Hodgson Impressed with Infineon Raceway During Test Session SONOMA, Calif. (IMMEDIATE RELEASE) – Ducati Austin rider Neil Hodgson had never set eyes on Infineon Raceway prior to Thursday’s manufacturer-sponsored motorcycle test session, but the native of Great Britain liked what he saw. “This is my first day here and the track is awesome,” said Hodgson, who took second place in last weekend’s AMA Superbike feature at Daytona International Speedway. “One of the main reasons I came to America from World Superbike is to race on tracks like these that have a lot of character. A lot of the tracks in Europe are flat. This track is unbelievably physical.” Hodgson was one of 17 riders participating in the two-day test session, which concludes on Friday and features teams from Yoshimura Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Ducati Austin, Honda, Erion Honda, Attack Kawasaki and Mat Mladin Motorsports. It is the largest turnout ever for a motorcycle test session at Infineon Raceway; the test also attracted approximately 200 race fans, who watched the action from the main grandstand. This will mark the only major test session prior to the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown, presented by Supercuts, at Infineon Raceway, May 13-15. Suzuki’s Mat Mladin, coming off a victory at Daytona last weekend in Superbike, posted the top Superbike time of the day at 1 minute, 36.41 seconds. Other top Superbike times were posted by Suzuki’s Aaron Yates (1:36.76) and Ben Spies (1:36.80), Hodgson (1:36.90) and Honda’s Miguel Duhamel (1:36.68), who won last weekend’s Daytona 200. All times are unofficial. The track qualifying record is 1:36.916. Riders encountered the same road course from one year ago – 12 turns, 2.22 miles – but will benefit from additional safety enhancements. Three Musco light poles, which were previously at the exit of the Carousel (Turn 6), have been moved back 40 feet onto a slope, and two areas of runoff will be paved by May (exit of Turn 6 and Turn 9a). Moreover, a new storm drain system has also been installed at Turns 1-2, which should aid rain runoff. “I always enjoy coming to this place,” said Ducati Austin rider Eric Bostrom, a Petaluma native. “You’ve done so much for the riders; it’s a great thing.”

IRTA MotoGP test Barcelona, Spain. Day one of three-day test. March 18, 2005. Biaggi fastest on day one of IRTA Barcelona test Honda riders quickly settled into their stride on the opening day of the three-day MotoGP test at the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona, with Repsol Honda factory team rider Max Biaggi topping the time sheet. Biaggi worked hard on the geometry of his Honda RC211V eventually finding the set up he needed to be fast around the fast 4.727km circuit. The Italian edged out fellow Honda RCV rider Sete Gibernau (Telefonica MoviStar) with a lap time 1.5 seconds faster than Gibernau’s lap record set at the grad prix in 2004. Makoto Tamada set third fastest time on his Konica Minolta RCV Honda. Japanese star Tamada was using Michelin tyres for the first time at Catalunya worked on he chassis and suspension settings before racking up series of fast times as the day drew to a close. Marco Melandri, on the second Telefonica MoviStar liveried RCV, was the surprise package of the opening of the test setting fourth fastest time. Melandri topped the time sheet twice before bettered in the closing 30 minutes. The Italian youngster, in his first season on a Honda, has been impressive all through winter testing slowly building up his pace at each test as he began to master the 990cc V5 GP machine. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda) felt he had not ridden at his best, ended his day in mid-pack. Hayden lacked a little confidence in the front end The Camel Honda team of Alex Barros and Troy Bayliss continued where they had left off at the Qatar test, Barros working on front suspension and tyres, Bayliss on the overall balance of his RCV. With the front end now to his liking Barros will concentrate on tyre testing tomorrow. Honda rider lap times and quotes. Max Biaggi, Repsol Honda: 1m 43.158s 85 laps “We’ve been working the whole day to find the right set-up for this track. The newly laid surface makes it definitely faster. Someone came here to win the car at stake for Sundays fastest lap, not me. I have one already and it works well enough. My goal is to improve the race setting. We tried some new front tyres, but basically the bike is still the same. Tomorrow well test some new parts, mainly suspension. We are looking for an easier way of riding our RCV, especially in the corners. Im very satisfied with my team, we are all giving the best. There is the right atmosphere to deliver our job.