Bobby Labonte and the No.71 TRG team got the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season got off to an eventful start in TRG’s first ever Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. After being caught up in a wreck on the final lap of the race, The TaxSlayer.com/Adobe Road Winery Chevrolet finished in 18th position.

“It felt great to get back behind the wheel of the No. 71 and kick off the 2010 season,” Labonte said. “We didn’t have the best handling car out there, and we knew that going in, but in the end we just got caught up in someone else’s mess and there’s just nothing you can do about that – especially at a place like Daytona.”
The crew used the time the 75-lap race offered to its advantage to work on pit stops and communication on pit road under race conditions.

“The Bud Shootout is always an fun race for the fans, and it gives us as a team the opportunity to dust ourselves off from the off season and be fully prepared when the green flag falls at the Daytona 500,” crew chief Doug Randolph said.

After an 18th place qualifying effort yesterday afternoon, the No. 71 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet will return to the track for the Great American Race on Sunday, February 14. The race will be broadcast live on FOX television beginning at 1 pm Eastern.

About TRG Motorsports
TRG Motorsports is based in Mooresville, North Carolina. The Racer’s Group was founded in 1993 and has been competing at the top level of sports car racing. TRG’s Porsche sports car program is run out of the company’s headquarters in Petaluma, California. The team has the most wins of any team in the Grand-Am Rolex Series with 28, including the 2005 and 2006 Rolex Series GT championship trophy to go along with wins in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona (three) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

For more information please contact Adriana Wells at (704) 662-5950 or adriana@trgmotorsports.com. Detailed team info can be viewed at www.trgmotorsports.com and www.theracersgroup.com.

More information and a complete press kit can be found at
www.trgmotorsports.com

"Fast" Jack Beckman is eager to get back to racing in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, which opens this weekend at the 50th annual Winternationals in Pomona, Calif.

He ended the 2009 season fifth in the standings after winning two events in five final rounds, with a season round-win record of 29-22.

"Everybody on the Valvoline/MTS team is so excited," said Beckman, who still holds the national speed record of 333.66 mph, racing to the quarter-mile. "We had a great test in Florida in January, which meant that we could take everything back to the DSR shop in Indy, get it serviced, get it fresh, and get the crew guys a couple of three-day weekends off so they would be well rested coming into Pomona.

"We have new paint schemes for the year, a new fire suit, new crew outfits, and five of the same crew members from last year. We've added crew chief Rahn Tobler and three others, so the entire unit hadn't worked together before this year.

"But in preseason testing within two and a half days I could already see everybody was on the same page and working well together. And I've talked to Tobler, assistant crew chief John Collins and several of the crew guys many times at the test session, and everybody is so excited about getting the season started.

"The Winternationals has always been the kickoff of the season. It's the race where you get to see all of the new paint schemes, but for me it's always been the local race too. When you think about it, for a Southern California boy, it's triply exciting to be at my home race track, at the opening season of the year, and where there are so many new things to see.

"I think, right out of the box, we're going to be a contender. I think every pro team has a couple of races during every season where they stumble or lose the handle on the combination. And I'm not saying that we won't be in that position one or two times this year, but I feel, with the talent on our team, and on DSR's other five nitro teams, with whom we can sound ideas back and forth, we're going to be phenomenal this year."

Beckman's best results at Pomona is a Pomona 2 No. 1 qualifier and runner-up finish in 2006.

Mail Terminal Services continues its popular "Mail From Home" campaign in 2010, supporting the U.S. troops serving in the war zones. In the past three NHRA seasons the campaign has sent over 330,000 post cards overseas signed by fans and supporters at each NHRA national event with messages of support for the troops, along with numerous NHRA National Dragster issues and other automotive magazines. Photos of cars and drivers were also included.

