Four dealership-backed teams representing four different countries will enter Buell Firebolt XB-RR production racebikes in the 2006 Daytona 200, the AMA Formula Xtreme season-opener. Riding for Hal’s Performance Advantage Buell (which has campaigned Buell racebikes in AMA and Formula USA competition over the last several years) will be the team’s long-time rider Mike Ciccotto, the only man to ride a Buell Firebolt to victory in AMA competition when he won the 2002 AMA Pro Thunder race at Laguna Seca. Hannover (Germany) Buell team, which has raced Buells in European and World Championship competition, including the Oschersleben round (24-hour) of the FIM Endurance World Championship, has signed Rico Penzkofer, who has experience racing in the Supersport and Endurance World Championships, as well as the 2005 BMW Motorrad Power Cup. Warr’s Harley-Davidson/Buell of London (England), which has raced Harley-Davidson and Buell motorcycles for decades, has retained the services of former 250cc Grand Prix race winner and 500cc/MotoGP veteran Jeremy McWilliams. A fourth Buell dealer, Trev Deeley Motorcycles, of Vancouver, Canada, (which was founded by the late Fred Deeley, Sr. and later named for and run by the late Trev Deeley, Fred Deeley’s grandson and a former factory Harley-Davidson racer) has yet to confirm its rider, but well-placed sources have suggested that Deeley’s very short list of possible riders includes former Harley-Davidson factory AMA Superbike pilot and two-time Canadian Superbike Champion Pascal Picotte. Picotte, Ciccotto, McWilliams and Penzkofer are expected to test their Buell Firebolt XB-RRs at Texas World Speedway in early February. Texas World Speedway is a “superspeedway” with an infield road course and 33-degree banking that offers a similar experience to Daytona International Speedway (which has 31-degree banking). The 2007 Buell Firebolt XB-RR is a production racebike (essentially a streetbike fitted with a race kit at the factory and sold for competition use only, much like Ducati’s 999RS and 749RS models) designed to have competitive horsepower, to weigh near the AMA Formula Xtreme minimum weight limit, to be durable enough to last an entire race season with only routine maintenance and to be versatile enough to be raced in several professional, pro-am and amateur organizations and classes. All 50 of the $30,995 Buell Firebolt XB-RRs scheduled to be produced were sold out — on the wholesale level — within one hour of being announced during the Buell Winter Dealer Convention in Grapevine, Texas January 23. A short production run is scheduled to happen in February with the remainder of the XB-RRs scheduled to be produced in April 2006. “I’m really excited having an international team of guys,” Erik Buell, a former AMA Superbike privateer racer and founder, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of Buell Motorcycle Company, told Roadracingworld.com Tuesday. “That’s the Daytona I remember. There were guys from Germany, England, France, Japan and all over the place when I rode the 200. “I think it’s really cool that this is happening with an American bike, because we have such strong dealers overseas. We sell more than half of what the Buells we make overseas, so we have some really strong dealers overseas that have a lot of experience racing. “We had more dealers who said. ‘We want a bike for Daytona! We’ve got to have a bike for Daytona!’ ‘I can’t. I can’t get any more of them done until April.’ But it was really exciting to see at the dealer show how many of them want to go Formula Xtreme racing, and get seriously involved in racing again. That can’t do anything but bring good for the sport, because when they come they’ll bring spectators, interest and connections to their local papers and T.V. to tell the story that they are running a team. All of these things that will get extra press for road racing are going to come out of it. “So I’m excited the dealers got involved and that these guys are excited about coming to Daytona. It’s fun.”