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1m 44.284s 84 laps. “It was cool to be back on the track with everyone, kinda fun. Honestly, I didnt feel my best today. Physically I felt okay but I wasnt riding up the level I know Im capable of. I didnt feel totally confident with the front of the machine hopefully this will come tomorrow. No panic we have three days here and Im confident we can pick it up a bit. The new surface at the circuit is really good. We just need to get the confidence level up especially into the corners.” Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 1m 43.347s – “I’m very satisfied because also when I don’t find a track in its pefect condition like it was this morning, I make it to be fast because the feeling with the bike and the tyres is at a optimal level. Tomorrow and on Sunday I am sure we’ll achieve better lap times as for what I know Michelin brought us some new interesting tyres to test.” Sete Gibernau, Telefonica MoviStar Honda: 1m 43.254s 74 laps. “To say it is the first day we’ve done a good job. We’ve tested a lot of things and that always means you lose time because you have to come in to pit so often. Despite that we’ve been at the top from the start and that has to be a good sign. We’ve got less things to test tomorrow so we’ll be able to focus a little more on certain aspects. I’m very happy because Honda have brought us a bit of everything we asked for and we set a good pace every time we went out.” Marco Melandri, Telefonica MoviStar Honda: 1m 43.433s 77 laps. “In Qatar I knew I had taken a step forward in terms of confidence and I felt much more sure of myself coming into these tests. The results shows that I feel more and more comfortable with the bike every day and I am working hard to adapt my riding style to it. I’ve just tried to concentrate on myself and prepare as well as possible for the races. I didn’t put soft tyres on at any point. We’re making progress and, if we get through our programme tomorrow as we have done today, I want to do a race simulation on Sunday” Alex Barros, Camel Honda: 1m 43.902s 9 laps. “Today was a challenging day, which ended a few minutes early because we had tested all the tyres we had been handed. The whole day we were struggling with the forks; we did thousands of tests but none of them seemed to work, with none of the tyres. At the end we changed them and everything was solved in an instant. Now we have found out that there was a little technical problem with a sensor, nothing serious, but enough to stop me from riding my best. As soon as we made the change, using the same settings and the same tyres as before I rode half a second quicker. It’s a shame that it was just over an hour before the end. That doesn’t matter though, now I know we are ready and we can go well.” Troy Bayliss, Camel Honda: 1m 44.403s 90 laps. “I’m very satisfied because we are working well. Today I did so many laps and there was some positive progression. We picked out the direction we will work in and I fell confident now. I’m sure we will improve, we are just at the beginning of this very important test and we have to make the most of it so we can be ready for the first race.” More, From a press released issued by Eckl Kawasaki Racing Team: MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2005 IRTA PRE-SEASON TEST CIRCUIT DE CATALUNYA, SPAIN 18 MARCH 2005 PERFECT WEATHER FOR RECORD BREAKING DAY AT BARCELONA The three-day IRTA test opened at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona today with glorious spring weather producing near perfect track conditions. Kawasaki ZX-RR riders Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann made the most of clear sunny skies and 30 degree track temperatures to post impressive lap times that were personal best performances at this track. Nakano was more than a second under his previous best race lap, while Hofmann was 1.7s seconds quicker than in the Catalunya GP last year. Nakano and Hofmann were just two of 15 riders under the current track record held by Sete Gibernau. The dramatic drop in lap times reflects the continuing progress in machine and tyre development and the fact that the 4.7 km Circuit de Catalunya was completely resurfaced over the winter break. Nakano and Hofmann have been joined by Japanese test rider Kazuki Shimizu at the Barcelona test. Nakano and Shimizu are concentrating on evaluating the big bang version of Kawasaki’s 990cc, in-line four cylinder motor. Meanwhile Hofmann’s ZX-RR continues to run with last year’s screamer engine configuration. Hofmann will be supplied with big bang motors for next week’s IRTA test in Jerez. Today Hofmann concentrated on chassis and tyre testing including evaluation of swinging arm and weight distribution set-ups. Evaluation of a range of new Bridgestone tyres, both front and rear, is also part of the three-day test program. Shinya Nakano #56 – 77 laps (1’44.325) “Today I was able to confirm my preference of big-bang engine specification, at least for the first two races. I prefer the earlier of the two