Jason Perez, on the comeback trail from an elbow injury, won a WSMC 20-lap, 50-mile Solo GTO race Saturday at Willow Springs Raceway, aboard his Rojo Racing Yamaha YZF-R1. Ryan Hoffman won in the Solo GTU class in the combined race. Riding a Yamaha TZ250, John Ulrich finished first overall and first in the Solo GT-GP class in the combined Solo GT-GP and Solo GT-Lights race, also a 20-lap, 50-mile event. Results follow: Solo GTO 1. Jason Perez, Yamaha YZF-R1 2. Troy Maturo, Yamaha YZF-R1 3. Robbie Dowie, Suzuki GSX-R1000 4. Jason Caldwell, Suzuki GSX-R1000 5. Curtis Adams, Suzuki GSX-R1000 6. Jeff Stern, Suzuki GSX-R1000 Solo GTU 1. Ryan Hoffman, Kawasaki ZX-6R 2. David Siminski, Suzuki GSX-R600 3. Blair Sullenger, Yamaha YZF-R6 4. Grant Riggs, Yamaha YZF-R6 5. Stan Bates, Yamaha YZF-R6 6. Mark Allen, Yamaha YZF-R6 Solo GT-Lights 1. Tim Martinez, Suzuki SV650 2. Kurt Whittington, Suzuki 3. Martin Hackworth, Yamaha FZR400 4. Craig Smith, Suzuki Solo GT-GP 1. John Ulrich, Yamaha TZ250 2. David Conger, Honda RS250R 3. Kris Provost, Aprilia RS250 4. Lloyd Magruder, Yamaha TZ250 5. Jamie Lenore, Aprilia RS250 6. David Steinhoff, Aprilia RS250

HANER HAS SURGERY ON BROKEN FOOT John Haner had surgery today to stabilize the broken bone in his left foot that he suffered in a crash at Road America on Friday, June 3rd. John’s surgery was performed at Houston’s Methodist Hospital by Dr. Kevin Varner, who inserted three screws in the fifth metatarsal bone. Dr. Varner is an associate with the Baylor College of Sports Medicine, which provides orthopedic services to athletes on many of Houston’s professional sports teams, including the Rockets, Astros, Texans and Comets. John broke the foot at Road America on Friday, then rode through the pain to finish ninth in the Superbike race on Saturday, 11th in the Superstock race on Sunday, but highsided and crashed in Sunday’s Superbike race. He was committed to teaching a riding school in Cresson, Texas on Monday, June 13th, so today was the soonest he could get the surgery done. “I already feel 100% better,” said John, who only spent a total of five hours at the hospital. “When the doctor got in there, the bone was moving around, like free play on a clutch lever. So it’s good I had it done now. I’ll be ready for Laguna. But for the next few days I’ll have some girls come over and take care of me.”

2006 DAYTONA 200 TO AGAIN FEATURE FORMULA XTREME EQUIPMENT 2006 Class Structure Unchanged PICKERINGTON, Ohio (June 17, 2005) AMA Pro Racing confirmed today that the 2006 Daytona 200 will again feature Formula Xtreme motorcycles and that the class structure for the AMA Superbike Championship remains unchanged. The class structure for 2006 is as follows: Superbike: 901-1000cc four-stroke, two or more cylinders Supersport: 0-600cc four-stroke, multi-cylinder Formula Xtreme: 450cc-600cc four-stroke, multi-cylinder; 595cc-750cc four-stroke, liquid-cooled, twin-cylinder; 850cc-1350cc four-stroke, air-cooled, twin-cylinder Superstock: 745cc-1000cc four-stroke, multi-cylinder AMA Pro Racing announced on May 26 that 1000cc motorcycles will remain in AMA Superbike through the 2008 racing season. Rules adding 1000cc motorcycles to the class were announced in 2002 for the 2003 racing season. As noted above, current AMA Superbike rules feature 901-1000cc four-stroke engines with two or more cylinders, exclusively. “The feedback over our announcement regarding 1000cc machines remaining through 2008 has been very positive,” said Scott Hollingsworth, AMA Pro Racing CEO. “This stability as well as that in the support classes is designed to encourage greater rider and team participation across the board.” Formula Xtreme machines are used for the Daytona 200 because of the unique demands placed on equipment specifically at the Daytona International Speedway course. As part of a major infield renovation completed at the facility prior to the beginning of the 2005 racing season, the infield road course was also reconfigured. These changes, coupled with switching the 200 to Formula Xtreme equipment, were made in the interest of improving safety at the track. AMA Superbike remains the premier class within the championship with AMA Supersport, AMA Formula Xtreme and AMA Superstock serving as support classes. Technical rules for each class will be announced at a later date

