GEOFF MAY AND M4 EMGO SUZUKI RED HOT AT DAYTONA Team M4 EMGO Suzuki’s Geoff May and Michael Barnes made a big splash at the CCS/ASRA event at Daytona last weekend in preparation for this weekend’s AMA races. May won six of eight events he entered, and almost took home one more winner’s trophy. “Last weekend was really just a test session for us,” said Crew Chief Keith Perry. “Geoff and ‘Barney’ were riding really well with the wins and some other good finishes. We had the new bikes to test and some new generation Pirellis to try and we were able to do that.” On Sunday, May won two of the four ASRA races. Geoff and Mike Barnes finished one-two in the first race of the day (SuperBike) and May later won the Speedscreen Unlimited GP race by over 20 seconds. But the final race of the day proved to be frustrating for the team. Although Geoff finished first on the track, he was docked three positions after his dyno test was a mere 0.3 horsepower too much. “That was really aggravating for us,” said Perry about the unintentional breach of the 105 horsepower rule. “We tried to make sure we were well under the limit. Our qualifying horsepower was 102. We went over there the morning of the race just to test it with our race tire, and we were at 102 again. I’m at a total loss as of how we can make three more horsepower after the race. There’s nothing we can do about it now, unfortunately” said Perry. The AMA opener will be a big weekend for May, who will compete in his usual Supersport and Superstock races, plus the Superbike event. Barnes will race Superstock and the famed Daytona 200. “The Daytona 200 is a very long race. We’re here without some engine development parts that we will eventually have for the new Suzuki GSX-R600. Not having those parts might slow us down in qualifying but we think we’ll be okay for the race,” said Perry.

The CMA has withdrawn the sanction for the Cape Breton TT, a public-roads race scheduled for September 20-24 in Nova Scotia, Canada. The CMA is the FIM affiliate for Canada. The full story can be seen on the official CMA website, by using the link below: ~http://www.canmocycle.ca/content_frameset.cfm?pagechooser=cma_news~

FOUR FORMER WINNERS TO BATTLE IN DAYTONA’S REPSOL LUBRICANTS SUPERSTOCK SERIES OPENER Defending champ Yates expects to be ready to go in spite of pre-season crash PICKERINGTON, Ohio (March 7, 2006) — The 2006 Repsol Lubricants Superstock Series opener at Daytona International Speedway will feature a clash of four former winners. Aaron Gobert, Jason Pridmore, Josh Hayes and Aaron Yates are all past winners of the Daytona Superstock race and are all slated to line up for the final on Thursday, March 9, in one of the strongest field of riders featured during Daytona’s Motorcycle Speed Week. Defending Repsol Lubricants Superstock Series champ Aaron Yates suffered a broken shoulder only a month ago while testing at California Speedway making him questionable for Daytona, but Yates thinks now that he’ll be ready to race. “I just got on a dirt bike yesterday and did a little riding,” Yates said on March 3rd. “I’ve been riding a street bike to keep the feel of things and building up my strength. I think I’ll give it a good test this weekend and then have a rest on Monday and Tuesday and hopefully be ready to go when we take to the track on Wednesday.” In spite of his injuries Yates says he won’t just be riding for points at Daytona. “I’m making really good progress every day,” he said. “If it keeps getting better at the rate it has been then I think I’ll be in the hunt for the win. My goal is to be in the lead pack on the last lap and have a chance to win it.” Yates last won the Daytona Superstock race in 1996, when the class was still 750cc Supersport bikes. Yates is just one of a multitude of Suzuki riders expected to race. The Jordan Suzuki team will field three riders in the Daytona Superstock race including two-time race winner Jason Pridmore. Pridmore is trying to become the first three-time winner of the race. He will team with Steve Rapp and Jake Holden making up one of the most talent-rich teams in the series. Australian Marty Craggill was the top privateer in AMA Superbike last year. This year the Hotbodies Racing Mladin Motorsports Suzuki rider will now focus on Superstock. “Talking to Suzuki they were keen to giving us more support in Superstock,” said team owner Mat Mladin. “Now at least Marty will have a bike that’s competitive. The rest is up to him.” Team M4 EMGO Suzuki has won this race three times, including last year with Vincent Haskovec. This year Geoff May will try to uphold the honor of the team. Under the same tent comes the Roadracingworld.com Suzuki team with Chris Ulrich and Robertino Pietri. Pietri is the 20-year-old son of former AMA Superbike and Formula One factory rider Roberto Pietri of Venezuela. Millennium/KWS Suzuki will field John Haner and Matt Lynn aboard Suzuki GSX-R1000s in the Superstock class. While Suzuki has numbers on its side, the other factory or factory-support teams make up for lower numbers with top-notch riders. Take Yamaha for example. Graves Yamaha has a potent trio of Jamie Hacking, Eric Bostrom and Jason DiSalvo on R1s. With those three riders there’s a very good chance that Yamaha will have more than one rider on the Daytona Superstock podium. Attack Kawasaki brings Aussies Ben Attard and Damon Buckmaster to Daytona. Attard is considered an up-and-coming rider in the series, while Buckmaster is a proven veteran. Erion Honda dominated Formula Xtreme in the early years when it was a big-bore class. Erion hopes to reestablish that dominance in Superstock with riders Josh Hayes and Aaron Gobert. This is the only team to feature two past winners of the Daytona Superstock race. Gobert won the event in 2004 and went on to win the championship, while Hayes took top honors at Daytona in 1999. Qualifying for the Daytona Superstock race starts Wednesday (March 8) afternoon and the 13-lap final will take the green light on Thursday, March 9 at 3:50 pm EST. It will be televised live on SPEED. Tickets for the Daytona Supersport are available at www.racetickets.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Last night Thomas Gaspard, 35, CMRA racer #418, was killed in a streetbike accident in his hometown of Shreveport, Lousiania. Thomas raced with the CMRA for four years and was one of the people who are the foundation of our sport. Just like my son and I, Thomas was in the category of “Two guys and a pick-up.” From the very beginning of his involvement, Thomas was a real part of the club. To help cover the cost of racing on Sunday, he corner-worked every Saturday. Round after round, years on end, the club and his fellow racers could count on Thomas for work, fun, encouragement, companionship, holding his lines, being a good man. Arrangements pending. Godspeed, my brother. Rest in Peace. Chuck McCoy CMRA #659 Dallas, Texas