versions, which gives me more control and feeling on the throttle, although we still have some work to do on fine-tuning the engine braking system. Even though I’m a second faster than my best race lap here it is not enough, because everyone else is going faster.” Alex Hofmann #66 – 77 laps (1’44.546) “The new track surface is generally much smoother, although in some places the work has moved the bumps from one part of the track to another. I tried a couple of versions of the 2005 chassis, with different stiffness, and some new rear tyres from Bridgestone. The new track surface appears to have changed wear rates on the tyres so this will be an important part of testing over the weekend. I’m a racer and would prefer to have some track time with the big bang motor but that is not an option with limited supply and I must respect Kawasaki’s decision for Shinya to do that part of the testing.” Ichiro Yoda – Technical Director “We have two different versions of the big bang motor here with different firing orders, and Shinya and Kazuki compared those today. From this we have confirmed the configuration we will use for the opening two GPs in Jerez and Estoril. Shinya prefers the earlier version of the big bang, it gives him more control, and this will be the motor that both Shinya and Alex will use in the opening races. We will continue further development and revise that decision after the first two events” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Racing: Suzuki makes competitive start to Catalunya test Team SUZUKI MotoGP continued its development of the GSV-R with both Kenny Roberts Jr and John Hopkins recording competitive lap-times in the first Official MotoGP test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain today. Roberts Jr and Hopkins were both running at the front of the timesheets early in the day, showing just how far the GSV-R race bike has improved following recent developments and early pre-season tests. Roberts Jr completed 43-laps during the eight-hour long test while working on front end feel and grip. He posted his fastest lap of the 4.7km track at 1min 44.282 – putting him just over a second off the fastest time of the day set by Honda’s Max Biaggi. Hopkins completed 37-laps as his crew worked on setting up his GSV-R race bike. He posted a fastest lap of 1min 44.849 which was over a second quicker than his best race time last year. Testing continues at the Barcelona circuit all-day tomorrow and Sunday morning, before a timed session on Sunday afternoon. Kenny Roberts Jr: “I am looking for more front end feel from my GSV-R and we spent most of today working on the fork and chassis settings. We have a direction and plan on how to improve this tomorrow. “A big positive to come from today was the strength of the engine. The Suzuki is definitely up on horsepower compared to last year, and this gives us so much more potential. We’re still working on a lot of developments and I’m looking forward to getting the best out of what we have” John Hopkins: “I’m really excited about the GSV-R and today shows how much better it is getting – I’ve knocked a lot of time off my fastest lap from last year. “I tested both my bikes with different set-ups and they both showed big improvements since our last test at Phillip Island. If we keep going at this rate of development we will be challenging the front runners, that’s everybody’s target.” Paul Denning, Team Manager: “Kenny worked on getting the set-up right for his GSV-R and I’m sure that will pay dividends for him tomorrow. John had a bit of bad luck with a small crash this afternoon but he’s unhurt and is determined to improve on his times over the weekend. “We all know that there is still a long way to go during this test but the initial feeling is very positive.” MotoGP Test-Free Practice classification: 1.Max Biaggi (Honda) 1’43.158: 2.Sete Gibernau (Honda) 1’43.254: 3.Makoto Tamada (Honda) 1’43.347: 4.Marco Melandri (Honda) 1’43.433: 5.Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1’43.518: 6.Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1’43.882: 7.Alex Barros (Honda) 1’43.902: 8.Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 1’43.974: 9.Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1’44.282: 10. Kenny Roberts Jr (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) 1’44.282: 17.John Hopkins (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) 1’44.849: More, from a press release issued by Gauloises Yamaha Team: Catalunya IRTA Tests Catalunya, Spain Friday 18th March Seven days after packing up from their most recent test session at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia, the Gauloises Yamaha Team continued with their intense pre-season development programme today, the first day of the MotoGP Official Tests at the Catalunya circuit in Spain. