All-Star Ride for Life VI to benefit the Duke Children’s Hospital The All-Star Ride for Life is pleased to announce a late addition to their lineup of celebrity riders for this year’s ride. Kurtis Roberts, multi-time AMA Champion, will be serving as honorary Grand Marshall tomorrow at the Sixth Annual All-Star Ride for Life, to benefit the Duke Children’s Hospital. Roberts will be joined by five-time Daytona 200 winner Scott Russell, AMA Champion Jamie James, and Raleigh NC’s own Scott Carpenter, a multi-time WERA national champion. “I’m happy to make the ride this year, since I had to miss it last year due to surgery,” Roberts said. Join all the celebrities and riders in Raleigh NC at Scooter’s Grill and Bar Saturday morning. Registration begins at 9 a.m., with the ride leaving at 11. More details about the ride are available at www.AllStarRide.org

KENNAUGH CONFIDENT FOR GSX-R CUP Team Suzuki Press Office – September 9, 2005. Suzuki GSX-R European Cup Championship leader Hudson Kennaugh is confident of another top performance at this weekend’s fourth round in Germany, despite being one of only a handful of riders to have never raced the circuit. The 24 year old South African has an outside change of clinching the series at this penultimate round depending on how arch rivals Carmelo Morales and David Salom perform on the 4265m circuit at Lausitzring. He said: “I’ve not raced here before, whereas a lot of the Championship riders have, but I’m confident of putting up a good race on Sunday on the GSX-R7505. There are rumours of rain for race day so tyre choice is going to be very important.” Twenty four riders including five Wild-Card entries have signed up for the 12-lap race which takes place at 2.20pm local time on Sunday in between the main two World Superbike races. The first 45-minute practice session takes place on Friday at 5.10pm and qualifying on Saturday at 6.20pm. German entry list: GERMANY: Max Weyman (#2), Dominic Lammert (#3), Oliver Skatch (#4). ITALY: Danilo Dell’Omo (#7), Ernico Pasini (#8), Andrea Brivio (#9). FRANCE: David Fouloi (#14). SPAIN: Carmelo Morales (#16), David Salom (#17), Ismael Ortega (#18). UK: Magnus Houston (#20), Robert Barber (#21), Mike Edwards (#22). AUSTRIA: Rene Mahr (#24). BELGIUM: Xavier Simeon (#26). HOLLAND: Ron Van Steenbergen (#28). FINLAND: Aki Taipale (#30). SOUTH AFRICA: Hudson Kennaugh (#32). AUSTRALIA: Joshua Noel Forster (#34). GERMAN WILD CARD ENTRIES: Nicolas Wimbauer (#5 – Germany), Thomas Metro (#11 – France), Alexandre Lagrive (#12 – France), Frank Heidger (#40 – Germany), Claus Ehrenberger (#41 – Germany). Championship Points (after 3 of 5 Rounds): 1 Kennaugh 65, 2 Morales 58, 3 Salom 54, 4 Fouloi 32, 5 Forster 27, 6 Ortega 25, 7 Simeon 24, 8 Edwards 21, 9 Lammert 20, 10 Skach 16, 11 Mahr 16, 12 Steenbergen 15, 13 Dell’Omo 14, 14 Barber 13, 15 Taipale 10, 16 Pasini 3, 17 Brivio 3, 18 Houston 3, 19 Rodrigues 1.

Born in Sydney, Australia on September 11, 1980, racer Ben Attard turns 25 this Sunday. His teammates at Attack Kawasaki Racing wish him a very happy birthday.

