Friday Morning 125cc GP Practice Times: 1. Thomas LUTHI, Honda, 1:38.594 2. Mika KALLIO, KTM, 1:38.683 3. Fabrizio LAI, Honda, 1:38.741 4. Gabor TALMACSI, KTM, 1:38.834 5. Mattia PASINI, Aprilia, 1:38.912 6. Mike DI MEGLIO, Honda, 1:38.964 7. Manuel POGGIALI, Gilera, 1:39.207 8. Sergio GADEA, Aprilia, 1:39.335 9. Marco SIMONCELLI, Aprilia, 1:39.352 10. Angel RODRIGUEZ, Honda, 1:39.579

Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden, the defending Champion and current AMA Supersport point leader, is preparing for what he feels may be a tough race weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, considering he will be riding with a less-than-two-week-old broken right hand. Hayden suffered the injury, a fracture of the third metacarpal, when he mis-judged a pass on a slower rider during the AMA Superstock race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca July 10, collided with the slower rider, ran off the track and crashed. Hayden accepted full blame for the incident and exonerated the slower rider of all fault to reporters. Determined not to forfeit his large Supersport Championship lead, Hayden gritted his teeth and raced to sixth place in the Supersport final later that same day, but doing so actually worsened his fracture, causing the broken bones to displace, according to Hayden. On July 11, Hayden had surgery at the hands of Dr. Arthur Ting to stabilize the fracture and immediately began physical therapy. “I’ve been doing physical therapy from right after the surgery to pretty much the moment I got in the car today to drive up here,” Hayden told Roadracingworld.com Thursday. As he spoke, Hayden’s crew was busy making small but significant modifications to the hand grips and brake levers of his factory Kawasaki racebikes to accommodate the lack of strength and dexterity in his right hand. Overall, Hayden feels that racing at Mid-Ohio will be tougher than doing the Supersport race at Laguna Seca. “I was already up to speed and had my rhythm going at Laguna. Plus, I knew I only had to ride the one time with it,” said Hayden. “Here, I’m going to have to ride with it all weekend.”

MAKITA IS TITLE SPONSOR OF THE 2005 AMA SUPERBIKE SHOWDOWN LA MIRADA, CALIF. Makita USA, Inc., manufacturer of professional quality power tools and accessories, is excited to announce its title sponsorship of the 2005 AMA Suzuki Superbike Showdown. This exciting race takes place September 2nd 4th in Braselton, Georgia at one of the premiere road courses in the world, Road Atlanta. This event will mark the official AMA season finale. “We’re excited to sponsor such a thrilling weekend of competitive racing as well as celebrating Suzuki’s 20th Anniversary of their GSX-R motorcycle,” said Brent Withey, Makita’s Marketing Brand Manager. The AMA Suzuki Superbike Showdown Presented by Makita is the biggest motorcycle road racing series in the United States and has an international field of riders to rival anywhere in the world. Four-time AMA Superbike champion, Australian Matt Mladin of the Yoshimura Suzuki team is considered to be a favorite in this race. Makita USA, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of over 320 professional, industrial quality power tools and has over 4,500 industrial accessories. All Makita tools are covered by a one-year limited warranty against defects in materials or workmanship and may be serviced at any of our 26 factory service centers or by more than 1,000 authorized service centers nationwide. Makita USA, Inc.’s home office is located in La Mirada, California and operates an extensive distribution network located throughout the U.S. For more information, please contact us at 1-800-4-MAKITA (1-800-462-5482) or visit the website at makitatools.com.

