. Ulrich wrote Fastrack Riders a large check to help offset the cost of doing the Privateer Promoter Practice at California Speedway. No one from Team Hammer–including Mr. Ulrich–benefited from Fastrack Riders staging this event. Even with all of his help and the track’s Fastrack Riders lost money. Again, it was not done to make money because that was not the intent as the ultimate goal was to give privateers a chance to get in a full days practice the day before the national event. Now I read this article written by Mr. Abrams and I am left scratching my head and getting a little angry. I am a racer so I understand how unfair and unsafe it can be if a rider new to a track, no matter how great their riding skills might be, is attempting to learn something new to them with limited practice time that the AMA allows during the event. I give credit to John Ulrich for making it possible that at several tracks around the country the privateer racer if they chose can have an entire day to dial their bike in and learn the track. I do not know how Mr. Abrams was able to conclude Mr. Ulrich profited from this because Mr. Abrams did not contact me to determine how much profit was made doing an Promoter Practice nor to ask how much Mr. Ulrich benefited from it. If he had, he would know as already stated there is no profit being made doing these events and Mr. Ulrich was in fact making a financial contribution so the event could take place. Why is it most club racers go to a track day before a club race weekend? To be competitive! I don’t want to comment on my thoughts about the AMA and how they do things as anyone who is a racer each has their own opinion but most would go along the same party lines. However I do want to strongly suggest that Mr. Abrams’ comment stating that Mr. Ulrich is “conflicted” is incorrect. A basic rule of journalism as I was taught was to get your facts correct before writing an article. Obviously this is not the case here. I do not agree with Mr. Ulrich on everything but I certainly respect everything he does for the sport. Last count, the RoadRacing World Action Fund was at $523,644 providing soft barriers for all disciplines of racing around the country. Anyone ever think how much time and man power it takes to manage that program? John does it because he has a passion for our sport and the safety of the sport. Maybe he is “conflicted” because he attempts to do good things for the sport and then reckless articles such as Mr. Abrams’ stab him in the back for reasons unknown to me because they did not take the time to make a call or two to verify if they had made the right assumptions. We all know what happens when you assume something! David Pyles Fastrack Riders Alta Loma, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: As a new road racer, I treasure the Thursday practice for so many reasons. It is the real only chance us privateers have to pick up what the factory boys are putting down. We do not get special days just for us etc etc…And we are lucky to have one person help us race our streetbikes. I work 5-7 days a week depending on work load at my business so doing track days for me alone is tough. Getting to be able to warm up to a track at all or worse a track I have yet to go to is totally needed. Last year I rode the Laguna USGP weekend in the AMA FX class and only got 20 minutes warm-up and a 20 minute qualifying session. Mind you I NEVER rode Laguna. I got close really close to racing the final, but I know a Thursday promotor’s practice would have made all the difference in the world. And as far as Team Hammer making money running a track day the day before… Who cares if you’re the one making it happen and that is what it is all about. I am pumped again to just be riding that weekend and the promotor’s practice is totally needed. Keep doing what you’re doing, I love your site!! Craig Mason AMA RR, SM #181 WSMC #781 AMBA #8 Fast50s.com Auburn, California

The FIM Superbike World Championship is up for sale in an auction being conducted by Merrill Lynch, with an expected price tag of about $97.5 million, according to a report appearing today on England’s Times Online (~http://business.timesonline.co.uk~). The 2007 FIM Superbike World Championship is owned by FGSport Group, which is owned by Italian brothers Maurizio and Paolo Flammini. The series kicks off its 20th season this weekend at Losail International Circuit, in Qatar. The sale of the Superbike World Championship comes less than one year after the FIM MotoGP World Championship was sold. Read more here: ~http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/leisure/article1403539.ece~ And here: ~http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/leisure/article1403543.ece~

Roadrace Southwest, a CCS affiliate, went into the weekend on the tight and technical west track at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Arizona and Mark Ledesma once again proved he was King of Firebird. The turnout was excellent with large grids and a guest round for the joint RRSW/SMRI Vintage racing series. A newly added Supermotard class drew more of the dirt-orientated crowd who ultimately spent much time dicing it up with the SVs of the Lightweight classes. The premier race of the afternoon was the Roadrace Southwest Expert Unlimited GP with a purse of $2000 and a large turnout that has promoter Jack Frost considering some changes. “If we keep getting larger grids for this race, we may be upgrading the purse to $3000 or more. The reason is to hopefully drag some faster guys from nearby regions and make our region more competitive.” The competition was already hot this weekend though with some true local heavy hitters on the grid. RRSW #1 plate holder Ivan Garza was looking good all afternoon on his Evan Steel-built Suzuki GSX-R1000. He had some real good battles all day with former ASMA Champion Mike Shreve and his YZF-R6 and Rory Palmer’s Euro Motorsports Triumph 675. The highly anticipated race, which had been talked about for weeks on a local forum, came under an overcast sky with virtually no wind. The first lap had Garza in the lead with Ledesma following very closely and doing scary looking power slides coming out of the keyhole. Shreve was in third battling hard with the disadvantage of being on the only 600 in the top five. A three-rider battle for fifth between Dale Keiffer, Davie Stone and Palmer was overshadowed by the dramatics at the front. Garza set a new lap record of 57.580 earlier in the day but was more concerned with Ledesma on his tail who was studying the lines of the 2006 Champion Garza. It came down to a mistake in turn one by the Champ which let Ledesma and his North Valley Honda Superbike skim into the lead–Garza simply got into one too hot and ran wide. That mistake also allowed Shreve to get by. Shreve who has really picked up his game attributed his newfound tenacity to two things- training with Doug Chandler for hours and his switch to Dunlops that seem to suit his loose style better. He was showering the track with sparks as he ground titanium bits from his machine while chasing Ledesma. Since Firebird West is a tight course with short straight, Ledesma had to get the best drives he could to keep at bay young Shreve, who had the highest mid-corner speed. Ledesma later admitted that if Shreve had passed him he probably would not have gotten around him again. Ledesma used lapped traffic to his advantage at the end to put Shreve down a second and take the win with Garza in third. On the podium, Shreve commented on trying to pass Ledesma. “I would build up corner speed and look for a way around and all I could see is the entire side of Mark’s bike as he powered out of the turns!” The lap record set by Garza was not topped during the premier race, but Shreve did come within 0.2-second of it on his Middleweight machine! Full results and lap times, as well as the 2007 schedule, is available at www.roadracesw.com so get yourself entered today for next month’s speed fest at Firebird East!

