The 2008 AMA Supercross series was one of the most successful seasons of racing for Team AMSOIL.  The Torco Racing Fuels/AMSOIL/Honda team (newly named the Geico Motorsports/AMSOIL team) wrapped up its first championship since Travis Preston won in 2002.

Trey Canard was the biggest story, and surprise, for the AMSOIL sponsored team this year.  Racing in his rookie supercross season, Canard took the AMA East Coast Lites class by storm.  The 17-year-old bolted out of the starting gates by winning three of the first four rounds.  Canard would have to fight defending champion Ryan Villopoto down to the final laps of the finale.  The young rider was able to take his fourth win of the year in St.  Louis and wrap up the championship.  In the series finale in Las Vegas, Canard put the 1e number plate on his Honda CRF250 and battled the top Lites riders in the East/West shootout, taking home a third.

"When I started racing professionally I never thought a championship would come, especially so soon," said Canard in St. Louis.

Kevin Windham was the talk of the supercross class, riding his Honda CRF450 to a second place overall finish.  Windham gained momentum as the season reached its second half.  K-Dub was the only rider in his class to finish in the top five in every round and just missed the title by 16 points. His 12 podiums included four wins and four runner-up positions.  Windham will be running a limited outdoor schedule in 2008.

“Obviously, I wanted to win out the season,” said Windham. “That would’ve been a great streak for me. It would’ve been three [in a row], and it would’ve matched my all-time wins in a season at five. My consistency this season was second to none. I’m the only guy who finished in the top five at every race, so I’d have loved to have gotten nothing but thirds, seconds and firsts – that would’ve been great – but it just wasn’t in the cards.”

Josh Grant had an up and down season that showed great promise and untimely accidents.  He finished on the podium three times, including a great race against Villopoto in Minneapolis.  In the East Coast Lites class, Grant finished fifth overall.  He also picked up a sixth place finish in the supercross class in Seattle.
“That’s my goal now, just to get a win, stay healthy and consistent, and work on what’s coming up, which is the outdoors,” Grant said. “That’s all I can do right now.”

Jake Weimer was also hit-and-miss in 2008.  He was great in the second round of the West Coast Lites series, winning the Phoenix event.  His only other podium would come in Houston, where he finished third.  An accident during practice kept him out of racing and the top 10 at the end of the season.

Newcomer Dan Reardon showed consistency in the West Coast series.  The Australian only missed the top 10 once in eight races.  He had three finishes in the fourth spot and ended the season seventh overall.

“I definitely gained a lot of experience this year,” Reardon said. “I did think I would do a little better, but it’s hard to know what you’re up against from just watching it on TV. It’s going to be good for next year, and I feel well-learned, and I feel like I can take what happened this year into account when training and preparing for next year.”

The Geico Motorsports/AMSOIL team will be back on the track shortly.  The AMA Outdoor Nationals (motocross) season starts May 25 at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, Calif.  AMSOIL is the Exclusive Official Oil of the AMA Outdoor Nationals.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP is on its way to Le Mans in France, looking to emulate the result achieved by Chris Vermeulen last season.

Vermeulen stormed to his maiden Grand Prix victory at the famous French circuit, a result that also gave Suzuki its first-ever victory in MotoGP since the introduction of the four-stroke regulations.

Loris Capirossi will be planning to continue with the impressive race form he has shown this season since joining Suzuki. The Italian racer also tasted recent podium success at the French track when he finished second in 2006.

The historic Le Mans circuit has had some modifications to the layout in readiness for the next round of the MotoGP World Championship. The alterations have been made to improve safety over the revised new lap length of 4,185m. Le Mans will still retain its unique character as the most ‘stop-and-go’ circuit on the calendar, with hard braking points, slow corners and one turn taken flat-out in top-gear. It is certainly one of the most physically demanding tracks used in MotoGP.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP takes to the track on Friday 16^th May for two free practice sessions, followed by another free session on Saturday morning and an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 28-lap race gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Chris Vermeulen: “I am looking forward to getting to Le Mans, not just because of the good memories of my first MotoGP win there, but because we need to get back on the bike and try to get the GSV-R as competitive as it can be. I was really disappointed after Shanghai, but I know the Suzuki staff have been working hard to find out the cause of the problem and I’m sure that won’t happen again. The results we are getting are not what we all deserve for all the hard work that we are putting in, maybe we just need that bit of luck to go our way - so what better place than Le Mans for that to happen."

