Tune in tomorrow morning (Wed., June 15) to NBC’s top-ranked Today morning show where a top American MotoGP racer will be unveiled during a special announcement during the 9:00 am hour.

Canadian young gun Chris Peris, 19, will replace Frenchman Christophe Cogan, 34, on the Moto1 Suzuki team at the Misano, Italy round of the World Supersport Championship. Cogan, who is 18th in the World Supersport Championship standings, with a best result of 10th, after five rounds, and the Moto1 Suzuki team have parted ways, according to Peris’ father Fernando. The team informed Giulio Bardi (who, among other things, is the Team Representative to the FIM Superbike Commission) that it needed a new rider for Misano. Bardi, who lives in Colorado, asked friend and Graves Yamaha mechanic Geoff Cesmat for a recommendation, and Cesmat named Peris, who is currently sixth and eighth in the AMA Formula Xtreme and Supersport Championship, respectively, on his privateer Topline Printing Yamaha. “Yeah, it should be really cool to go to a world event and see how we can do,” said Peris, who at age 16 qualified for the FIM 125cc Grand Prix as a wild card at Valencia, in spite of riding an unfamiliar Aprilia on Bridgestones for the first time. Peris crashed out of that race, however. “Hopefully, we’ll do a little better this time. “I’m going out to California to ride a Vesrah Suzuki, so I can test on Pirelli tires. So I’m going to do Friday (June 17) practice at Thunderhill Raceway. Max (McAllister, Peris’ AMA Crew Chief and owner of Traxxion Dynamics) is going to fly out and bring some forks and a shock so we can kind of get the bike set up where we want it. Then we’ll pull the forks and shock off and take them with us so we have a starting point at Misano.” McAllister, who is a long-time sponsor of Vesrah Suzuki, set up the Thunderhill test for Peris. Peris is currently sponsored by Vesrah Brakes. American young gun Nicky Wimbauer, 17, also rides for Moto1 Suzuki in the European 600cc Superstock class and will also race at Misano.

Yamaha team sources have confirmed that Jamie Hacking’s injuries are more serious than first thought and that he may not be back in action before the VIR round scheduled for August 26-28. Hacking crashed his road bike May 28 while training with Ben Spies in Colorado. Spies dodged some debris in the roadway but Hacking, who was following close behind, hit it, crashing and dislocating and breaking his elbows, and doing damage to the part of the bone where the tendons attach. The crash was similar to one during the off-season in which Roger Hayden crashed and suffered severe road rash; Hayden was following his two brothers on road bikes when the brothers dodged debris and Roger hit it. The same type of crash sometimes happens on the racetrack, when two or three drafting riders come up on a slower bike, the first one or two riders dodging the obstacle and the third hitting it. At post time, Hacking had not returned phone calls requesting comment.

Hailwood “¦Agostini “¦Montano! – Munroe Motors and Thomas Montano Bring MV Agusta Back to the Isle of Man – Munroe Motors and Tom Montano have once again completed a successful week of TT racing at the famous Isle of Man road circuit. This year Montano blazed the 37.75-mile course on a Munroe Motors’ 2005 MV Agusta F4-1000. In the main event, the 6-lap “Senior” TT held on Friday morning June 10th, the 2001 AMA Pro-Thunder champion finished a strong 13th place with an average speed of 118.43 mph – winning a rare and coveted Silver Replica. (The fastest riders in a TT race that finish within 5% of the race winner’s time receive a Silver Replica trophy, and those within 10% win a Bronze Replica “¦there is no “gold”.) Tom’s 17th place result in Superbike, the first race held nearly a week earlier, was a heralding display of his and the MV Agusta’s potential. Throughout the week of racing, Montano, along with the only other American competitors, Craig McLean of Corte Madera, CA and Wade Boyd of San Francisco, posted competitive results time after time. Montano and McLean battled within just a few seconds of each other in both 600cc races. Boyd made a strong showing close behind them with a Bronze in the Junior TT “B” race. Montano’s week with the MV Agusta F4-1000 gave the Munroe Motors team invaluable experience with the stunning new bike. During the second of three 1000cc races, the Superstock, the MV Agusta competed in stock form against a field filled with the likes of Suzuki’s GSXR1000, Honda’s CBR1000 and RC51 and Yamaha’s R1. Montano’s unrelenting throttle hand started to spin the clutch free early into the 4-lap race, but Tom kept his lap times very competitive. The clutch finally gave up on the last lap of the race – on the far side of the Island road course. He left the bike with a trustworthy local and hitched a courageous pillion ride back to the starting grid with a handy spectator. To the amazement of his pit crew, Jamie Karrick and Matt Prentiss of Munroe Motors and Adrian North of Douglas, Isle of Man, he made it back with literally seconds to spare in time to start the 600 Junior TT “A” race on his trusty 1999 Yamaha R6. The virtually stock MV Agusta F4-1000 proved to be a formidable competitor against the Superbike and Superstock-spec Japanese machines that littered the starting grids. The ’05 1000cc 4 cylinder MV Agusta was sprung from its crate in early April at Munroe Motors in San Francisco. For break-in, Montano competed once with the new bike, finishing 12th in the AFM Formula Pacific race May 1st at Infinion Raceway. Shortly thereafter, the bike had to be packed up and shipped to the Isle of Man, giving the Munroe Motors team precious little time to prepare for the epic week of road racing. Aside from wearing out the clutch pack during the Superstock race, the MV Agusta performed flawlessly throughout a hard week of practice and some 600 ultra-high-speed racing miles! Competition upgrades to the stock machine include Fast by Ferracci slip-on mufflers and chip – with the catalytic converter masterfully removed from the mid-pipe by Dennis Etcheverry at Norman Racing – fiberglass race bodywork painted by Cycle Finish, a Graves front fairing bracket, a Brembo GP front brake master cylinder and lightweight forged aluminum wheels for the Superbike spec events. The motor remained untouched from the factory except for the installation of MV Agusta’s reverse pattern shift drum. It is Munroe Motors’ honor and Thomas Montano’s achievement to have raced the fastest MV Agusta in the history of the Isle of Man TT races – and to have won a Silver Replica in doing so. The accomplishment is especially gratifying because Giacomo Agostini was on hand to take one of his championship winning MV Agusta 750 machines from the ’70s around the road course for the Lap of Honor and Classic Parade. This legendary and supremely competitive motorcycle brand has made a forceful movement back into road racing in 2005 with Thomas Montano and Munroe Motors. For more information about the Isle of Man TT races, please visit: www.iomtt.com To download the results sheet from the Senior TT, please click on: http://www.iomtt.com/results/2005/Fri10/senior-result.pdf

