The GEICO Suzuki Two-Seat Superbike Program with rider Chris Ulrich attracted repeat interest from two San Francisco Bay Area reporters Thursday during pre-race promotional activities leading up to this coming weekend’s Great Clips West Coast Moto Jam at Infineon Raceway. Damon Andrews, currently a Sports Anchor for Comcast Sports Net Bay Area, took a two-seat ride with Ulrich at Auto Club Speedway in 2007, when he worked as a Sports Anchor for KTLA in Los Angeles. And Kym McNicholas, a previous participant in the two-seat Superbike at Infineon Raceway, chose the GEICO Suzuki Two-Seat Superbike Program to be part of the profile piece she is doing on Rick Marini for www.PandoDaily.com, which specializes in covering start-up companies in Silicon Valley. Marini, the founder and CEO of www.BranchOut.com and “a pioneer in online social media and serial entrepreneur for the past 13 years,” according to his official profile at http://www.crunchbase.com/person/rick-marini, said he grew up riding motorcycles in New Hampshire, but he said his three laps around the 2.32-mile, 12-turn Infineon Raceway on the back of Ulrich’s 190-horsepower GSX-R1000 was a completely different experience. “That was fast. Like really fast! I’ve never done anything like that before,” said Marini. “He knows what he’s doing and I trusted him, but some of those turns were scary. Like your knee is right there on the ground. And just the acceleration of the bike, how quickly he can accelerate and how quickly he can brake, how quickly he can go from 140 mph to 40 mph – it actually was a little scary. But it’s adrenaline and it’s fun. I think I’m going to remember that for the rest of my life.” Marini, who stands 5-foot-6 and weighs approximately 135 pounds, was followed by Andrews, a former college basketball player who stands 6-foot-6 and weighs approximately 260 pounds, but Ulrich didn’t skip a beat, providing a ride for Andrews that outdid his first experience. “That was 10 times more intense than the last time I did it, just because of the fact that I could not rest,” said Andrews. “I know he couldn’t [rest] because he’s got to go in and out of the turns, braking and speeding up, but he knows where the bike is going to go. Me, the guy on the back, I had no idea, especially on the first lap, where he was going, where he was going to accelerate and where he was going to brake. So I was just anticipating what he was going to do. When I would feel him brake all of the weight would shift from the back to the front and it put pressure on my arms. I wasn’t sure how he was feeling this, because I know if I had 260 pounds on the back of a bike I would feel like I wasn’t in complete control of what I normally do. He’s got to feel the same. I know he’s done this millions of times, but at the same time he doesn’t know what I’m going to do on the back of the bike. I could freak out and I could lean the wrong way. I’ve always had respect for these guys and what they do, but Chris did an amazing job. That was good, man. Seriously fantastic!” Andrews planned to broadcast a feature story on his ride during his sports reports at 6:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Thursday evening, and portions of those reports will be replayed during broadcasts Friday morning. “It’s good to be back at Infineon Raceway,” said Ulrich. “The track’s always been a good partner with the GEICO Suzuki Two-Seat Superbike Program. And this year was a continuation of that program, as we had two enthusiastic riders with Kym McNicholas bringing out Rick Marini and Damon Andrews coming out for another ride at a different racetrack. We were excited to hear they were both coming back to see us again and to hear that they were hooked on motorcycle road racing. “The goal when we started our two-seat Superbike program in 2001 was to attract media attention to motorcycle road racing and help promote events. And we’ve been able to do this through great partnerships with racetracks and cooperation with racetracks like Infineon Raceway. Having the same media people come out year after year and be excited about the program just goes to show how effective it is. “A rider of the stature of Damon Andrews presents unique physical challenges of getting him on the back of the motorcycle and getting around the racetrack, but it’s also a challenge to get him in proper safety gear. Our new official safety gear partners for the GEICO Suzuki Two-Seat Superbike Program, Alpinestars and Arai, did a great job in outfitting Damon and Rick. We had two riders at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of size, and we had gear that fit them both and kept them both safe.” Ulrich and his team have offered rides on two-seat racebikes to local reporters to help promote AMA Pro National Guard Superbike events and motorcycle road racing in general for over 10 years, and Ulrich has given over 500 two-seat racebike rides since 2003. Ulrich also gives rides on his two-seat racebike to the general public to raise funds for the Roadracing World Action Fund (http://actionfund.roadracingworld.com/), a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization which advocates and promotes the use of soft barriers to help prevent rider injuries at racetracks.