Moscow Russia Native, Oleg Pianykh, has been accepted by the FIM as a wild card entry for the HANNspree World Super Sport Championship round at Miller Motorsports Park, scheduled for May 29 31. Oleg will be the only Utah local competing in the event against the best motorcycle racers from around the world. Less then five years ago at the age of 18, current Plaza Cycle Masters of the Mountains expert racer, Oleg Pianykh sat on a sport bike for his very first time. He instantly fell in love with riding the canyons but always wanted to be a professional racer, however, being a Russian immigrant in his first year of collage meant he didn’t have enough money to get on a racetrack. That’s when he found a raffle box for a free Apex Trackday at a local dealership and just knew that he had to try and win even though the track was 500 miles away and didn’t have a way to get there. To make a long story short, Oleg won the Apex Trackday’s raffle, found a way to the track and has never looked back. In Oleg’s first year racing in 2006, he won the Plaza Cycle Masters of the Mountains Novice Championship and has been progressing rapidly as an expert racer each year since. Next year he plans to race professionally and sees this as a great opportunity to learn and ride with the best! Oleg said, “I am very excited for this once in a life time opportunity. To me just being on the grid with the best 600 racers in the world is an accomplishment. This will definitely be a big challenge, I have never ridden on Pirelli tires and my equipment is subpar in comparison to those guys but I’m not going to let that keep me from riding harder then I’ve ever ridden and doing the best I can. The next couple of weeks will be pretty stressful with getting everything ready and trying to come up with more funding but I can’t wait for May 31st!” Clint from Apex Trackdays said, “We are very proud to sponsor Oleg for this rare opportunity and we know he will give 110%. He has come a long way from the days of flagging for us just to earn a little track time credit to one of the top expert racers in Utah.” His primary sponsors for the event are Apex Trackdays, Fastline Race Tire and Beehive Bailbonds but there is still a long way to go to raise enough money to cover entry fees and not much time left. For those interested in providing financial support, can send money via paypal to [email protected] and placing “Oleg WSBK Donation” in the message box or by sending checks to P.O. BOX 457, Layton UT 84041 The UtahSBA is the Utah based club that operates the Plaza Cycle Masters of the Mountains race series at Miller Motorsports Park and has been kind enough to offer the handling of donations for Oleg’s WSS entry fees.