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Honda Australia announced today that they are withdrawing from direct involvement in the Australian Superbike Championships in the premier classes.

Although the manufacturer stated last year that they would continue to participate in road racing, the unpredictable economic climate has forced a review of the extent of their involvement.

We have a long history of supporting racing at the elite level, so making a decision to reduce our involvement was far from easy, said Honda’s General Manager, Motorcycles, Tony Hinton.

“The key elements of our business are the sales of our motorcycles through servicing our dealer network and providing product at the most competitive price for consumers.”

“We will therefore be focusing 100% on these areas in the coming months.”

Motologic’s Paul Free announced that he will continue the championship winning team aboard Honda’s through new and existing sponsorship arrangements.

The Motologic team were hugely successful in winning the 2008 Australian Superbike Championship with Glenn Allerton on board the all new CBR1000RR.

“Motologic are extremely focused on back to back wins. We can deliver more to our new and existing sponsors given the reduction in Honda’s involvement and it provides us a great opportunity to continue to build our reputation as the pre-eminent specialist in race bike preparation and custom modifications to street bikes.”

“Our experience and success in preparing Honda motorcycles over the past seasons has made Honda a logical choice for 2009.” said Paul Free, Director of Motologic.

Hinton said, “We are thrilled that Motologic have chosen to compete on our bikes once again, and to defend the Superbike title they won on Honda’s in 2008.”

Honda will make a further announcement regarding their continued support of junior road racing for 2009 within the next few days.
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Three vintage cars with a combined value of more than $106,000 were stolen early Thursday morning from a classic car lot in Loudon County, authorities said.

The break-in at Smoky Mountain Traders, 11840 U.S. Highway 321, took place about 5 a.m. when a group of thieves disabled the gate and drove the vehicles off the lot, according to Loudon County Sheriff’s Office Detective Charlie Cosner.

“It took about a minute or less,” Cosner said.

The cars were described as an orange and white 1972 Pontiac GTO Judge convertible, a red and black 1971 Chevelle Super Sport convertible, and a red and white 1972 Super Sport Chevelle, said business owner Keith Bledsoe.

“I’m sure they loaded them into an enclosed car trailer after they drove them off,” Bledsoe said. “I’m hoping that someone was on U.S. 321 (Thursday) morning and saw something.”

Bledsoe said he used to build houses for a living but decided to open the car lot in May when the construction industry slowed. “I put my life savings into these old cars,” he said.

Bledsoe said he was able to determine the time of the break-in using a security camera but it was too early to say whether the camera’s images will be useful in identifying the three suspects.

He is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the cars and the convictions of those responsible for the thefts.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to the Sheriff’s Office at 865-986-4823 or the business at 865-988-8088.

J.J. Stambaugh may be reached at 865-342-6307.
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