Make: Ducati Model: Ducati 916 Year: 1997 Color: Red Lic. State: NC Lic. Number: 2D4799 VIN: ZDM1SB8S5VB009132 THEFT DATE: 07/21/2005 LOCATION: Street: 3821 Rhodes Avenue City: Charlotte State: NC ZIP Code: 28210 Neighborhood: BeverlyWoods COMMENTS: Parked next to my front door of my house. John D. Kurc Charlotte, North Carolina Cell: 704-819-8100

Blake Young, 17, of Madison, Wisconsin, was named the 2005 AMA Sports Horizon Award winner for road racing by taking victory in two “Premier” class races and placing second in three others at the AMA Grand Championship Road Races July 18-20 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. But according to AMA Sports Supplemental Regulations for the event, Young was ineligible to even ride in the AMA Grand Championship races, which should have precluded him from Horizon Award consideration. From AMA Sports Supplemental Regulations ( ~http://www.amadirectlink.com/amrace/2005/rr/Newsletter.pdf~ ): SUPPLEMENTAL RULES AND RIDER ELIGIBILITY 5. All classes (except for the Solo classes) are not open to riders who accomplished any of the following: a. Since 2000, finished in the top 10 in any AMA Pro Racing Superbike race. b. Since 2000, finished in the top 5 in any AMA Pro Supersport/Superstock or Formula Xtreme event. c. Since 2002 in the Formula USA series, finished in the top 3 or won a Championship in Formula Sportbike, Sportbike or Superbike classes. On April 25, 2004, Young finished second in three Formula USA races (Sportbike, Superbike and Formula Sportbike) at Road America.

