2009 Kings International - Media Release

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Media Release;

THE BEST ROAD RACING EVENT EVER HELD IN WA IS ON THIS COMING WEEKEND.

The Kings of Wanneroo has been held for many years as the final race of the season. It has always been a stand alone event and to be crowned as the “King of Wanneroo” has always been a prestigious and much sort after title.
It was only towards the end of the 2007 race season that the Motorcycle Racing Club (M.C.R.C.) began to think about spicing the event up a bit, to attract interest from the rest of the country and possibly some overseas riders. The club administration led by President Adrian Mettam and Administrator Denise Stronach had a few ideas and early in 2008 with the help of long time club supporter, Raymond Rooney they contacted Paul Lindsay, editor of Irish Racer Magazine and put the idea to him to bring a dozen Irish and British Superbike riders to Perth.

Right from the onset there was a great rapport between Lindsay and the M.C.R.C. and true to his word he brought out a dozen top flight Superbike riders, like Michael Laverty, Cameron Donald, Ian Lowry, John Laverty, Ryan Farquhar and Bruce Anstey in November 2008 and the meeting was an outstanding success.
The decision was made to repeat the event in 2009, again with the involvement of new Club President Stuart Campbell, Denise Stronach and Adrian Mettam along with the “Irish Connection” of Lindsay and Rooney they have come up with a cracker-jack field of riders.

Who would imagine that it was possible for Perth to field a list of such class riders for a single event? Making the trip for the “Kings of Wanneroo International in 2009 are Keith Amor, Guy Martin, Ian Lougher, Simon Andrews, Mike Swann, Ryan Farquhar, Ian Lowry, Alastair Seeley, Conor Cummins, David Johnson, Jonathan Rea, Jeremy McWilliams and Andrew Pitt. Add to them Shannon Johnson, Daniel Stauffer from the east coast and local riders Ben Henry, Ben Stronach, Cameron Keevers, Adam Senior, Shane Martin, Glen Radica, Kevin Boulton and it is hard to imagine such a star studded field outside the MotoGP and World Superbike events. And all this is happening just 50km from the centre of Perth!!!
Keith Amor is 37 years of age and hails from Falkirk in Scotland. He rides for Wilson Craig Honda. Amor is still chasing his first international road racing victory, but the Scottish rider, in only his fourth season of pure road racing, took three podiums at this year’s Isle of Man TT Races. Keith won eight circuit races in two days over Easter in preparation for his 2009 season.

Guy Martin is 27 years of age and rides for the Hydrex Honda team and hails from Kirmington. The fast talking Lincolnshire rider is without doubt road racing’s most charismatic performer. His ‘Go Big or Go Home’ slogan is well known within road racing circles and his quick whit and large sideburns have given him a cult following. He has yet to win at the Isle of Man TT, but has eight podium finishes. He has won four races in a week at the Ulster Grand Prix and also taken four Scarborough Gold Cup wins on the trot, equaling Geoff Duke’s record. He’s rarely seen without a brew [cup of tea!] in his hand, once you’ve met him… you’ll never forget him!
Ian Lougher is a road race veteran at 46 years of age. Although Lougher is Welsh he now resides in Dromara in Northern Ireland. He rides for Team Black Horse Yamaha. Lougher has 30 international victories in a career that spans over 25 years, with 27 Isle of Man TT podiums. Lougher chalked up his 100th TT race start in 2009. He has also won over 120 races at the famous Oliver’s Mount venue in Scarborough. He turned down a Macau Grand Prix entry to be in Perth.
Simon Andrews is 25 years of age lives in Evesham and rides for MSS Kawasaki. Andrews is one of the British Superbike Championship’s brightest new talents, and this year, riding Nick Morgan’s MSS Kawasaki, he has put Kawasaki back at the front.

Ten times Irish road race champion Michael Swann is 40 years old and is one of Ireland’s most respected former racers, but these days he is a freelance tester. He has multiple Irish road and circuit championships under his belt, “Swanny”, as he’s known to his mates, will give great value for money at Barbagallo on the KTM RC8R.
Thirty-three year old Ryan Farquhar is the absolute stand out for the International riders. He has won in excess of 60 races since last November, yes that is correct 60 races, and so he would have to be a big chance to take out the event.
At twenty-three Ian Lowry is the one of the younger riders baby of the bunch, a Relentless by TAS Suzuki rider but is very much one of Ireland’s brightest young prospects. His hometown is Lisburn, Northern Ireland. He was one of the more successful riders at the 2008 meeting finishing third overall.

Alastair Seeley is highly regarded by those in the know, and he only recently secured the Irish Superbike Championship. He lives in Carrickfergus and has a son, Lewis. He grew up with bikes, his dad Joe raced, and from 1994-1997. His first road race was at the Dundrod 150 in 2002. In 2004 he was the Irish Supersport Champion. In 2005 he won the first of his Irish Superbike Championships and in 2006 he won the Supersport / Superbike double. In 2007 he finished 10th in the BSB Superstock and in 2008 won the NW200 and was the Mondello Master. 2009 he again won the Irish Superbike championship and was also British Superstock Champion.

Conor Cummins is a youngster at just 22 years of age, and he is considered to be one of the brightest new talents around. He lives in Ramsay on the Isle of Man and rides for McAdoo Racing Kawasaki and Team Black Horse Yamaha. The Manxman finished second in the blue–riband Senior TT back in June, also taking a podium in the Supersport class. The tall Ramsey resident is also an accomplished short circuit performer, competing in the British Superstock class this year.

