AMA Pro Racing Round 1 – Daytona International Speedway
Schedule

Wednesday March 3
8:30am Garages Open
9:00am – 12:00pm Rider Head Shots in Media Center – Mandatory
12:00pm Post Entry Deadline for SuperSport Top Guns Only
12:30pm – 1:00pm Free Practice Daytona SportBike (LC)
1:30pm – 2:00pm Free Practice American SuperBike (SC)
2:10pm – 2:40pm Free Practice SuperSport (SC)
2:40pm – 3:40pm Mid-day Break
3:45pm – 4:45pm Free Practice American SuperBike (SC)
5:00pm – 6:00pm Free Practice SuperSport (SC)
6:30pm – 8:00pm Free Practice Daytona SportBike (LC)
9:00pm Garages Close

Thursday March 4
8:00am Garages Open
9:00am – 9:20am Qualifying Practice Daytona SportBike Group A (LC)
9:25am – 9:45am Qualifying Practice Daytona SportBike Group B (LC)
10:15am – 10:45am Qualifying Practice American SuperBike (SC)
11:00am – 11:30am Final Qualifying SuperSport (SC)
11:45am – 12:30pm Final Qualifying American SuperBike (SC)
12:30pm – 1:30pm Mid-day Break
12:45pm – 1:30pm Mandatory Autograph Session- American SuperBike,
Daytona SportBike, SuperSport
1:30pm Opening Ceremonies – SuperSport
2:00pm SuperSport (12 laps) 35 Mile Race
3:00pm Opening Ceremonies – American SuperBike
3:30pm American SuperBike (15 laps) 44 Mile Race
5:00pm – 6:30pm Evening Break/Fan Track Rides
6:30pm -7:00pm Final Qualifying Daytona SportBike Group A (LC)
7:00pm -7:30pm Final Qualifying Daytona SportBike Group B (LC)
8:30pm Garages Close

Friday March 5
9:30am Garages Open (DAYTONA 200 Pit Assignments Posted at Tech)
11:30am – 12:00pm Warm-up SuperSport (SC)
12:15pm – 12:45pm Warm-up American SuperBike (SC)
1:30pm – 2:00pm Warm-up Daytona SportBike (LC)
2:00pm – 3:00pm Mid-day break
3:00pm SuperSport (12 laps) 35 Mile Race
4:00pm American SuperBike (15 laps) 44 Mile Race
7:15pm Opening Ceremonies-DAYTONA 200
8:00pm DAYTONA 200 (57 laps)
12:00am Garage area move-out

TIME CERTAIN SCHEDULE – All Sessions to start and finish as shown
(SC) = Short Course-4.67km, 2.9 miles (LC) = Long Course-5.65km, 3.51 miles

Daytona 200 TV Coverage:
Friday, March 5
AMA Pro Road Racing – Daytona 200
Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL, USA
SPEED
9:00pm-11:30pm (Live)

An exciting weekend of World Superbike action from Round 1 at Phillip Island. This weekend was also round 1 of the Motourage Fantasy Riders league.  Suzuki and Ducati – both factory and privateer efforts – came up big in Australia, and the players who picked those teams also came up big.

Here are the results of Round 1 of the Motourage Fantasy Riders league:

1st Swamphole Racing, Noel Nunkovich 46

2nd MinellaSpeed, Dave Minella 45

3rd Team Motorious, Ivan Lo 35

4th East Coast Racing, Brad Boutilier 33

5th Flying Monkeys, Jeff Ritter 29

6th team karbonated, Rebecca Saclolo 27

7th BNG Racing, Bridget Kirkland 27

8th Motherless Goats, Jared Koch 27

9th Dark Energy, Camila Restrepo 27

10th Team Rig, Lee Lilly 27

11th CornerSpeedPhoto, Dan Lo 27

12th Spieswise, A. Van Donselaar 24

13th Pretty.2010Pretty Pretty 16

14th irishlad, Dave Kelly 9

15th Uttley Allstars, Richard Uttley 6

16th JJ’s M1 Super Scooters, Jennifer Jabbusch 6

17th ducatinewstoday.com, Mark Morrison 0

18th Desmodromic Demonoids, Aaron Boyle 0

19th rozlanbgsp, Rozlan Abdullah 0

20th MotoGPNewsBlog, Chris Lykins 0

21st MotoGPBlog, Rob Jones 0

22nd Ow My Freakin’ Ears!, Leigh Berwick 0

Well, I guess we can’t complain. The nice racing fans (?) over at SPEED have found it in their hearts to postpone the 35th re-runs of Pinks All-Out and Pimp My Ride to bring us some coverage of the AMA Pro Road Racing Series round 1 from Daytona.  The – um – excitement kicks off on Friday, March 5 with live coverage of the Daytona 200, which – as Ralph Shaheen will tell you – is “the most prestigious motorcycle race in the world.” And, although it will be dark outside and this will be live coverage, listen for Ralph to remind you about 100 times that this race is taking place “under the lights.”

