"Warr’s Harley-Davidson, established on London’s Kings Road in 1924, is excited to announce the signing of former MotoGP star Jeremy McWilliams to its racing team. McWilliams will ride a Warr’s Harley-Davidson XR1200 race bike in the inaugural Harley-Davidson XR1200 Trophy race series at the 2010 British Superbike Championship.

Warr’s Harley-Davidson already has a successful pedigree in two-wheel motorsport. The dealership won the British Harley-Davidson XL883 Race Series two years running, and has extensive experience racing Harley-Davidson and Buell motorcycles across Europe and the USA.

Jeremy’s signing to the Warr’s Harley-Davidson race team symbolises the dealership’s commitment to continuing its on-track successes and winning the 2010 XR1200 Trophy. McWilliams has a long career in motorcycle racing that spans more than two decades. The British rider’s most recent campaigns include dicing with multiple World Champion Valentino Rossi – in front of thousands of race fans – in the MotoGP Championship.

Warr’s has already worked closely with Jeremy at the Daytona 200, and in the US AMA Formula Xtreme series. The dealership is entering a two-bike team into the XR1200 Trophy race series. A second rider will be announced soon.

“We are delighted to have Jeremy back on board with us for our campaign in the XR1200 Trophy,” says Warr’s Harley-Davidson owner John Warr. “Racing Harleys is in our blood here at Warr’s so let there be no doubt about our ambitions for the most successful season.”

The XR1200 Trophy, which is officially supported by Harley-Davidson UK and Ireland, is designed to attract a varied mix of Clubman, Superbike and Superstock contenders as well as younger stars looking to develop their racing skills. The series kicks off at Oulton Park in Cheshire on 1-3 May. Subsequent events will be staged at Brands Hatch, Cadwell Park, Knockhill and Mallory Park, and all races will be shown on British Eurosport.

For more information, or to take a closer look at the Harley-Davidson XR1200®, please visit Warr’s Harley-Davidson, 611 Kings Road, London SW6 2EL, call 020 7736 2934 or visit their award-winning website, www.warrs.com

If you're not running your own blog, feel free to post your current status and team news here as a comment in response to this. Yes, it would have been nice to allow you to create your own posts but not practical, but if anyone wants help in getting a blog off the ground - and it is pretty painless - give us a shout and we'll help where we can.

XR1200 Race Series favourites, the legendary Warr’s H-D, of London are generously offering two readers a fantastic day out this summer.

They’ve given us two VIP guest hospitality passes for one lucky winner to the Mallory Park British Superbike round on 25-27th June!

These are no ordinary race day tickets: the winners will be official guests of the Warr’s team, and their day will include VIP parking, prime seating and paddock passes, with chance to chat to the racers and teams, and to check out the bikes close up.

You’ll get to meet the Warr’s team and they’re throwing-in lunch and refreshments, souvenir team shirts and even the chance for some parade laps on track. And, of course, you’ll get to see the second XR1200 race ever held in the UK!

To enter, all you need to do is answer this simple question ...

Name the Moto GP star who rode the Warr’s XBRR Buell in the 2006 Daytona 200?

Answers on a postcard to:
Warr’s Competition, American-V, PO Box 336, Crewe CW2 7WY
or by email

Closing date 26th March 2010

www.warrs.com

Some of the dealer/managers involved in the newly announced teams have little or no race experience themselves but haven’t let that stop them joining up with an existing race team and get their name and the bike out in front of Joe Public.

Newmarket Harley-Davidson dealer Black Bear has got together with racer Warren Scott to form what looks set to be a really strong team.

MD Nigel Darkin said “Warren’s a local lad who runs his own race team and engineers – he’s experienced and competitive. We’re going out to get good results and we want to win.” They are clearly taking it seriously – Warren is off to Spain to put in some testing in warmer climes.

Seasoned campaigners and the series favourites, Warr’s have already been testing at circuits in Italy and Spain.

West Coast Harley’s Don Rutherford says they are also putting 100% into the series – and it looks likely that their ‘local’ circuit, Knockhill, will host two of the seven races planned.

What all the teams have in common is the intention to win – and, in fact, the conviction that they will win. Every team I’ve spoken to claims to be “in it to win it” and with such a level playing field, there is no reason why they won’t all have a decent chance.

Things are looking promising for our budding crop of Harley race teams – the BSB XR1200 race series seems to be shaping up nicely for 2010.

This is due, at least in part, to the efforts of Andrew McIndoe of Harley-Davidson UK, who has been busy trying to fill the grid by putting experienced riders and race team managers, who are keen to participate in the series, in touch with their local Harley dealers to get teams in place – and his strategy seems to be working.

For the series to go ahead, Harley set a target of a grid of a minimum of sixteen bikes: at the time if writing, we were at eleven and counting.

I should point out that three of these bikes are Harley-owned and that they will rent them out to riders on a race-by-race basis – so if the pics of Gavin Cupit’s race-ready XR1200 in the last edition of American-V whetted your appetite for hog racing, now’s your chance. You will need an ACU race licence – if they let all-comers race without any experience or knowledge of the rules: that would be insanely dangerous!

... here it is: all official news pertaining to the XR class and race series will be on their XR1200-specific site.

This is what we've got to look forward to

Blimey, there's going to be some traffic on the wall and from the nest this evening - is 'nest' the right analogy? I dunno, not do I care, just as long as it works.

Obviously, the XR series has got to get onto the grid first, but last time we looked there was two thirds of the grid signed up or committed, and it won't be for the want of trying.

Get your motor running, get out on the ... grid? Well, it's certainly going to be an adventure but not in the way that Harleys have been perceived in this country since Cal Rayborn wowed the crowds in the early seventies when he campaigned a much-maligned iron XR750 in road race trim from his mechanic and shared top honours in a transatlantic trophy battle against the best of the British riders of the day on their home circuits.

Recognising that a bi-monthly magazine isn't ideal for following a race series, we've set up this blog to follow the series from the point where the teams are all announced right through to the final result and any international finals. We'll also be encouraging the teams to post their own race reports and progress through the season, in a cluster of interlinked blogs, to raise the profile of the series.


Watch this space for details as they emerge ...