Schwantz, Roger Hayden Team Up With Honda For Moto2 At Indy
June 16, 2010 | By Paul Kelly
Grand Prix motorcycle racing legend Kevin Schwantz will lead the American Honda Moto2 wild-card effort at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with fellow American Roger Lee Hayden riding the Honda-powered Moriwaki MD600.
Schwantz, from Houston, won 25 races and the 1993 500cc World Championship during his illustrious Grand Prix career. Since retiring in 1995, Schwantz has run the Schwantz School, a motorcycle riding school based at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama that features sessions Aug. 19-20 and 21-22 at IMS.
“It’s an honor for me to be chosen as team manager,” Schwantz said. “We’ve been using CBR600RRs for some time now at our schools, and I’ve ridden a Moto2 bike and it’s very good. I watched the first three Moto2 races, and I expect the racing to be just as good at Indy.”
Hayden, 27, from Owensboro, Ky., will make his Moto2 debut at the same event in which his older brother, 2006 MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden, will attempt to record his third consecutive Red Bull Indianapolis GP podium finish. Nicky Hayden finished second for Repsol Honda in 2008 and third for the Ducati Team in 2009 in the MotoGP class at IMS.
Roger Lee Hayden is competing this season in the Superbike World Championship. He has a solid history with American Honda, and a string of 12 national road race victories on 600cc machines en route to the 2007 AMA Supersport championship.
“This is a great opportunity for me to race in front of my home crowd at a MotoGP event,” Hayden said. “The Moto2 class is really competitive, and I’m looking forward to jumping in the middle of it.”
Moto2 is a new class introduced this year, replacing 250cc as the final stepping stone to the premier MotoGP class. Moto2 riders compete on machines with 600cc Honda engines and Dunlop control tires. Competition has been intense this season in the class, with 40 or more riders in each race, including American rookie Kenny Noyes and former MotoGP standouts Toni Elias and 2008 Red Bull Indianapolis GP MotoGP runner-up Alex De Angelis.
The Honda Moto2 team at IMS will be staffed by Erion Racing technicians, led by Kevin Erion. Erion Racing has been American Honda’s premier support team for more than 15 years, winning 16 national championships.
The American Honda Indy GP Moto2 team will also benefit the Ride for Kids program and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation through special fund-raising activities. At Indy, Schwantz will lead the Lap of Champions, where 300 participants will join him in a lap around the track in a special fundraiser that benefits the PBTF by raising funds to promote childhood brain tumor research.
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IMS tickets: Tickets for the 2010 Red Bull Indianapolis GP are on sale now. A new structure offers additional value and flexibility to fans attending the annual MotoGP event.
Among the highlights of the new ticket structure are lower prices and single-day reserved and general admission tickets for Race Day, Sunday, Aug. 29.
Fans can order tickets online at www.imstix.com, call the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700, or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area or visit the ticket office at the IMS Administration Building at the corner of Georgetown Road and 16th Street. Online orders can be made at any time. Hours for phone orders and the ticket office are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday-Friday.
General admission tickets provide access to the grounds and to the viewing mounds along the infield section of the circuit, which provide excellent angles to see the greatest riders in the world.
Tickets for groups of 20 or more also are on sale. Contact the IMS Group Sales Department at (866) 221-8775 for more information.