Current British Superstock Cup Champion Bob Collins is set to make his TT debut in 2007. The 24 year old Londoner had planned to tackle the Mountain Circuit for the first time this year, but sponsorship commitments with the British Championship series ended those hopes. However he is now totally focused on making his debut next May. Bob is a maverick talent and a crowd favourite in BSB. He shot to prominence in the televised Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup series around the same time as close friend and winner of the 2006 TT Newcomers Award Conor Cummins. After a year in the wilderness, Bob made his mark in the Superstock Cup Championship this year winning five of the 13 rounds and finishing on the podium in the remaining rounds all bar three. He also made his real road race debut at the Cock o’ The North meeting at Scarborough where he took several top six finishes in the Superbike class, beating numerous experienced road racers. Bob will concentrate his 2007 season around the TT, taking in road race events as preparation as well as selected National Superstock rounds. Assisting him in his efforts will be three time TT winner Ian Simpson who will be on hand for the majority of the fortnight. Speaking about the prospect of a TT debut in Centenary year, Bob said: “I am really excited about the TT. It is in my blood as my mum and dad are big fans of the event and used to come across to watch it before I was born. I am not getting the same enjoyment out of the BSB scene anymore and need a new challenge. The TT is the ultimate, and although I am slightly daunted about taking on the Mountain Course for the first time, I am getting lots of help from people like Milky Quayle and Guy Martin as well as Ian Simpson who is coming to the TT next year to give me a hand. All in all I can’t wait!” Rider Liaison Officer and former TT winner Richard Quayle added: “Bob is just the sort of rider we are looking for to come to the TT. He is fast and safe, with bags of natural talent and somebody who knows how to enjoy himself which is what it is all about. I have no doubt that he can develop into an excellent TT rider and podium challenger of the future. If he listens to the advice from people like Guy (Martin) and Ian (Simpson) he shouldn’t go too far wrong and I’m looking forward to seeing him in action in May next year.” Minister for Tourism and Leisure and Chairman of the TT Steering Committee David Cretney commented: “In recent times there has been a decline in the number of talented young English riders from the British Championship looking to the TT and Manx Grand Prix as another option. I am delighted that, that trend has ended and Bob Collins is the latest in a long line of up and coming riders from the British Championship paddock to commit to the TT. I am sure he will enjoy the same sort of success as the likes of Les Shand, Paul Shoesmith, James Edmeades and our own Conor Cummins who have all made a successful transition over the past two years and I personally would like to wish him all the best for his TT debut next year”

Championship Cup Series (CCS) and American Sportbike Roadracing Association (ASRA) have announced tentative 2007 racing schedules on the official website for both series, www.ccsracing.com . The ASRA National schedule includes seven rounds. Among the changes for 2007, the event at Heartland Park Topeka has been moved from June to April, and the event at Road America has been moved from April to July. No ASRA round has been scheduled at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Illinois. To see the complete tentative schedules, go to: ~http://www.ccsracing.com/schedules/2007/schedule.html~

OMRRA FURTHER EXPANDS SUPPORT OF JUNIOR ROAD RACING This past Saturday at the Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association (OMRRA) awards banquet, OMMRA club President Mike McDonough confirmed to the gathered crowd that the OMRRA board has approved the creation of an 85GP class for the 2007 season. This new class is intended as a stepping stone for OMRRA’s junior riders moving up from various MiniGP bikes. Final rules are still being worked out but the general picture is drawn and the 85GP class will be run with the 250 Vintage (160) class. “By creating an 85GP class it gives the kids that have come up through our pocketbike program a way to get on the big track before throwing a leg over the 125s.” commented McDonough. “We have some really fast kids here that we expect to make a good showing when they are big enough to run with the USGPRU.” McDonough knows that age isn’t a prerequisite to being a good racer. He was the OMRRA Novice School instructor that graduated then 11-year-old Elena Myers. He then watched from the seat of his RS125 as she won the first race she entered the next day. The 85GP class will also allow adult riders and will not have an age restriction of any kind. Riders that want to participate in the class will be required to go through the same Novice program that larger displacement riders do currently. Junior riders that complete the OMRRA Novice School will hold a restricted license (which initially limits them to running in the 85cc class). Parties interested are encouraged to plan ahead and attend the first of two Novice Schools offered during the 2007 competitive season. More information on OMRRA and its race program can be found at http:// www.omrra.com

Three-time AMA Champion Aaron Yates and rising star Jake Holden will race in the 2007 AMA Superbike and Superstock Championships for Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki, according to a knowledgeable source. Yates, who has won nine AMA Superbike races during his career, will ride a true Superbike in the premier class, while Holden will continue to ride a Superstock-spec GSX-R1000 in the Superbike class. Both men will use Dunlop tires in both classes. Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki is expected to debut its 2007 line-up at the Dunlop tire test at Daytona in December.

