VOLKSWAGEN TO HOST FOUR GUEST DRIVERS THIS WEEKEND IN
UTAH
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
* Series photos available upon request or via media.vw.com
CONTACT: Jeremy Riffle
(310) 210-1336
jeremyriffle@sbcglobal.net
VOLKSWAGEN TO HOST FOUR
GUEST DRIVERS THIS WEEKEND IN UTAH
--
A Varied Group of Stars to Join the Jetta TDI Cup at Miller Motorsports Park
HERNDON, Va. (June 2, 2010) Volkswagen of America, Inc. has announced that
four guest drivers will participate in Round Four of the Volkswagen Jetta
TDI Cup season at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah on Sunday, June 6.
The field will move from 25 to 29 drivers as the following personalities
will join the Series-regulars on race day: Roger Hayden, who currently
competes on the World Superbike Tour, has earned a total of 13 AMA
Supersport wins in his career; Anthony Lobello, a member of the 2006 US
Speed Skating Olympic team, currently holds the 1000m American short track
speed skating record; Grete Eliassen is a professional Red Bull freeskier
who has found gold at the Winter X-Games twice; and Thomas Lyman, a
journalist who currently writes for 0-60 Magazine, but has also dabbled in a
career in professional motorsports making his way to competition on the
national level.
While these four guest drivers may all come from different corners of the
sporting world, the one thing they have in common is their love of speed;
which will certainly make for an interesting weekend as they square off
against the Jetta TDI Cup field on the East Course at Miller Motorsports
Park. Each of the guests will participate in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup
race, as well as take part in all on and off-track events, including
practice and qualifying. While they¹ll be full participants, they will be
ineligible for points or prize money. Full-time series participants will
move up the final race results accordingly.
³I¹m looking forward to seeing our guest drivers compete in the TDI Cup this
weekend,² said Clark Campbell, Motorsports Manager, Volkswagen of America,
Inc. ³All four of our guests have very different experiences with racing,
but they all share the common thread of competition. I think they will
definitely be able to not only educate our drivers about their past
experiences throughout their professional careers, but they also have the
unique ability to broaden the reach of our Series.²
About the Guest Drivers:
Roger Hayden:
Hayden was born and raised in Owensboro, Kentucky, where he still lives
today. His two older brothers Nicky and Tommy are also professional
motorcycle racers. His father, Earl Hayden, was a dirt track racer for
twenty years and his mother Rose raced in the Powder Puff class for five
years. He also has two sisters, Jenny and Kathleen. Hayden began riding at
the age of five and entered his first race when he was six. When he¹s not at
the track, he likes to watch football, basketball, and auto racing. Hayden
lists his hobbies as motocross, flat track, hunting, and fishing. His heroes
are Kenny Roberts, Freddie Spencer, Ronnie Jones and Michael Jordan.
This season, Hayden is competing in the World Superbike Championship as a
driver for the Pedercini Kawasaki satellite team. In 2009, Hayden competed
in the Daytona Sportbike 600cc Class. In 2008, he produced a third-place
finish in the AMA Supersport class at the first race at Daytona
International Speedway. He would miss the next five races after suffering
injuries from a crash at Barber Motorsports Park, but would return to
competition at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca where he finished sixth in the AMA
Superbike class.
In 2007, he earned his first professional Championship in the AMA Supersport
class. He used two wins and consistent finishes to edge out his teammate by
two points. Hayden also earned five top-five AMA Superbike finishes on the
Kawasaki Ninja® ZX???-10R and finished tenth, and was the top American
competitor, in his MotoGP debut as a wild-card at the USGP.
In 2006, Hayden was named AMA Superbike Rookie of the Year; and he also won
AMA Supersport races at Daytona International Raceway, Barber Motorsports
Park and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. From 2004-2005, Hayden earned a
total of eight wins over the two seasons and finished as runner-up both
years in the AMA Supersport points standings behind his brother and teammate
Tommy Hayden.
Anthony Lobello:
Anthony Lobello, originally from Tallahassee, FL, began skating on roller
skates when he was seven years old, and won his first national championship
that same year. He¹s been winning ever since. He decided to switch to short
track speed skating, on ice, in the summer of 2003. His transition to ice
was made complete less then three years later, when he made the short track
Olympic Team in 2006.
Anthony has been representing the United States of America in international
competition since he was 15. His accomplishments range from inline national
champion and world champion to short track world cup champion and a place on
the US Olympic Team. Anthony has numerous world championship and world cup
medals to his name as well as the current 1000m American record in short
track speed skating.
Currently, Anthony is continuing his higher education this summer on the
campus of Northern Michigan University at the United States Olympic
Education Center, in Marquette, MI. Anthony is committed to his education as
well as being the very best skater he can be. Majoring in Sports Marketing
and teaching skate clinics, Anthony is passionate about mentoring to help
young skaters pursue their dreams.
Grete Eliassen:
Grete was born in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Her mother was from the Midwest
and her father was Norwegian, and as a result, Grete grew up speaking two
languages (English and Norwegian). Looking for more excitement at the tender
age of two, Grete quickly found it in skiing. For the first five years of
her life, Grete lived in Minnesota, skiing some of North America¹s finest
mountains. After a brief one-year stint living in a small town in Norway,
Grete and her family moved back to the lakeshores of Lake Superior. Upon her
return, Grete became involved in several different sports: hockey, soccer,
basketball, tennis, water-skiing, little league as well as cross-country
skiing and alpine skiing.
