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Tuesday, September 27, 2005

A lessi'n learned.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Connie Fleming at 614-856-1900 E-mail: cfleming@amaproracing.com (Ohio)
Contact: Kerry Graeber at 714-986-9030 E-mail: kgraeber@amaproracing.com (Calif.)
R05155
AMA PRO RACING PENALIZES RIDERS

PICKERINGTON, Ohio (Sept. 27, 2005) – AMA Pro Racing announced today that Mike Alessi and Matt Walker have both been penalized for their on-track actions at the final round of the AMA Motocross Championship, Sunday, Sept. 11 at Glen Helen raceway in San Bernardino.

According to AMA Pro Racing SX/MX Series Manager, Steve Whitelock, for his role in an incident involving Ivan Tedesco, Alessi has been fined $5,000, has been disqualified from the meet, and becomes ineligible for the AMA Pro Racing Rookie of the Year Award. Additionally, Alessi will receive a 12-month probation which includes the 2006 AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross seasons. Alessi’s disqualification drops him from second to third in the overall championship standings.

Matt Walker has been reprimanded and fined $2,500 for his actions which occurred after the incident between Alessi and Tedesco. Additionally, Walker is disqualified from moto two and will receive a 12-month probation which includes the 2006 AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross seasons. Walker’s disqualification results in no change to his overall championship standing of ninth.

Tedesco will not be penalized.

“This entire situation is unfortunate and entirely unacceptable,” commented Whitelock. “Mike Alessi’s actions after he and Ivan Tedesco came together in moto two are clearly outside the boundaries of acceptable sportsmanship and will not be tolerated by AMA Pro Racing. Additionally, Matt Walker’s actions are inexcusable.”

Whitelock said the decision to penalize the riders came after careful review of videotape, still photographs, accounts by AMA Pro Racing officials who witnessed the incident and statements from the riders. The delay in assessing the penalties is due to a couple of factors including the fact that AMA officials were attending the Motocross of Nations in France and the need to communicate with the involved riders each of whom had to be located. Busy post-season schedules by all involved made that process more complicated than usual.

Whitelock cited the following rule violations from the AMA Motocross Rulebook when levying the penalties “Page 38, General Offenses and Penalties, i, Engaging in any unfair practice, misbehavior or action detrimental to the sport of motorcycling in general, whether or not related to a specific competition. q, Riding at any time in such a manner as to endanger the life and limb of other riders, officials or the public, and w, Any other act or actions deemed by a Series Manager or AMA Pro Racing to be detrimental to the sport of motorcycle racing and the AMA.

“Fortunately, we have ample video footage as well as still photo sequences that showed this episode,” said Whitelock. “We examined the entire situation carefully and arrived at our decision.”

Each rider has been informed of his penalties. Under AMA Pro Racing rules each rider has the right to appeal.

About AMA Pro Racing

AMA Pro Racing is the leading sanctioning body for motorcycle sport in the United States. Its properties include the THQ AMA Supercross Series, the AMA Motocross Championship, the AMA Superbike Championship, the AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship and the AMA Supermoto Championship. For more information about AMA Pro Racing, visit www.amaproracing.com. Accredited media outlets can also access AMA Pro Racing's online Press Room at www.amaproracing.com/pressroom.

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Thursday, September 15, 2005

Bart Gets Broke Off... Again.

We got the following note from Hardcore Drinking Team Coach, Paul De Jong in Holland. His brother, Bart is our Euro-badass man of many talents and we were bummed to hear that he ate it over the weekend with a handful of Whisky Throttle™. Bart, brother, like the Drive-By Truckers say, "...you gotta keep it 'tween the ditches..." Godspeed on your recovery and we hope to see you soon.

From Paul...
Bart de Jong crashed hard during his comeback on his MX

Riding MX is as dangerous as you make it yourself, hit the throttle and you go fast, shut down the throttle and you slow down, simple you think.

After popping out his shoulder a few times it was time for Bart to let it fix by the best doctors in the Netherlands and after 2 months of recovery it was time to start riding again. The doctor said: "do whatever you can do" and for Bart that means: Green light to ride!

We went to our local track and started to do some laps but soon Bart was beating his older brother again and he didn't slow down cause his shoulder felt right.......

You know what comes next: Crashing time! Someone was standing on the track in front of me and got me out of my trainingsession to ask if "that guy in the ditch" was Bart, and after seeing #132 the answer was: Yes!

Bart rode in a ditch after a long straight with the throttle wide open on his KTM 125 and jumped over a berm into the trees into a deep ditch and luckily didn't hit his head very hard but I knew it was trouble again with his just recovered shoulder so the ambulance came in very fast and took him to the hospital.

Following a ambulance in my car, suddenly the lights and sirens went on and they went through traffic very fast, that's a bad sign and it makes you crazy but I managed to control myself this time after so many hospital visits in the past but this was my brother and it hurts big time.

In the hospital they checked everything and found out he broke his shoulder and a rib in the back, breaking ribs is no fun but they will heal in 6 weeks but he broke his just recovered shoulder and that's a pain in the ass, wearing the same brace for 2 months again after already 2 months don't make you happy certainly with the upcoming Freestyle CH and Las Vegas Interbike coming in 2 weeks.

If you don't see Bart at Interbike you know why he is not there, if you want to sent him a message please enter the guestbook at FATbmx cause he can't reply his emails for a couple of days, it's 5 finger typing again!

Heal well Bart and take it easy this time!

PdJ

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

please step before the judge

AMA PRO RACING INVESTIGATING ALESSI, TEDESCO INCIDENT

PICKERINGTON, Ohio (Sept. 14, 2005) – AMA Pro Racing is investigating an incident that occurred during Sunday’s second 125 moto at Glen Helen Raceway in the final round of the AMA Motocross Championship presented by FMF.

Early in the race, Mike Alessi and Ivan Tedesco came together resulting in both riders falling. Specifically, AMA Pro Racing is investigating the actions of the riders immediately following the crash. Additionally, the actions of Tedesco’s teammate Matt Walker are being examined.

At the conclusion of the investigation AMA Pro Racing will announce the results of its findings.

>>see our previous post below for more details<<

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Season Finale Drama

The Drama at Glen Helen over the weekend was anything but light in the AMA's Motocross Lites class. The Allessi/Tedesco rivalry reached new lows when the two went down in a fast right-hand turn. Check out the video. The quality isn't the best, but you can get a sense for what is going on. Kudos for Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s team mate Matt Walker for actually turning around and going back to help Ivan. Now that is team work!

Racer X Illustrated has a great interview with Ivan, where he explains what happened. Monday Conversation by Alpine Stars. While you are there, don't forget to admire our new Fan Of The Week on the home page.

Our buddies over at Transworld have a race report up too, and it is packed with good, crisp photos from Guy-B. Check it out at TWMX Race Report.

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