JACK BECKMAN QUICK FACTS:
* Ended 2009 No. 5 in point standings, winning two events in five final rounds (Atlanta, Norwalk, Ohio)
* Entered 2009 Countdown to 1 in fifth place
* Qualified No. 8 at Pomona 1 in 2009, lost second round to Robert Hight
* Pomona 2 runner-up in 2006; also Pomona 2 low qualifier in 2006
* His 2009 round win-loss record is 29-22
* No. 3 in 2008 Funny Car point standings, with three victories - Phoenix, Reading, Concord - in seven final rounds
* Was bumped out of the 2007 Countdown to Four playoffs standings at the Richmond, Va., event, after his teammates Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps reached the semifinal round. Ended the season No. 5 in points
* In his 88 national events in Top Fuel and Funny Car, he has won eight times in 17 final rounds (all in Funny Car), and has a career round win-loss record of 98-75
* Is the 2007 U.S. Smokeless Showdown winner ($100,000 bonus event held at U.S. Nationals)
* Set national elapsed-time record of 4.662 seconds and national speed record of 333.66 mph (on quarter-mile) at final 2006 event in Pomona, Calif. The ET record has since been eclipsed. Beckman still holds the speed record
* As a Funny Car rookie in the last five races of 2006, he qualified No. 1 once (Pomona 2), reached two final rounds (Las Vegas 2 and Pomona 2), won once (Vegas 2), and set both ends of the national record (Pomona 2)
* Residence: Norco, Calif.
* Hometown: Granada Hills, Calif.
* Date of birth: June 28, 1966
* Married, Jenna (wedding date 11/7/06), son Jason Russell (3/8/07)
* Height/weight: 6'0", 185 lbs.
* Former instructor and current consultant at Frank Hawley's NHRA Championship Drag Racing School; former Sergeant in U.S. Air Force (1984-88); cancer survivor; licensed in nine different NHRA categories
* First Start in TF: Las Vegas 1 2005
* First Start in FC: , Dallas, Texas, 2006
* Competed in only 12 TF events in 2005, ended season 15th in points
* Career-best elapsed time racing to 1000 feet is 4.044 seconds (Richmond '09)
* Career-best speed racing to 1000 feet is 305.22 mph (Phoenix '09)
* Career-best FC (quarter-mile) elapsed time: 4.662 seconds (Pomona 2 '06)
* Career-best FC (quarter-mile) speed: 333.66 mph (Pomona 2 '06)
* Career-best TF (quarter-mile) elapsed time: 4.563 seconds (TF, Brainerd 2005)
* Career-best (quarter-mile) TF speed: 324.28 mph (TF, Brainerd 2005)
* In 2003 won Super Comp world championship in Lucas Oil Series and Division 7 Super Comp championship
* Leads 14-time champion John Force in head-to-head round wins: 9-5

WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
THURSDAY, Feb. 11 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSION at 3 p.m.
FRIDAY, Feb. 12 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 3 p.m.
SATURDAY, Feb. 13 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at noon and 3 p.m.
SUNDAY, Feb. 14 - Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m. FINAL ELIMINATIONS begin at 11 a.m.

TELEVISION:
Saturday, Feb. 13, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 11 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, Feb. 14, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute news magazine show, at 11a.m. (ET).
Sunday, Feb. 14, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise three hours of coverage starting at 8 p.m. (ET).

SATELLITE (Analog feed):
Friday, Feb. 12, 8:30 – 9 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 18K (12060 MHz, vertical)
Saturday, Feb. 13, 10 –10:30p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 18K (12060 MHz, vertical)
Sunday, Feb. 14, 10 – 10:30 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 18K (12060 MHz, vertical)
Video news release contains race action highlights each day and winners’ interviews on Sunday.

Every season Jeg Coughlin says he anxiously counts the days until the start of the Winternationals. So you can imagine the popular Ohio Pro Stock driver's eagerness to be a part of the 50th annual edition of one of NHRA's most tradition-rich and historic races.

Ever since Shirley Shahan raced past Ken Heinemann for the 1966 Stock Eliminator victory and became the first female winner of a national event in NHRA history, the Kragen O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals has become a race that's known for the girls beating the boys.

With seven Top Fuel world championship trophies on his mantle, including the last six in a row, some might think it's a chore for Tony Schumacher to pump himself up for yet another season, another title run, to try and keep his dominating streak going.

From the legendary cars and stars of yesterday to today's 0-to-100-mph-in-less-than-a-second dragsters, the 'best value in sports' just got even better

In today's increasingly fast-paced and mobile world, with its 0-to-100-mph-in-less-than-a-second dragsters and the wildly frenetic action in the open pits, perhaps no sport on the planet does a better job of attacking boredom from all angles than the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

On an apparent "buddy system," Cory McClenathan and the FRAM Top Fuel dragster have spent a busy off-season losing weight as they both prepared to contend for a championship in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. The new season opens this weekend in Pomona at the 50th annual NHRA Winternationals.

McClenathan clocked personal-best numbers during Florida testing in January of 3.771 seconds and 321.50 mph, buoying his and the FRAM crew's spirits as they embark on a new season of tough competition. His official career-bests racing to 1000 feet are 3.784 seconds and 319.60 mph, both set in Richmond in 2009.