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards took advantage of bright sunshine and ideal ambient temperatures of 23ºC to evaluate the performance of their 2005 version YZR-M1 machines, adorned in the team’s stunning new livery for the first time. Having previously tested at Sepang and Phillip Island so far this year, the Catalunya circuit represents a fresh new challenge for the riders and the machine. The Spanish track’s wide variety of corners, recently-laid track surface and 1047m straight, one of the longest on the MotoGP World Championship calendar, gives the team the opportunity to improve its overall package. Rossi and Edwards today worked largely on finding a good base set-up for their new machines but were both consistently amongst the fastest riders on track, and ended the day with the fifth and sixth fastest times respectively. The fastest lap of the eight-hour session was set by Max Biaggi (Honda) with a time of 1’43.158. The MotoGP Official Tests continue until Sunday, when Rossi will look to repeat his success from last year in the BMW Award, a televised 40-minute timed session which is offering the prize of a BMW Series 1 car to the fastest rider. VALENTINO ROSSI (1’43.518, 73 laps) “We’re having quite a few problems finding the right set-up and I haven’t had great feeling so far, especially with the front. I hope tomorrow we feel better but we need to find a solution to this problem. We have to work engine performance as well over the next two days and find out what’s going wrong. Anyway, I am confident that the team will find out the way we need to go and we have two more days to get there.” COLIN EDWARDS (1’43.882, 72 laps) “Catalunya is a very different style of circuit to Phillip Island and we were able to evaluate some different things with the new bike, although the actual material we had available was the same as the past tests. The long straight here has shown that we’re probably a little bit down on top speed at the moment but we’re making up for that everywhere else so I’m pretty happy with how things are going. The grip isn’t the best at the moment with the new surface but it just needs a while to bake and I imagine it will be much better by the time the race comes around here in June.” DAVIDE BRIVIO – TEAM DIRECTOR “This is a new track for us with the 2005 bike so it’s the perfect opportunity for us to test out a few different things. Colin tested a lot of tyres again for Michelin and he rode smoothly throughout the day without too many problems. However, Valentino is still not completely happy with the bike and he is having some problems with the front end. Hopefully tomorrow we can work to find some solutions for him. In general it was a typical first day of tests.” TIMES: 1. Max Biaggi (Repsol Honda Team) 1’43.158 2. Sete Gibernau (Team Movistar Honda) 1’43.254 3. Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda) 1’43.347 4. Marco Melandri (Team Movistar Honda) 1’43.433 5. VALENTINO ROSSI (GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM) 1’43.518 6. COLIN EDWARDS (GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM) 1’43.882 7. Alex Barros (Camel Honda) 1’43.902 8. Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1’43.974 9. Carlos Checa (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1’44.102 10. Kenny Roberts (Team Suzuki MotoGP) 1’44.282

1. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati) 335.1 Km/h 2. Makoto TAMADA (Minolta Honda) 334.6 3. Shinichi ITOH (Ducati) 332.4 4. Carlos CHECA (Ducati) 331.3 5. Max BIAGGI (Repsol Honda) 331.0 6. Alex BARROS (Camel Honda) 329.7 7. Nicky HAYDEN (Repsol Honda) 329.0 8. Marco MELANDRI (Movistar Honda) 328.2 9. Toni ELIAS (Fontuna Yamaha) 327.9 10. Valentino ROSSI (Gauloises Yamaha) 326.5 11. Sete GIBERNAU (Movistar Honda) 326.3 12. Colin EDWARDS (Gauloises Yamaha) 325.4 13. Nobuatsu AOKI (Suzuki) 324.6 14. Troy BAYLISS (Camel Honda) 324.5 15. Kenny ROBERTS (Suzuki) 324.2 16. Roberto ROLFO (D’Antin Ducati) 323.9 17. John HOPKINS (Suzuki) 323.2 18. Shinya NAKANO (Kawasaki) 320.7 19. Alex HOFMANN (Kawasaki) 320.5 20. Ruben XAUS (Fortuna Yamaha) 319.4 21. Vittoriano GUARESCHI (Ducati) 318.8 22. Shane BYRNE (Proton KR) 315.3 23. Franco BATTAINI (Blata WCM) 302.8 24. James ELLISON (Blata WCM) 300.4 25. Kazuki SHIMIZU (Kawasaki) 249.1

