FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I remember when the first MV Agusta F4 came out. A buddy of mine and I went to the Art of the Motorcycle Exhibit in Chicago. I spent the first hour drooling over the Oro that they had on display at the beginning of the show. I had never seen such a melding of technology and art – and I wanted one. Badly. Alas, even though I was single with not a lot of financial responsibility, I could not pony up the money for the top of the line MV. I could, however, swing what they wanted for the more pedestrian, non Oro version. Now all I had to do was find one. A call to Ferracci yielded the information I was looking for; all the bikes they had coming in were spoken for. Then, in a conversation I happened to be having with Andrew Wright concerning some Dymag wheels, he mentioned he was going to be importing some grey market MV’s and converting them for the US market. I thought my prayers had been answered! All he needed was a $500 deposit to hold one for me. I think my credit card actually left skid marks as it cleared my wallet. And to top it all off he was expecting them in “any day now.” Andrew even told me he would put me up at his home when I drove to GA from PA to pick up the bike. He wanted to make sure I had a place to stay for a day while they helped me get the bike set up. Wow, this guy seemed to be the real deal. 7 months and a lot of phone calls later, the bikes were still due in “any day now.” Having had enough of the wait I asked for my deposit back. No dice. The deposit was non refundable for a bike that probably was never going to show up. Thank you and have a nice day. A year later I happened upon Mr. Wright at the motorcycle show in Philadelphia. I made a point of squeezing his hand extra hard when I introduced myself to him. The look of discomfort on his face was very apparent. I actually think at one point he was looking around the booth for something to use to defend himself. I, of course, just reminded him of our little transaction and the fact that all things come around in due time. This is your time Mr. Wright. It’s not often in life you actually get to see the people who wronged you get what they have coming to them. I feel fortunate to have a front row seat for this one. Wherever you are Andrew, when they find you, I hope they forget to confiscate your shoe laces when they throw you in lock up. Cheers Mate! Dutch MacKenzie Lancaster, Pennsylvania FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I knew of the wonderful Mr. Wright from the sour deals that he did when selling Dymags, then got to see him again when they brought the Benelli in back in ’04 I believe and Tom Hicks was going to be a dealer for them. Well, they had this open house at Tom’s shop in Brea (California) and as it usually turns out for Tom it was a dark ‘n’ dreary day with rain abound and here we show up only to find the ever enchanting and elusive Mr. Wright purveying the Benellis. The super-duper $30k model was under spotlights in the showroom yet the model that was the more cheap ‘n’ cheerful version that I learned was also the bike that was to be shown to CARB, the Califoria Air Resources Board, on Monday so that they could bring it into California if it passed. Well, they’re letting every dick ‘n’ his brother ride the bloody thing in the on-and-off pissing rain, and after someone came into the parking lot and nearly lost the front end and wadded up the bike, I commented to the font of knowledge Mr. Wright that surely it wasn’t a good idea to let demos be done seeing this was the only running example in the USA and that fact it was raining plus the fact it was going to CARB on Monday! They stopped riding the bike but were anxiously trying to lean it out big-time thinking it would pass but alas it didn’t and the rest is history! And the ever-elusive Mr. Wright or Mr. Wrong however you want to look at it crawled back under the rock from whence he came! It’s a pretty small world to be sh-tting in your own bed as the fact you’re incontinent spreds like wildfire! Grant Hellinger Costa Mesa, California

West Coast GP Cycles Celebrates End of Successful WSMC Season After a successful November round with the Willow Springs Motorcycle Club, Los Angeles-based West Coast GP Cycles will wrap up its season this weekend looking for another WSMC class title and to have a good time. Last month, West Coast GP Cycles-tuned bikes dominated the Lightweight Twin classes at the November round, racking up three wins, a class record and helping Brant WiWi clinch the club championship for 2006. With a Superbike-spec motor developed in-house with the help of Spears Enterprises, West Coast GP Cycles put Wiwi on a Dunlop 209 Sportmax DOT race tire-shod Suzuki SV650. Wiwi took the grid alongside regular West Coast GP Cycles rider Chris Rodgers and Andy Palmer, Tim Martinez and Kurt Whittington all on West Coast-tuned SV650s. In 550 Superbike, WiWi and Rodgers both cracked the existing lap record, with WiWi taking the win, Rodgers second, Whittington the 2006 class champion third and Palmer fifth. In Formula Twins Lightweight, WiWi took another win, with Rodgers second, Martinez third and Whittington fifth. WiWi’s wins, along with his other finishes including a fifth on a new West Coast GP Cycles-prepped Yamaha YZF-R6 in the Sport Tire Services-sponsored 600 Superstock race – gave him an insurmountable lead in the battle for the 2006 WSMC overall championship. In Battle of the Twins Lightweight, Michael Gougis, riding a Twin Works Factory-built, West Coast GP Cycles-tuned Suzuki SV500, scored a photo-finish-close win and pulled to within three points of the class championship lead. West Coast GP Cycles is located at 11900 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles, 90064, and offers performance tuning and accessories for street and race motorcycles. For more information, contact the shop at 310.477.0997.