At the age of 13, Grete¹s family, moved back to Norway this time, to
Lilehammer. Having already begun her skiing career back in Minnesota, she
decided to continue on in Norway. After only a year, Grete was named the
Norwegian SL National Champion. Soon thereafter, Grete was selected to join
the Norwegian Ski Team, where she stayed for two seasons. At the age of 16,
Grete won the Super-G at Junior Worlds in France and placed third in Slalom
at the European Junior Olympics in Slovenia.
After a few more years of competition, Grete realized that racing was not
the type of skiing she ultimately was satisfied with. Even though her career
in racing was rather strong - positioning herself at the top of her
age-group in nearly every event - she had a longing to be free.
Grete soon found her love of freeskiing. Her first year of freestyle
competition went very well, taking first place in both the Rip Curl Freeski
and the U.S. Open. Since her debut as a freeskier, Grete has won the U.S.
Open four times, as well as capturing both a gold and silver medal, two
years in a row, at the Winter X Games. Additionally, Grete has also claimed
the top spot at all open events in the same year by winning the U.S. Open,
European Open and the Nippon Open.
Grete now resides in Salt Lake City, Utah where she attends the University
of Utah. She is currently working towards obtaining her B.S. in Business
Management. Grete is always looking for ways to make her mark and change
the world of skiing, as women know it.
Thomas Lyman:
Thomas J. Lyman, who earned his degree in Journalism from Georgia State
University in 2006, is a motorsport junkie. His childhood road racing
aspirations led him to earn his SCCA Racing License in 2005. Just two years
later, while in his first full competitive season, Thomas won seven out of
the 12 races he entered. He also earned eight pole positions, set a track
record in Nashville, captured a SCCA Southeast Division Championship, and
won the 2007 SCCA Atlanta Region Rookie of the Year award. Lyman
accomplished all of this while simultaneously working as Associate Editor at
Super Chevy magazine.
Moving up a class and series in 2008, Lyman won in just his fourth start of
the season in SCCA National competition and secured yet another track
record, this time at Carolina Motorsports Park. Unfortunately, with the
economic collapse hitting his principal sponsor extremely hard, he was
forced to pull out of competition in the middle of the year. After assessing
his racing prospects, Lyman decided to enter law school in the hopes of
racing on his own terms one day. Thomas just recently finished his first
year of studies, and continues to write for publications such as 0-60
Magazine, Atlanta Magazine and Modified Magazine on a freelance basis.
Follow the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Series action on:
www.vwmotorsportusa.com
Volkswagen Online Newsroom: media.vw.com
Live Timing & Scoring: http://livetiming.net/scca/VW
Live Timing & Scoring for your Mobile Device:
http://livetiming.net/SCCA/VW/html.asp
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/JettaTDICup
Twitter: http://twitter.com/VWJettaTDICup
About the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup
The SCCA Pro Racing Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup was launched in 2008 as way to
introduce clean diesel technology to the U.S. market and develop the best of
motorsport¹s up-and-coming talent. During the season, young, up and coming
drivers (between ages 16-26) compete on road courses around North America in
identical factory-prepared clean diesel powered Jetta TDI¹s. Each driver
competing in the Series earns a professional racing license from SCCA Pro
Racing at the conclusion of the season. In addition to more than $50,000 in
prize money at stake during the season, the Series Champion receives
Volkswagen factory career advancement support with a value up to $100,000.
The Jetta TDI Cup car is powered by a 2.0-liter, 170 hp, four-cylinder TDI
clean diesel engine mated to a six-speed, double-clutch, automatic DSG
transmission. The car is only slightly modified from stock with Pirelli
racing tires, race suspension and brake components, drivers racing safety
seat, FIA roll cage and an on-board fire extinguisher system. Series
sponsors include: Pirelli, Bosch, ViON, Castrol, Oakley, Red Bull, Staubli,
Aggreko, defNder, Lamin-X, Volkswagen Driver Gear, Volkswagen Parts &
Service, iRacing, Safety-Kleen and Ringer Gloves.
About Volkswagen of America
Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Herndon,
Virginia. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg,
Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world¹s largest producers of passenger
cars and Europe¹s largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Golf, GTI, New
Beetle, New Beetle convertible, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, Eos, Passat, Passat
Wagon, CC, Tiguan, Touareg and Routan through approximately 600 independent
U.S. dealers. All 2010 Volkswagens come standard-equipped with Electronic
Stabilization Program. This is important because the National Highway and
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has called ESC the most effective new
vehicle safety technology since the safety belt. Visit Volkswagen of America
online at www.vw.com or www.media.vw.com to learn more.
About SCCA Pro Racing:
A wholly owned subsidiary of Sports Car Club of America, Inc., SCCA Pro
Racing Inc. is a leading sanctioning body for motorsports events in the
United States. A member of the Automobile Competition Committee of the
United States (ACCUS), SCCA Pro Racing operates and sanctions the World
Challenge Championships, the SCCA Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup, SCCA Volkswagen
Jetta TDI Cup, SCCA Pro Trans-Am Series, Spec Racer Ford Pro Series and
Formula Enterprises Pro Series. For more information, please visit
www.sccapro.com.
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