THE DUCATI MONSTER CHALLENGE CONCLUDES AT DUCATI DAY DAYTONA Ducati North America narrowed the contestants down to just twelve finalists prior to Daytona Speed Week. After a nail-biting final we now know who has the coolest Monster. March 17th, 2005 Cupertino, CA Throughout the winter, Ducati searched the country for the coolest Monster in North America. Winning Monsters from eight different IMS shows were selected for the grand finale on March 11th, in Daytona, along with four wildcard bikes that were so exceptional they warranted inclusion. A celebrity panel of judges including editors from Moto-Euro Magazine, Cycle News, the Desmodromiclub of Rome, Neil Hodgson and Eric Bostrom from Team Ducati Austin and Ducati CEO Michael Lock. Bikes, owners and judges assembled in Daytona to carefully critique each entrant. The bikes ranged in style from vintage inspired to turbocharged performance, making judging difficult because all the bikes were so well crafted. With each bike, one could tell the owner’s intentions and what they thought a truly perfect Ducati Monster should be. In the end, Stuart Baker, who won at the IMS Show in San Francisco, was adjudged to have the most outstanding bike. Special mention was made by many judges of the ‘purity of purpose and classic café-racer lines’ of Stuart’s bike. Baker won a brand new, $13495, 117 HP 2005 Ducati Monster S4R as his vintage styled 1999 Monster 750 took 1st place in front of a large crowd of Ducatisti on a beautiful afternoon in Florida. “It’s easy for someone to look at the pictures, and modification lists on the Internet and make judgments about other motorcycles. It is a whole other matter when you are face-to-face with the machines. Each and every motorcycle in the final round of the Monster Challenge was full of thought, great modifications, and a lot of passion. I’m not surprised it took the judges an extra two hours to announce their decisions,” commented Stuart. 2nd place went Chris Nicolaou of Port Perry, Ontario, who won a trip to the 2005 US MotoGP, featuring the return of Grand Prix racing to the USA and the debut of Ducati’s V-4 engined, 216 mph Desmosedici machine. Chris was the only Canadian selected as a finalist and his Monster features an extended swingarm, amazing craftsmanship and a unique style. Kyle Brussich of Houston, Texas finished on the podium in 3rd place with her heavily modified 2000 Ducati Monster 900. Surprisingly, Kyle was the only female finalist in Daytona despite having many women-owned Monsters compete in the Monster Challenge. She wins a $1000 Ducati Performance gift certificate. Finally, Keith Myers of Las Vegas, Nevada won the “People’s Choice” award. This award is a result of polling show patrons to select their favorite Monster and usually goes to the shiniest, most extrovert bike. In Keith’s case, his 1999 Monster 900S is the bike he actually rides. The Monster Challenge finalists in Daytona showed creativity and a dedication to motorcycling that motorcycle enthusiasts all over the world can appreciate. Founded in 1926, Ducati builds racing-inspired motorcycles characterized by unique engine features, innovative design, advanced engineering and overall technical excellence. The Company produces motorcycles in five market segments which vary in their technical and design features and intended customers: Superbike, Supersport; Monster, Sport Touring and Multistrada. The Company’s motorcycles are sold in more than 60 countries worldwide, with a primary focus in the Western European and North American markets. Ducati has won thirteen of the last fifteen World Superbike Championship titles and more individual victories than the competition put together. For more information about the Company, please visit our web site at www.ducati.com.

Pedrosa pulls rank as 250cc test ends at Catalunya World Champion Daniel Pedrosa stamped his authority over his 250cc class rivals with a late surge of speed on the final day of tests at Catalunya on Thursday. With the MotoGP teams set to take over preseason development duties at the Barcelona venue on Friday morning, Pedrosa rode his quarter-litre Honda until track closure at 6pm today and posted the fastest lap with his very last effort, dipping under record pace with a time of 1:46.248 as the chequered flag was waved. Despite having dominated the time sheets for much of the day, Pedrosa seemed to have conceded bragging rights to Aprilia’s Sebastián Porto, the runner-up from last season. The two riders were the last men out on track as they battled for supremacy in an entertaining end to the day, but the Argentinean was unable to improve on his previous best and was forced to settle for second place after the Spaniard’s late effort. “It was a difficult day today because we’ve had problems with the carburetion of the bike, as we did yesterday,” explained Pedrosa, who ran up 99 laps today a total bettered only by his Honda team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama, who completed a marathon 104 circulations of the 4727m track. “We also had a few problems with the front tyre and it seems as though they didn’t bring enough here, but I guess that was the same problem for all the riders. These problems disrupted our programme a little but in the afternoon it was a lot better. We parked the number one bike and worked solely on the spare, which I felt more comfortable with, and we got the time down in the end. Hopefully we can solve the problems at Jerez next week.” Randy de Puniet completed the third highest number of laps and ended the test