Positive practice for Rizla Suzuki racers JOHN REYNOLDS was fifth and James Haydon seventh fastest on their Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000s after today’s practice for the 11th round of the British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park. The morning’s 50-minute practice was held in wet conditions and the afternoon’s session started damp but ended dry, allowing both Rizla Suzuki racers to gain valuable set-up time on their bikes. JR ended the session eager to make more progress tomorrow. He said: “We started today with the same fork settings as the last round at Cadwell Park and my bike didn’t feel planted through the corners. We made a change to the fork springs and immediately I was much happier and able to run a fast lap time. “We feel we can improve the fork settings a little more and I’m sure we can cut the lap times tomorrow. I just hope the weather makes its mind up and is either full wet or dry.” James found a comfortable setting on his Rizla Suzuki at Cadwell Park two weekends ago and he used that as a starting point in practice. He made changes to the front and rear suspension to suit the flowing nature of the 2.69-mile circuit and was then able to record consistently fast laps that put him in the top four on the time sheets. With 10-minutes to go he tested his spare bike and was relegated to seventh by the chequered flag. Ducati’s Leon Haslam was fastest. “By the end of the Cadwell Park round I was delighted with the feedback from my bike and was able to push to the limits,” explained James. “The Cadwell settings did not translate exactly to Oulton Park so we’ve made a couple of minor changes to the suspension and ended the day with a good fast bike. “There are still improvements to be made on my Rizla Suzuki and if we can find a little more rear end feel tomorrow then it’s going to be a very interesting couple of races on Sunday.” Team Technical Consultant Dave Marton said: “The wet weather cut our testing time in half today by soaking the first session. The afternoon was dry though and we made some very rapid progress on both sides of the garage. “Both JR and James were quick on race tyres today and are in positive frames of mind, keen to get back on track and to keep improving. We are quick enough for the second row today and we will want to improve on that during qualification tomorrow.” Superbike racing starts at 1325hrs on Sunday, September 11th, at Oulton Park in Cheshire. All the action will be covered live on Sky Sports and will be followed by a highlights package on Channel 4 the following weekend. Practice Times: 1: Leon Haslam (Ducati) 1:37.344, 2: Karl Harris (Honda) +0.404, 3: Michael Rutter (Honda) +0.781, 4: Gary Mason (Honda) +0.875, 5: JOHN REYNOLDS (RIZLA SUZUKI) +0.902, 6: Glen Richards (Kawasaki) +1.035, 7: JAMES HAYDON (RIZLA SUZUKI) +1.115, 8: Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +1.152, 9: Dean Thomas (Kawasaki) +1.342, 10: Steve Plater (Honda) +1.356.

New Hampshire International Speedway’s hopes of regaining its AMA National road race by making major road course revisions appear to have been dashed now that AMA Pro Racing has given the Loudon, New Hampshire track’s traditional Fathers’ Day weekend dates to Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City for 2006. NHIS sent a proposal to AMA Pro Racing early this year, offering to make major road course revisions to regain its AMA Superbike National, which was the oldest AMA National road race and which last ran in 2001. Since that time, the track has hosted a Formula USA National and has seen its spectator crowd dwindle. AMA Pro Racing sent a delegation (consisting of Kevin Schwantz, Mat Mladin and AMA Superbike Series Manager Ron Barrick) to NHIS to discuss the possible changes. It’s unknown if the scheduling of the Utah date on Loudon’s traditional weekend was deliberate or unintentional. AMA Pro Racing spokesman Kerry Graeber could not be reached for comment at post time.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I wanted to pass along how I got screwed by a hotel for the ’05 U.S. GP. I contacted and made a reservation 8/20/04 with Roadway Inn, 2041 Fremont St. in Monterey for four nights at the rate of $89 the first night and $99 for the following nights and requested a faxed confirmation. A week later and still no confirmation so I called and they said they would send it but didn’t, this went on for about three weeks and they told me not to worry about it and just make sure I have my confirmation # (46680) and not to worry about it. When I arrived for the weekend I was told it would be $189.99 a day + all the taxes, When I questioned it and told them the situation they acted like I was crazy and proceded to show me on their computer the reservation, when she was flipping through the screens I saw the quoted rate and asked her to back up to it but she said that even though my name was on it that that rate had nothing to do with me. After more questioning the manager was brought out and I was told “Well, it sounds like what we need to do is just cancel your reservation and you can find somewhere else to stay.” I told them they knew that wasn’t possible now and sucked it up and paid them. I took it up with Amex when I got home and just got notice that they are unable to do anything because I signed the sales slip. So for anyone going to Laguna ’06 and beyond avoid this place and the Econlodge across the road as they own both. Or at a minimum have a faxed or email confirmation as well as a sleeping bag with you. For the now $3k it would cost two to go to Laguna again I’ll pass and hit a Euro GP. Rick Fairbairn Simpsonville, South Carolina

