From a press release issued by Coolskunk KyDs:

Attica, New York-January 12, 2005-Today, Coolskunk Promotions (Attica, NY) announce the appointment of Keith Jacobsen of Montgomery, NY as Race Director for the Coolskunk KyDs Racing Team for the 2005 season. Jacobsen, a former GNC national rider has been concentrating on promoting flat track racing throughout the Northeast since retiring and puts on approx 60-70 races per season both indoors and outdoors. Jacobsen will have responsibility for equipment, rider and race logistics.

Coolskunk’s founder and team owner Philip Rispoli noted “having Keith join our team is a significant step toward our goal of creating a world class junior platform in preparation of the pro ranks. Keith’s 25 years of race experience, industry contacts and his passion for detail will bring a wealth of benefits to those young riders who are part of our development programs. It’s a very exciting time for our team as we see the flat track market building at the grass roots level again.”

Keith Jacobsen commented, “I have watched Philip bring the Coolskunk philosophy to the market the last five years. He has been consistent and has significantly made a difference in the sport and the people around him. The timing of coming on board couldn’t be better. By taking over race team operations Philip will be able to concentrate on the marketing side of our program. I am thrilled to be a part of the team and to be able to help so many young riders achieve their goals.”

Coolskunk KyDs Racing will field both a Flat Track Team as well as a newly announced Road Race Development Team for 2005.

About Coolskunk KyDs Racing

CoolSkunk KyDs is a sports promotion organization that has formed a racing team dedicated to the pursuit of life learning values in competitive youth motor sports. Our vision includes helping to bring out the passion, flexibility, excitement and demonstrated appetite for success and adventure, waiting to be exposed in our youth.

Copyright 2005, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

From an e-mail:

As the SuperBike World Championships prepares to begin its 2005 season, it is making a push to reach the North American market. As a result, I would like to add you to our PR distribution list.

Basically, this will involve sending press releases – a North American venue will soon be announced for 2005 – race results and news. This will not be overwhelming; expect to see a release every other week or so during the next few months.

We appreciate any coverage and certainly let me know if you need anything from me or the series. You can also check the website at http://www.worldsbk.com

Sincerely,

Kevin Wilkerson
SuperBike World Championship
North America Public Relations

Copyright 2005, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Roadracing World has received press releases from some of Ben Attard’s sponsors claiming that he is from New Zealand.

The first sponsor to get it wrong was Kawasaki Motors Corp. in an announcement that Attard would join Josh Hayes on the Attack Kawasaki support team. Other sponsors have now repeated the mistake.

It is the policy of Roadracingworld.com to post press releases without correcting them, and to identify the item in question as being from a press release. Sometimes we add a wisecrack in the headline or intro line if we feel like it.

However, in this case, we’re tired of getting e-mails from readers all wound up about “your article” or “your story” about Ben Attard being wrong.

A press release is basically propaganda issued by a company, a team, a racer, a PR agency, etc. seeking publicity. Anything identified as being “From a press release” is not generated by Roadracingworld.com and the content is solely the responsibility of the issuing party.

We don’t post every press release we get, and decide which ones to post based on timeliness and a subjective judgement of news or entertainment value (if any). If parts of a press release are too commercial, i.e., include ordering or price information more suitable for a paid advertisement, we may delete those parts and post other parts of the release. Which is why the tagline says, “From a press release…” and not “A press release…”

To clarify, Ben Attard was born on September 11, 1980 in Sydney, Australia.

In other words, he is an Australian.

From a press release issued by Kawasaki Motors Corp., which apparently confuses Superstock with Supersport:

KAWASAKI TO SUPPORT JESSICA ZALUSKY IN SELECT 2005 AMA ROAD RACES

Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. announced it is backing female road racer Jessica Zalusky in select AMA Pro class road racing events in 2005.

Zalusky will compete in the Superbike and Superstock classes on the Ninja® ZX-10R and in the Formula Xtreme class on the ZX-6RR at select 2005 AMA road racing events.