LORENZO COULD RIDE AT ASSEN Jorge Lorenzo has undergone an operation on a double break to his right collarbone after crashing in the 250cc Catalunya Grand Prix and it looks as though the Spanish youngster could be back in action at the next round at Assen in two weeks’ time. Doctor Xavier Mir conducted the operation, which lasted one hour and 45 minutes, this evening. Lorenzo will remain under observation at the Dexeus Institute in Barcelona until Monday and will begin his rehabilitation programme in 48 hours’ time as he aims to make his comeback at the Dutch TT. XAVIER MIR: “The first thing Jorge asked about when he opened his eyes was his chances of making the race at Assen. I think they are pretty good, depending on the patient’s development. We’ve rejoined the double break, which had a third fracture in between, using a titanium plate and seven screws, so now we just have to wait and hope that Jorge can recover full fitness as quickly as possible.”

Superbike & Supersport World Championships, Superstock FIM Cup Anti-doping controls Anti-doping controls were carried out at the event of the Superbike & Supersport World Championships held on the circuit of Silverstone, Great Britain, on May 29 last. Neither prohibited substances nor markers of the use of prohibited methods were found in the tested samples. The riders controlled were : Pierfrancesco Chili (ITA, Superbike), Max Neukirchner (GER, Superbike), Massimo Roccoli (ITA, Superbike), Jarno Janssen (NED, Supersport), Broc Parkes (AUS, Supersport), Sami Penna (FIN, Supersport).