"The competition has gotten so tight that we're just focusing in on all the little things that have to do with these cars and in the off-season we put the car on a huge diet and it really paid off," said McClenathan, who has two wins in Pomona at the NHRA Finals, but none at the Winternationals. "I think it's definitely going to help us.

"At the same time, we tried some new parts in testing, and that seemed to work really well. We ran a couple of 3.77s, a couple of 3.79s, and ran over 320 mph a couple of times.

"We're going into Pomona with probably the best package we've had in a long time, not to mention it's nice to have all the same crew guys back from the year prior.

"We have a brand-new chassis, a great looking paint scheme, with the FRAM orange back as the primary color, and it turned out really well. It's all hand-painted; no wraps for us. We liked the FRAM Tough Guard colors we ran last year, but FRAM wanted to switch it up, and we're all for that.

"I just want to go out and prove that we have one of the better cars in the pack, and I think we do, and obviously I think it's the most consistent. It would be nice to come out of the gate and win the Winternationals. That's one race where I've been to the finals and never won. And that would be a great start for us."

"Cory Mac" has a solid record at Pomona: four No. 1 qualifiers, two wins and two runner-ups between the Auto Club Raceway's two events a year.

As for his rivals this season, "I think the toughest competition is sitting right here at Don Schumacher Racing: my teammates Tony Schumacher and Antron Brown," said McClenathan. "And obviously Larry Dixon. He's going to be right there from the beginning. I think everybody is going to be looking at these four cars as being the top four. There's some other good cars out there, but I think on a consistent basis we have to look at our in-house cars the most."

CORY MCCLENATHAN QUICK FACTS:
* No. 4 in 2009 year-end standings with a victory in Concord, N.C., the opening round of the playoffs
* Had one win in four final rounds in 2009, plus five semifinal and six quarterfinal finishes
* Qualified No. 1 once in 2009 (Bristol)
* Qualified No. 3 at 2009 Winternationals, lost second round to Doug Kalitta
* No. 5 in 2009 "regular season" Top Fuel point standings
* Has four No. 1 qualifiers at Pomona (two at Winternationals)
* Has two wins in Pomona, both at the NHRA Finals, in 1992 and 2002
* No. 3 in 2008 Top Fuel point standings, including one win in three final rounds, as well as eight semifinal, six quarterfinal, seven first-round finishes and two No. 1 qualifiers
* Has 31 career Top Fuel victories in 57 final rounds
* First driver to break the 320-mph barrier with 322.17-mph run in Dallas in 1997
* Has recorded 467 career round wins in Top Fuel
* Qualified No. 1 32 times, with a career-high seven times in 1993
* Recorded 400th round win in Top Fuel in Richmond 2007
* Has finished No. 2 in the standings four times (1992, 1995, 1997 and 1998)
* Finished No. 10 in rookie season in 1991; made first 4-second run
* Made NHRA history with first run in the 4.70s (4.799) at Reading in 1992
* Swept the three-race Western Swing in 1997 en route to four consecutive wins and career-high six victories in eight final rounds
* Won four of the first six races in 1998. Equaled career-best with six wins in eight finals
* Won the U.S. Nationals twice (1996, 1999)
* Missed four races in 1993 after crash in Rockingham and still finished sixth in the Top Fuel points
* Age 46 (January 30, 1963); born in Wichita, Kansas, now lives in Brownsburg, Ind.; daughter Courtney (10/25/90); engaged to Debi
* Joined Don Schumacher Racing in 2008; 2010 is fifth season with sponsorship from FRAM

WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
THURSDAY, Feb. 11 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSION at 3 p.m.
FRIDAY, Feb. 12 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 3 p.m.
SATURDAY, Feb. 13 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at noon and 3 p.m.
SUNDAY, Feb. 14 - Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m. FINAL ELIMINATIONS begin at 11 a.m.

TELEVISION:
Saturday, Feb. 13, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 11 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, Feb. 14, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute news magazine show, at 11a.m. (ET).
Sunday, Feb. 14, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise three hours of coverage starting at 8 p.m. (ET).

SATELLITE (Analog feed):
Friday, Feb. 12, 8:30 – 9 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 18K (12060 MHz, vertical)
Saturday, Feb. 13, 10 –10:30p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 18K (12060 MHz, vertical)
Sunday, Feb. 14, 10 – 10:30 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 18K (12060 MHz, vertical)
Video news release contains race action highlights each day and winners’ interviews on Sunday.