NEW ERA IN AMA GRAND NATIONAL RACING BEGINS AT DAYTONA DOUBLEHEADER PICKERINGTON, Ohio (March 6, 2006) — A new era in the storied history of AMA Grand National Championship racing begins this week at Daytona Beach, Florida’s Municipal Stadium when the 2006 AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship launches with a doubleheader national on Wednesday and Thursday nights, March 8 and 9. This year will see one of the most significant changes in the championship structure since the AMA Grand Nationals began in 1954. Starting at Daytona there will be two Grand National Championships for 2006: one for twin-cylinder motorcycles and one for single-cylinder motorcycles. The Twins are set to run on Mile and Half-mile tracks while the Singles will compete on Short Tracks, TTs and select Half-miles. Defending AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr is hoping to be a contender for both championships. The three-time Daytona Short Track winner feels Daytona takes on added importance this year. “There’s definitely going to be a sense of urgency at Daytona this year,” said Carr, who rides for his own team also sponsored by Ford’s Quality Checked Certified Pre-Owned brand. “If you had a bad weekend at Daytona, before you had 16 or 17 more races to make up for it. Now, not only is the race a doubleheader, but you also only have three or four more races in the Singles championship after Daytona. I think it’s a good thing. Not only will the fans get to watch two nationals, but all the riders are going to be giving it everything to do well there.” AMA Pro Racing expects to add additional Singles events to the 2006 calendar. Another change for 2006 deals with the Singles engine displacement. To align the engines with the current state of motocross and supermoto equipment, the new Singles series will feature 450cc machinery. This change along with the establishment of the new singles National Championship has influenced a number of major manufactures to become involved in the series. The manufacturers have sweetened the pie through contingency sponsorships. American Honda Motor Company, KTM Sport Motorcycle USA, American Suzuki Motor Corporation and Yamaha Motor Corp. USA, will award bonus awards to riders competing on their respective brands. Many have posted both event and series contingencies with some offering $5,000 bonus for each National win. Carr sees no problem making the move from 505cc to the new 450cc formula. “The bikes are basically the same except for engine displacement,” he said. “Things are going to get even more competitive in the Singles class with some of the manufacturers stepping up their involvement.” Another bonus for fans at Daytona on Thursday night is AMA Motocross and X-Games star Travis Pastrana will attempt to qualify for his first AMA Grand National race on a Team 199/Red Bull/Cernic’s Suzuki. “I’m doing the GNCC, the Daytona flat track and the Supercross during bike week,” commented Pastrana. “I’m really excited about it.” Carr welcomes a rider with Pastrana’s recognition and appeal to Daytona’s Municipal Stadium. “Travis has so much talent as a rider that he could shock a lot of people,” Carr said. “If he can make the main in a Grand National in his first attempt, that would be a major accomplishment. Daytona’s not the easiest track to do it either, so he has a tough road in front of him.” Qualifying and scoring will also receive a boost for 2006. Starting at Daytona the AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship will have transponder-based scoring at all rounds. Transponder-based scoring systems have been proven in the AMA Superbike Championship for over a decade and in AMA Motocross and Supercross for several years. Computer scoring provides a higher degree of accuracy in timing heats, semis and main events and can make for a more efficient race program. Fans of the AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship will get to re-live the excitement of the races when SPEED shows the races on Saturday, March 11 at 12:30 pm EST, following the AMA Superbike race. Tickets for the Daytona Short Track at Municipal Stadium are available at www.racetickets.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP.

Rizla Suzuki British Superbike team riders Shane Byrne and James Haydon put their new GSX-R1000 K6 race bikes through 200 laps of intense testing at Snetterton in Norfolk this week. With track temperatures barely above freezing, both riders lapped within a tenth-of-a-second of each other. The Rizla Suzuki Team will test again at Mallory Park on March 14th. Shane Byrne: “Since the test finished I’ve been sitting in my car with the heater and heated seats working overtime. It was very cold today on track but that didn’t prevent us from doing a lot of laps and getting to know the bike better. I’m really pleased with the amount of laps I was able to do and the feeling I’m getting for the bike. “I think we went as fast as we could given the conditions. Chances are we will be racing in cool conditions at some stage this season given the British weather and today will stand us in good stead when that happens.” James Haydon: “It’s great to get back out on the Rizla Suzuki and blow the cobwebs out of my system. By the end of the day I felt I had brushed off most of the rust from the winter lay-off and now I’m ready to really ride and race again. “It was bitterly cold on track but that wasn’t going to stop me from completing as many laps as I could and I feel we have made a positive step forward. I’m enjoying my riding and can’t wait for the next test.” Niall Mackenzie – Race Operations Manager: “Despite the chilly conditions, we achieved quite a lot. Both riders completed nearly 100 laps to kick off what will be a fairly intense testing schedule over the next three weeks in the lead up to the first race. “The new evolution of the Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000 is excellent. We have a strong engine, chassis and suspension package. We go to Mallory Park next week with a spring in our step after today there’s nothing like getting out on the bikes to fire the riders up.