Over 550 entries filled the grids at the opening round of the 2007 Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association’s Championship Series held at Oak Hill Raceway near Henderson, Texas, over the weekend. And while no single rider totally dominated the action, Michael Sanchez and Dane Westby came close to doing so, each taking four expert sprint-class wins on the tight and rolling circuit. Sanchez, who spent the 2006 season contesting the AMA Superbike Series on a Corona Suzuki, returned to CMRA racing after a year’s absence to claim wins in the Northwest Honda Formula 1 Expert class, the RaceworX A Superstock Expert class, the Island Racing C Superbike Expert class and the B Superbike Expert class. In the meantime, Westby picked up wins in the Formula 2, Lightweight Twins, D Superbike and the Sonic Springs D Superstock Expert races. Westby and Sanchez may have had the most wins on the weekend; however GSX-R1000-mounted Randall Kienast had the distinction of posting the fastest time of the day, a 1:22.159 set en route to a second-place finish in the Formula 1 race. Other riders taking Expert wins included Ty Howard (Liberty Motorsports Park B Superstock, South Central Race Center C Superstock), Kienast (AVTEQ A Superbike), Kent Moffitt (Unlimited Motard), Ronnie Hay (Heavyweight Twins), Hayden Gillim (GMAN Productions 125 GP), Marv Esterly (Formula 40 Heavyweight), and Eric Falt (Formula 40 Lightweight). Top Novice-class performances were turned in by Dustin Doucet with four wins and Billy Lee with three. Stephen Guynes, Richard Desmond, Conner Blevins and Roger Albert each claimed wins in mini sprint races on Saturday morning. In Saturday’s Shogun Motorsports Formula Mini Endurance round, Hambone endured the four-hour event to top GMAN Racing 2 by a two-lap margin to take the first win of the season. Desert-Mice Too was third overall, with No Homeless and Highlands Kawasaki rounding out the top five. The Formula 5 division was won by Van Way Racing II with an eighth overall finish, while STD Racing won the Formula 6 class in 16th. The Formula 7 division was won by OnRoad OffRoad Racing with a 19th overall finish. The CMRA will return to action at No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, Louisiana, on March 16-18, with a full slate of sprint race and the opening round of the Shogun Motorsports Big Bike Endurance Series.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I agree with your article. Well said! Dennis Hurst Deken Power Racing Santa Ana, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I was beginning to think you had lost your fire! THANKS for the editorial on the Thursday practice and the cost of running a AMA Pro Racing Privateer Team! Bruce Blake Michigan Engineering, Inc. Caledonia, Michigan FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Just a quick note of agreement. From a turnworker’s perspective over the past 12 years, it is very clear on the first practice morning of an AMA event whether or not a promoter/private practice has been available to the non-factory riders the day before. Jim Douglas, AFM Worker Fiddletown, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Your editorial was right on the money! (~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=28184~) The poor privateers in the AMA are treated worse than the proverbial red-headed stepchild! Gone are the days of any sort of “entry level” AMA classes. It’s all about having enough classes so that each manufacturer can pick out one or two classes, get a “#1” plate (in ANY class) and then splatter it across their marketing brochures. I certainly wouldn’t categorize all the factory riders as spoiled primadonas, but I think even those guys can remember the days of coming up through the ranks and the fact that a privateer needs a little more time to try to get up to speed – privateers simply don’t have all the resources of the factory riders (tractor trailer full of spares, crew, dedicated mechanics, etc.) For those factory riders that have resorted to flipping off, kicking and shoving privateers… wow, you really have to wonder if they’re suffering from delusions of grandeur and failing to realize what a-holes they’ve become! Nobody is twisting the arms of factory racers to practice on Thursday but most of the privateers sure appreciate the opportunity to ride, especially since most don’t have the travel budget to test during the off-season… not to mention they’re not even ALLOWED to participate in the “factory only” test sessions (this topic warrants a totally different discussion regarding the AMA’s inability to control off-season testing). At the end of the day, it’s simply laughable to shed a tear over potentially increased expenses for factory teams rolling a couple of million dollars rigs vs. the benefits Thursday practice affords the cash-strapped privateer who is often struggling to pay for the exorbitant AMA license and entry fees (again, a topic that should be explored separately). I used to encourage a lot of my friends and customers to go do at least one AMA race but I have a hard time doing that now, when being a privateer equates to AMA whipping boy. That’s really a shame because I know many riders who learned a lot doing AMA races and even if they came in at the back of the pack, they treasured the experience forever. It’s just hard to tell somebody with a straight face to go spend thousands of dollars racing an AMA event and get treated like a 2nd class citizen. I sure hope good people like my friends Morgan Broadhead and Kevin Crowther will make a positive impact in their new AMA roles – privateers are already getting a raw deal at AMA events, so doing away with Thursday practice would be yet another blow to this group of racers. Keep up the great work! Alex Florea AFM #49 AFMotorsports San Jose, California