A resident of Prior Lake, Minn., and former pro snowboarder, Zalusky has raced motorcycles since 1999 and most recently raced for the Moto Primo Suzuki Team. In addition to competing in AMA 600cc Supersport and 750cc Superstock classes, her accomplishments include a ninth overall finish in the 2002 AMA Pro Thunder series and 31st overall in the 2004 AMA Superstock class.

Team Green™ Manager Reid Nordin said Zalusky is a skilled rider and brings a positive message to pro motorcycle racing.

“Jessica is an inspiration and an incredible role model,” said Nordin. “More and more women are buying sport bikes, and Jessica’s story will demonstrate that women can enjoy motorcycling in both recreational and competitive environments.”

Part of Zalusky’s goal for the new season includes becoming the first woman to compete in the Superbike class at Brainerd International Raceway in June 2005. Her ultimate goal, however, is to win an AMA road racing championship.

“Motorcycling is a great pastime in and of itself, and I’d like to do for road racing what Angelle Savoie has done for motorcycle drag racing,” said Zalusky. “She’s a multi-time champion and a great spokesperson, and I’d like to take that same message of participation and excitement to the women out there who love road racing as much as I do.”

“I hope that my racing will allow women to realize that there are no barriers, other than the ones you create for yourself. I also hope to reach out to young women, to inspire them to chase their dreams and to let them know that they can do anything.”

Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. (KMC) markets and sells at wholesale Kawasaki motorcycles, ATVs, personal watercraft, utility vehicles and power products through a network of more than 1,500 independent retailers, with an additional 8,400 retailers specializing in power products and general purpose engines. KMC and its affiliates employ nearly 2,400 people in the United States, with more than 350 of them located at the Irvine, California headquarters.

Kawasaki’s tagline, “Let the good times roll.™”, is recognized worldwide and the brand is aggressively carrying its heritage of leading-edge power, performance and exhilaration into the 21st century. Information about Kawasaki’s complete line of recreational products and Kawasaki affiliates can be found on the Internet at www.kawasaki.com.

Jessica’s website address is www.roadracinggirl.com.

From a press release:

The Wegman Benefit Fund has been fortunate to receive some very generous help in the form of end of the year donations.

We are pleased to announce that Mrs. Angela Siddall has made the largest single donation in the 18 year history of the Fund. After asking if we accepted stock as a donation we were happy to answer in the affirmative after doing some research. This is something that has never been offered to us before so we needed to do some quick checking. At that point Mrs. Siddall transferred $10,000 in Microsoft stock to the Wegman Fund. This very generous donation will help us tremendously as we are currently working with several racers who were injured in 2004. (Mrs. Siddall’s son James Siddall is the manager of the Grave’s Yamaha Racing Team)

The Fund has also received another donation from Corse Superbikes in Saukville, WI. Their 4th quarter sales donation of $1,060 makes their total contribution of the year $6,340. As of last week, Sam Milella General Manager of Corse, was working out details for their 2005 program to assist the Wegman Fund. Preliminary talks have the possibility of Corse Superbikes donating a motorcycle for the Fund to auction or raffle off during the ’05 racing season.

Fred and Adrienne (Eckhart) Bittner made a recent donation of $657 to add to the great product donation they made to the annual auction in ’04. Charlie Buse, a long time CCS Midwest Region competitor who took this year off to recuperate from a very rough ’03 season contributed $250.

The online auction we held for a California Superbike School session (donated by Keith Code) was won by Ray Roper of Murrieta, Ca with a bid of $281. We plan to add more auctions and other opportunities to contribute to the Wegman Fund in the future. Please check our website at www.wegmanfund.org .

The Wegman Fund helped injured road racers with over $14,000 in assistance in 2004 and $3500 already this year which brings our total assistance to date $158,160.

Our sincere thanks go out to everyone who has contributed in anyway to the Wegman Fund in 2004. We sincerely hope you will consider the Wegman Fund as a viable option for your tax deductible donations in 2005. For more information please contact us through our website or [email protected].

