From a press release issued by WMRRA:

The Washington Motorcycle Roadracing Association would like to announce the election of their new Executive Board and Board of Directors for 2005:

Executive Board
President: Luke Gaylor
1st VP: Jack Moore
2nd VP: Joel Crabtree
3rd VP: Andre Lister
Secretary: Diane Thompson
Treasurer: Dan Brown
SBK/GP Rep: Tyler Sandell
Supersport/Air Fence Chairman: Chris Denzler
Vintage Rep: Duncan Craick
Novice Rep: Dave Huck

Board of Directors:
Diane Thompson
Tyler Sandell
Briggs Willoughby
Kory Gill

We would like to thank the outgoing members for the support of our club and wish the new members good luck! Information about WMRRA can be obtained at: www.wmrra.com

From a press release issued by former road racer Balz Renggli of Aprilia-Ducati of Oceanside:

Husqvarna and their premier Southern California dealers GP Motorcycles of San Diego and Aprilia-Ducati of Oceanside will offer you the chance to test ride Husqvarna’s award winning motorcycles.

This is your chance to get a first hand look at what the most traditional brand of off-road motorcycles has to offer.

The event is scheduled for November 7, 2004 at Lake Elsinore Motocross Park. Sign-up is on first come first serve basis. To sign-up early or for details call Aprilia-Ducati of Oceanside at (760) 722-7704 or GP Motorcycles at (619) 233-4762.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

GSE Racing will end a one-year layoff and return to racing in the 2005 British Superbike Championship Series, according to Ducati Corse.

The team, which won the British Superbike Championship with Troy Bayliss in 1999 and Neil Hodgson in 2000, and finished third in the 2002 and 2003 World Superbike Championships (with Hodgson and James Toseland, respectively), will field a pair of Ducati 999F04s on Dunlop tires in the 13-round 2005 British series. Who will ride for GSE Racing, which will have the full support of Ducati Corse, has yet to be announced.

“After one year out of racing our hunger to return is evident in the attitude of the staff and our new riders. Ducati has once more supplied us with high-level machinery, for what looks like it will be an even more competitive season than last year. We are a British team, so racing at home, in one of the most prestigious race series on earth, is an exciting prospect for us all,” GSE Racing Team Owner Darrell Healy (who will be joined by returning Team Manager Colin Wright) was quoted as saying by Ducati.

From a press release issued by Honda Racing:

Honda Racing announces Superbike team line-up

Honda Racing has confirmed its team line-up for the 2005 British Superbike Championship with an increased entry for the world’s leading domestic series.

The manufacturer will campaign its CBR1000RR Fireblade for a second consecutive year. However, the Honda Racing Superbike will appear in two separate guises in 2005.

The Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) will continue to support the HM Plant Honda Racing team. The riders from the 2004 season – Michael Rutter and Ryuichi Kiyonari – will once again compete on factory HRC-prepared CBR1000RR Fireblades with Michelin tyres.

They will be joined on the grid for 2005 by the back-to-back British Supersport Champion Karl Harris. Having won the Supersport series in 2003-04 on the Honda CBR600RR, Harris will move up to the Superbike class on a Honda Racing CBR1000RR Fireblade with Dunlop tyres.

HM Plant Honda Racing took eight race wins in the 2004 British Superbike Championship with Rutter (six) and Kiyonari (two). The 31-year-old Leicestershire rider finished runner-up to John Reynolds in the 13-round series, while his 21-year-old Japanese team-mate took sixth overall at the end of his rookie season.

Harris has already tested a prototype of the Fireblade – developed at Honda Racing’s Louth headquarters – and raced it at a non-championship event at Castle Combe in September. The 24-year-old Yorkshireman will compete in different colours to the HRC-supported HM Plant Honda Racing squad. A further announcement will be made regarding the team’s commercial activities when these have been finalised.

Honda Racing’s Race Team Manager Neil Tuxworth said: “The success of HM Plant Honda Racing in the 2004 British Superbike Championship made our choice of riders straightforward for next season. Following a year of development on circuits in the UK and Ireland, the HRC-prepared CBR1000RR Fireblade will be a formidable tool for our championship challenge in 2005.

“Michael and Kiyo have proved that they can win races and have the potential to take the HM Plant Hondas to the title. This consistency will play a key role as we embark on our winter test programme in preparation for the start of next season.

“Karl has of course ridden with us over the past two years and we believe the time is right for him to make a natural progression into the Superbike class. He has already demonstrated the capability to fulfil his obvious potential at the highest level of the sport.”

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Daytona International Speedway (DIS) will host a three-day tire test for the AMA Superbike Championship series on its revised infield road course January 3-5, 2005, according to AMA Pro Racing Vice President – Director of Communications Kerry Graeber.

According to Graeber, no official announcement of the test has been made, but most of the larger teams and all of the road racing tire suppliers have been notified of the test dates. It will be up to the tire suppliers as to which riders/teams are invited to the test, said Graeber.

DIS is currently undergoing a major renovation project, including installation of a new large-vehicle access tunnel under NASCAR Turn One, a completely new paddock and the revised infield road course design.

The 2005 AMA Superbike season is set to open at DIS March 10-12.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The motorcycle industry is abuzz with conflicting groups of sponsors thinking they have successfully negotiated a deal with Michael Jordan’s AMA team for 2005.