RAIN LASHES FINAL DAY OF DUCATI XEROX TEAM TWO-DAY TEST AT EUROSPEEDWAY Bologna (Italy), Thursday 21 July: The second and final day of the Ducati Xerox Team’s two-day test at the Eurospeedway Lausitz in Germany was cut short this afternoon as heavy rain lashed the circuit most of the day. Régis Laconi and James Toseland managed to put in a full day’s dry-weather testing on the Wednesday, but bad weather conditions meant that none of the riders from the various WSBK teams present for the testing session could improve their times today. Yesterday the Ducati Xerox Team focussed on learning the track and general set-up work in the morning, before testing tyres for the championship’s one-make supplier Pirelli in the afternoon, while today the two riders concentrated on wet-weather tyres and set-up following a half-an-hour dry ‘window’ first thing in the morning. The top times recorded by both riders yesterday were 1m40.4s for Laconi, and 1m40.9s for Toseland on race tyres. “Today it rained really a lot and the track became a bit dangerous because there was not much grip” declared Laconi. “But we worked really well these two days, despite the difficult conditions. Yesterday in particular I put in a lot of laps and we fitted the large 200mm rear tyre I used during the Misano weekend, and the results were very good.” “The first day was a bit disappointing because we didn’t make much headway with the new front tyre and when I did have a decent front, the day was up and I was a bit behind with my time” commented Toseland. “Today I was the quickest before the rain and was looking forward to improving the rest of the day, but it didn’t happen. Then when I did get confident in the rain, I took a bit of a dive while trying to break the two-minute barrier. It was good we did a lot of testing in the rain because it might be like that here in September.” This year World Superbike returns to the impressive speedway facility in the former East Germany for the first time in three years. The 4.265 km Lausitzring has twice been the venue for the German Round of the championship, in 2001 (when the wins went to Colin Edwards (Honda) and Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and the following year, when Ducati’s Australian rider scored the double. This year’s race, round 10 in the 12-round calendar, will be held on September 11. UNOFFICIAL TIMES: 1. Vermeulen (Honda) 1m40.1s; Laconi (Ducati Xerox) 1m40.4s; 3. Lanzi (Ducati SC) 1m40.6s; 4. Toseland (Ducati Xerox) 1m40.9s; 5. Muggeridge (Honda) 1m41.2s; 6. Walker (Kawasaki) 1m41.3s; 7. Martin (Petronas) 1m42.0s; 8. Riba (Kawasaki) 1m42.3s; etc. More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: RAIN CURTAILS WINSTON TEST IN GERMANY Rain on Thursday at Lausitzring in Germany cut-short a scheduled two-day Winston Ten Kate Honda test at the Eurospeedway circuit, limiting the team to just one full day on Wednesday. Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge used race rubber throughout the day, testing different chassis components and suspension settings to improve race performance. Ronald Ten Kate team manager: “Wednesday was good, as we tried a lot of different components and settings to further our development of the Honda CBR1000RR and to try to get more consistency on used race tyres. Everything went well, with Chris posting the fastest unofficial time of 1m40.1s comparing to Troy Bayliss’s 2002 lap record of 1m39.7s. Unfortunately, we only managed to get in a few laps on Thursday morning before it began to drizzle and then rain more heavily. We had a lot of other stuff to test on day two and lots of work to get through but, being unable to try anything useful, we packed up early to prepare for the next round at Brands Hatch.” Chris Vermeulen best time, 1m40.1s (on race tyres): “The first day at Lausitzring was really good and we played with a lot of different things on the bike. At the Magny-Cours test we had a lot of different Pirellis to test but this time round we just went through everything on standard race tyres. We worked on rear shocks, linkages, geometry, front forks the whole chassis really. We learned a lot more about how the bike behaves and performs on the same tyres with different settings, so it was really useful. I only did about 15 laps on Thursday but that was enough to find out that the circuit is incredibly slippery in the wet. They use it a lot for car races and there is lots of rubber on the surface.” “ Karl Muggeridge best time, 1m41.1s (on race tyres): “Everything went pretty good really and we definitely found a better way with the rear set-up, which allowed us to find more grip and durability in race situations. I only used two-and-a-half sets of race tyres on Wednesday, when I did about 100 laps. We just tried to maintain a good pace right the way through a race distance. The direction we found works pretty good and we’ll definitely be able to take it to Brands Hatch. We’ll still have some work to do on the front there because we had to cut the test short. Between now and then I’m going to take a little holiday in Greece give me a Greek salad, a deck-chair and some sun, and I’m happy!”” Eurospeedway, Lausitzring (4.265km) Unofficial times: Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1m40.1s; Regis Laconi (Ducati) 1:40.4; Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) 1:40.5; James Toseland (Ducati) 1:40.9; Chris Walker (Kawasaki) 1m41.2; Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:41.2. 2002 fastest race lap Ruben Xaus (Ducati) 1:39.679 More, from another press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: CHARPENTIER SEEKS EVEN MORE AT LAUSITZRING In spite of his domination of this season’s World Supersport championship, Winston Ten Kate Honda’s Sébastien Charpentier has been looking for even more from his CBR600RR at a test in Germany this week. Direct from his impressive win last weekend at Brno in the Czech Republic, the Frenchman rode at the Eurospeedway circuit, Lausitzring on Wednesday and Thursday. Ronald Ten Kate team manager: “With Katsuaki Fujiwara still recovering from his back injury in Japan, it was down to Sébastien to test a new fuel injection and ignition system on his own this week. Unfortunately, rain forced us to call an early halt to the test on Thursday morning but that didn’t stop him putting in a lot of work and posting an impressive lap time. He is hungry for any improvements we can find on the bike and, as a team, we are always looking to make small adjustments to boost its performance even further.” Sébastien Charpentier best time, 1m42.0s: “It was a very good test for me and the team and I was able to do a very good lap time. My bike felt even faster than at Brno but we also tested some development parts from HRC as we always look for improvements. The new injection and ignition system felt good and I made many practice starts to test it. In the dry on Wednesday everything felt good and I even made a few laps in the wet on Thursday morning, although it was very slippery. The weather was strange cold, windy and wet so I hope it is OK for the race there in September.” Eurospeedway, Lausitzring (4.265km) Unofficial times: Sébastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1m42.0s; Broc Parkes (Yamaha) 1:43.1; Kevin Curtain (Yamaha) 1:43.3 2002 fastest race lap Fabien Foret (Ten Kate Honda) 1:43.6

