MRN TO BROADCAST LIVE FROM THE INAUGURALNASCAR BUSCH SERIES NAPA AUTO PARTS 200 IN MONTREAL

Turn-by-Turn Coverage Available to Millions of Race Fansin Both English and French

Daytona Beach, Florida (August 2, 2007) --- Motor Racing Network (MRN) Radio announced it will broadcast live coverage of the inaugural NASCAR Busch Series NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge from the historic Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on August 4, 2007. Race coverage will begin at 3:00 p.m. EDT, and will be available in both English and French in Canada.
The race will be broadcast on nearly 300 stations in 40 states throughout the U.S., and in Canada on CKGM-AM, Team 990 in Montreal, a 50kw station owned by Chum Radio, and WBDR-FM, KIX 102.7 in Kingston, Ontario. The race will also be broadcast in French on CKAC-AM, 730 in Montreal (also 50kw), CHRC-AM 800 in Quebec City and CJRC-FM, 104.7 in Gatineau.
"This is a watershed event in the history of the NASCAR Busch Series and MRN Radio," said MRN Radio President David Hyatt. "We are very excited to bring this inaugural race in Montreal to the legions of race fans in both Canada and the U.S. They'll be able to follow the exciting turn-by-turn action as their favorite drivers maneuver this challenging course. We are pleased to have such strong partners like McColman Media to help us bring the thrill and excitement of NASCAR racing to broader audiences across North America."
Through a previously announced partnership, McColman Media assumes sole distribution rights for MRN Radio throughout Canada and handles all network advertising. Affiliate relations efforts are lead by Canadian Radio Syndications as an agent of McColman. The French-language broadcasts will be produced for CKAC-AM by Corus Media of Montreal as a licensee of MRN Canada, and will be distributed to CHRC-AM and CJRC-FM.
MRN Radio, which has been broadcasting NASCAR events since 1970, is the primary source for NASCAR stock car racing and related radio programming. Their award-winning play-by-play coverage of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is delivered via satellite to over 700 radio stations nationwide plus the American Forces Radio Network. This makes MRN Radio the largest independent sport radio network in America. For more information on MRN Radio, visit www.mrnradio.com.

Graham has Graham in the lead

New poll results from Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Graham. According to his poll, he leads the Republican race with 21%, followed by Fred Smith at 9% and Bob Orr at 6%. These results closely resemble our latest tracking poll that had the race at 23-9-9%. FYI, our August tracking poll goes into the field tonight. You’ll get the results early next week.

The poll was conducted for Graham by McLaughlin & Associates between July 24 and 26 and included 500 likely Republican primary voters.

Thanks to Under the Dome for the news.

I’d love to see the press release or any other results released. Can I get some help?

Update: Thanks Ryan! Here is the polling memo (PDF). Obviously, they only released questions with positive results for Graham.

The most interesting nugget of info was name recognition. Graham had the highest name recognition (68%), followed by Orr (55%) and Smith (49%). That's not a huge lead, but it could explain some of Graham's lead.

Canadian Tire NASCAR Experience... coming to a town near you

For the second year in a row, NASCAR is on the road in Canada with a cross country tour bringing fans closer to NASCAR action.

Having started in Moncton, NB in mid-July, the tour is traveling across the country visiting Canadian Tire stores, with the most recent stops in the Greater Toronto area. From there the tour will head West eventually finishing up in the Vancouver area at the end of August.

Whether you’re a NASCAR fan or not, the Canadian Tire NASCAR Experience is a must- see if you want to get up close and see what a NASCAR really looks like.

On display is the #26 Jamie McMurray, Irwin Tools NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series show car and the #20 Tony Stewart SUBWAY NASCAR NEXTEL Cup show car (both of which are actual running race cars)….and they do start them up to make some noise!!

You can also race against the clock with the Budweiser Pit Challenge and feel like a crew member or the #8 car, Enjoy a Tailgate BBQ courtesy of Lillydale, (awesome sausages & burgers etc!!) and meet the Team Full Throttle girls, who’ll be more than happy to offer you an ice cold Full Throttle energy drink.

The tour also has licensed NASCAR prizes & giveaways from time to time so don’t miss the tour when it pulls into your area. It’s worth the experience! The Canadian Tire NASCAR Experience will visit Canadian Tire stores in the following areas:

*Thursday Aug. 2nd – Hamilton, ON.
*Friday Aug. 3rd – Kitchener, ON
*Saturday Aug. 4th – Barrie, ON
*Sunday Aug. 5th – Sudbury, ON
*Thursday Aug. 9th & Fri. Aug 10th – Winnipeg, Man.
*Saturday Aug. 11th – Regina, Sask.
*Sunday Aug. 12th – Saskatoon, Sask.
*Thursday Aug. 16th & Friday Aug. 17th – Calgary, AB
*Saturday Aug. 18th & Sunday Aug. 19th – Edmonton, AB
*Thursday Aug. 23rd – Kelowna, BC
*Friday Aug. 24th – Vernon BC
*Saturday Aug. 25th & Sunday Aug. 26th – Vancouver BC.
* Dates Subject to change

Check the NASCAR page on TSN.ca for event information and participating Canadian Tire store locations in your area.

