MA statement regarding the 2009 Road Race Calendar With dates for the 2009 ASBK now confirmed and the future of the Australian Superbike Championship looking bright, remaining applications to promote other Road Race events are yet to be finalised and as such Motorcycling Australia’s (MA) CEO, David White, would like to release the following statement: Following the announcement of the revised 2009 Calendar for both the Australian Superbike Championship and the Australian Motocross Championship, the future of motorcycle sport looks promising despite entering into volatile economic times. While the Australian Superbike Championship dates are now confirmed there are still two applications to promote other Road Race events; Formula Xtreme and East Coast, to be finalised. As it stands MA is not in a position to confirm dates for either of these remaining events until the promoters for each have met with us. Meeting with these promoters has become vital due to the unprecedented number of people interested in promoting Road Race events, and is necessary to ensure a viable 2009 Road Racing Calendar, addressing existing date and location clashes, to find the right balance of classes in the 2009 season and to provide information about 2009 MA permit fees and rider levies. An original meeting date of 28 November was set and only Paul Edwards of MRRDA was able to attend. We acknowledge and would like to thank Mr. Edwards for taking the time to meet with us and value his contribution to the Road Race discussion. An alternative meeting date has been set and both James Spence and Terry O’Neill have been invited to attend given their inability at the previous meeting. This meeting has been set for the morning of Thursday 4 December 2008 in Sydney and several invitations have been sent to both promoters prior to the release of this statement, however no response has been received from either so far. We cannot move forward in confirming further dates until we have met with these promoters and unfortunately this will have an impact on the Road Race community. We welcome the opportunity to meet and work with these promoters for the betterment of the sport and to ease uncertainty surrounding the future of the Road Racing outside of the 2009 Australian Superbike Championship Series.