Williams F1 announced today that is has entered into a unique license agreement with Williams Sports, a US golf equipment company. Williams Sports has a very successful background in the golf business, building one of the most successful golf club companies in the industry during the mid to late 2000's, while producing golf equipment that was used to win 44 times on PGA Tours worldwide. Combining Williams F1’s engineering capability with the established golf club design and production experience of the team at Williams Sports, will create a partnership that will advance golf club designs to a new level in 2010 and beyond.

Both aerodynamics and carbon fibre composite technology are core Formula One competencies. Aerodynamics is the key performance differentiator in Formula One. Alongside traditional experimental disciplines such as wind tunnel testing, the sport leads the aerodynamic predictive discipline of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to model the drag and downforce characteristics of their race cars. At Williams F1, a CFD model of the AT&T Williams race car contains hundreds of millions of data points, allowing the smallest change to be assessed and analysed in a virtual environment for its aerodynamic impact across the entire car geometry. Over an average season, a Formula One car will undergo more than 100 aerodynamic revisions to improve on-track competitiveness.

The sport has also pioneered the application and use of low weight, high strength carbon fibre since the 1980s, developing race cars that withstand ten annual penetration, static and dynamic crash tests to ensure driver safety while not compromising performance. Along with carbon fibre, several other materials that are critical to the performance of the race cars will be featured in the line of Williams Sports products.
The clubs will feature tungsten inserts that will be used for fine tuning of weight distribution, which is a process used in Formula One. High nickel content super alloy, used in the manufacture of the lightweight racing car exhausts, will be the featured material in the Qualifier Series of Williams Sports irons.

Initial CFD analysis has shown that the aerodynamic profiling of a top surface trip and diffuser geometry to the underside of a driver head, does, under control conditions, lend the club a smaller wake and improved pressure recovery. The net gain for the golfer is a reduced loss of swing energy in addressing the ball and a more stable head angle better enabling a clean and directional ball strike.

In simulations, the Williams Sports’ FW32 driver demonstrated 19% less drag force and an 11.5% decrease in drag coefficient as against a similarly-specified TaylorMade Burner driver.

Frank Williams, Williams F1’s Team Principal said, “We are at the start of a fascinating period of business development. We have much proprietary know-how which we are now bringing to wider consumer as well as industrial applications, and our engagement with Williams Sport is a clear example of applying our knowledge usefully in areas outside of Formula One. I have great hopes for its potential to revolutionise design in golf equipment.

"This is a very exciting partnership for my team and I,” said Michael Lee of Williams Sports. “Having access to Williams F1’s extensive design and engineering know-how puts us one step ahead of every other company in the golf industry. So many limitations have been placed on golf equipment that it was just a matter of time before a golf company started looking at aerodynamics and new materials. Williams Sports is leading the way into a whole new era of club design. We are honoured and excited about what the future holds for the partnership between Williams F1 and Williams Sports."

The word "consistency" is so often used in the sport of drag racing, usually as an indicator of success and top performance, it borders on status as an official hackneyed cliche'. The truth remains, however, that drag racers crave the elusive ability to string a series of solid laps together, and to stretch those into consecutive days of strong running. In the big picture, connecting together a series of strong races, or even months, is what allows a team to contend for the championship.

"We knew it last year, that we'd changed an awful lot of stuff during the winter, and we talked about it a lot as we started the season and stumbled around a little bit," Wilkerson said. "It took us a while to get a handle on the new chassis and to learn what the Shelby Mustang wanted, in terms of a tune-up, but once we got that figured out, at least to a degree, we starting picking up round wins at a pretty good clip. I think we were running as well as just about anybody for the last few months of the season, and our confidence level went up right along with the win total.

"When you finish a season pretty strong, and the car is basically doing what you want it to do more times than not, you almost hate to have an off-season, but you also know you need to restock and recharge. Physically, our guys could've taken a few days off and been ready to go again, but the race car and all the parts needed some time and some work. We spent the winter putting new blocks together, working on heads, sorting a wall-full of clutch discs, and just getting everything ready for the season. What we didn't do was try to reinvent the wheel. The round ones on our LRS Ford work just fine."

A broad view of Wilk's 2009 record sheds light on only the surface numbers, which barely illustrate his increased performance as the season wore on. During the first half of the season, he accumulated a 14-11 record, with one DNQ. From that point forward, during the second half of the year, he posted a 17-10 record, with two race victories and one runner-up finish. The difference was greater than the numbers, though, as that second half also featured a short streak of enormously unlucky races, in which Wilk ran quick enough in the first round to beat any Funny Car on the planet Earth, except the one in the other lane.