PHOTO GALLERY: Michael Waltrip & David Reutimann in Mississauga, ON

NASCAR drivers Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann were in Mississauga on August 1 to celebrate the NAPA AUTO PARTS 200, the first NASCAR race in Canada and join NAPA Auto Parts in celebrating the opening of its new store at 1825 Dundas Street East, in East Mississauga (between Dixie and the 427).

Thanks to Dave Franks for forwarding these pictures!

Is Partial Agonism the Key to PPAR Success?

In case you haven't had your fill of TZD news this week, we bring you word that Dr Reddy's Labs and Rheoscience have dosed their first patient in what will be the first of several large Phase III studies of their partial PPAR gamma agonist balaglitazone.

Say what?

The timing of the trial's launch missed the Avandia circus by only a day and suggests there are companies out there willing to put in the time and money and Herculean effort to make their case for potentially differentiated products in a problematic class. Some senior industry executives think the odds are stacked against success.

Among those skeptics is Wyeth R&D chief Bob Ruffolo, who when interviewed by the IN VIVO Blog only six weeks or so ago, asked (rhetorically): "Who is going to bring a new, improved version of Avandia to market" given the regulatory mountain the FDA will surely make such a company climb?

And it's a fair question, particularly in light of the past few months' events. Let's review.

• GSK's Avandia, subject of everyone's favorite meta-analysis, though allowed to remain on the market for now, will get slapped with some stern patient- and doctor-scaring warnings. Takeda's Actos has avoided the whirlpool so far.


• The PPAR class hasn't exactly had smooth safety sailing prior to Avandia's snafu. Warner-Lambert's Rezulin kicked off the parade back in 2000 and so-called next-generation dual gamma/alpha PPAR agonists like AZ's Galida and Merck's MK-767 and Merck/BMS' Pargluva eventually followed.
  
• Clinicians and patients may be moving beyond the PPARs in any case. The RPM Report has reviewed the winners/losers: Actos may have seen a bump in the wake of the initial Avandia news, but that hasn't lasted. Merck's first-in-class DPP4 inhibitor Januvia is enjoying wild success in its first year on the market and observers are salivating over potential newcomers like Amylin's once-weekly Byetta and Novo Nordisk's liraglutide.

Nevertheless, Rheoscience presses on. If Actos is now the TZD safety standard bearer, it makes sense that to get to market now companies will have to prove their drugs as safe or safer than Takeda's (in fact, European drug regulators require such an active comparator to prove non-inferiority). Rheoscience is aiming to do just that. The first balaglitazone Phase III will be a European "six-month, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled multicenter trial in which type 2 diabetes patients will be given daily doses of either 10 or 20 mg of balaglitazone versus the active comparator Actos (45mg/day) as an add on to stable insulin treatment," according to Rheoscience.

Our interest piqued, we got in touch with Rheoscience CEO Philip Just Larsen, MD, PhD. (For background on Rheoscience, check out our 2004 profile of the company.) Rheoscience's September 2005 deal with Dr. Reddy's got the Danish biopharma company European and Chinese rights to balaglitazone in exchange for taking responsibility for execution and costs associated with the drug's US/EU Phase III program and US regulatory submission (Rheoscience will also receive an undisclosed milestone payment if an NDA is approved and undisclosed royalties on US sales). Novo Nordisk once held rights to the drug, but returned them to Dr Reddy's in 2004, back when dual PPARs were still expected to dominate the class, says Larsen.

Larsen stresses the benefits of balaglitazone's partial gamma agonist properties. "It doesn't take full agonism for full glycemic control," he argues, pointing out that Phase II studies of the drug as well as preclinical models suggest that 20mg of balaglitazone is comparable to 45mg of Actos in that regard.

What's more, he says, balaglitazone shouldn't raise the same safety concerns as other TZDs, since in vitro models and preclinical trials suggest it causes less fluid retention than Avandia and Actos and is less adipogenic than those drugs. The second Phase III trial for the drug is an international long-ranging study to generate a safety database; again that trial will use Actos as a comparator, but Larsen says he doesn't expect either drug to generate the same cardiac ischemia safety signals that have plagued Avandia.

"It's worth emphasizing that it's not the class as such that is under suspicion for inducing cardiac ischemia," he says. "Actos is not associated with cardiac ischemia," a notion backed by FDA's David Graham during Avandia's recent panel meeting, he says.