AMA PRO RACING AND DUKE VIDEO ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF 2006 AMA SUPERBIKE AND AMA MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP HIGHLIGHT DVDS PICKERINGTON, Ohio (Dec. 15, 2006) The 2006 AMA Superbike and AMA Toyota Motocross Championship Highlight DVDs are now available. In a new partnership the season highlight DVDs are being distributed by Duke Video Ltd. Duke Video will be the exclusive worldwide distribution partner for this year’s AMA Superbike and Motocross DVDs. Both the Superbike and Motocross DVDs were produced by Chet Burks Productions of Marietta, Ga. “We are excited about distributing these two great examples of AMA racing,” said Dick Lague, CEO of Duke Video USA. “Duke Video is undertaking an aggressive marketing program to promote these DVDs as we distribute them in North America, and around the globe. We all know there is strong international interest in AMA professional racing.” The name Duke is synonymous with motorsports. Geoff Duke OBE dominated motorcycle racing in the 1950s, winning six world championships and five TT races. Now, his son Peter dominates the powered sport entertainment market with the Duke business. With over 2000 titles published on DVD or VHS, over 280,000 customers and main distributors in over 20 countries, Duke offers enthusiasts a one-stop shop for all their viewing needs. In addition to recapping all the on-track action, the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship presented by FMF DVD bonus features include a tribute to Ricky Carmichael and his storied career, as well as a look inside the 2006 Championship winning United States Motocross of Nations team. Highlights from the highly contested Motocross Lites class are included. The 2006 AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited DVD, which is told from the riders’ perspective, includes “A Day in the Life of”¦.” with “The Champ, the Veteran and the Privateer” (Ben Spies, Miguel Duhamel, and Matt Lynn respectively) as well as outtakes, exclusive interviews, and on-board laps of every championship track with commentary from World Champion Kevin Schwantz. “We’re excited about our new partnership with Duke Video as they’ve proven themselves to be the benchmark for worldwide distribution of motorsports related video,” said Gus Niewenhous, Asst. Manager of Commercial Development for AMA Pro Racing. “The videos themselves have taken a leap forward in production quality and overall content. We’ve worked together with Chet Burks Productions to compile a quality product for our fans that goes far beyond the standard highlights recap. Our focus this year was to offer added bonus content and features that were not seen on TV.” Go to www.amasuperbike.com or www.amamotocross.com to check out a sneak peak and order your copy today. About AMA Pro Racing AMA Pro Racing is the leading sanctioning body for motorcycle sport in the United States. Its properties include the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series, the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship presented by FMF, the AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited, the AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship and the AMA Supermoto Championship. For more information about AMA Pro Racing, visit www.amaproracing.com.