MLADIN WINS SIXTH AMA SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP Hayden, Duhamel and Yates score titles in support classes PICKERINGTON, Ohio (Sept. 8, 2005) The AMA Superbike event at Road Atlanta, Sept. 3-4, was a weekend of champions. All four AMA road racing titles came down to the final event and in one case to the final lap. Australian Mat Mladin highlighted the season finale by nailing down his sixth AMA Superbike Championship. Joining Mladin in collecting the prestigious No. 1 plate were Tommy Hayden in Pro Honda Oils Supersport presented by Shoei, Miguel Duhamel in Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme and Aaron Yates in Repsol Lubricants Superstock. AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited It was another record-breaking season for Yoshimura Suzuki veteran Mat Mladin. The 33-year-old Australian not only won his sixth AMA Superbike Championship at Road Atlanta, he also broke Motorcycle Hall of Famer’s Fred Merkel’s long standing single-season win record of 10 wins set in 1984, by winning 11 AMA Superbike races in 2005. Mladin also extended his lead in the all-time AMA Superbike wins list to 43-career victories and pushed his record of AMA Superbike pole positions to 47. “The year was a good year for sure,” said Mladin. “Suzuki delivered us a motorcycle this year that certainly made life quite a bit easier than last year. But in no way was it easy. We had a couple of problems that certainly kept the championship interesting until the last race.” Mladin looked to be cruising to an easy championship win until he was caught up in a crash at the Mid-Ohio round, which closed the points race between him and Yoshimura teammate Ben Spies. In the end it was Mladin winning the title by 22-points over his rookie teammate. Eric Bostrom was third in the championship with Ducati Austin. A total of five riders, Mladin, Spies, Bostrom, Neil Hodgson and Aaron Yates, won AMA Superbike races in 2005. Mladin gave Suzuki its ninth AMA Superbike Championship, matching the nine titles owned by Kawasaki. Honda owns eight, Ducati two and Yamaha and BMW one each. This year was Mladin’s 10th year in AMA Superbike. He shows no sign of slowing down as he approaches his mid-30s. Mladin recently signed for three more seasons with Suzuki and said he would be disappointed if he doesn’t win three more titles. Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship presented by Shoei Tommy Hayden became only the third rider in series history to win back-to-back Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championships. The Kawasaki ace from Owensboro, Ky., won the championship in spite of suffering a broken hand in the middle of the season. Hayden, the oldest of the three racing Hayden brothers, sprinted off to a lead in the series by winning three of the first six rounds. He then suffered the broken wrist in a Repsol Superstock race at Laguna Seca in July. Despite racing with the injured wrist Hayden was able to finish sixth at Laguna Seca to hold on to his series lead. At the close of the year Kawasaki teammate and younger brother Roger Lee put on a serious charge, but in the end Tommy was able to finish strong enough to win the championship over Roger Lee by 19 points. Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo was third. I had the best bike, for sure, by far,” said Tommy. “That made things a lot easier. My hat’s off to those guys, my team. Mike Preston, he really does what it takes to win. He took me to Japan in the middle of last summer. I had a ton of input in that bike. They helped to really kind of build it around me. That meant a lot to me. I think it showed at Daytona at the beginning of the year. I was just really comfortable and really, really quick right out of the gate. It gave me a real good advantage straight out to start the season. And then about halfway it was just about finishing up and staying ahead.” Hayden joins Miguel Duhamel and Doug Polen as the only riders to win the highly-competitive championship in back-to-back years. It marked the fourth AMA Supersport title for Kawasaki. Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Series Honda’s Miguel Duhamel made a dramatic late-season charge to defend his title in the Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Series. The Canadian racing veteran won three of the final four races and came out on top in a head-to-head battle with teammate Jake Zemke in the final race to win the series. Duhamel trailed Zemke by five points going into the finale at Road Atlanta. He needed a perfect weekend of winning the pole, leading the most laps and winning the race to wrest away the series lead and thus the championship from Zemke. At Road Atlanta fans witnessed perhaps the best Formula Xtreme race in the history of the series. The epic race saw 18 lead changes. With the last lap beginning, both riders had led seven laps each. The title was literally up for grabs until Zemke crashed on the last lap. “From the beginning, the first half of the season, Jake was on fire,” said Duhamel, who earned his eighth AMA road racing championship “So we didn’t have a choice. My back was against the wall. This championship was the hardest – this is TV, I couldn’t believe it, I had the countdown on my board, laps led, and man, I was kind of hoping he would get it, just to get that. It was a battle. He’s sliding down the hill here, and sideways in the chicane, and tankslappers, front end flying off, and pumping brakes and almost running into each other, stuff that you just – it was incredible, and it was a beautiful race, and it would’ve been beautiful, for sure, if Jake would’ve just went wide and came back and got second and at least got the