"We definitely ran better than the numbers even look, I agree with that," Wilkerson said. "If we're a few inches better in Brainerd and Reading, or if we ran anybody else, we could've potentially won another race and we definitely would've had an even better record. With a little bit of racing luck, we could've had anywhere from 20 to 25 round wins in the second half, but that's all part of this game and it's all history now.

"The point of all that is we know we don't have to go out and prove anything to ourselves or anyone else right now. We want to hit the ground running and get right back into the groove we were in as we finished last year. As the season goes on there are going to be some ups and downs, that's just unavoidable, so we want to get off to a strong start and build from there. It makes the little slumps a bit easier to take if you've already got some rounds in the bank. That's the goal, and being consistent will go a long way toward helping us reach it."

Keeping his focus on this week's 50th Anniversary Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals, Wilkerson knows the immediate comparison will be to last year's unfortunate DNQ, but his focus is simply on running well. In 2009, persistent rain shortened qualifying to only one session, and when a balky race car refused to complete the only lap it ran, Wilkerson joined Top Fuel star Larry Dixon as the answer to the question "Which two championship contenders started the '09 season on the sidelines by not qualifying in Pomona?"

"There's no good time to DNQ, but Larry's team and our team both knew we had a whole season ahead of us, and plenty of time to get straightened out," Wilkerson said. "On top of that, we both knew there were some extenuating circumstances with the weather, and you just have to brush that off and move on. Our only focus, right now, is that first qualifying lap on Thursday. After that, we'll take them on one lap at a time. In the end, we'll see how we did."

One hint as to gauging how Wilkerson's weekend and early season are going will be to count the number of times the word "consistency" is used in descriptions of his performance. The more consistency, the better the odds the Levi, Ray & Shoup star will be battling for trophies, not just qualifying spots and round wins.

Team Wilkerson Racing
NHRA Nitro Funny Car
www.timwilkerson.com

Nine Racing’s recent visit to the 24th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals at QuikTrip Center’s Tulsa Expo Raceway, in Tulsa Oklahoma, proved successful and allowed the team to fine-tune its new direction of offering race prep services.

The popular annual midget race drew 256 competitors from across the nation, and the event will be featured on Speed Channel on Saturday, February 13, at 9:00 p.m. EST.

For more information and details about the Nine Racing Race Prep Services program, and how a driver can participate in the 2010 USAC National Midget Series with the team, please visit www.nineracing.com.

Ron Capps is ready to get the 23-event 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series started this weekend at the 50th annual Winternationals as the defending Funny Car event champion. He's also proud to be one of 30 different Funny Car champions of the Winternationals in its 49 years.

Capps' legendary NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge crew chief Ed "Ace" McCulloch has also won two Funny Car titles at Pomona as a driver, one of them at the Winternationals, in 1972. Team owner Don Schumacher is on the Winternationals Funny Car win list as well, as the 1973 titlist. “I have a lot of experience to draw from at Don Schumacher Racing,” added Capps.

"Once again, Ace - who always inspires me as a successful Funny Car and Top Fuel racer - and all the NAPA guys had a great test in Florida in January, which reminded me a lot of last year, when we came out of the test feeling great and ended up winning in Pomona.

"Nowadays, with the Countdown, there's not such an emphasis on the past when you had to just get the season started off well. Now, the approach is to try to win every race and do the best you can for your sponsors at every event.

"I feel like we always have a good chance of winning, if not a great chance. I feel now like we have a more complete team that can contend for a win any weekend and a championship," said Capps, who is still seeking his first Funny Car crown since going pro in 1995.

"I can tell you, in years past, when the off-season was looming, you just couldn't wait for it to come. The 2009 season was so great for us, after winning five races and finishing third, we wanted to get right back into it. I can't wait to get on the track at Pomona this weekend."

Capps' Pomona record includes two wins (1998 and 2009), a runner-up in 2006 and a No. 1 qualifier in 1999 - all at the Winternationals. He was also runner-up at Pomona 2 in 2008.