Nevertheless the series of trials required to get balaglitazone onto the European and US markets will be very costly (Larsen declines to say exactly how costly). Patients and clinicians may be wary of TZDs and hamper trial enrollment (a suggestion Larsen disputes, particularly in terms of European patient accrual). The future of diabetes treatment may indeed by combination therapy, but whether or not TZDs are a mainstay of those combos remains to be seen as newer drugs like the GLP-1s make progress. The regulatory environment--for all drugs, it sometimes seems--is increasingly tricky. Larsen remains optimistic.

"I'm not worried about the regulatory environment. The advisory panel was in favor of drugs in this class, they're a necessary tool in the toolbox," he says. "Treating diabetics is a challenge and by limiting the options you put yourself in a difficult position, and these [TZD] products are quite efficacious."

As for the class' past failures, he points out that "the entire concept of pursuing the dual agonists was a blind alley, and it took those Phase III trials to show that is the case. That is how the selective PPAR agonists like balaglitazone were revitalized," and now shown that pursuing partial agonism could control the side effects related to full agonists like Avandia.

Rheoscience and Dr. Reddy's have competition. A second partial-PPAR gamma agonist in late stage trials belongs to Metabolex and Johnson & Johnson (we wrote about their innovative deal last summer). But don't expect any winners for quite some time. Balaglitazone's NDA won't be filed before late 2009 at the earliest.

HALDEX TEAM HEADS TO QUEBEC: Brown Looking Forward To NASCAR Doubleheader

The NASCAR Busch Series –“NAPA Auto Parts 200” may be the featured event at this weekend’s race in Montreal but it’s the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series –“NAPA Autopro 100” that will set the stage for what is shaping up to be one of the biggest events in Canadian sport.

The NAPA AUTOPRO 100 at the famed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve track is the third of four 2007 scheduled road course races on the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Sirius Satellite Radio.

For Doug Brown and his Haldex Limited/NAPA Autopro-sponsored team it’s also a weekend they hope to get their racing programs on track, literally, with a performance they know they are capable of.

After five events run todate, the Brantford based NASCAR Canadian Tire Series team has had some impressive runs but less than satisfactory results thanks to some unfortunate events that are a part of the racing challenge. They presently sit 14th in the points’ standings and are looking for their first top-ten finish in Canada’s premier stock car racing series.

“We need a good run this weekend,” Brown noted. “If this car is as good as it was in Edmonton two weeks ago, we should be able to post a descent finish. This track is tough though with those sharp 90 degree turns. Hitting the shift point is critical.”

“It will be a good test to see how strong this Haldex, Mopar-powered Dodge (prepared by DJ Kennington) really is especially with those long straightaways”, he added.

With upwards of 30 cars expected to take the green flag in the 27-lap chase around the 2.71-mile circuit, Brown also realizes he most post a fast qualifying time, something he wasn’t able to do in Edmonton.

“Yeah, that engine problem during our qualifying session in Edmonton put us in a tough position for the start of that race”, he acknowledged. With only two laps under the clock, the team was forced to swap engines prior to the race, relegating the Dodge driver to the final starting spot in the 30-car field. “We certainly don’t want a repeat of that problem for this event. It’s just too difficult to work your way through the field from the back on a track like this, especially with only 27 laps scheduled.”

Saturday Race Notes:

The Montreal race weekend will see the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series teams line up for a 10:00 am start on Saturday morning followed by NASCAR Bush Series qualifying at noon. The Busch race, the first event of this magnitude in Canada, is scheduled to take the flag at 3:00.

With NASCAR Nextel Cup stars Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle, David Reutimann and Robbie Gordon along with road racing specialists Ron Fellows and Boris Said joining the foray for the Busch race, it will undoubtedly be a great weekend to be in Montreal.

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series regulars JR Fitzpatrick and DJ Kennington will be doing double duty this weekend as they attempt to qualify Busch Series cars for the Saturday afternoon event. Other Canadians vying for positions in the starting field will be Quebec favourite Patrick Carpentier, sports car racer, Michel Valiante from Vancouver, 51-year old John Graham of Aurora driving for Brewco Motorports and Tevor Boys of Calgary.

HB Motorsports is pleased to have Haldex Limited as its Title Sponsor with NAPA Autopro supporting team programs through its role of Major Associate Sponsor. Bicknell Racing Products; World of Graphics; HurryPrint Imaging Centre; WIX Filters; KWIC Internet; Gates Canada; BOC Gases; Brochures etc; Leitch Performance Engines; Strodes BBQ & Deli; and BrentZone Graphics are also valued members of our Associate Sponsorship Marketing team.

Prepared by: Ken Spencer // Marketing and Media Relations // HB Motorsports

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series on TSN: Edmonton

Watch The NASCAR CANADIAN TIRE SERIES 100 EVENT from EDMONTON this weekend on TSN

Premiere: Saturday Aug 4 @ 11:00 AM EST

Repeat 1: Monday Aug 13 @ Midnight

Repeat 2: Wednesday Aug 15 @ 12:00 PM EST