podium. It was a valiant effort. Unfortunately, he worked a little too hard there.” Duhamel took four wins on the year and moved into the lead on the all-time Formula Xtreme wins list with 12. Zemke finished second in the championship, and flat tracker, turned road racer Danny Eslick had a break through season taking third in the series. Repsol Lubricants Superstock Series It was a fantastic homecoming for Georgina Aaron Yates. The veteran Yoshimura Suzuki rider came into Road Atlanta with a 21-point lead over Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo and needed only a conservative finish to secure the title. And that’s just what Yates did, cruising to ninth and winning the Repsol Superstock Series after a nine years absence from the class. Yates won five of the 10 races en route to winning his second AMA road racing title. He outscored DiSalvo by nine points. Michael Jordan Suzuki’s Steve Rapp finished third in the series. For Yates it marked a triumphant return to the Superstock class. He won the class in 1996 in his first year as a factory Suzuki rider when the series was called AMA 750 Supersport. While Yates was gone the class became Repsol Superstock and the bikes were bumped up to 1000cc displacement. Yates moved from eighth to fifth on the all-time AMA Superstock wins list this season. He gave Suzuki its 13th title in the 18-year-old series. More, from a press release issued by Joe Rocket: ROCKET RACERS REPEAT ANOTHER SEASON! The 2005 AMA Superbike Championship came to a thrilling conclusion last weekend at Road Atlanta. Fans were treated to some of the best racing of the year as all four class titles were settled on this, the final event of the season. The Rocket Racing Team took 3 of 4 championship titles to show once again that they are the best in the business. For the 6th time in his illustrious career, Australian native and Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 pilot Mat Mladin has proved that he is among the world’s motorcycle racing elite by winning the AMA Superbike Championship. Mat has earned 10 race victories throughout the 2005 Superbike season to finish 22 points ahead of his teammate and first runner up, Ben Spies. Factory Kawasaki ace Tommy Hayden clinched his second consecutive AMA Supersport Championship aboard his Ninja ZX-6RR. Tommy finished the season 19 points ahead of his closest rival and teammate, Roger Lee Hayden. Enduring an injury to his throttle hand (that was potentially catastrophic to his Championship hopes) sustained at Laguna Seca, Tommy rode through the pain, maintaining his super smooth riding style all the way. Another man who is no stranger to the record books is American Honda’s Miguel Duhamel. The French Canadian, two-wheel wizard inks yet another entry by taking the 2005 AMA Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme Championship. In a truly amazing battle royale, Miguel and teammate Jake Zemke danced their Honda CBR600RR motorcycles around the racetrack with calculated abandonment. There were power slides through every corner and dramatic passing on every lap. To earn the Championship, either rider had to not only win the race but also lead the most laps to be awarded a one extra point to make the difference between Champ and runner up. In Canadian race action, Steve Crevier has once again ascended to greatness at Shannonville Raceway this past weekend where he secured the Hindle 600 Sportbike Championship. 2005 marks the second consecutive season that Crevier, a native of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, has dominated the class. Here at Joe Rocket we are sincerely proud of the Rocket Racing Team and their accomplishments throughout the 2005 race season. Like race fans around the world, we can’t wait to do it all over again. More, from another press release issued by AMA Pro Racing: AMA PRO RACING CALL TO ENTRY FOR RACE WIN ADVERTISING AWARDS PICKERINGTON, Ohio (Sept. 8, 2005) — AMA Pro Racing has announced that it will again recognize outstanding efforts in race win advertising at its annual Championship Awards Banquet. The AMA Pro Racing Championship Awards Banquet honors the champions from each form of AMA professional motorcycle racing and will be held this year at Paris Las Vegas on Nov. 19. Introduced in 2004, the Ad Awards were a highlight at last year’s AMA Pro Racing banquet. Fox Racing took the honor for best ad and Dunlop was the recipient of Best Campaign. Kerry Graeber, AMA Pro Racing Vice President, Director of Communications said the selection process was difficult. “A large number of outstanding, very well produced ads and campaigns were submitted last year,” said Graeber. “It was tough selecting a single winner for each category. With the great work being done again this year, we expect the selection process to continue to be a challenge.” The criteria for entry is simple and similar to last year. Individual ads can be entered into the Best Ad category or a group of ads can be submitted and entered into the Best Campaign category. Ads promoting racing from the 2005 AMA racing season are eligible as are ads that promote a 2004 championship victory. Ads from any medium are eligible. Graeber encourages anyone responsible for producing race win advertising to enter including agencies and advertisers. “We want to see great examples of race win advertising,” commented Graeber. “There is some great work being done in the category and we will showcase it at our banquet, in news releases and on our web site.” Finalists will be notified by October 25, and winning entries will be announced at the banquet. Complete information including rules and a downloadable entry form are available at www.amaproracing.com.