Shannon Johnson is the pick of the Aussie bunch having had a very good year’s racing. Eight months ago his racing future was to say the least looking very bleak, his promised ride had collapsed and as it was so late there seemed to be little prospect of a good ride in 2009.He first rode the KTM RC8R street bike on the KTM dealer day at Eastern Creek, and he boldly told KTM’s Jeff Leisk, “We can win races with this bike.” He went on to an amazing 22 individual race wins along the way to winning two Championships.” He won the Formula OZ championship and also the Pro Twins Championship.
He is also competing in the ASC in the Supersport class and even though he missed rounds 1&2 he is in fourth place.

Daniel Stauffer is another rider who is no stranger to Barbagallo Raceway having raced here in the domestic Supersport championship in the nineties. He has been a regular in the Yamaha Race Team riding in the Superbike class for several seasons. After five rounds of the ASC he is 8th place.

David Johnson who hails from Adelaide in South Australia has been riding in Europe for the past eight years. He started as a 3 year old in BMX and represented Australia at the BMX World Championships. At 17 years of age he commenced to road race in the Sth .Australian 125GP championship, and he still holds the lap record at MacNamara Park. In 2001 he rode in the Australian Supersport championship and headed to Europe for the 2002 season. He has ridden for several teams in England and Europe. He has ridden in the Dutch and German Superbike championships where he achieved good consistent results. Mid 2007- present he rode for the Maxxis Yamaha Team. For 2009 he was on a brand new R1 with a best result of ninth place at Mallory Park.

Ben Henry on the Allect Racing Yamaha R1 has just won his first State Superbike Championship and had a good year racing in a very competitive championship. He made the decision to move to Queensland to live, yet he still travels to each WA round and it certainly paid dividends this year with his State Championship. He is also competing in the ASC, and is 12th, a great effort given he is a true privateer.

Ben Stronach is a dual State Superbike Champion and rides the Drilling & Grouting Ducati 1098R. One bad round cost him a possible third championship, but he fought back and finished second on a count-back having tied with Jamie Boland. He will without doubt be keen to be the best of the Aussie’s.

Cameron Keevers is the 2009 State Supersport Champion having won an incredible fifteen straight races. Like Ben Henry, Keevers is a privateer and has competed in all the rounds of the ASC in the Supersport Championship and sits in ninth position. He has leased the Chapter One Honda CBR 1000 which belongs to Jason Walker for the event.

Glen Radica has had his best ever year’s racing on the Brandos Pizzeria Yamaha R1. He finished in third place in the ‘B’ Grade series and then went on to win the “C” Grade Superbike Championship.
Kevin Boulton is a previous winner of the ‘B’ Grade series and has proved to be a consistent performer on the NRW/Rick Gill Honda CBR 1000.



Besides all of the above mentioned riders three others will face the starter on Sunday. They are former MotoGP rider Jeremy McWilliams, dual World Supersport Champion from Kempsey in NSW Andrew Pitt and one of the rising stars of World Superbikes Jonathan Rea. McWilliams was always going to compete in the “Kings” but the later two were only cleared to race on the 1st November.

I caught up with the trio for a brief chat on Monday.

Andrew Pitt “Life has been pretty good I’ve had a few ups and downs. Last year was excellent, he was the 2008 World Supersport Champion, and things were going OK for the first couple of races with the ’08 bike but we struggled a bit with the ’09 bike. Here I am back in Perth; I haven’t been here since 1999. It was always the best round of the Australian Championships. I’m looking forward to having a run around the track and see what it is like ten years on. This a great bunch of guys and I’m sure we’ll all have a great weekend and have some good racing.”

Jeremy McWilliams is another veteran at 45 years of age and is probably the most recognizable of all the visiting riders. He has been a star of Grand Prix racing as well as World Superbikes. He rode a KTM RC8R for the KTM-Akrapovic Team at the final two rounds of the International German Superbike Championship. To have a rider of his calibre wanting to ride in the event shows just how seriously the International riders take this meeting. “I’m really glad to be back in Australia, I love the place and the people the hospitality from the Club and Adrian and Denise has been fantastic and so far it has been an ideal trip. There is a bit of competitive spirit there but we are trying to play it down, but when the helmets go on the competitive nature comes to the surface. I don’t see any one rider having an advantage, there are a lot of very fast riders in this group, and none of us should discount Shannon (Johnson) he is going very fast already having had a practice session. The bikes being basically out of the crate should all be much the same, which should make for close exciting racing.”

Jonathan Rea 22-year-old Ten Kate Honda World Superbike star Jonathan Rea, started out life as a motocross rider before switching to the tarmac in 2003 in the 125GP British Championship. After four years in the British Championship he moved to Hannspree Ten Kate Honda for the 2008 season.
2008 then saw Rea make the move to World Supersport with his current team Ten Kate Honda, and three wins in his debut season, saw him finish as runner-up, and for 2009 he was moved into the Superbikes. Rea has excelled in WSB this season, and after a shaky start he has recorded wins at Misano and Nurburgring, backed up by six other podium finishes. He’s one of the hottest talents in World motorcycling and it’s an honour to have him in our line-up for the Kings event in November.
“ We’re not coming out here just to clown around, we’ll be taking it seriously but you have to remember it’s the end of a long hard year for most of us, so it’s nice to get away and have a bit of a break. It’s going to be fun, I often ride my brother’s street bike at track days back home and I love to ride motorcycles. It’s an event I’ve been looking forward too since it was first mentioned, and it was unfortunate that my team, Ten Kate Honda, couldn’t confirm that we wouldn’t be testing until the last minute. There are a lot of fast guys here, but if the chance is there I’ll go for it.”

JOHN INNES.