On Saturday evening, set your DVRs to record the Supercross event and Superbike race 1 and 2 (which will be on a two-day delay). Finally, the weekend winds down with AMA Flat Track action from the new 1/4 mile Daytona short Track. It’s great for flat track fans to actually be able to see a race on TV, but don’t get used to the coverage, as AMA Flat Track will only be available on MavTV for the remainder of the season.

The ongoing coverage failure by SPEED makes one wonder if they’re in cahoots with the folks over at DMG to completely kill American road racing…

Daytona Bike Week broadcast schedule (subject to change):

March 5
· Daytona Sportbike Daytona 200, 9 p.m. ET

March 6
· Daytona Supercross, 8 p.m. ET
· American Superbike Race 1, 10:30 p.m. ET
· American Superbike Race 2, 11:30 p.m. ET

March 7
· AMA Grand National Flat Track, 6 p.m. ET

It feels great to be able to post some real racing schedules for the first time in a long time.  We’ve been (not so) patiently waiting all winter long, and racing season is finally here. The next week brings us round one of the FIM World Superbike Championship and the Australian Superbike Championship, both happening at Phillip Island. Also, AMA Pro Road Racing returns to Daytona for the Daytona Sportbike class’s Daytona 200, as well as American Superbike, Supersport and AMA Flat Track. With the uncertainty that the US economy brings as well as the ongoing DMG fiasco, Daytona will be the first chance for many of us to take a peek into what 2010 has in store for American motorcycle racing.

Here’s what’s going on in the upcoming week:

At the Track

February 26-28
FIM Superbike World Championship Rd #1
Phillip Island Circuit, Victoria, Australia

February 26-28
Viking Group Australian Superbike Championship Rd #1
Phillip Island Circuit, Victoria, Australia

February 27-28
Castrol Power 1 New Zealand Superbike Championship Rd #4
Manfeild Park, Feilding, New Zealand

February 27
XIIR – Extreme International Ice Racing
The Aud, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

March 3-4
AMA Pro Racing Flat Track Grand National Championship Rd #1-2
Daytona International Speedway Short Track, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA

March 3-5
AMA Pro Road Racing Rd #1
Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA

On TV

Sunday, February 28
Superbike World Championship Rd #1
Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia
SPEED
3:00pm-4:00pm (Same Day Delay) -Race 1
4:00pm-5:00pm (Same Day Delay) -Race 2

Friday, March 5
AMA Pro Road Racing – Daytona 200
Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL, USA
SPEED
9:00pm-11:30pm (Live)

*The Official Motourage Daytona 200 Drinking Game: Drink every time Ralph Shaheen says “Under the lights.” You’ll be falling down by lap three.

We’re planning on producing some Motourage Tour 2010 T-Shirts, highlighting the events where the Motourage group will have a presence this summer (So far the list is WSBK at Miller, MotoGP at Indy and AMA at VIR with more TBD).  So, we’re asking readers to submit their favorite motorcycle racing quotes to be used on the back of the shirts.

We’re looking for famous or semi-famous racers or anyone close to the racing world; managers, techs, crew chiefs, promoters, media, etc.

Just post your suggested quote and to whom it’s credited in the comments section.  If your suggestion is selected for use on the Motourage T-Shirt, you’ll receive a free T-Shirt and some other neat little prize that we find lying around.

Join the Motourage Fantasy Riders Race League.

It’s simple. Just visit FantasyRiders.com and Create a New Team.

Once you have a team name, login and password, go to Join Personal League.

The league number is 80033, and – if needed – the password is veryfast.

There’s plenty of time to choose your riders, but make sure your picks are locked in by Feb 26 as no more changes will be allowed until after the first round.

As always, we’ll have a really cool prize for the league winner at the end of the season.

Good Luck!

-Dave

The AMA announced today the 2010 schedule for the 10-round AMA Racing/NATC Observed Trials National Championship Series, as well as the dates for the East and West Youth Championships.

Riders vying for national titles in several age-, skill- and machine-based classes in the AMA Racing/NATC Observed Trials National Championship Series will begin their campaigns on May 1-2 in Tishomingo, Okla.

