AMA Superbike Racing Returns This Weekend to Barber Motorsports Park
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Eric Putter Rose Kausler Media Relations Manager Media Relations Manager AMA Superbike Championship Zoom Motorsports eputter@ama-cycle.org rkausler@zoommoto.com Mobile: 949.279.0909 Mobile: 205.441.5815 Office: 845.535.3175 Office: 205.262.2824 AMA SUPERBIKE RACING RETURNS TO BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK BIRMINGHAM, ALA. - APRIL 14, 2008 - America's premier motorcycle road race series, the AMA Superbike Championship, rolls into Barber Motorsports Park April 18-20. Coming from NASCAR's high banks at Daytona International Speedway, which hosted the series' opening round, this world-renowned circuit, located just outside Birmingham, Ala., marks the first traditional road course on the series' 11-event 2008 calendar. It's also the first of eight Superbike-class doubleheader weekends. Here's a quick look at the national-championship battles coming to the Park. AMA SUPERBIKE PRESENTED BY PARTS UNLIMITED In addition to claiming the last six Superbike races in Alabama, the factory Suzuki team carries a 27-race AMA Superbike win streak into this weekend. At the Daytona season opener, Suzuki's six-time AMA Superbike Champion, Mat Mladin outfoxed teammate Ben Spies. This bolstered the Aussie's all-time records, a 53rd pole and 64th win, which is twice as many victories as the next racer in the record book, Honda's Miguel Duhamel. AMA PRO HONDA OILS SUPERSPORT PRESENTED BY SHOEI Graves Motorsports Yamaha's winning combination of youth and experience came together to produce a remarkable 1-2 finish in the Supersport season opener. Ben Bostrom, the 1998 AMA Superbike champ, kicked off his first full-time Supersport title push in a decade by losing 14 pounds in the off-season and promptly winning at Daytona. The former World Superbike ace narrowly defeated his teenaged teammate, Josh Herrin, edging the up-and-coming 17-year-old by a scant 0.012 seconds at the checkered flag. AMA FORMULA XTREME Attack Kawasaki teammates Chaz Davies and Steve Rapp gave the squad its second consecutive Daytona 200 1-2 finish last month at Daytona. Like Rapp the year before, UK resident Davies won the prestigious race in his debut outing for the California-based outfit. Looking to recover from the heartbreak of his disqualification in the FX-based Daytona 200, defending champ Josh Hayes is out to repeat his Barber performance from last year, where he claimed pole and won the Formula Xtreme race going away. AMA SUPERSTOCK PRESENTED BY DYNOJET Georgian Aaron Yates is the man to watch here, not only because he won the 2005 title, but especially now that Spies, the 2006 and '07 champ, is concentrating solely on battling with Mladin for Superbike supremacy. Yates, riding for the Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki team, opened the season with a pole-winning performance and a comfortable win in the Superstock class at Daytona. Another local to watch is former World Superbike Champion, AMA Superbike Champion and three-time AMA Superstock title-holder Scott Russell, from nearby Conyers, Georgia. Seriously injured in a 2001 accident, the man known as Mr. Daytona came out of a six-year retirement and is racing again in the class he once ruled. AMA U.S. RED BULL ROOKIES CUP Based on the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup in Europe, this unique series will make its American debut at Barber. The program was designed to create a level playing field so that the best and the brightest 13- to 16-year-old racers will rise to the top. The kids will compete on identical, purpose-built 125cc KTM race bikes. EVENT DETAILS WHAT: Round 2 of the 2008 AMA Superbike Championship WHEN: April 18-20, 2008 WHERE: Barber Motorsports Park 6040 Barber Motorsports Parkway Birmingham, AL 35094 WEB SITE: www.barbermotorsports.com TICKETS: Charge by phone at 800-240-2300 or order online at www.barbermotorsports.com Kids 12 and under admitted free with an adult OTHER: On-site attractions include the Barber Motorsports Park Motorcycle Museum, paddock access, fan parade lap, racer autograph session, newly expanded Fan Zone and camping (Please note that some of these on-site attractions include additional fees. Refer to www.barbermotorsports.com for complete details.) ABOUT THE AMA SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP The AMA Superbike Championship is the world's most prestigious, most watched and most successful national stage for Superbike motorcycle competition. The Superbike Championship was created in 1976 to provide a level playing field for motorcycle manufacturers to demonstrate the hard-won engineering achievements incorporated on their state-of-the-art production bikes. This formula has spawned professional race teams and a healthy field of aftermarket parts suppliers that fight tooth and nail to win the series' various championships. In 2008, the AMA Superbike Championship features four distinct classes; two for highly modified machines-Superbike and Formula Xtreme-and two for near-production versions of these bikes-Supersport and Superstock. For more information, go to www.amaproracing.com. ABOUT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK AND ZOOM MOTORSPORTS Barber Motorsports Park opened in the spring of 2003. Since its inception, Zoom Motorsports, LLC has been the exclusive promoter and management team for the events at the Park. The 2.38 mile track is 45 feet wide, with 16 turns and elevation changes of more than 80 feet. Designed by well-known track designer Alan Wilson, the Barber Motorsports Park has been considered one of North America's finest road courses for car and motorcycle racing. The Park also features the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, a 144,000 square-foot facility that houses more than 1,000 vintage and modern motorcycles from 17 different nations and more than 125 manufacturers. For more information, go to www.barbermotorsports.com. ______________________ If you would rather not receive future email messages from Bruno Event Team, please go to http://vocuspr.vocus.com/VocusPR30/OptOut.aspx?514316x25026x7838x2x472868x24000x6. Bruno Event Team, 100 Grandview Place, Suite 110, Birmingham, AL 35243 United States