Among the contestants:

American Honda (including the automotive division) and HRC, with Ben Bostrom as lead rider.

American Suzuki and Yoshimura, with Jason Pridmore as lead rider.

And these are only the ones we know about.

Similarly, agents for the Jordan operation have approached up to four riders for the second slot in the team, alluding to a lucrative payday that at most only one of them will ultimately reap, and referring to Suzuki Superbikes on Dunlop tires with Pridmore as the lead rider.

Imagine the disappointment some parties to the negotiations are going to feel when they discover that “their” Jordan deal isn’t happening.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

2003 FIM Endurance World Champions Phase One Endurance have re-signed with Yamaha and will continue to race a YZF-R1 in the 2005 Endurance World Championship, according to FGSport Group, organizers of the Endurance World Championship.

The announcement was made November 4 at the International Motorcycle Show in Birmingham, England. However, no word of the deal has been posted on Phase One Endurance’s website at postime.

Phase One Endurance switched from Suzuki to Yamaha for 2004 and had a troubled season, finishing 10th in the final Endurance World Championship standings with a best result of third (among the series regulars) at the Suzuka 8 Hours and a fourth at the Vallelunga 200-miler.

From a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing:

HENRY EARNS 2004 AMA PRO RACING SPEED CHANNEL ATHLETE OF THE YEAR NOMINATION

PICKERINGTON, Ohio (Nov. 5, 2004) — Doug Henry is the sixth and final nominee for the 2004 AMA Pro Racing SPEED Channel Athlete of the Year. This year Henry, 35, of Torrington, Conn., began writing an epilog to his storied racing career by becoming a leading star in the AMA Supermoto Championship, this over a decade after he burst onto the scene by winning his first AMA Motocross Championship in 1993.

Henry first took up supermoto racing in the middle of last season and quickly became a leading contender in the series. He won the 2003 race at Irwindale Speedway in only his third event. This year Henry really began to hit his stride by becoming the wins leader in this year’s AMA Supermoto Championship, winning four of the six rounds leading up to the series finale in Las Vegas on Nov. 13. He runs second in the standings to Troy Lee Designs Honda teammate Jeff Ward.

“Becoming a part of AMA Supermoto racing has been amazing,” Henry said. “I still had competitive adrenaline left in me after motocross and I was working towards a move to road racing and then supermoto came along and it was a perfect fit. It feels good to be recognized as an Athlete of the Year nominee. I think more than anything else it’s an acknowledgment that AMA Supermoto is really growing.”

Henry is in his 16th year of AMA Pro Racing. This is the second time he has been nominated for the AMA Pro Racing SPEED Athlete of the Year. He won the prestigious award in 1998 after becoming the first rider to win the AMA 250 Motocross Championship on a four-stroke.

Henry joins Mat Mladin, Ricky Carmichael, Jeff Ward, Chris Carr and James Stewart as 2004 nominees for Athlete of the Year.

AMA Pro Racing will honor the champions of American professional motorcycle racing at its 30th annual AMA Pro Racing Awards Banquet on Sunday evening, Nov. 14 at Paris Las Vegas. The annual event attracts not only America’s best professional racers but also leading executives from the motorcycle industry.

The banquet is the conclusion of the nearly year-long AMA Pro Racing season comprised of nearly 80 professional racing events.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

MotoGP racer Colin Edwards will appear on SPEED Channel’s “Wind Tunnel,” a live viewer call-in show hosted by Dave Despain, Tuesday, November 9 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time, according to Edwards’ fan website www.ceracing.com.

Edwards recently switched to the factory Yamaha MotoGP team, as teammate to World Champion Valentino Rossi, after a disappointing season with the Telefonica Movistar Honda satellite team.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Former Grand Prix tuner Nobby Clark, 68, became a U.S. citizen on September 27, in New York City, New York.

Clark, who was born to British parents in the country of Rhodesia, which is now known as Zimbabwe, tried for years to get a British passport, including gathering documents and records showing his family’s English roots going back 150 years. Clark finally gave up his pursuit of the British passport, registered as a Resident Alien in the United States (where he has lived and worked since 1993) and began the long process of obtaining U.S. citizenship.

“It dragged on and on. I went for a medical exam and finger prints. I didn’t hear anything for it must have been two years, then I got a letter to go for this interview, which is a normal thing.

“The crazy thing about it was I couldn’t understand the guy who was doing the interview. His English was so bad that my attorney, who was with me, had to interpret. He was a nice guy and all and I’m sure he was a U.S. citizen, but he was interviewing me for citizenship and he could barely speak English!

“I didn’t hear anything more for 18 months, then I got a letter telling me to be in New York City at the Federal Plaza at 9:00 a.m. Monday morning. I got there at 8:00 a.m.”

Clark’s swearing-in ceremony took place two days before his 68th birthday. “As a birthday present, I don’t think anything could have been better,” Clark told Roadracingworld.com.

Clark is best known for tuning for the Honda factory Grand Prix team during the 1960s, followed by a long stint with Yamaha, during which, “I worked with Kenny (Leroy) Roberts until he retired, all eight years he raced in Europe,” said Clark.

Clark is currently working in a small Ferrarri shop in upstate New York.