Photo by Darlene Lynch

In the East, top youth trials riders will face off July 2-4 in Sequatchie, Tenn., while in the West, youth titles will be decided on July 17-19 in Las Vegas, N.M.

“The feats that these riders achieve on their motorcycles, from scaling vertical cliffs to crossing seemingly impassable rock gardens, will keep any fan coming back for more,” said AMA Director of Racing Joe Bromley. “Trials is one of the oldest forms of motorcycle sport, and we’re excited to begin another year in the storied history of this incredible discipline.”

From Oklahoma, the AMA Racing/NATC Observed Trials National Championship Series will go to Exeter, R.I., for rounds three and four; Cayuta, N.Y., for rounds five and six; Pueblo, Colo., for rounds seven and eight; and Norden, Calif., for rounds nine and 10. The complete schedule, as well as contact information for the East and West Youth Championships, is below.

For more information, visit www.natctrials.org.

Read more…

Robbie Bugden is on the hunt for his fourth NZSBK title

Robbie Bugden may be the defending Castrol Power1New Zealand Superbike Series champion however he’s not resting on his laurels for a successful defense of his Superbike crown. Bugden will be riding the new Triple R Mack Truck Suzuki Superbike Team GSXR1000 in the five-round title chase, starting at Ruapuna this weekend. Although an Australian, Bugden has won the last three NZ Superbike titles in a row, no small feat against New Zealand’s fastest riders aboard 200hp race bikes. But, retaining the Castrol Power 1 NZ Superbike title won’t be easy. Fellow Suzuki rider Andrew Stroud may be Bugden’s greatest challenger, again, although Hondas Craig Shirriffs and Hayden Fitzgerald have displayed good form during the recent Suzuki International Tri-Series, won by Stroud. GSXR1000 mounted Ray Clee can never be discounted in any race.

Team manager Peter ‘Red’ Fenton is confident of success at Ruapuna, “The tests we’ve done so far have been very encouraging, and Robbie has just done the Australian Superbike championship. He’s been over twice in the last month, that went well because we’d been working with the K9 model GSXR1000 in Australia.”

Suzuki rider Sloan Frost is the name many people will be watching this season, including the Triple R Mack Truck Suzuki Superbike Team, who are assisting the promising Hamilton racer this season.

Fenton’s Triple R Mack Truck Suzuki Superbike Team is the most successful motorcycle race team in recent history, notching up no less than four major NZ championships using Dunlop tires over the past three years. Fenton also manages Bugden’s Australian-based Joe Rocket Suzuki satellite team, completing the 2009 Australian Superbike season in fifth position.

Having the right backing can be as important to a team’s success as having the fastest rider. Their effort on both sides of the Tasman this year will be boosted considerably with new support from Mack Trucks.

James Smith returns for his fourth season with the Triple R Mack Truck Suzuki Superbike Team. The Christchurch rider will be busy – Smith has elected to race in the big-bore Superbike class on a Suzuki GSXR1000, and in the ultra-competitive 600 Supersport class aboard the latest Suzuki GSXR600. Smith has recorded excellent pre-season results during his first rides on a Superbike, and the team is expecting consistent results from the 29 year old. In the 600 Supersport category, Smith is aiming to go one better this year than his runner-up positions from the previous two seasons, and with 2009 champ Gareth Jones absent from the series, Smith must be title favorite.

Regarding the championship Fenton says, “Our aim this year is to win both classes. Because our series is so short a small mishap can really cost us – a bit of good luck goes a long way in our championship I believe, and sometimes you make your own good luck. But I know that Andrew (Stroud), Craig (Shirriffs), Hayden (Fitzgerald), and you can never write off Ray Clee, Sloan (Frost) will be on the pace too, all those guys will be competitive. With a bit of luck on our side and with Robbie and James’ natural talent, we should win.”

2010 Castrol Power 1 NZ Superbike Championship schedule:
Rnd 1: Powerbuilt Tools Raceway, Ruapuna, January 16-17
Rnd 2: Teretonga Park, January 23-24
Rnd 3: Timaru International Motor Raceway, Levels, January 30-31
Rnd 4: Manfeild, February 27-28
Rnd 5: Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, March 27-28

The first AMA Pro Road Racing approved test of 2010 will be held at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. on February 2 and 3.  The test will be hosted by Yoshimura.
This preseason test will not count towards the three approved AMA Pro allowed tests as it will provide teams an opportunity to handle media and marketing needs as well as shake down new equipment and riders for the upcoming season. The complete test schedule will be announced as soon as the last date is finalized.
To reserve a spot, please contact Rich Doan at (909) 364-0186 or (909) 215-3849.