AMA Pro Racing Officially Announces Staff Members Janson, Ludington, Fraser And Syfan

AMA Pro Racing Officially Announces Staff Members Janson, Ludington, Fraser And Syfan

© 2008, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (December 31, 2008) – An experienced group of motorcycle racing competition and operations professionals have been hired by AMA Pro Racing President Roger Edmondson to join the organization’s new headquarters operation in Daytona Beach. The veteran group brings more than a century of combined motorcycle competition and operations experience to AMA Pro and includes several professionals that have already taken their positions on the management team and day-to-day operations staff headquartered in Daytona Beach. The group includes AMA Pro Vice President of Competition Roy Janson, AMA Pro Technical Director Al Ludington, AMA Pro Road Racing Director of Competition Colin Fraser and AMA Pro Road Racing Series Manager Bill Syfan. Janson, a native of Rochester, N.Y., will mark his 45th year as a career motorcycle professional in 2009 and began racing and working at a Triumph motorcycle shop back in the 1960s. After completing a tour of duty in the United States Marine Corps in 1970, Janson resumed his racing activity in enduro, trials, dirt track and motocross events and was involved in the early organization of the AMA’s District No. 4 in Western New York State. Janson’s first professional experience with the AMA came in 1980 when he joined the organization to work in the government relations side of the industry, specializing in public lands policy. Janson created the American All-Terrain Vehicle Association as a subsidiary of the AMA in 1983 and later became AMA’s Director of Professional Racing. In 1994 he left the AMA to take the position of Vice President of Operations with the promotional companies that organized and produced the AMA-sanctioned Supercross and Arenacross programs, which most recently included the popular Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series, an FIM World Championship. As AMA Pro’s Vice President of Competition, Janson will oversee all of the competition related aspects of the organization’s racing properties, including AMA Pro Road Racing, AMA Pro Motocross, AMA Pro Flat Track and the various other racing series that fall under the AMA Pro umbrella. As AMA Pro Technical Director, Ludington, who is originally from Rye, N.H., will oversee all technical operations for AMA Pro Road Racing, AMA Pro Motocross, AMA Pro Flat Track and other competition disciplines within the AMA Pro family. Although his appointment marks the first time he has worked for a motorsports sanctioning body, Ludington brings more than 20 years of motorcycle racing experience to AMA Pro, primarily as a championship and race-winning Crew Chief and Lead Mechanic. He has been part of nine national championship efforts and achieved the majority of his success as a Lead Mechanic and later Crew Chief for Team Honda. Ludington also did a two-year stint as Crew Chief for Team Kawasaki from 2000 to 2001 and began his career as a mechanic for Yamaha in the late 1980s. His first foray into motorcycle competition came as an amateur rider in 1981. Fraser, a native of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, joins AMA Pro Road Racing as Director of Competition in a continuation of the role he assumed last March. He is responsible for the running of each weekend’s competition events for all of AMA Pro Road Racing and brings over 25 years of experience in race operations to the organization. Fraser attended his very first AMA Pro Road Racing event in 1979 and a year later founded RACE, the Canadian national motorcycle road racing sanctioning body. A former professional rider, he served as both a racing instructor and Director of Competition for several racing series and organizations prior to co-founding PMP (Professional Motorsports Productions) in 1994, the operating organization of the Canadian Superbike Championship. Fraser became sole owner of PMP and Canadian Superbike in 1998 and next season will mark the 10th year of the title-sponsored Parts Canada Superbike Championship. Fraser first became professionally involved with the new Daytona Beach-based ownership of AMA Pro in 2006 when he co-founded and served as Director of Competition for what is now the AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT series. He also has a strong background in the media side of the sport and, in addition to owning the television rights to the Canadian Superbike Championship, has extensive print journalism experience, currently serving as the Senior Editor of Inside Motorcycles. Like his fellow new hires at AMA Pro, Syfan, who is originally from Houston, Texas, began his motorcycle career as a competitive rider and remains a racing instructor today. After a successful career in the civil, mechanical and petroleum engineering industries, Syfan accepted his first professional motorcycle position in 1992 with American Suzuki where his responsibilities included managing the Team Suzuki Sport road race program. He later worked for Dunlop Tire as a Motorsports Technician before joining Clear Channel Entertainment in 1999. While at Clear Channel, Syfan gained valuable experience in sanctioning body operations, supervising over 70 events annually while managing the Formula USA and CCS road racing series. He most recently worked in the motorcycle racing industry through his company Proforma Services and, like Fraser, first worked with AMA Pro’s new ownership in what is now the AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT series. He joined Fraser in stepping in to operate AMA Pro Road Racing earlier this year and will fill a similar capacity in his continuing role as AMA Pro Road Racing Series Manager. AMA Pro Racing is the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America, operating a full schedule of events and championships for a variety of motorcycle disciplines. From its Daytona Beach headquarters, the organization operates and manages AMA Pro Road Racing, which includes AMA Pro American Superbike, AMA Pro Daytona SportBike, AMA Pro SuperSport, AMA Pro SunTrust Moto-GT and the Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup in addition to the AMA Pro Flat Track Championship. Learn more about AMA Pro Racing at www.amaproracing.com.

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