"Ken trains on the 350 during the week and asked us if he could race, so why not ?" admitted Pit Beirer this morning.

The Mattighofen Sports Director also revealed: "Ken will probably not race in Europe before the opening GP at Sevlievo on April 9/10. After San Diego next week he will concentrate on his preparation for the outdoor season, but he will stay in California for another four weeks. His mechanic Gerald (fellow East German Gerald Wever, for the last three years with David Phililppaerts) will fly over with fuel, tyres and silencer so that they can start with bike set-up, then they will return to Europe around March 6/7 for the final fine-tuning with the team. After seven weeks of racing in Supercross Ken doesn't need warm-up races in Europe to get the feeling for racing and to get his starts dialed in."

Beirer also confirmed that Ken will race the final two West Coast Lites rounds at Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, but will sit out the Seattle round on April 16: "It was never a matter of racing for the championship this year, but I think everyone has seen how much Ken has learnt from week to week and we want to give him every opportunity to maintain the momentum. There is no point in him flying back and forth across the Atlantic, but he will return to America straight after the Valkenswaard GP at Easter for the final two rounds of the Supercross and will then already be in California for the Glen Helen GP."