Western Yamaha team announced

By John Hopkins



CALGARY, AB -- Details of a three-rider, western Canadian based Yamaha road race team were announced at the Calgary Motorcycle Show last weekend.



Anchored by veteran Canadian racer Steve Dick of Vancouver, the squad will also include Calgary's Jessica Soodeen and Saskatoon native Brett McCormick.



A key element of the program will be the growing sport of Mini Road Racing. Soodeen and McCormick will ride TZ125s fitted with 85cc motors in the newly-created Western Canadian Championship and the Canadian Nationals in Quesnel, BC. In his first year of Mini Road Racing, McCormick, 13, won all three classes in the 2004 Nationals along with the Alberta series crown.



The team will also run in EMRA and WMRC regional road racing events.



According to Dick, the eight-round Western Canadian Championship will consist of two events each in Saskatoon, Edmonton's Stratotech Park, the kart racing facility at Race City Motorsport Park in Calgary and an undetermined location on BC's Lower Mainland.