ENTRIES CLOSED FOR LAGUNA SECA AMA EVENT PICKERINGTON, Ohio (June 17, 2005) AMA Pro Racing announced today that entries are closed for the three AMA classes featured at the upcoming Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, July 8-10. Additionally, the accepted entry list for each class will be issued as early as Monday. The original entry deadline was June 24. “We announced on June 10 that we would be limiting entries due to much greater space constraints than anticipated at the Laguna Seca facility,” said Ron Barrick, Road Race Series Manager for AMA Pro Racing. “As of today, we’ve received more entries than we can accommodate so there’s no sense in keeping it open.” Barrick confirmed that the final entry for each class will be determined by points standings for those riders that have submitted entries for this event. Additional entry criteria is outlined on the event entry form. Barrick also stated that the final number per class has yet to be determined. “We are literally going to accept as many entries as space allows,” said Barrick. “I have been working with Laguna Seca and our logistics staff during the last week and will continue to finalize the entry list over the weekend.” The number of entries has been limited at past AMA-sanctioned races at the Laguna Seca facility due to space, but the challenge this year is even greater. In addition to AMA riders and teams, the weekend’s heavy schedule includes all participants competing in the MotoGP World Championship event as well as the Yamaha and GE-sponsored Superstars of Super Karts race.

A longtime travel agent specializing in motorcycle events tells Roadracingworld.com that despite the fact that readers have received phone calls from the Hyatt Regency hotel telling them that their confirmed reservations are not valid because Red Bull bought up all the hotel’s rooms, that’s not true. Specifically, Red Bull did not buy up all the rooms, says Travelcraft’s Randy Warren. In an e-mail and a subsequent phone call to Roadracingworld.com, Warren said, “The truth is that Travelcraft has 160 rooms under contract for this and future years, in a contract that the hotel is honoring. Naturally, Travelcraft honors the confirmed reservations of its own clients which, as you probably know, includes not only race fans but Moto GP teams as well. “It would not hurt if you added a news item letting folks know that if they have a TRAVELCRAFT confirmation for the Hyatt then their reservation is safe. We also have a couple of rooms still available in Monterey and Carmel Valley, due to recent cancellations.” Randy Warren can be reached at: Travelcraft WorldTravel Affiliates 63 El Pavo Real San Rafael CA 94903 USA (800) 258-0755 / (415) 444-0767 ext. 101 (415) 444-0766 fax [email protected]

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2005 ROUND 5 – GAULOISES DUTCH TT, ASSEN 17 JUNE 2005 – EVENT PREVIEW KAWASAKI PAIR CONFIDENT AHEAD OF DUTCH TT Kawasaki riders Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann will be part of the 75th anniversary celebrations for the Dutch TT at Assen (June 23-25). The Dutch TT holds a unique place in the world of motorcycling and is the only Grand Prix that has continuously counted towards the FIM World Championship since inception in 1949. The race has some firmly entrenched traditions. It is always held on the last Saturday in June and much of the current racetrack was part of the original circuit formed on narrow public roads south of the Assen township. Once 16 km in length, the original road course has undergone constant changes and safety upgrades, including some for this year’s 75th Dutch TT. For 2005 the circuit length has been reduced by 30 metres to 5.997 km and given favourable weather this should lead to new qualifying and race records. However the most noticeable change is one that will benefit spectators who travel from around the world for the special atmosphere of the Dutch TT. The new Geert Timmer ‘floating’ grandstand will be in use for the first time. The stand offers not only panoramic views of the circuit but has allowed the expansion of run-off areas to improve safety. The current investment in circuit upgrades has ensured Assen has a long-term future as part of the MotoGP World Championship with a contract renewal until 2016, recently agreed with championship organisers Dorna. And following the latest performance upgrades to the Ninja ZX-RR both Nakano and Hofmann are looking forward to strong performances at Assen this year. Hofmann, from Germany, will again have the support of a large contingent of travelling fans at Assen. Nakano qualified an impressive fifth fastest in 2004. Since then the ZX-RR motor has undergone a major revision with further upgrades, both mechanical and electronic, for evaluation at Assen Both factory Kawasaki riders anticipate the current specification ZX-RR will be more suited to the unique layout of Assen with its constant sequence of high-speed corners and fast changes of direction under acceleration. Nakano in particular came away from the previous race in Barcelona in a positive frame of mind in terms of bike performance, despite the tyre endurance problems that hampered his race performance. Joining the Kawasaki Racing Team as a sponsor for the first time at Assen will be e-services company, Trinicom. Trinicom is the European leader in Web Self Service, Email response and Agent support software. Shinya Nakano: #56 “Assen is a real challenge, especially the fast section at the start of the lap. You need good traction and high-speed handling plus exact racing lines to achieve maximum performance. I expect the latest profile Bridgestone tyres will help with steering response on the ZX-RR in the fast sections. Because it is not possible to test at Assen I will use the first practice day to check braking points and corner lines, plus collect set-up data. I think we have a good technical direction with the ZX-RR right now, I saw a positive comparison when I was able to follow Colin Edwards early in the race at Barcelona.” Alex Hofmann: #66 “Hopefully Assen will kick start my season after some bad luck recently. The Dutch TT is a good motivation for me because it is like a second home race, the organisers say about 40% of the spectators are from Germany. It’s a fast, roller-coaster style of track and one of my favourites. I think I’m ready for anything at Assen, especially if it rains as it often does. Our test in Barcelona was wet so I got to try the latest Bridgestone wet tyres, which were very good, plus I felt comfortable using the ZX-RR motor with revised configuration and tuning.”