BOSTROM AND HODGSON READY TO SUSTAIN DUCATI SUPERBIKE MOMENTUM AT MID-OHIO Mansfield, Ohio – After winning three of the last four AMA Superbike races, the Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin team will look to continue their recent streak at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend. Eric Bostrom and Neil Hodgson hope to break a trend at Mid-Ohio’s Superbike doubleheader. No Ducati-mounted rider has won at the 2.4-mile (3.8-kilometer), 15-turn circuit since 1992, but both the factory Ducati 999 riders have proven capable of finishing first, most recently with Bostrom winning at Laguna Seca. Eric Bostrom, a former race winner at Mid-Ohio, has been red hot since Pikes Peak and the Californian has won two of the last four AMA Superbike races. “Mid-Ohio is always a tough track because a lot of the guys go really well there,” said Bostrom, a 14-time AMA Superbike winner. “Our side of the team has fought hard and gotten more competitive over the season and it will be interesting to see how the weekend develops. My confidence is high coming off the Laguna Seca win and we are certainly ready to race the 999 again.” Neil Hodgson has proven his mettle in 2005, dueling with the veteran AMA Superbike aces despite competing at the difficult American tracks for the first time. Coming off a spectacular victory in the wet at Road America, Neil’s Laguna race ended in disappointment after a lap one incident saw his 999 knocked out from under him at the Corkscrew by another rider’s mistake. Neil says he is ready to get back on the track, however. “It was good that we were able to test at Mid-Ohio earlier this year,” said Neil, the 2003 World Superbike champion. “I must say I’ve never seen another track quite like it with the concrete patches and high curbs. Any rider racing there for the first time has to come to terms with that. The actual layout of the track is interesting. I haven’t had the best luck the last few times out and we’re ready to turn that around in these two races.” “We are looking forward to this weekend,” said team owner Terry Gregoricka. “Eric’s gotten up to speed and raced really well the past few events. I know Neil’s ready to get racing again after Laguna Seca. He feels like he had some unfinished business after the way his race was ended early on the first lap. He wants a good result for himself and the team.” The Circuit: The 15-turn Mid-Ohio circuit is a tight track with some elevation changes but also has a respectable straight. The 2.4-mile (3.8-kilometer) track’s surface has been quite bumpy in the past, but the surface was ground down for last year’s race. The track also brought in 1000 feet of air-based safety barriers, smoothed two of the gravel traps, and relocated two walls for this year’s event. Last weekend, Ducati was the featured marque at the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days held here. AMA Superbike Points Standings (After 11 of 17 races) – 1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki 358 2. Ben Spies, Suzuki 327 3. Aaron Yates, Suzuki 294 4.ERIC BOSTROM, PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999 268 5. NEIL HODGSON, PARTS UNLIMITED DUCATI AUSTIN 999 249 6. Miguel Duhamel, Honda 229

With the AMA paddock set up and ready, the road course at Mid-Ohio is currently occupied by a group of street riders being led around by a pace car, reaching top speeds that appear to be pushing 60 mph. The street bike track day was scheduled instead of a Thursday practice for privateers–who were excluded from factory team tests held at the Ohio facility last month–to use to set up their bikes. Exciting new development: The pace car has exited the track and the street riders now on course appear to be exceeding 70 mph on the front straight!

MONTEREY, Calif. (July 21, 2005) Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca has distributed applications for renewals on all premium seating locations for the 2006 Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix July 21-23, 2006. The deadline for all renewal applications is August 20, 2005. Ticket packages available for renewal are all Premier Pit Row Suites, Turn 3 Paddock Suites, Turn 2 Suites, Flagroom, and Laguna Club. Premier and Reserved Camping locations are also renewable purchases. All remaining tickets, including general admission, paddock passes, remaining grandstand seats and remaining camping go on sale September 1. Renewal opportunities for the 2005 Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, marking the return of the MotoGP series to the United States, were offered to previous World Superbike Championship event ticket holders. This year’s event sold out of Saturday and Sunday tickets one week in advance of the event, drawing an announced crowd of 153,653 during three days of activity. Due to the quantity of orders for the 2006 Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, there will be no exceptions to renewal applications received after the August 20 deadline. Renewal orders are accepted by mail or walk-up only. More information on the ticket process is available by calling (800) 327-SECA or logging on to www.laguna-seca.com. Information on the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix is also available at www.RedBullUSGrandPrix.com.