KAWASASAKI’S ZX™-14 WINS SEASON OPENER AT VALDOSTA Rickey Gadson and the all-new ZX-14 are a force to be reckoned with VALDOSTA, Ga. – Kawasaki Racing Team rider Rickey Gadson kicked off the 2006 AMA/Prostar drag racing season in championship form. The 39-year-old racer from Philadelphia, Pa., piloted his all-new Kawasaki ZX-14 straight into the winner’s circle and the record books with a new national record of 178.12 mph at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta Ga., on Sunday. “I have 108 wins to my credit and this has to be one of the most memorable of my career,” said Gadson. “I’m thrilled that Kawasaki asked me to race this bike. The team is coming together, the ZX-14 is awesome and it doesn’t get any better than this.” Gadson qualified sixth in the newly created AMA/ProStar Super Street category with a conservative 8.72 second pass at 168 mph. “We still had a lot to learn about the bike,” said Gadson. We are dealing with new equipment and we didn’t have any time to test it, so our two qualifying passes served as our testing and the bike ran great. We feel like we are learning more and more every time we go out on the track.” The steep learning curve for Gadson and his mechanic Coby Adams, made for a challenging day in the pit area, but their veteran abilities proved positive as Gadson blistered the track during the second round of eliminations. He posted a stunning 8.482 second pass at 178.12 mph to defeat contender Darren Burnett who ran 8.697 at 165.94. Gadson’s run also set a new mile-per-hour record for the Super Street class, he explained afterward how the all-new ZX-14 was shaping up. “I had a lot more confidence going into the second round,” Gadson said. “It was lifting the front wheel up a lot through third gear, which can get a little scary, but it also shows how much power the ZX-14 really has. I think the bike has the perfect balance between performance and power. It’s what you want on the track, we just need to tweak a few things and I need a couple more runs to get used to it.” In the semi-final, Gadson ran 8.92 seconds at 172 mph to advance to the finals. “I missed a shift,” said Gadson. “It didn’t matter though, the bike had plenty of power and I was getting used to it even more. Coby was doing an awesome job dialing in the bike and finding the right power set up. Plus we were running faster than everyone else. I was confident that if we made it to the finals we had nothing to loose.” In the final round, Gadson trounced top qualifier Todd Schnitz’s Suzuki Hayabusa to take top honors and bragging rights for Kawasaki’s all-new ZX-14. “I couldn’t ask for a better weekend,” said Gadson. “This is huge for me and for Kawasaki, we were faced with a challenge, we met it head on, the bike ran great and we were successful. It doesn’t get any sweeter than this.” Looking ahead to the next event Gadson has high expectations. “We are going to make some changes but we’re confident that we will be ready,” he said. “We didn’t really have a lot of information or parts for the bike because it’s so new. Now we have some time to catch our breath, test the bike, and gear up for Atlanta. I’m very excited to get there and see what the track has in store for us.” Next up for Gadson and the all-new Kawasaki ZX-14 is the 2006 MTC Elmer Trett Nationals, April 2-3 at Atlanta Dragway. More, from a press release issued by SymPoint Communications: Kent Stotz tops 200 mph five times, sets new AMA Pro Street ET and speed records at BikeWeek Nationals Valdosta, Ga. March 7, 2006 — With one round of the 2006 AMA/Prostar series in the record books, Honda Rider’s Club of America (HRCA)-sponsored drag racer Kent Stotz has earned a new nickname around the paddock: Mr. 200 MPH. The four-time national champion scorched the competition on his turbocharged Honda CBR1100XX with five consecutive 200-plus mph passes on his way to the Pro Street class victory at the BikeWeek Nationals at South Georgia Motorsports Park, Valdosta, Ga., March 4-5. It was an unbelievable show for fans, who witnessed Stotz setting and resetting ET and top speed records a total of 10 times in all. In qualifying on Saturday, Stotz set new records for ET and top speed with a 7.303-second run at 201.10 mph. But that was just the beginning. After ripping off a 7.307-second pass at 200.62 mph in the first round of eliminations on Sunday, he lowered the ET record again in round two with a 7.284-second run, again topping 200 mph at 200.32 mph. Then in the semi-finals he eclipsed both the ET and top-speed records with an incredible run of 7.275 at 201.82. His performance in the final was another marvel of consistency; the 7.284 run at 201.46 marked the fifth time in two days that Stotz topped 200 mph, an Olympian feat in street tire drag racing. Stotz’s early-season success follows a strong finish in 2005 when he set the quickest ET and fastest top speed for the Pro Street competition–7.358 seconds at 196.87 mph–at the AMA/Prostar World Finals in November in Gainesville, Fla. “We are happy beyond words,” exclaimed Stotz. “Late last year, we discovered how to put down consistently fast runs on the Honda CBR1100XX. This weekend was validation that we are going in the right direction. The Honda motor has always been amazingly powerful and bulletproof. Now we’re getting all that power to the ground and the results speak for themselves.” Racing fans heading to Daytona for Bike Week are in for a treat. The record-setting 550-plus horsepower CBR1100XX will be on display in the HRCA tent at the Honda pavilion located just outside of Daytona International Speedway, Wednesday through Saturday, March 8-11. Stotz Racing will also have its latest racing thoroughbred–the liter-class CBR1000RR–on display in the HRCA paddock. Stotz is currently developing Honda’s most popular sport bike for drag racing and expects to contest the turbocharged machine at upcoming races this season. Next stop for Stotz Racing will be the 15th Annual AMA/Prostar Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, Commerce, Ga., April 1-2. For the latest information, be sure to visit www.stotzracing.com. About Stotz Racing Stotz Racing is at the forefront of street tire motorcycle drag racing in America. Formed by renowned motorcycle drag racer Kent Stotz in 1995, Stotz Racing earned AMA Prostar Street Bike Shootout titles in 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2002. In 2004, Stotz Racing’s turbocharged Honda CBR1100XX became the first Street Bike to set the 200 mph record (7.25 seconds at 200.49 mph). Stotz currently holds the ET and top speed records in the Pro Street class, 7.275 seconds at 201.82 mph. Sponsored by the Honda Rider’s Club of America, Stotz Racing is also the record holder of the AMA Prostar Horsepower Challenge in the Import V-Twin Cruiser Open class on a Honda VTX1800, set in 2005.