SCminiGP has scheduled a total of 10 youth introductory courses for the 2007 year. In 2006 the organization hosted just five dates which introduced the sport of miniGP to over 20 youths under the age of 10 years old. This year they are hoping to open the doors to more than 90 youth riders. The intro course program put together by SCminiGP is designed to help get new youth riders into the sport of youth road racing (minigp). The course is a 2 hour training session where instructors teach youth how to ride a pocketbike covering the controls of the bike, and slowly through drills, helping children learn to ride. The program only allows three kids to a class with two instructors to guide them through the process and only runs three times a day. If you’re wondering how you can get your child into miniGP you’ll be glad to know SCminiGP even provides the bikes complements of Omicron Motors/Blata USA. This season SCminiGP will use the new Blata 2.6 pocketbike. Blata USA also sponsor’s the Blata CUP race class which they feel will help introduce more youth into road racing. SCminiGP knows this is a good way for interested prospects to test drive the program. This course allows family’s a chance to see how SCminiGP works with the youth environment and how dedicated they are to helping youth succeed. SCminiGP also plans to offer a camp for Novice riders this summer as an extension of their introductory program. So if you’re concerned about your child’s success they have the resources to help them succeed. SCminiGP Youth Training Course Dates & Locations: January 13th, 2007 California Speedway CalSpeed Kart Track – Fontana, Ca March 10th, 2007 California Speedway CalSpeed Kart Track – Fontana, Ca April 7th, 2007 Grange Motor Circuit – Apple Valley, Ca May 12th, 2007 California Speedway CalSpeed Kart Track – Fontana, Ca June 2nd, 2007 Buttonwillow Raceway Kart Track – Buttonwillow, Ca July 7th, 2007 California Speedway CalSpeed Kart Track – Fontana, Ca August 11th, 2007 Grange Motor Circuit – Apple Valley, Ca September 8th, 2007 California Speedway CalSpeed Kart Track – Fontana, Ca October 20th, 2007 Buttonwillow Raceway Kart Track – Buttonwillow, Ca November 10th, 2007 California Speedway CalSpeed Kart Track – Fontana, Ca

Roadracing World’s John Ulrich recently met with newly elected FIM President Vito Ippolito at Ippolito’s office in Caracas, Venezuela. Prior to his election as the leader of the FIM, which sanctions World Championship motorcycle racing, Ippolito served as the President of the FMV, the Venezuelan equivalent of the AMA. Part of their discussion follows: Roadracing World: There is interest in having unified rules for Superbike racing around the world. But World Superbike allows a much higher technical specification than, for example, AMA Superbike. The problem that the AMA and other National Federations face is that the bikes are too fast for many of the racetracks, so they want to slow the bikes down. There is now some discussion about moving the specifications closer to Superstock instead of continuing to use existing National Superbike rules. What do you see as the future structure of Superbike racing in the world? Vito Ippolito: I think the question is very interesting because one of the problems is to harmonize the rules. But there are of course various people involved, the federations, promoters, the factories, teams, and so on. And the job of the FIM in the immediate future will be to arrange meetings with all the persons involved in this matter. In principal, the main goal of the FIM is to maintain a structure so that this kind of bike is very close to production, series production. This is the main goal. And we hope to convince everybody that we are in the same ship and that we have to go in the same direction together.

Convicted motorcycle smuggler Andrew Wright’s flight from justice made the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s online edition (www.ajc.com) today. The article includes a quote from one of the statements Wright issued to media outlets before allegedly fleeing the country, stating he wouldn’t be taken alive

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/Nati…

More, from the Gainesville Times website:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GA_FUGITIVE…

More, from the Valdosta Daily Times website:

http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apsto…

http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/siteSearch/apsto…

More, from MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16210359/#storyContinu…

Road America To Remove Bridge and Add Tunnel Elkhart Lake, Wis., December 14, 2006Elkhart Lake’s Road America, Inc. has begun a significant construction project which includes the addition of a new tunnel to the paddock and the removal of the Bill Mitchell bridge. The project, which will be completed by May 2007, is part of the track’s long-range facility improvement plan. The new tunnel is located approximately 100 yards south of the farmhouse office, and provides access to the paddock between turns 13 and 14. Designed to accommodate two lanes of vehicle traffic and two pedestrian walkways, the tunnel has a 16.5′ clearance and is 36 feet wide and 168 feet long. McMahon and Associates of Neenah, Wisconsin, designed the tunnel and is serving as general contractor. The tunnel’s unique pre-cast concrete roofing structure enabled the tunnel to be located in this desirable location near the farmhouse office and Gate 1. When completed, the tunnel will be the main entrance point into the paddock and will be a dramatic landmark at the historic track. A grand opening celebration will occur during the AMA Suzuki Superbike Championship weekend, May 31-June 3, 2007, in conjunction with an official sponsor entitlement. The goal of the project is to enhance the racing experience for spectators and competitors. In addition to better paddock access, removal of the Bill Mitchell Bridge will create a new viewing area for spectators and provide better track logistics for racecars and motorcycles. Road America is a 628-acre, year-round motorsports facility entering its 52nd season of racing. Its 2007 schedule includes eight major racing events and series such as AMA Pro Racing, American Le Mans, and Champ Car. In addition to major world-class racing events, Road America offers the Suzuki Supermoto School, corporate ATV and karting programs, and top-of-the-line hospitality. For more information visit www.roadamerica.com or call 800/365-7223.