Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
After finally putting rider Larry Pegram on an AMA Superbike podium two weeks ago at Road America, the LLC partnership behind Dream Team Ducati is splitting up and the team will not finish the 2003 AMA Superbike season.
Pegram has consulted an attorney because he hasn’t been paid and said he has not been reimbursed for purchasing the tractor the team uses to pull its semi-trailer. Pegram has the truck, trailer and its contents in his possession, in Ohio.
Former racer Kaming Ko formed a partnership with restaurant owner and club racer DeVeaux Hill, launching the team with a press release announcing that the partners had committed $1 million of their own money for the 2003 season, against what Ko had earlier said was a projected budget of $1.4 million for the program. But team sources said that Hill stopped putting in money after the third race of the year, at Infineon Raceway, and that the team has burned through more than $600,000 so far this season.
The team’s original press release, issued January 3, 2003, said that the effort “realizes the aspirations of co-owners Kaming Ko and DeVeaux Hill. ‘It is an American Dream come true for DeVeaux and me to compete in the AMA Superbike series,’ Mr. Ko says. Unique to the AMA series, Dream Team Racing is a model of cultural diversity. Mr. Ko, a second generation Chinese-American, is a former motorcycle and car racer. In the 1970s he campaigned H2R Kawasakis in the American Federation of Motorcyclists and served as a development rider in the early days of the Yoshimura Superbike program. After retiring from motorcycles, he found success in racing cars, competing in the Formula Atlantic series and at the 24 Hours of Daytona in the early 1990s. Currently, Mr. Ko represents various Chinese manufacturing concerns that supply the U.S. auto-parts market. Mr. Hill, an African-American, is also an avid motorcycle enthusiast who races with the Willow Springs Motorcycle Club. An entrepreneur and investor, Mr. Hill’s main interests lay in the restaurant industry.
“Dream Team Racing has secured full technical support from the Bologna factory and is the only independent team to receive such support from Ducati for the 2003 AMA season. Additionally, Mr. Ko and Mr. Hill have personally guaranteed the team one million dollars in funding. This has allowed Dream team Racing to secure the services of the best personnel. Crew chief Kazuhiko ‘Maci’ Matsumoto is a 20-year veteran of the Grand Prix scene with two world championships to his credit. Engine builder and mechanic Mike Velasco, a truly legendary fixture in American road racing, will be responsible for the team’s engine development program as well as providing his services at the track. Team manager and engineer H. Elliot Cho is a long time member of the Pegram camp with a background ranging from wrenching on Top-Alcohol Funny-cars to tuning factory superbikes. Bologna-based Gabriele Raccio will act as the liaison to Ducati Corse, providing technical support from the factory. Dream Team will have two new 998RS03s and four complete spare engines in its arsenal.
“Demonstrating its commitment to the future of the sport, Dream Team Racing will also field two up-and-coming riders in the AMA Honda Pro Oils U.S. SuperSport Championship. The riders for this ‘farm team’ will be Thad Haslmer and Quentin Wilson. They will be provided with workspace at Dream Team’s 5,500 square-foot Camarillo facilities and logistical support, including transportation to the races and product sponsorship for fuel, oil, tires and brakes.”