This seventeen year from Western New York has been racking up wins in road racing, supermoto and flat track. James ”the Rocket” Rispoli is going all out to win the 2009 AMA Pro Grand National Flat Track Championship Series in the all new Pro Singles division. Rispoli ran a limited flattrack program in 2008 finished 6th overall in the AMA GNC basic expert class with a highlight of a second place finish on the Indy Mile in front of 17,000 screaming international fans. We had a chance to speak with Rispoli to get his perspective on his quest for a Championship. Q: Tell us a little about the team you are riding for this year. A: I am riding for Weirbach Racing out of Ottumwa, Iowa. The team is owned by Dick Weirbach, a 35 year veteran of the sport. Dick gets the bikes to all the races and maintains the motors with the help of Jerry Wilhelmy of General Engineering. We have three CRF 450’s plus a spare motor and one RMZ 450 at our disposal. All the equipment is top notch and could win any event. Q: Will your former sponsor Coolskunk play a role in this year’s racing program? A: Coolskunk has been my major sponsor since I started racing. The program was started by my mom and dad primarily to help young riders coming up the ranks, me included. The program has supplied bikes, parts, leathers and even training vouchers for American Supercamp in the past to select young up and comers. Team Coolskunk will be providing a spare RMZ450, some CFR parts like performance heads and such as well as consumable items for my use like tires, race fuel and things like that. To challenge for the Pro title will take a lot of effort and resources and without the help of Weirbach Racing, Coolskunk and all my sponsors it would be difficult to put in the top notch effort necessary to win championships. Q: What are your thoughts on the new Grand National Pro Singles class? A: I’m really excited about it. Having had a chance to run the basic expert class last year gave me a taste for the expert series national tracks. It’s important to learn those tracks and race in front of the fans that come out to the race events. The Pro Singles class will give me another opportunity to learn, hone my skills and provide my sponsors the kind of national exposure they deserve. So many of my sponsors have been with me a long time and it is awesome to finally be able to be on the pro stage and start to really help pay them back for all their support. Q: Who do you feel will give you the most competition for the Grand National Pro Singles Championship? A: Wow this series is going to have a lot of top riders. I have come up through the amateur national ranks so I know all the racers. On any given day there are several that can put together podium finishes. I know Shayne Texter will be tough on certain tracks, Jeffrey Carver does a great job on short tracks and TT’s and Brad Baker is always a threat on the track. You also can’t forget some of those Michigan and Ohio cushion riders either. With the stock chassis and level equipment playing field, each rider is going to have be on their game from the moment they unload to make it to the top for sure. Q: The Grand National Series will consist of Short Track, TT, Half-Mile and Mile. What is your favorite type of racing? A: I like them all but I love the big and the fastest tracks on the circuit whether its Springfield, Indy, or big cushions like Lima, Ohio. I have been doing a lot of indoor arena cross in preparation for more TT’s and can’t wait to try my hand at the fast and legendary Peoria TT race. Q:Do you have plans to ride the National Hot Shoe Series? What twin will you be riding? A: The twin ride is still up in the air. I have talked with Chris Carr and while getting more experience on a twin is key to go on to the top levels of the sport, this years pro singles championship is really a focus. If I could rally some support I will be out there. With the right team I think I can challenge the hot shoe series for the top spot as well. Q: The season opener is back-to-back Short Track Grand Nationals in Daytona at Municipal Stadium where a lot of the top expert riders have had trouble getting a bike properly set up. What are your thoughts about the two Daytona Short Track races? A: I have raced Daytona Stadium and won many races as I came up through the AMA Sports Winter National ranks on both DTX and Framer bikes. I have raced many of the same racers I will be riding against in this pro series. The track is always tricky and good starts really help. But most of all, to finally be old enough to race the evening program in front of that sell out Daytona crowd is going to be just awesome. I can’t wait! Q: Do you have much experience in setting up a production bike for short tracks? A: Again I talked with Chris Carr while at a American Supercamp last month and he said I better make sure I modify my set ups between qualifying during the day and the races at night. The only time we had to do that was for a mile race at DuQuoin and my DTX bike set up was way different for qualifying in the day from what we did at night. I’m hoping to get good feed back to my team with the help of Davy Durrell our suspension sponsor and get the right tweaks done in order to get the bike to turn and come off the corner. Having a couple of years under my belt road racing with good crew chiefs, I learned the importance of set up and communication. I have been focusing on that communication and feel it will help me translate what’s happening on the track into the right set-up changes. I also suspect the track will get really chopped up more than before now that only DTX bikes will be on it. They always say Daytona can be a crap shoot. I’m looking forward to putting my head down from the first lap and doing everything I can to make it happen. Q: You have had great results in Supermoto, Road Race and Flat Track. Why did you pick the AMA Pro Grand National Series as your career move for 2009? A: It is a really tough choice and soon I am going to have to pick one discipline over all the others and really focus my career on it. But right now I think with the way the market is, what factories are doing in road racing etc. I still have some time to make that choice. There are a couple of reasons the Pro Singles class makes sense . First, I was trained as a dirt tracker. I have worked hard since I was eight years old to come through the ranks racing in every state across the US against the best amateurs in the sport; to just throw that away right now doesn’t make a lot of sense. Second, this is a chance of a lifetime. Back in 1984 Chris Carr was 17 and he won the Jr championship on a single. I think that was the first year the class was introduced. I have worked with Chris at American Supercamp since I was nine years old. To win this pro singles class its first year being introduced under the new management of AMA Pro Racing would be really special to me. Q: This all sounds very upbeat and promising. Good luck this year. A: Thanks.