RAIN HALTS GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM TEST IN BARCELONA Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards cut short their planned one-day test today, as the good weather from the weekend finally broke and rain moved in over the Montmelo circuit in Catalunya. After his fifth victory from five races in the Catalan Grand Prix here yesterday, Rossi planned an early start to the day and managed 17 laps before the weather turned, gathering some valuable information for the Yamaha engineers and setting a best lap of 1’44.00. His Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards, who finished seventh in yesterday’s race, had been hoping to check some settings and do some tyre work, but the rain halted him and he completed only two laps before deciding to call it a day. Riders from Honda, Ducati, WCM and Kawasaki, as well as David Checa on the Fortuna Yamaha bike, decided to stay on to test throughout the afternoon despite the bad weather. Valentino Rossi (17 laps, 1’44.00) “We were expecting the rain and so we managed to get most of our work done in time before it came. It was a short but very important test. We tried some new engine parts so we could tell the engineers the right way to take in their development. There were some good and some bad things, and we needed to decide on one direction. We’ve decided that we probably won’t use these new parts at the next race in Holland, but we might try them in the US.” Colin Edwards (2 laps) “It’s a real shame the weather didn’t hold out, because we had some work to do and we were really hoping to clear some things up today. Unfortunately, as I rode out of the garage it started to rain so I didn’t even finish my second lap! I guess we could have done some work in the wet this afternoon, but that wasn’t part of our plan and to be honest it wasn’t going to get wet enough for effective rain testing. Now we’ll just have to use the time we have in Assen really well so we’re ready to race there.” Davide Brivio “We started early because we knew it was going to rain, and we needed to try to do some work before the bad weather came. Valentino managed to do most of the things we needed to do and has been able to give some important information to the engineers to help with the future development of the bike. The only thing we weren’t able to do before the rain came was some tyre testing for Michelin. For Colin we wanted to go back and check some settings and some tyres, in order to better understand what happened yesterday. The rain didn’t help and cut short our plans, so now we will wait until Assen, which is a track that Colin really likes and we hope will be good for him.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: JACQUE JOINS KAWASAKI TEST AT CATALUNYA The Kawasaki Racing Team were out in force for a development test at Catalunya today, as Olivier Jacque returned to the team to test alongside regular Kawasaki pilots, Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann. While Jacque started the day with shakedown tests on the two Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP machines he’ll race at Sachsenring and Valencia, Nakano and Hofmann got straight down to testing with Kawasaki’s tyre partner Bridgestone. For Nakano the aim of today’s test was to evaluate a new profile rear tyre from Bridgestone, but the conditions conspired against him. For comparison purposes Nakano started the test on the same tyre he used in yesterday’s race, but before he could switch to the new tyre the onset of rain forced him back to the Kawasaki pit box. The Japanese rider patiently sat in the pit box waiting for the weather to change, but with the rain continuing on and off throughout the day, any plans to return to the track to complete the planned tyre test had to be abandoned. Hofmann took advantage of the damp conditions to test for the first time the wet tyre that took Olivier Jacque to second place in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai six weeks ago, with positive results. The 25-year-old German rider was impressed with the improvements the latest wet tyre offered over the old, especially when combined with revisions to the electronics package fitted to his Ninja ZX-RR. For Jacque the day ended with a minor crash, but the 31-year-old Frenchman declared himself happy with his progress after working his way through an intensive test schedule with his new crew. Jacque slid off his Ninja ZX-RR uninjured right at the end of the day, after being caught out by the combination of a full wet tyre on a rapidly drying track. Shinya Nakano: #56 “Today we intended to concentrate purely on tyre testing, as Bridgestone have a new profile rear slick for evaluation. I went out this morning on the same tyre I used in the race yesterday to allow a direct comparison, but the rain started before we’d even had a chance to put the new tyre on the bike. The weather looked like it might improve in the afternoon, but when it was still raining at four o’clock we decided to finally call it a day.” Alex Hofmann: #66 “Conditions weren’t ideal for testing today, but at least the rain gave me a chance to try for the first time the wet tyre that Olivier used in China. Bridgestone have definitely made some improvements with this wet weather tyre; the performance was very impressive. We also tested some new engine components, together with some slight modifications to the electronics package that made the bike a little easier to control on the throttle. Overall, despite the weather, it’s been a productive test.” Olivier Jacque: #19 “The idea of today’s test was to shakedown the two bikes I’ll use for the Sachsenring race next month. Despite conditions that weren’t really ideal for testing, we’ve managed to get a lot done today. We’ve tried different set-ups on the bike and we’ve also had the opportunity to test a range of wet tyres from Bridgestone. Unfortunately, right at the end of the day I crashed after being caught out with a wet tyre on a drying track. The rear just came round on me mid-corner and down I went. I’ve lost some skin off my little finger, but apart from that I’m perfectly okay and I’m looking forward to my next outing on the bike. Overall it’s been a good day of testing.”

Team Yoshimura Suzuki’s Atsushi Watanabe and World Superbike Championship contender Yukio Kagayama raced their GSX-R1000 to victory in the Suzuka 300km Endurance race in Japan on Sunday. Watanabe started the 52-lap race in a lowly 20th position but carved through to fifth place by lap eight, passing SERT Suzuki’s Keiichi Kitagawa just before pitting for tyres and a rider change at half distance. Kagayama took over the Yoshimura Suzuki holding fourth position, more than 30 seconds down on leader Tohru Ukawa (Honda). But on lap 28, a big accident forced the pace car onto the circuit after one of the machines crashed and caught fire. The incident cost the SERT squad dearly and team rider Vincent Phillipe lost more than a minute which they were unable to claw back when the race resumed. Kagayama moved from fourth to second and then into the lead on lap 44 which he held until the flag. Said Kagayama: “The Yoshimura Suzuki is very different to my Alstare World Superbike but myself and Watanabe got the machine set up in a very short space of time. All the Yoshimura parts worked very well and the machine ran very fast throughout the event. Last year, we were beaten by the Honda factory squad so this year we wanted revenge!” Fujio Yoshimura added: “This was a very exciting race and we are very pleased to beat Honda for the win! Today, Watanabe missed the start but raced at 100% and never gave up. Kagayama’s performance was also fantastic and he did a great job for our team.” Suzuka 300km Endurance Results: 1 Atsushi Watanabe/ Yukio Kagayama (Yoshimura Suzuki), 2 Tohru Ukawa/ Ryuichi Kiyonari ( Factory Honda), 3 Noaki Matsudo (Moriwaki Honda), 4 Takeshi Tsujimura (TSR Honda), 5 Shin-ichi Nakatomi/ Wataru Yoshikawa (Factory Yamaha), 6 Keiichi Kitagawa/ Vincent Phillipe (SERT Suzuki), 7 Norihiko Fujiwara/ Nobuyuki Osaki (Yamaha), 8 Chojun Kameya (Honda), 9 Tatsuya Yamaguchi/ Kazuki Tokudome (Factory Honda), 10 Hiroki Noda/ Takuma Yamamoto (Honda).