WSBK: Blake Young to Race for Suzuki

The Wisconsin native will race in place of the injured Max Neukirchner who has been sidelined since breaking his leg at the Monza, Italy round on May 10. Fonsi Nieto substituted for Neukirchner at the Kyalami, South Africa round, the Miller Motorsports round in Utah, and the recent round at Misano, Italy.

Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz is one of Youngs biggest supporters and he pushed for Young to get a WSBK opportunity in a meeting with Suzuki Alstare owner Francis Batta at Misano.

Racing for Rockstar Makita Suzuki in the AMA Superbike series, Young sits eighth in the championship standings with a pair of second-place finishes. In 2008, Young finished fourth in the AMA Superstock standings for Team M4 EMGO Suzuki.

Im really excited to race the Suzuki Alstare Brux GSX-R1000 at Donington Park this weekend. Ive been racing motorcycles for as long as I can remember, says Young. Ive always wanted to race Superbike and I got the chance to do that with the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team in America. Now, getting the opportunity to do a World Superbike race with the Suzuki Alstare Brux team in Europe is like a dream come true. Im looking forward to it and want to make the most of this opportunity.

Young will be the latest in a series of American racers competing in the WSBK series. John Hopkins joined the Stiggy Honda WSBK team after losing his MotoGP ride. When Hopkins was injured, 2008 AMA Formula Xtreme champion Jake Zemke got the call from Stiggy Honda. The English-born American Jamie Hacking was another replacement rider, subbing for the injured Makoto Tamada on Kawasaki s factory WSBK team.

And of course, theres Texan Ben Spies who sits second in the WSBK standings with eight wins in as many rounds in his rookie campaign with the Yamaha factory team.