Loris Capirossi: “The performance at Shanghai showed that we are close to the front guys now and the GSV-R is becoming more and more competitive at each event. Both Chris and I could have had much better results but for my mistake and the problems that we had in the race. I believe the bike is very capable of running at the front and we need to start getting the positions that we want. Everybody at Suzuki is working so hard to make it happen and I want to be part of it!”

 www.rizla-suzuki-motogp.co.uk 

Harley-Davidson Museum Announces Grand Opening Date

Nearly 105 years in the making, the Harley-Davidson Museum, located near downtown Milwaukee, will open its doors to the public on Saturday, July 12. Grand Opening festivities will kick off with a Harley-Davidson-style ceremony at 10 a.m. and will continue throughout the weekend.

Milwaukee, WI (PRWEB) May 8, 2008 -- Nearly 105 years in the making, the Harley-Davidson Museum, located near downtown Milwaukee, will open its doors to the public on Saturday, July 12. Grand Opening festivities will kick off with a Harley-Davidson-style ceremony at 10 a.m. and will continue throughout the weekend.

The 130,000-square-foot Museum will add a whole new dimension to the Harley-Davidson experience. Visitors will get a feel for the freedom, camaraderie and pride that Harley-Davidson riders experience every time they fire up their motorcycles.

Museum visitors will:

• Walk through a variety of exhibits that tell the stories of the extraordinary people, products, history and culture of Harley-Davidson. In addition to the fantastic motorcycle collection, stories are told through a variety of media - including photographs, videos, apparel, rare documents and other fascinating artifacts.
• Peek into a portion of the Archives, never before open to the public, and home base to more than 450 motorcycles, and hundreds of thousands of artifacts that the Archives team can pull from for Museum exhibits
• Read the various personalized messages created by individuals worldwide on the Living the Legend rivets, found on the Living the Legend walls and plazas
• Grab a bold American meal or snack from the on-site Restaurant and Cafe
• Stroll around the 20 acre Museum site, enjoy the riverwalk or just sit back along the waterfront taking in the Milwaukee skyline
• Check out the unique Museum-inspired items at the Retail Store
• Examine the industrial architecture and attention to detail found both inside and outside of the Museum's three buildings

The Harley-Davidson Museum, located at the intersection of Sixth and Canal Streets in Milwaukee's Menomonee Valley, will be open 364 days a year.

General admission tickets to tour the Museum are $16 for adults, $12 for students and seniors, $10 for children (ages 5-17 years), and children under 5 years of age will be admitted free with an accompanying adult. Visit www.h-dmuseum.com for additional updates on group sales and tour information. Access to the Harley-Davidson Museum grounds will be available to the public, free of charge, 24 hours a day.

Museum tickets for Grand Opening weekend and other dates will go on sale online at www.h-dmuseum.com/tickets on Tuesday, May 20. The majority of tickets for Grand Opening weekend will be sold in advance online and the balance will be available for on-site sales during Grand Opening weekend. Visitors to the Museum site during Grand Opening weekend will be able to enjoy watching a bike-build and a tattoo artist at work and listen to live music on the 20-acre park-like grounds.

Museum tickets are no longer available during the Harley-Davidson 105th Anniversary Celebration August 28-31, 2008. To ensure an excellent Museum experience during the 105th Anniversary Celebration, tickets to the Museum have been distributed via a lottery system to those who purchased their 105th Anniversary Celebration ticket packages before November 30, 2007. Those who are planning to come to Milwaukee during the 105th Anniversary who don't have a Museum ticket will be able to enjoy the Museum grounds. In addition, those who would like to visit the Museum exhibits and didn't receive a ticket through the lottery can secure opportunities to visit the Museum before and after the Labor Day weekend.

Harley-Davidson Motor Company, the only major U.S.-based motorcycle manufacturer, produces heavyweight motorcycles and a complete line of motorcycle parts, accesso