Rossi exploits boost MotoGP TV audiences With five victories out of six races so far this season, one could expect that Valentino Rossi’s domination would disappoint the MotoGP fans, but the way the Italian superstar reaches success is actually so entertaining and exciting that audiences keep growing every race weekend. Rossi’s win at Catalunya last Sunday scored again record audiences in his home country, where Italia 1’s broadcast was followed by almost 8.5 million viewers, with a 48.18% market share. Surprisingly, the audience in Spain was also outstanding despite the fact that Rossi’s victim of the day was Sete Gibernau, in front of his Barcelona crowd. TVE-1 had 33.3% of the audience tuned to the MotoGP race, and did even better (38,6%) for the 250cc race, where Spain’s young hope Dani Pedrosa won his third consecutive GP. The total audience was 2.8 and 2.1 million respectively. MotoGP enjoys wealthy audiences both in Italy and Spain thanks to the success of their riders. In the United Kingdom, BBC is consolidating very good ratings without having a local hero in the leading positions. The broadcast from the Catalunya Grand Prix scored 1.4 million viewers, with a 16.3% share. Other countries also have had significant audience figures for the past few MotoGP races. As an example, Nelonen/Channel Four Finland scored 32% market share for the last round of the 125cc World Championship, where Mika Kallio is one of the main protagonists.

Racers Will See Improved Run-Off Areas and Curbing at Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix MONTEREY, Calif. (June 16,2005) Following the conclusion of a $2 million track improvement project that saw the run-off areas increased and improved in all turns and the installation of more motorcycle-friendly curbing, the world famous 2.238-mile, 11-turn Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca has been homologated by the Federation Internationale de Motorcyclisme (FIM) for next month’s Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix (July 8-10). “The inspection was very good,” said Claude Danis, the official track inspector for the FIM. “We can see that all of the work we requested to be done was completed properly. There are some provisional protective devices (e.g. air fence and hay bales) to be installed before the race. The track is in condition to be homologated for MotoGP.” Suzuki MotoGP rider Kenny Roberts Jr, the 2000 World Champion, visited the circuit two weeks ago as a Riders Safety Representative and was very positive about the changes made to the circuit. “Laguna Seca has done 100 percent within their capability to make the track as safe as possible for the MotoGP,” said Modesto-native Roberts Jr., the son of three-time world champion Kenny Roberts. “They have made significant changes in all areas that they were able to make changes in. “In my opinion they have done the best job on the curbs in comparison to any other racetrack and this will significantly reduce the riders risk and workload. “I believe from a Riders Safety Representative standpoint, that barring any freak accidents, then Laguna will be a very safe MotoGP circuit.” Work began on the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course back in January with the relocation of the Turn 9 bridge and excavation of the hillside on the outside of the turn. Following the rainy season, an intense 45-day period of construction began on May 2. The $2 million improvement project is being funded by Yamaha Motor Company and includes improvements in every turn around the circuit. The building of new gravel beds and the enlarging of existing beds was a major part of the project. More than 15,000 tons of gravel was brought in over a two-week period. Details on the track improvement program are available online at ~http://www.laguna-seca.com/PressReleases/index.cfm?ID=153~ Tickets are available for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix by calling (800) 327-SECA or logging onto www.laguna-seca.com or www.ticketmaster.com. More information on the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix is also available at the www.RedBullUSGrandPrix.com