NAHA 2009 Newsletter

[rpeterson]

N.A.H.A. NEWSLETTER 2009

Dear members, promoters and fans,
I am sorry for the late newsletter, however, there have been so many incredible happenings in our sport and association during the 2008 season, and over the winter, that I wanted to hold out as long as possible to provide you all with the latest and greatest.
The obvious big story that is affecting everyone across the country and around the world is a very depressed global economy that has made it extremely difficult for many to make the races, support our sport, and feed their passion. The N.A.H.A. Board and Promoters are extremely sensitive to the needs of our members, and have worked diligently to refine our rules and events in an effort to make our Pro Hillclimb Series the most cost effective and desirable to compete of any in the world.
We are very proud of our continued success and growth, and will always acknowledge and give due credit to our exceptional team of the world’s best hillclimbers and promoters. They provide the fans with one of the greatest extreme shows on earth and make it most enjoyable for our Board to continue their hard work with such dedication and enthusiasm.

2008 HIGHLIGHTS:

• Increased fan attendance at all 6 venues despite down economy

• N.A.H.A. Round 5 at The Big Nasty was the world’s largest Hillclimb with over 12,000 fans, compliments to our” Promoter of the Year” Ron Dillon.

• Expanded media coverage with the Speed Channel Lucas Oil On The Edge multiple program airing of N.A.H.A. Round 2 at Glen Helen 450 Pro and then Open Exhibition classes as well as continued airing of 2007 Tracy Round 1. The only Hillclimb series in the country to get national television coverage.

• Numerous documentaries and videos of our N.A.H.A. superstars such as the Waddell’s on Discovery Channel and most recently the Whitlock’s on MTV’s Nitro Circus. Also, Team U.S.A. at The World Trophy in France and the incredible global debut of Vertical Destruction.

• First ever Pro Hillclimb under the lights at the Big Sky Thunder Nationals, a huge success. Kudos to the Beers, Smiths and Mike Ortiz for thinking outside the box and bringing a whole new style of venue to our sport.

• The N.A.H.A. introduced 450 Pro class realized another huge jump in growth as well as a strong return of crossover riders such as Kurt Caselli, David Pingree, Chad Pederson and David Kamo.

• Our N.A.H.A. Hillclimb competition proposal to X Games determined that head to head racing must be utilized for future consideration in the program. The Horne family immediately went to work, pioneered and developed the format now known as Verticross. This has been a highly successful head to head Hillclimb competition at Skip’s Promotions amateur events and will be introduced to the Pros at Round 1 on April 4th and 5th. Again, another great example of our exceptional promoters working outside the traditional box to bring greater exposure and awareness to our riders and sport.

• Two N.A.H.A. champions crowned in the three Pro classes at our first annual Pole Position Raceway Awards Banquet in Las Vegas. Harold Waddell in the 700 and Open and Travis Whitlock in the 450's. Three Suzuki’s and bonus cash were awarded on behalf of American Suzuki and Racer X, as well as many other special recognition awards on an incredible night of kart racing, Endurocross, food and FUN!!

• Our N.A.H.A./ A.M.A. Pro Hillclimb Team U.S.A. successfully defended it’s title at World Trophy 08 in La Bresse France. Travis Whitlock captured the individual World Championship with an incredible first ride over the mountain.

2009 PROGRAM

• Our Round 6 Nashville Nitro Nationals will not be on the 09 schedule as the Hillclimb property was sold to a developer. A big THANKS to Jeff Thomas and his crew for hosting one of the rider’s most popular events for a number of years. There is a tentative replacement event in Montana, Rumble in the Rockies, that Dusty Beer is working on for July as well as his continued development of his very cool Rumble in the Hills in Sturgis.

• Our other five venues will roll out as scheduled beginning with Tracy and ending the season in September with The Big Nasty.