Gordon Lunde
Wegman Benefit Fund
3741 S.71 St.
Milwaukee, WI 53220
414-702-5982

From a press release not quite announcing the motorsports sponsorship deal we’d really like to see:

U. S. Air Force to Sponsor the IFMA Freestyle Motocross Series

AURORA, III. – Clear Channel Entertainment’s Motor Sports division announced that the United States Air Force will sponsor the IFMA Freestyle Motocross Series and select USHRA Monster Jam events in 2005. The agreement provides the U.S. Air Force with prominent on-site presence at the live events. Additionally, local recruiting squadrons will be stationed at highly visible locations to promote U.S. Air Force career opportunities.

“We are thrilled to announce the U.S. Air Force sponsorship,” said Scott Mendel, national sales director, Clear Channel Entertainment – Motor Sports. “Not only are they a great fit to our high-flying events, but our events offer a great forum for the U.S. Air Force to reach young men and women.”

“The Air Force’s relationship with Motocross allows us to broaden Air Force awareness with motor sports fans across the country,” said Brig. Gen. Dutch Remkes, commander of Air Force Recruiting Service at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. “It provides an opportunity for fans who share the excitement of Motocross to learn about the diverse team of Air Force men and women who serve their nation.”

About Clear Channel Entertainment

Clear Channel Entertainment, the world’s largest producer and marketer of live entertainment events, is a subsidiary of Clear Channel Worldwide (NYSE: CCU), a global leader in the out-of-home advertising industry. Clear Channel Entertainment currently owns, operates and/or exclusively books 135 live entertainment venues, including 44 amphitheaters in the U.S. and 28 venues in Europe. Each year, more than 62 million people attend approximately 26,000 events promoted and/or produced by the company, including: Live music events; Broadway, West End and touring theatrical shows; family entertainment shows; and specialized sports and motor sports shows.

In addition, Clear Channel Entertainment owns leading talent management businesses that specialize in the representation of athletes and broadcasters, including independently operated baseball, basketball and football businesses. Clear Channel Entertainment is headquartered in New York City.

Copyright 2005, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION

Via e-mail:

Last week my 2001 GSX-R600 and several thousand dollars in tools were stolen out of my garage in broad daylight. I was unfortunately uninsured for that as funds have been thin.

The bike is blue/white with blue Sharkskinz plastic. It has a softball-sized dent in the right side of the gas tank and right frame spar. It has a full Micron Serpent exhaust, Sunstar floating rotors, EDR Performance stickers, PPTuning rearsets, and had Dunlop 208GP tires with a 190 rear when it was stolen. It also still had the license plate on it, an LED tail light, and a small PIAA type headlight in the bottom of the front fairing. It had no numbers on it at the time, but does still have a racing type paint job with white front and rear number plates. I can be contacted at 503-679-3907 or e-mail [email protected]

It was stolen in East Gresham Oregon between 5:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Luke Morgan
OMRRA #311
East Gresham, Oregon

Copyright 2005, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA Pro Racing Web Development Manager Matt Ringlien will resign his position with the organization effective January 14.

In a January 10 e-mail to Roadracingworld.com, Ringlien, who has been with the sanctioning body for nine years, wrote that he has made the difficult decision to “move on to new opportunities.” He plans to join the management team of a Columbus, Ohio automobile dealership.

From a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

SUZUKI STAGES GSX-R SEMINARS

Team Suzuki Press Office – January 10, 2004.

Suzuki is staging a series of four specialist Yoshimura GSX-R Seminars this month, the first of which kicks off at Crescent Racing in the UK today, Monday.

The aim of the seminars is to improve tuning techniques and racing kit knowledge amongst dealer-supported race teams and also enhance the brand image of the highly-competitive GSX-R range of motorcycles that has dominated both the AMA and British Superbike series’ last season in the hands of Yoshimura Suzuki star Mat Mladin and Rizla Suzuki’’s John Reynolds.

The seminars will focus on the new GSX-R1000K5 and the “EM-Pro”,– a brand new kit part for the setting tool of the engine management system.

After today’’s seminar, which was attended by more than 40 UK dealers and teams, Suzuki will move to Germany (January 13th), France (January 18th) and then Italy for the final seminar on January 21st.

