Multi-time WERA National Endurance and sprint champion Joe Prussiano is scheduled to ride in the 2001 Le Mans 24-Hour race April 14-15. Prussiano rode in last year’s event along with Shawn Higbee and British rider Kalvin Reilly on the Moto Gataka Endurance Kawasaki ZX-9R. Prussiano and team finished 11th in the Stocksport class and 19th overall out of 55 starters.

Prussiano also won the 2000 WERA 24-Hours West at Willow Springs last September, riding with Vesrah Racing.

For 2001 at Le Mans, Prussiano will team up with Scottish Champion racer Roger Bennett and a third unnamed rider on a kneedraggers.com-sponsored Yamaha YZF-R1. Although the team will feature the same crew that Prussiano worked with in 2000, the team will be called Bikeshire Motorsports. According to Prussiano, Bikeshire is the equivalent of Parts Unlimited in England.

Speaking to Roadracing World at the opening round of the WERA National Endurance Series at Texas World Speedway March 30, Prussiano said that the team’s entry with the FIM had been confirmed and the plane tickets were already purchased. Prussiano used the WERA race, where his team Clinton Cycles won the Mediumweight Superstock class, as a warm-up for Le Mans.

In 2000, Prussiano used the paid racing trip to France as a honeymoon with his new wife, former racer Barb Spears. Prussiano wrote about his experience in the June 2000 issue of Roadracing World.