Roadracing World is Indispensable Periodical for Road Racing Enthusiasts
www.roadracingworld.com

By Bruce Wilkins

VIR co-owner Connie Nyholm and RRW owner John Ulrich. (Breeze Photo by Bruce Wilkins)

LAKE ELSINORE, California-So you're new to the sport of motorcycle road racing and you need a reliable and detailed source to learn all about the various bikes, races, and riders. Well, in a sport that exists on the thin line between being upright and disaster, there is no thin line between quality of trade road racing magazines. Simply put, there is only one amazing source for newbies and veterans alike, an independently owned and published magazine entitled Roadracing World & Motorcycle Technology.

RRW is not your typical modern paper manufactured by a faceless, multi-media conglomerate. This magazine is a throwback to the old days of good, hard-boiled, solid journalism combined with a modern day knack for advanced publishing techniques. After nearly two decades of both riling and praising major motorcycle manufacturers and small aftermarket suppliers, RRW has garnered a dedicated following of readers throughout the motorcycle road racing community, from the club level to AMA Superbike to MotoGP.

Credit this successful publishing phenomenon to John and Trudy Ulrich, a husband and wife team that have been around motorcycle racing for most of their lives. In fact, over a quarter century ago, they were married during an impromptu ceremony in Las Vegas, on the way back home from an 24-hour endurance race in which John competed. Racing and publishing is so much in the Ulrich blood, that their son, Chris, is not only a successful AMA pro rider, but is also a featured columnist for the magazine.

Roadracing World & Motorcycle Technology (Breeze Photo by Bruce Wilkins)

Along with Ulrich, RRW's regular columnists are a unique aspect of the magazine, with the impressive likes of current MotoGP rider and 2002 AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike national champion Nicky Hayden and second year MotoGP sensation John Hopkins contributing to the magazine and Web site. There's also Sam Fleming and Melissa Berkoff of Army of Darkness, one of the top privateer club level road racing teams in the country, who often colorfully describe and critique a wide array of bikes, parts, and gear for the magazine.

Patriarch John Ulrich, in addition to being the driving - or rather riding - force behind Roadracing World, is also owner of Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki, a highly-successful national road racing team that is a well-known stepping stone for some of the best riders in the world. Ulrich is behind a major in-house development program designed to find and cultivate young American rider talent and is a member of the board of directors of the AMA. There's even Team Hammer under the Ulrich umbrella, one of the most respected road racing rider schools in the country.

Ulrich is the epitome of the hard-boiled, ear-to-the-ground, rough and tumble editor, but also has garnered immense respect in motorcycle roadracing as founder and endless promoter of a non-profit fund-raising organization that fosters safety and raises funds to purchase and implement inflatable safety barriers for road racing events. The Roadracing World Action Fund has raised and distributed nearly a quarter million dollars for such barriers. Already what would have been dozens of potentially-career ending accidents have ended up with riders walking away from the scene of barriers their bikes and bodies deflated.

AOD rider screams down the front straight at VIR (Breeze Photo by Bruce Wilkins)

At its heart and soul, the Roadracing World organization is about racers. Ulrich's Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki may have a race hauler that rivals any Winston Cup Series rig, but in reality Ulrich and his co-horts are still grass roots lovers of anything to do with two wheels and exciting times. Totally unlike the typical rubber stamp, boardroom formula motorcycle publication, Roadracing World and Motorcycle Technology and its cool Web site are as inherently individualistic as any spirited motorcycle rider who ever enjoyed the open road or the close road course.

The only unfortunate aspect of RRW is that it is difficult to find on the stands. Being clearly the top niche publication in its field, the nearest place to our home base of South Boston, Virginia where the magazine may be purchased is Barnes & Noble in Durham, N.C. However, you can join the legions of subscribers who eagerly awake the arrival of this oversized glossy masterpiece by sending $17.95 for a one year subscription to: Roadracing World, P.O. Box 1428, Lake Elsinore, CA 92531-9974 or subscribe on-line.