RON CAPPS QUICK FACTS:
* Ended 2009 season No. 3 in the point standings
* Won class-best five events in 2009 - Pomona 1, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Topeka, Denver - in seven final rounds
* Entered 2009 Countdown to 1 No. 2 in 2009 Funny Car "regular season" after leading standings in12 of the first 14 events
* Qualified No. 1 three times in 2009
* Round win-loss record in 2009 is 39-19
* Currently holds the national record racing to 1000 feet of 4.023 seconds (Phoenix 2009)
* Pomona 1 winner in 1998 and 2009, Pomona 1 runner-up in 2006, Pomona 2 runner-up in 2008
* Pomona 1 low qualifier in 1999
* Qualified No. 13 in 2009 Pomona 1, won event over Jim Head
* No. 8 in 2008 Funny Car points; two runner-up, five semifinal, four
quarterfinal finishes, 13 first-rounds
* 2008 round win-loss record was 20-24
* Is tied with Tony Pedregon with longest qualifying streak among active
Funny Car drivers: 63
* No. 4 in 2007 Funny Car point standings
* Led 2007 Funny Car point standings by as much as 154 points through 14 of the first 17 races of the season
* NAPA AUTO PARTS is primary sponsor for second straight season
* Joined Don Schumacher Racing in 2005
* Has three U.S. Smokeless Showdown titles: 1998, 1999 and 2002
* Third in 2006 final point standings
* Had class-best five wins in 2006
* Had three wins, four runner-up finishes in 2005 (St. Louis was his first win for DSR in '05)
* 2005 Funny Car championship runner-up, eight points short of title
* Qualified No. 1 once in 2005, in Dallas; first time since Brainerd 2000
* Has nine career No. 1 qualifiers, none in 2006, '07 or '08. Three in 2009 (Phoenix, St. Louis, Denver)
* A perennial fan favorite, Capps has driven and won in both Top Fuel and
Funny Cars since he began his pro NHRA career in 1995
* His best season points finishes were seconds in Funny Car in 1998, 2000 and 2005
* He has 30 event wins in 61 final rounds to his credit (29 national event wins in Funny Car, one in Top Fuel)
* His career-best elapsed time (established during an event) is 4.694
seconds, set in 2005 in Dallas (racing to 1320 feet)
* His career-best speed is 331.61 mph (Pomona 1, '07) - racing to 1320 feet
* Capps' career round win-loss record is 372-274
* Capps' career-best speed racing to 1000 feet is 310.55 mph (Las Vegas 2, 2009)
* Capps' career record against 14-time champion John Force is 21-41 in round wins. He's won 13 of the last 18 meetings against Force, and has won five of the last seven first-round match-ups over Force
* Age 44 (June 20, 1965); born and raised in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
* Lives in Carlsbad, Calif., with wife Shelley and daughter Taylor (7/25/96)
and son Caden (7/1/01)
* Has tested for IROC Series and competed in Skip Barber Formula Ford, Dirt Late Models, Mini-Sprints and Go-Karts

WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
THURSDAY, Feb. 11 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSION at 3 p.m.
FRIDAY, Feb. 12 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at 3 p.m.
SATURDAY, Feb. 13 - PROFESSIONAL QUALIFYING SESSIONS at noon and 3 p.m.
SUNDAY, Feb. 14 - Pre-race ceremonies, 10 a.m. FINAL ELIMINATIONS begin at 11 a.m.

TELEVISION:
Saturday, Feb. 13, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise two hours of qualifying highlights at 11 p.m. (ET).
Sunday, Feb. 14, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise NHRA Race Day, a 30-minute news magazine show, at 11a.m. (ET).
Sunday, Feb. 14, ESPN2 and ESPN2HD will televise three hours of coverage starting at 8 p.m. (ET).

SATELLITE (Analog feed):
Friday, Feb. 12, 8:30 – 9 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 18K (12060 MHz, vertical)
Saturday, Feb. 13, 10 –10:30p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 18K (12060 MHz, vertical)
Sunday, Feb. 14, 10 – 10:30 p.m. (ET), AMC 9 / Transponder 18K (12060 MHz, vertical)
Video news release contains race action highlights each day and winners’ interviews on Sunday.

Pierre Kaffer will join CRS Racing’s Le Mans Series line-up after signing up to run alongside Pierre Ehret and Phil Quaife. The German driver will join the team for the first two LMS races of the season: Paul Ricard and Spa.

“I have heard lots of positive things about CRS and I have known Andrew (Kirkaldy) for a long time,” said Pierre. “It will be good to drive with Pierre (Ehret) again as we fit well together and I know we will have a lot of fun. From the outside the package looks good. Even though the entry list is very strong in GT2 this year I am confident we can have some good results.”

“It’s great for us to have Pierre driving with us,” said CRS Team Director, Andrew Kirkaldy. “GT2 is looking very competitive this year so we are pleased to have two very strong line-ups for CRS Racing’s first season in the Le Mans Series.”

Pierre will join CRS Racing for the official Le Mans Series Test at Paul Ricard HTTT on 7/8 March.

www.crsracing.com.