with the third fastest time ahead of Aprilia colleague Alex de Angelis and Honda’s Jorge Lorenzo, who completed the top five. The 250cc teams now head south from Catalunya through Spain to the Jerez circuit in the region of Andalucía, where they will continue testing from 23-24 March. Several MotoGP riders were on hand to watch the 250cc session today as they finalise preparations for their first official confrontation of the preseason, which starts on Friday morning at 10.00h and runs until Sunday. The highlight of the weekend promises to be a timed 40-minute session on the final day, when the fastest rider will be handed the BMW Award MotoGP Test and will drive away in a brand-new BMW 1-series car. Official 250cc GP Test Times: 1. Daniel PEDROSA, Honda, 1:46.248 2. Sebastian PORTO, Aprilia, 1:46.438 3. Randy DE PUNIET, Aprilia, 1:46.756 4. Alex DE ANGELIS, Aprilia, 1:46.787 5. Jorge LORENZO, Honda, 1:47.018 6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Honda, 1:47.021 7. Hector BARBERA, Honda, 1:47.199 8. Roberto LOCATELLI, Aprilia, 1:47.379 9. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Honda, 1:47.546 10. Simone CORSI, Aprilia, 1:47.550 11. Casey STONER, Aprilia, 1:47.642 12. Alex DEBON, Honda, 1:48.274 13. Chaz DAVIES, Aprilia, 1:48.520 14. Mirko GIANSANTI, Aprilia, 1:48.535 15. Sylvain GUINTOLI, Aprilia, 1:48.703 16. Steve JENKNER, Aprilia, 1:48.818 17. Jakub SMRZ, Honda, 1:48.898 18. Yuki TAKAHASHI, Honda, 1:48.961 19. Andrea BALLERINI, Aprilia, 1:49.428 20. Taro SEKIGUCHI, Aprilia, 1:49.498 21. Alex BALDOLINI, Aprilia, 1:49.525 22. Gregory LEBLANC, Aprilia, 1:49.694 23. Radomil ROUS, Honda, 1:49.867 24. Martin CARDENAS, Aprilia, 1:50.382 25. Dirk HEIDOLF, Honda, 1:50.890 26. Arnaud VINCENT, Fantic, 1:52.584 27. Gabriele FERRO, Fantic, 1:54.447

The 2005 GSX-R1000 frames of Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates and Ben Spies that were found to be missing their Vehicle Indentification Numbers (VIN) after the races at Daytona International Speedway were otherwise legal, according to AMA Pro Racing. “It’s a little bit silly to worry too much about those things as long as the frames meet the production specifications, which they did. That (missing VINs) kind of triggered us to go ahead and do some measuring while we were at Daytona. Everything looked fine from what our tech guys could see,” AMA Pro Racing Road Race Series Manager Ron Barrick told Roadracingworld.com in a telephone interview Thursday. “Don Sakakura (Yoshimura Suzuki Team Manager) said that they were pre-production frames. Obviously, they weren’t able to get regular production bikes as early as they would like to get started working on the bikes. I think even the Corona (Suzuki) team didn’t have ’05 bikes to work with at Daytona. So I guess they’re in somewhat short supply. “Obviously, the manufacturer has the capacity to manufacture whatever frame they want and stamp whatever number they want on it. Just the fact that these didn’t have a number on them doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything unusual one way or the other. And the same can be said for a frame that does have a number on it. That doesn’t mean it’s standard. The process is the same whether they have a VIN number or not. We occasionally have to look at them and measure them and make sure they’re playing by the rules in that regard.” Barrick said that all of the motorcycle manufacturers have supplied sample 2005-model bikes and parts to AMA Pro Racing for comparisons during technical inspections.

An auction of an autographed Tommy Hayden AMA Supersport Championship T-shirt and personalized Kawasaki Road Racing hat is currently underway on eBay at”¦ ~http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5176246030~ All proceeds from the auction will go to the Roadracing world Action Fund, a non-profit corporation dedicated to reducing the number of injuries at racetracks by educating and advocating the use of soft barrier technology. The T-shirt is one of only a very limited number produced for Hayden and his Kawasaki team members to wear in winner’s circle after winning the 2004 AMA Supersport Championship at Virginia International Raceway last season. The XL-size, 100% cotton T-shirt was donated by Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. and autographed by Tommy Hayden on the front right chest area with a Sharpie permanent marker. The hat is an L-size Flexfit baseball style cap produced by Shift specifically for Tommy and Roger Lee Hayden to wear at races in 2004. The cap is 98% cotton, displays “Kawasaki Road Racing” on the front, a Kawasaki “K” under the bill and “HAYDEN” embroidered at the rear, which makes the hat very unique and collectable. Both the T-shirt and hat are in brand-new, never-worn condition. The auction is scheduled to end at approximately 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday, March 25.

