IN
THE
WIND
P24
SUPERBIKE SHOOTOUT
GETS SPONSOR AND TV
T
he newly named Superbike
Shootout – the three-race
series scheduled for Auto Club
Speedway, Sonoma Raceway
and Miller Motorsports Park
– has a title sponsor and a TV
package.
GEICO, who was the title
sponsor of the AMA Pro Road
Race Series last year and who
sponsors Team Hammer's AMA
Daytona SportBike and Super-
bike team, will be the title spon-
sor of the GEICO Motorcycle
Superbike Shootout with the
series set to begin with the Ya-
maha SoCal Nationals at Auto
Club Speedway on April 26-27 in
Fontana, California. From there
it will continue with the Pacific
Nationals at Sonoma Raceway
on May 3-4 in Sonoma, Califor-
nia, before concluding with the
Mountain Nationals at Miller Mo-
torsports Park in Tooele, Utah,
May 24-25.
The series was concocted to
fill the void between the first two
rounds of the AMA Superbike
Series that started at Daytona on
March 15 and won't run its sec-
ond round until May 31.
Each of the Superbike Shoot-
out events will feature one Pro
Superbike and one Pro Sportbike
race on the final day of compe-
tition. In addition, MAVTV will
broadcast two one-hour shows
from each of the three events, ac-
cording to a release from GEICO.
Team Hammer Promotions
has partnered with regional orga-
nizations and sanctioning bodies
for each event: Fastrack Riders/
WERA Motorcycle Roadracing
for Fontana, American Federa-
tion of Motorcyclists for Sonoma,
and Utah Sport Bike Association
for Salt Lake City.
Each of the events will include
a full schedule of other motor-
cycle classes in addition to Pro
Superbike and Pro Sportbike.
GEICO will sponsor the new three-race Superbike Shootout.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
BRIAN
J.
NELSON
BIMOTA TESTS THE BB3
W
hile the main World Super-
bike teams tested at Jerez in
Spain, the newest returning manu-
facturer of them all – Bimota - was
battling against poor weather for
five days at Portimao in Portugal.
Ayrton Badovini and Christian
Iddon had a chance to ride the
all-new BB3 that will likely make
its debut in the second round of
the championship at Aragon this
coming weekend.
The Bimota appeared on the
provisional entry list for Porti-
mao, then a modified version
arrived with the entry for both
Bimota riders being marked as
"subject to homologation." Then
the FIM finally sent out a new set
of homologation rules that will al-
low Bimota to race at Aragon –
continued on page 26
