As the competitors prepare themselves for the upcoming round at Phillip Island on June 16/17, Formula Xtreme Promotions are celebrating a record year in what is fast becoming Australia's most popular motorcycling road racing series.

The 2001 Yamaha Xtreme Tri-State is run over five rounds covering Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria attracting growing numbers of race fans to the circuits and while each round is broadcast nationally to race fans through delayed telecast's on FOX Sports and SBS (Speedweek).

Phillip Island is expected to once again attract a record number of entries as did the previous three rounds at Eastern Creek (220), Oran Park (192) and Queensland Raceway (180). The Formula Xtreme meeting will be one of only three national open motorcycle race meetings held at Australia's foremost racing circuit this year.

Added to the huge fields, competitors are racing for almost $200,000 worth of cash and prizes.

While Australia's leading riders battle it out to see who will be the King of Formula Xtreme, the privateers, who make up the major proportions of any race field, will be vying for no less than seven high performance motorcycles valued at over $110,000.

Two Yamaha YZF-R1's, two Aprilia RS250's, an up-spec Honda VTR SP2, a Yamaha YZ426F and a Yamaha YZ250F are included in this amazing prize pool, By far the richest prize pool in Australian motorcycle racing.

Leading contenders for the much sought after bike prize pool include:

Roland Kruck (`A' grade Formula Xtreme) and Luke Phillips (`B' & `C' grade Formula Xtreme) who are leading the charge for the two Yamaha YZF R1's; Adrian Pierpoint leads the way for the Honda VTR SP2 as the top placed B, C & D grade privateer in the Honda FX Pro-Twins; Brendan Clarke (A & B grade) and Greg Fullerton (C & D grade) lead the charge for the two Aprilia RS250's up for grabs in the Aprilia Challenge; while Daniel Breen (Supersport) and Steve Martin (Formula Oz) lead the points chase for the Yamaha YZ250F and the YZ426F.

With the privateers chasing their goals, the battle for honours in the premier Yamaha Formula Xtreme is far from settled. With two rounds (eight races) remaining, there are at least four riders who have a more than realistic chance of taking out the title.

It has become a battle between youth and experience. Heading the youth stakes is current points leader Jamie Stauffer. The 22-year-old from Kurri Kurri has quickly come to grips with his Radar's Team Yamaha YZF-R1 and has four race wins to prove it.

He leads team-mate Robbie Baird by just two points after both riders had what only could be described as rather ordinary results in what became very difficult conditions at the previous round at Queensland Raceway. Both had a crash apiece and struggled in the wet conditions, but out of all of that the series actually got tighter as the lead pair were closed upon by multiple New Zealand Open champion Tony Rees (Bikebiz Yamaha) and 18-year-old Victorian Craig Coxhell on the Radar's R1 who both put in strong performances at Queensland Raceway.

Hot on their heels are two teenagers, Damian Cudlin (Bikebiz Yamaha) and previous round winner Alex Gobert on the Red Wing Honda CBR929. All six riders have a mathematical chance if things go there way and after Queensland, anything is possible.

Fans can expect plenty of action with 24 races scheduled for the weekend. Qualifying starts on Saturday morning FROM 9:00am with the first of nine races scheduled for Saturday afternoon commencing at 1:30pm followed by a full day of racing starting at 10:00am Sunday.

Damian Cudlin takes you for a flying lap around Phillip Island

Formula Xtreme Results from round 1
Race 1 - Race 2 - Race 3 - Race 4

Formula Xtreme Results from round 2
Race 1 - Race 2 - Race 3 - Race 4

Formula Xtreme Results from round 3
Race 1 - Race 2 - Race 3 - Race 4