Valentino Rossi led the way for the second day running in Sepang today, concluding the first test of the year on top of the standings. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was also on the pace today, finishing the test third fastest behind Casey Stoner.

The team will return to Sepang at the end of the month for the second of three pre-season tests.


Valentino Rossi - Position: 1st Time: 2'00.925 Laps: 32
"After yesterday this second day has been very good as well, even though we lost a few hours to the rain, and the end we were still able to finish all our work. We worked on the new bike to find a better setting and I was happy to be the fastest overall - even though this is just testing this is important for me! At the next test we will have a few more new things but we're already happy because we're fast and strong. There is room to improve of course; Sepang is always a good track for the Yamaha so we will have to wait until Qatar to get a better understanding of our level, but we have made a great start."

Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 3rd Time: 2'01.680 Laps: 60
"I felt much better today and I was able to be fast straight away. It wasn't a big problem yesterday, it's just that after such a long break I forget how to ride a little bit! I need a bit of time, but it was much better today. I'm happy about my performance and about my feeling with the new bike. Yamaha have made good improvements without changing the best parts of the bike and this is the best way. They have made some good modifications to the chassis and the engine and this has already improved our pace. We don't have many days on the bike until the start of the season so we will make the most of the time here next month to continue our good work."

Ben Spies and Colin Edwards happy with Sepang test
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team ended its first track action of 2010 in positive mood after a rain-hit final day of MotoGP testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.

Colin Edwards and Ben Spies were unable to begin any meaningful testing until the track had completely dried this afternoon after heavy morning rain badly disrupting this morning's session. Once damp patches had cleared though the Texan duo were able to make significant progress, taking full advantage of the valuable track time before further heavy rain brought an early end to proceedings at 5pm.

Texan Spies showed more of his true potential today when he clocked the fifth quickest time, despite the reigning World Superbike champion still feeling below his physical best.

Working closely with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew, Spies focused his efforts on continuing to adapt his riding style to the YZR-M1 machine. The American made significant progress with his braking style and managed to slice close to a second off his best lap time set yesterday with a time of 2.02.266 in his 31-lap stint.

Edwards, who was third quickest yesterday, finished seventh fastest with a best time of 2.02.479. That was just 0.2s slower than Spies as the 35-year-old evaluated several different chassis and swingarm setting options.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad will be back on track at Sepang for another two-day test session later this month before winter testing concludes in Qatar in March.

Ben Spies - Position 5th Time: 2'02.266 Laps: 31
“I rode as good and as hard as I could considering how I've been feeling. I'm not wanting to make any excuses but I didn't feel really good with the jetlag. It was still a good test because I learned a lot about improving my riding and adapting my style to suit the Yamaha MotoGP bike. It is hard to break some of my old superbike habits at the moment but I made some big improvements in a couple of places on the track where I was really struggling, particularly in the braking. It started to feel more natural today and I got down to some decent times on race tyres. I was a second faster than the first day, so we made some good progress but this is a really difficult track to learn. This track is really long and really wide, but I got to a respectable pace. I've said it a load of times but it's a learning process and every lap I'm learning. My guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 though have been brilliant again. We're all putting in a lot of effort and I'm pleased with the steps I've made.”

Colin Edwards - Position:7th Time: 2'02.479 Laps: 42“This has been a great test and I'm really happy. The big bonus of the test has been the performance of the engine. Putting it simply it seems they have made the engine with more power and more reliable.

Accelerating off the corner was a problem last season but with the new engine it is a strong point. I tried a few things with the chassis and at this stage of the year it is all about crossing off pieces that work and those that don't. We found a couple of things that improved the bike and gave me more confidence and a couple of things we need to work on. It's been a great first test and hopefully we can carry this momentum on for the rest of the pre-season and into the serious business of the racing.”

Test Times:
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 2'00.925
2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 2'01.320
3. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 2'01.680
4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 2'01.822
5. Ben Spies (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2'02.266
6. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team 2'02.272
7. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2'02.479
8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 2'02.493
9. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Pramac Green Team 2'02.647
10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2'02.763
11. Marco Melandri (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 2'02.810
12. Hector Barbera (SPA) Aspar Team 2'03.032
13. Randy de Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 2'03.043
14. Hiroshi Aoyama (JAP) Interwetten-Honda MotoGP 2'03.195
15. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 2'03.245
16. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2'03.274
17. Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Green Team 2'03.359

Sepang: Record Lap
C. Stoner (Ducati) 2007, 2'02.108

Sepang: Best Lap
V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2009, 2'00.518

www.yamaha-racing.com

The 2010 Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Teams have broken cover for the upcoming season with the new YZ450 and 250Fs boasting a radical and fresh design. The ’10 machinery has received a youthful and modern look to completely reflect the innovative technology housed beneath. David Philippaerts and Gautier Paulin have been charged with responsibility of the YZ450 and 250FMs in the FIM Motocross World Championship MX1-GP and MX2-GP classes respectively for the factory Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team. Ken De Dycker (MX1-GP), Loic Larrieu and Alessandro Lupino (MX2-GP) will represent the Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX squad.

