(This is a News Release from the AMA)

JAMIE HACKING IS MBNA SUPERBIKE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- Factory Yamaha ace Jamie Hacking has been named the
American Motorcyclist Association MBNA Superbike Rookie of the Year.
Hacking finished the 1998 season ranked eighth in the nation, but was
ranked as high as fourth before his season was notched by a race accident.

He took third-place at the 1998 Daytona 200 MBNA Superbike race -- his
first-ever 200-miler -- and had back-to-back, second-place finishes at New
Hampshire International Speedway and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Hacking had climbed to fifth-place in the 1998 series points when he
entered the Aug. 2, MBNA Superbike race at Brainerd International Raceway.
He led nine laps at Brainerd, but crashed in a last-lap attempt to catch
race-winner Eric Bostrom. When the checkered flag dropped moments after the
crash, Hacking had lapped the field enough to earn a 16th-place finish, and
he was awarded an extra point for leading the most laps.

The Brainerd results earned Hacking enough points to move up to series
fourth-place, but injuries incurred in the crash prevented him from
competing in the two remaining 1998 season races.

The 27-year old Hacking was born in Clayton Le Moors, England, but resides
in Spartanburg, S.C. Hacking will return to the 1999 MBNA Superbike series
riding for Yamaha.

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