From a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:

Haga returns to Yamaha for 2005

10/1/2005

Yamaha has signed popular Japanese rider Noriyuki Haga to complete its line-up for the 2005 Superbike World Championship season.

Haga will race a YZF-R1 for the Milan-based Yamaha Motor Italia team, reuniting him with the brand on which he made his name in the late Nineties. The Japanese ace was a Yamaha rider between 1994 and 2001 and during this period he won 11 world superbike races, taking a best championship finish of second in the 2000 season, Yamaha’s last year of official participation in the series.

Last year Noriyuki rode a privately-entered Ducati to six wins and third in the series, a result bettered only by the Italian manufacturer’s factory entered riders.

Haga will have his first experience of the R1 when he joins team-mate Andrew Pitt in a three day test at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia later this month. Pitt has already completed two tests with the R1, both at Valencia in Spain, which Haga was unable to attend for contractual reasons.

In addition to Yamaha Motor Europe’s officially-supported Italian squad, a number of other long-standing Yamaha teams have announced their intention to independently enter the 2005 Superbike World Championship using race-kitted YZF-R1 machinery. Among the teams due to line-up on the grid this year are: Yamaha Motor France, who will enter former Grand Prix riders Norifumi Abe and Sebastien Gimbert; European Superstock Champions Lorenzini by Leoni, who are running Italian rider Gianluca Vizziello; and reigning Endurance World Champions Yamaha GMT94, who are intending to enter selected rounds with Spanish rider David Checa.

Noriyuki Haga
“I’m looking forward to returning to Yamaha and turning the R1 into a winner! I am on holiday with my family just now so I should be feeling good when I meet up with the team for my first ride on the bike, at Phillip Island later this month. I’m very happy to be staying in superbikes and joining this good team. As everyone knows, I love this championship and I’ve also worked with many of my mechanics before, and also the people at Yamaha Europe, so it will not feel all new to me. It should be fun!”

Claudio Consonni – Racing Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia
“We’re all very excited about Noriyuki joining us for this year. He is one of the all-time greats of world superbike and a very popular rider. Already there is a great spirit within the team after Andrew’s valuable feedback and performances in our early tests and now we’re looking forward to getting out to Australia for our first test with both riders.”

Laurens Klein Koerkamp (Racing Manager, Yamaha Motor Europe) “We’re looking forward to working with Nori-chan again. His performances last year showed that his is as fast as ever and he is also such a popular rider – that is good for us, the championship and our fans.

“Andrew has already had two good tests but our bike is still an unknown quantity at this level and we will be going to each circuit without a base set up. We have set a target of being able to win races in the latter half of the season and we believe that we will be able to challenge for the title in 2006.”

Rider profiles

Noriyuki Haga
Date of birth: 02.03.1975
Place of birth: Aichi, Japan
Marital status: Married with two sons
Height: 168cm
Weight: 65kg

Career history
2004 Superbike World Championship (third)
2003 MotoGP World Championship (14th)
2002 Superbike World Championship (fourth)
2001 500cc World Championship (14th)
2000 Superbike World Championship (second)
1999 Superbike World Championship (seventh)
1998 Superbike World Championship (sixth)
1997 All Japan Superbike Champion
Superbike World Championship (13th)
1996 All Japan Superbike Championship (eighth)
Won Suzuki 8-Hour (with Colin Edwards)
1995 All Japan Superbike Championship (10th)
1994 All Japan Superbike Championship (ninth)
1993 All Japan 250cc Championship (13th)

Andrew Pitt
Date of birth: 19.02.1976
Place of birth: Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia
Resides: Douglas, Isle of Man
Marital status: Single
Height: 178cm
Weight: 65kg

Career history
2004 Supersport World Championship (12th)
MotoGP World Championship (27th)
2003 MotoGP World Championship (26th)
2002 Supersport World Championship (fifth)
2001 Supersport World Champion
2000 Supersport World Championship (10th)
1999 Australian Supersport Champion
Australian Superbike Championship (second)
1998 Australian Supersport Championship (second)
1997 Victorian Supersport Champion
1996 Australian 250cc Production Championship (second)