Twenty young riders took their next step on the road to their motorcycle racing dream today, as their qualification for the 2007 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup was announced. The twenty were chosen after a phenomenal response to the invitation for them to try their luck, with a total number of applicants topping 1,100 young talents.
After whittling down the field from the initial entrants, a total of 165 riders arrived at the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo on 28th August 2006 to begin the selection process under the watchful eye of Spanish motorcycling legend Alberto Puig and KTM Race Director Harald Bartol. The event in Valencia was contested on standardised Metrakit Pre-GP 125 spec bikes.
The hopefuls were divided into two groups, to ride on either Monday 28th or Tuesday 29th, before the successful 45 returned on the Wednesday for the final chance to take a place amongst the lucky 20.
The selected twenty are:* Lukas SEMBERA - Czech Republic
* Johann ZARCO - France
* Cyril CARRILLO - France
* Lucy GLOECKNER - Germany
* Markus REITERBERGER - Germany
* Christoph SCHOENBERGER - Germany
* Peter SEBESTYÉN - Hungary
* Lorenzo SAVADORI - Italy
* Sturla Borch FAGERHAUG - Norway
* Javier CHOLBI - Spain
* Johnny ROSELL - Spain
* Cristian TRABALON - Spain
* Robert GULL - Sweden
* Adam BLACKLOCK -
United Kingdom* Matthew HOYLE -
United Kingdom * Stuart MITCHELL -
United Kingdom * Jamie Charles MOSSEY -
United Kingdom * JD BEACH - United States of America
* Cameron BEAUBIER - United States of America
* Kris TURNER - United States of America
The Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup 2007 will also be contested using uniform top material, namely a KTM RC 125 specially developed race model for rookies motorised with 45 HP and technically supervised by August Auinger, a multiple motorcycle GP winner from Austria, and his team.
The Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup races in 2007 will be run mainly on the Sunday of a GP weekend, immediately after the MotoGP premier class and in front of the corresponding crowds.
Only in Assen and Mugello will the races will be held on a Saturday.
The following rounds are provisionally scheduled:
* 25 March 2007 - Jerez
* 2 June 2007 - Mugello
* 24 June 2007 - Donington Park
* 30 June 2007 - Assen
* 15 July 2007 - Sachsenring
* 19 August 2007 - Brno
* 4 November 2007 - Valencia
Harald Bartol:"First I was surprised by the multitudes of applications. When almost 200 kids and their entourage were standing in front of the pits full of expectation, I was overwhelmed.
The performances of the young riders were for the most part very promising, but most of all I'm glad that virtually no bad accidents were recorded during the three days.
I believe that together we've found the best rookies for next year and that we'll see some exciting races." Alberto Puig
"The first step has been taken – now the kids need to seize the opportunity and gain experience in this Rookies Cup, they need to learn and learn again. This project of Dorna and Red Bull is exemplary for our sport, since the participants, but also the world champions in motorcycle racing are increasingly getting younger. So this cup certainly is an outstanding project!"
Related Linkswww.redbullrookiescup.comwww.motogp.com