• After numerous years of sponsoring the N.A.H.A. Pro Hillclimb Series, American Suzuki will not be back in 2009. Unfortunately, the economy has taken a heavy toll on the manufacturers and their promotional budgets. Suzuki is most grateful to have been involved in our series and have scheduled an October 09 meeting with our board to discuss the opportunities of returning for 2010 if the market improves. Racer X will be returning as one of our primary marketing sources as well as Malcolm Smith Motorsports as a primary sponsor. Malcolm Smith, an icon in the motorcycle industry, and a huge fan of Hillclimbing since his “On Any Sunday” days, is extremely excited to take over from Suzuki and support his favorite extreme sport. He has been a long time sponsor of Team Peterson, their ‘09 primary sponsor, and could not pass up the opportunity for greater involvement in the N.A.H.A. Malcolm Smith Motorsports was awarded the 2009 Dealer of the Year by the motorsports industry out of the top 100 dealers across the country. It is a world class facility featuring the KTM, Yamaha, Suzuki, Husqvarna, Aprilia, BRP, Can Am, Kymco, Piaggio and Vespa lines as well as all the brands of after market parts and accessories and factory certified service. As part of the MSM series sponsorship all N.A.H.A. members will be enrolled at the facility and be eligible for a parts and accessory discount. This program is currently being finalized and details will be posted next month.

• A refinement was done on our rulebook at the Las Vegas Board meeting to better clarify some grey areas that came up last year during competition. As well, a new fender rule was made mandatory in the interest of safety, while still honoring and allowing the Professional Hillclimb tradition of using bolts and chains.

• Speed Channel’s Lucas Oil on the Edge program that has been televising the N.A.H.A. Pro Hillclimb Series will be back with expanded coverage at The Big Sky Thunder Nationals in Montana and The Big Nasty in Idaho. Our events are among the most popular covered on their programs, with continued reruns throughout the year. They are currently working on a 2010 package to cover all of our events.

• Many exciting opportunities have been presented to the N.A.H.A. and our promoters in the past year. Some we have acted upon and we will be making some announcements in the near future that will significantly increase the strength, awareness, growth and longevity of Professional Motorcycle Hillclimbing in America. Stay tuned!!!


EUROPEAN UPDATE

• The N.A.H.A. alliance with the French Federation and the many organizations and promoters of European Hillclimbing, together have made an incredible accomplishment in moving the relatively young sport forward in a huge way. The last five years of Hillclimb des Nations and World Cup competition have been under “observation” by the FIM for evaluation and acceptance into their organization for World Championship competition. This winter, at a meeting in Poland our good friend Patrick Innocenti accomplished his life long goal: Hillclimbing in Europe is now officially recognized as an FIM sanctioned sport. 2009 will be used to lay the groundwork for a European Championship in 2010 and an FIM World Championship Hillclimb Series in 2011. The format will resemble the FIM Motocross Grand Prix Series with events in various countries including the U.S.A. Riders will accumulate points based on finishes at each event and a champion will be crowned at the series end. The N.A.H.A. is very honored to be involved in this historic growth and look forward to the very bright future of international Hillclimb competition.



In closing, I would like to express a tremendous amount of gratitude and appreciation for all of our exceptional riders and outstanding promoters. The incredible show that is displayed at all of our venues is a direct result of all these individuals understanding of what it means to compete and promote at the highest level of Hillclimb competition. The increased fan attendance at all of our events last year was not a coincidence, but rather the just rewards for the hard work and dedication of all those that have supported the N.A.H.A. in bringing our vision to reality.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! SEE YOU AT THE RACES!!!!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED
YOUR 2009 N.A.H.A. BOARD

KERRY PETERSON DON BEER JEFF SMITH MIKE ORTIZ TROY SCOTT

KEN FAUGHT ANNETTE LONG

[pstoffers]

[AlisoBob]

X2!!

The whole Peterson family works its ass off to get Professional Hillclimbing the credit it deserves.

Great job guys...

[macargo]

damn right!!

[britincali]

X3!




Right on boys!!!!!!!



On another note and just as a point of interest, without CR500s there wouldnt be any 500 websites, without the websites there wouldnt be psychos meeting other psychos, without psychos meeting psychos I wouldnt have known about hillclimbing and all the crazy ass bikes, crazy ass engineering and crazy ass motherfuckers that pin them up vertical walls......



I fukin LOVE it!!!!!!!! Best bike related spectator sport PERIOD


I hope all you guys get the respect you deserve as riders and a sport






(apart from the ones I know personally all you homos can suck my balls)

[lewisclan]

X2!!

The whole Peterson family works its ass off to get Professional Hillclimbing the credit it deserves.

Great job guys...

X3

[rpeterson]

Much appreciated Hoons!

RP

[bsmith]

THANX FOR THE REPORT ROBIE!! SPREAD THE WORD!! GOOD LUCK BRO I'LL BE WATCHING SEE YA THERE!!