25 year old Italian Philippaerts divided his winter time between cross-country training in the snowy mountains of northern Italy as well as riding in Belgium. He now believes he is ready to chase another title. ‘I feel good and I am really enjoying the new bike,’ he said. ‘We will keep on working through the season and although the level of the competition will again be high and there will be some surprises – as every year – I know I am in a good position. I must avoid mistakes and keep consistent with the points.’ Philippaerts is confident that the motorcycle will reveal its potential right away: ‘The standard motorcycle is already very good and the team have taken steps to personalise the race bike for me. Every time I ride it I am satisfied; it feels light and very responsive. We still have to see our level compared to the others but I am very positive.’

In MX2-GP Gautier Paulin is welcomed to the team and to Yamaha. The Frenchman finished 3rd in the 2009 series – only his second full GP season – and is expected to launch a valid campaign for the crown that Yamaha won in 2005 and 2007 on the revised YZ250FM. ‘I stayed in America for two months and all the motocross and supercross riding and training I did there really helped my mental and physical state, I am so excited to get started,’ said the 19 year old. ‘I was happy when I knew the team were interested in me and as soon as I tested the bike I wanted to sign the contract. The team is already pushing and supporting me so much and I have never had anything like that.’

‘Even though the YZ450F is new, it is really good with excellent and smooth power delivery,’ commented Team Manager Mino Raspanti. ‘We are also very happy to have Ohlins with us this season. We are working really hard - as in every pre-season - to be organised and prepared. Having riders in two classes means we have to be busier at the races but we are excited about the potential of our riders and we have possibilities to win.’

Yamaha Monster Energy Ricci MX Team enter the MX1-GP series with the shrewd acquisition of Ken De Dycker for 2010. The Belgian has been part of the tussle for the crown in the premier class since 2007 and is feared for his capabilities in the sand. A Grand Prix winner each year since ‘07 and a regular ‘podiumee’, De Dycker will make his Yamaha debut at Mantova this weekend. ‘This is a bit of a change for me but I am already feeling quite comfortable in the team and its family atmosphere,’ said the 25 year old. ‘I feel really good on the bike. David won the title in his first year with Yamaha and the manufacturer certainly has won many titles so all this can help me this season.’

Under the stewardship of Ilario Ricci the team have not forgotten their MX2-GP roots and retain the services of teenager Loic Larrieu. The French youngster begins his second GP term after taking a sensational podium result at his home round at Ernee last summer. Larrieu has been battling to regain fitness after a double shoulder injury incurred late in 2009 but should be ready for the first Grand Prix: ‘I did not have the off-season I wanted but now I hope to start the GPs in the best way possible. I learnt a lot in 2009 and want to build on this.’ Alessandro Lupino begins his third year as a Yamaha rider on the YZ250F and hoping for more fortune in 2010 after several injuries hampered the 19 year old’s progression in the last twelve months.

A new team joining the world championship paddock in 2010 will be Yamaha Gariboldi Monster Energy. The Italian outfit will bring highly-rated European Champion Christophe Charlier, from France, and promising Finn Harri Kullas to the Grand Prix circuits.

The European motocross season comes alive this weekend with the popular Starcross International at the Mantova circuit in Italy. This unofficial ‘Grand Prix’ (by virtue of the burgeoning entry list of works riders) witnesses the start of activities for the Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Teams and the beginning of shake-down events and tests for the next eight weeks. In almost two months the first Grand Prix of fifteen, at Sevlievo in Bulgaria, will initiate the 2010 FIM Motocross World Championship. Paulin and Larrieu will make their first 2010 competitive outings next week at Montevarchi for the first round of the Italian Championship.

For a selection of images highlighting the athletes and new YZ machinery of the Yamaha Monster Energy motocross efforts please visit www.yamaha-racing.com. Information and profiles of riders, teams and motorcycles can also be found in the relevant sections on the website.


www.yamaha-racing.com

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