Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126771
jon Woo did eight months earlier. Woo died. Montoya didn't. Because when Woo died, Montoya and I 190ther motorcyleracers banded together in the jon Woo Memorial Safety Project, and announced they wouldn't race at Laguna Seca until something was done abOut turn two. The jWMSP wrote to Monterey County, which owns the track; a polite leller den ied responsibility. The jWMSP wrOle to SCRAMP, which runs the race; a polite letter declined a meeting to discuss safety problems at the track. jWMSP President Bruce Hammer talked to Kenny Roberts, who promised to set up a meeting between a jWMSP delegation - including Wes Cooley and Dave Busby - and the track management. Roberts never set up the meeting, and, for his own reasons, announced a few weeks later that Laguna Seca was the finest racetrack in America. The jWMSP contacted Bill Boyce of the AMA, and Boyce hemmed and hawwed. If everybody - the track, the AMA, the county - had ignored the problem, chances are the jWMSP strike couldn't have stopped the race: for every rider willing to baYCOll an event, there's another who sees a boYCOll as something to improve his chances of wi·nning money. But by the time it came to race at Laguna Seca again, the embankment had been pushed back by bulldozers; the available run-orr room for a crashed rider was dramatically increased. The strike was called of£. Boyce said the track did it to accommodate Indy cars. Track officials declined comment. It wasn't until later that Hammer and the others figured out why the embankment was moved. It's like this. The racers in the JWMSP - all 120 of them - said turn two at Laguna was dangerous, so dangerous that a reasonably-foreseeable incident - a simple crash would turn into a disaster, killing or seriously injuring the rider involved. If the track wasn't fixed,andanother rider met his death or lost his health at turn two, the legal implications would be staggering. The track couldn't claim they didn't know about the problem or that it couldn't be fixed. That's why the track was fixed; that's why Wayne Montoya Hves and races today. 13TH ANNUAL TICKET ORDER ADVANCE PRICE Sunday Admission $13 2-Day Admission $17 2-Day Super Ticket Admission, Paddock 2-Day VIP Admission, Paddo<;k Reserved Grandstand Event Admission City $40 Children 6-12yrs. $ 4 Friday & Saturday Saturday only Zip ..... to: CIwnpion Spark Plug 200 P.O. Boll SCRAMP Moi'leie,. CA 93940 Check or money order payable to SCRAMP. Master Charge No. Expiration Date $lli Cars $14Bikes Camping 13th ANNUAL CHAMPION SPARK PLUG 200 Name Address State $25 Camping Bruce Hammer and the Jon Woo Memorial Safely Proje"cl continue to work for improved safely. al raceIracksacTOss Ihecounlry. Riders interesled in joining Ihe JWMSP should wrile to Bruce Hammer, Box 964, Guasti, CA 91743 ... Editor. TOTAL NO. $9 Cars $7 Bikes Visa No. Expiration Date TOTAL Child.., under 6 yrs of ege $ NISSAN OfIidal Car tree with perent. . or LagURlI Seta Raceway 3