Ruthless Racing shuts it down

By John Hopkins

Canadian road race team Ruthless Racing has officially closed its doors, team principal Darren James has told Inside Motorcycles.

The squad had anchored the Buell 1125R program in the Parts Canada Superbike Championship in 2008 and '09, with six-time Canadian champion Steve Crevier as lead rider. The termination of the Buell brand by parent company Harley-Davidson in the U.S. left the Vancouver-based team in a tenuous situation.

"We're finished," said James in a phone call last Friday. "We'll have a tough time finding another manufacturer, and with Yamaha pulling out there's one less involved. After nine years I have to close it down. It's not the way I wanted things to end but that's the situation."

James was a successful Buell runner in both Canada and the U.S., and won back-to-back Canadian Thunder titles on the national tour in 2005 and '06. In 2008 his Ruthless Racing team took on Buell's Superbike program in the Parts Canada Superbike series, with Crevier scoring a memorable third place finish on the 1125's debut at Calabogie Motorsports Park in May, 2008.

The team also helped launch the career of Brett McCormick, who ran for the squad in the Thunder class in 2006.

This past season Crevier, James and Dave Estok raced the 1125R in the Superbike and Yoshimura Pro Sport Bike classes. Crevier was fifth in the Superbike standings while he, Estok and James took fifth, eighth and 11th, respectively in Pro Sport Bike points.

It is unclear what the future holds for Crevier, one of the most successful racers in Canadian history. The 43-year-old was in Europe vacationing through much of October, and was due to return to Canada after taking in the final MotoGP round in Valencia, Spain last weekend.

Estok, a Floridian, will return to riding in the States, according to James.

James, meanwhile, is working on a plan to keep Deeley Harley-Davidson Canada involved in the national series with a spec class for the XR1200. Such a category already exists in England had has been propsed for the AMA Superbike Series in the U.S.

It is understood there is a Nov. 23 deadline for the Canadian plan to be presented to Parts Canada Superbike Championship organizer Professional Motorsports Productions and its partners.