MUNROE MOTORS PREPARE FOR DUCATI CONTINGENCY RACE PROGRAM Following Ducati North America’s announcement last month of a substantial U.S. road racing contingency program, Munroe Motors Ducati San Francisco & East Bay announced today they are joining forces with Tag Team Racing to contest the 2005 AFM Formula Pacific & Opens Twins Championships. Tag Team Racing’s pilot, Eric Gulbransen, is a long standing Ducati Superbike racer and championship winning veteran – originally from the Loudon Road Race Series, now an AFM series front runner. The team will campaign a 2005 Ducati 999R and a 2005 749R prepared at the new Munroe Motors East Bay Ducati dealership in San Leandro, California. Munroe Motors has been racing Ducatis for many years at the local and national level, winning the 2001 AMA Pro-Thunder championship on their 2001 Ducati 748R. “This year we decided to focus on our local Northern California racing scene, and the folks at Ducati wanted to support a team at the regional level” said Nick Hayman of Munroe Motors. “Their new regional and national contingency program is a great incentive for racers around the country to race Ducati’s”. For some national exposure, the team will also enter the 749R in the AMA Formula Xtreme round at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, and the 999R in the AMA Superbike class at Infineon and at Laguna Seca. As Eric Gulbransen put it, “I’m stoked for our entire team. We’ve all worked hard to get to where we are with Ducati – together as a part of Tag Team Racing, and individually in years past. I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge everyone who has worked with us – if not for them I’d be racing shopping carts right now, and some moms these days are fast as hell.” For more information about Tag Team Racing please go to www.GoTagTeam.com

West and KTM 250 looking ahead to french debut Australian rider Anthony West is scheduled to make a delayed start to the 250cc Road Race World Championship with the Red Bull KTM GP250 team in the French Grand at Le Mans in May. The all-new KTM 250 project is in the early stages of development and is part of KTM’s carefully planned expansion into grand prix road racing. The 2005 season was always planned as a development and evaluation year for the 250cc project as part of KTM’s long term strategy of a full scale world championship campaign for 2006. With a planned focus on the three-rider 125cc KTM squad the 250cc prototype is still being prepared by Austrian engineer Harald Bartol prior to its first test sessions. It is anticpated that West, who is already set-up in Europe at his Austrian base, will race the KTM 250 at Le Mans, the fourth race of the season. “The KTM 250 was always planned as a development project for 2005 so not being present for the opening race in Jerez is not a major issue for us,” said KTM motorsport manager Kurt Nicoll. “The 125cc team is our primary focus for 2005 and it makes sense to complete evaluation trials of the the new 250 before we start racing. “Harald Bartol and his team have done a tremendous job on advancing the 250 bike from design phase to prototype over the winter and we are sticking with KTM’s policy of testing before racing.” The KTM 250 will not be at the current IRTA tests scheduled for Barcelona and Jerez (next week). Private test sessions will be completed in advance of the race debut of the KTM 250. “The 250 is progressing according to our target which was always to have a bike that would be begin show its potential in the second half of the 2005 season,” said Bartol. “There is no reason to rush our technical plan which is focussed on the 125 team and some support for the MotoGP V4 project. The 2006 season is our priority with the 250 and that’s why we signed Anthony West to a two year with that development program in place.” The KTM 250 is part of overall strategy by KTM to increase its involvement in the Road race world championship with the Austrian manufacturer now represented in the three FIM world championship classes – 125, 250 and MotoGP. The Red Bull KTM GP125 team will be spearheaded by three talented and committed riders – Mika Kallio (Finland), Gabor Talmacsi (Hungary) and Julian Simon (Spain). The MotoGP project is a joint effort with TeamKR with British rider Shakey Byrne riding a KTM V4, 990cc powered machine.