Kawasaki factory support team Attack Kawasaki is planning to field returning rider Ben Attard and new-to-the-team Steve Rapp in the 2007 AMA Supersport and Formula Xtreme Championships on Pirelli-shod ZX-6Rs, according to a source close to the team. Former Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki rider Rapp successfully tested an ex-Damon Buckmaster, 2006-model Attack Kawasaki ZX-6RR and Pirelli tires during the Willow Springs Motorcycle Club (WSMC) races November 19 at Willow Springs. Attack Kawasaki is scheduled to be at the Pirelli tire test at Daytona International Speedway in early December

Three Time Canadian Superbike Champion Jordan Szoke Re-Signs with Kawasaki Canada for 2007 Kawasaki Canada and Jordan Szoke have agreed to continue their dominating relationship that captured both the Parts Canada Superbike and the Hindle PRO600 Sportbike Championships this year. Jordan will ride the Parts Canada Superbike Championship series next year that is expected to grow to an 8 race series, plus testing in the USA at selected AMA races and directly with the Kawasaki USA teams to further develop the ZX10R Superbike and the new ZX6RR Sportbike. Jordan had no reservations re-signing with Kawasaki Canada’s Jeff Comillo quickly after his 5 out of 7 Superbike and 5 out of 7 Sportbike wins this year. The Championship crew of Kawasaki Canada Racing won the Inside Motorcycles Team of the Year award for the results they helped produce this past season, and will be back to provide Jordan the equipment he requires to gain the Superbike and Sportbike Championships in 2007. Jordan is very enthusiastic about working with Kawasaki again next year, and looks forward to extending his race win count and his fourth Superbike Championship. Currently Jordan is only 4 Superbike wins away from the most Superbike race wins in Canada at 20, within striking distance of current win leader Steve Crevier at 23. With 8 races due in 2007, Jordan is set to establish another win record. Jordan’s very initial Superbike Championship was won on his first full season Superbike ride as a Kawasaki privateer support rider in 1998. In the same year the Kawasaki Canada Racing team had Don Munroe win the Sportbike Championship on a ZX6R, and Mike Taylor win Open Sportbike (1000cc) on a ZX9R, again Kawasaki winning everything.

Tommy Hayden, 28, the newest Yoshimura Suzuki rider, is hoping he will be fit to ride at Dunlop’s tire test at Daytona International Speedway in early December after suffering a serious concussion and an ankle injury in a crash during testing last week at Sepang in Malaysia. After a one-day shakedown test November 1 at Willow Springs in California, Hayden, six-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin and a portion of the Yoshimura Suzuki team traveled to Malaysia to share the Sepang circuit with several of the MotoGP World Championship teams. All but two hours of the first day of the test (November 15) was washed out by rain, but Tommy Hayden had set the positions of his seat, hand and foot control positions on his new GSX-R1000 Superbike and was looking forward to starting his testing program on the second day (November 16). “We were testing rear shocks,” Hayden told Roadracingworld.com in a November 20 telephone interview from his home in Owensboro, Kentucky. “I’m not too sure what happened, really. It was a little bit slick-feeling. I was working on getting more traction. I was sliding around a little bit but nothing scary at all. “Then just out of nowhere, I highsided in third gear, pretty much wide open. It was big. I remember highsiding and that I wasn’t gonna save it. And I barely remember that.” Hayden was taken to the nearest hospital, where he started to wake up in a daze, strapped to a hospital gurney, not knowing where he was at and not knowing why the people around him were not speaking English. “It was a little bit of an ugly situation,” admitted the two-time AMA Supersport Champion. Hayden was originally scheduled to do a short test on his GSX-R600 Supersport bike this week, before heading to the Dunlop test in Florida. But the Supersport test has been cancelled, and Hayden’s participation in the Dunlop test is questionable due to post-concussion symptoms and an ankle injury. “I’ve only ever had one other time when I’ve hit my head like this, so I don’t really have a lot of experience with it,” said Hayden, who also has a swollen and bruised ankle but no fractures. “If I move around I start to feel bad, get dizzy. Today I’ve been really tired, but before that I haven’t felt the tiredness. I’ve slept pretty much since I got back. [laughs] Honestly, I don’t know what’s jetlag and what’s concussion. That was a long trip. It took me 30 hours to get home from Malaysia.”