The Canadian Thunder race series has just been cut in half, with two of the four manufacturers dropping out.
Ducati and KTM will not race in the series in 2009, according to a competitor. Darren James, who finished in fifth place on a Buell in the series this year and is head of Ruthless Racing as well as racing coordinator for Deeley Harley-Davidson, told Editor ‘arris at the Toronto Motorcycle Show this weekend that the two makes were dropping out.
That leaves Harley-Davidson and BMW factory treams for the twin-cylinder road race series. We’re trying to get official word on this, and we’ll tell you more as soon as we can.
Update — we hear from Ducati that the Italian firm is still considering its options with regard to Canadian Thunder.
Suzuki just pulled out of the Motocross series as well. I imagine it is getting harder at the moment to justify racing unless you can sell more bikes from it.