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/127602
tru cks over three tons are not allowed in th e cou n try. The Muzz y te am w a s told they co u ld use their tractor, but would need to transfer their cargo into a Mexican trail er. Soon after Ferracci' s truck left, the Muzzy truck departed, leav ing Smith a lo ne . Though he was guaranteed a poli ce escort, Smith was skep tical and d idn't want to make the trip al one. He drove to the San Antonio Airport and put tires on tw o flights, one to Mexico City, and on e to Dallas for forwarding to Mexico Ci ty. Back in Buffa lo , Dunl op ' s Jim Allen was app rised of the situa tio n and ma de arrangeme nts to chec k 17 tires as luggage, a n umbe r s ufficien t to supp ly the Mu z zy Kaw asak i team. As soon as he landed in Mexico Ci ty, th e tires were impounded in cus to ms, alo ng with the better than 300 tires that had a rri ved by air. They were cleared ou t of cus toms on Friday at B:DO p.m. and Dunlop took possession of them at 6:30 on Saturday morning. Jean Herise, Michelin's man on the wo rl d superbike trail, had fewe r problems, though at a cost. "We started a long time ago and we sen t the tires by plane from Fra nce a week before the race," H erise sa id abo ut his s u pp ly o f 500 tires . " Our agency sent so meo ne her e. We brought the tires here Mon day. Even to import them temporarily, you have to pa y taxes. We were sup posed to get a box of clo th es tha t we never got. The problem here is you have to pa y. This country does not accep t ATA earners." In addition to paying th e tax es, a ll th e tires have to be accounted for and taken back ou t of the co un try. The d e livery of th e motorcycle s w asn' t any easier. They arrived by plan e a n d were to b e relea sed on Tuesday ni ght. Then it became Thu rsd ay night, an d they finally cleared customs at 4:DO a.rn, on Friday morning. The organizers were for ced to cancel the morning practice sessi on and ran one in the afternoon. Because of the delay in getti ng tires, Russell went out in Friday's untimed practice on hand-eu t slicks, se tting the fas tes t time despite so me serious reservations about the track. "The guys complained tha t the track was slip pery and d an gerous," Muzzy's tea m man ager Peter Doyle said. "Scott nearly hit a truck and Aaron just missed two dogs. We understood that the cir cui t was s u p posed to do some work. They were going to take down a building on the back side. Nothing has been touched. " The track is se t in a large urban recre- : ational area where various s p o r ts, including soccer, ba seball, basketball, and field hockey, are practiced. The fence surround ing the track, both on the outs ide and in s ide, has numerou s breeches through which pedestrian, animal, and auto traffic flowed freely. The day after Russell nearly hit a truck that was pulling out onto the track, the gate was still open and unguarded. According to a local journalist, the lack of control over the track was on e of the main . reasons that the Formula One circuit abandoned this race a few years ago. The are a off the racing line was dirty, and getting dirtier, and blue lines painted in some com ers were slippery. Coming onto th e front s trai g h t there was very little run-off, and ve ry little margin (Left) Italian Fabrizio Pirovano finished fou rth in the series, while New Zealander Aaron Slight (below), Ru ssell's Muzzy Kawasaki teammate, ended up third. fo r e rr o r. A med ical h e licop ter was p arked on th e outside of tum three, which, though well off the track, was too clo se for comfort, accordi ng to Russell . A free practice was he ld on Saturday mornin g an d the ri ders returned wi th . tale s o f terror. The fi rst t im ed practice w a s to be held at noon, but the riders had signe d a letter informing the organizers o f their co ncerns a n d th e session was postponed . Fin ally, at about 3:25 p .m., two cars filled wi th riders, team managers, and the cle rk of the course , went to inspect the track. On their re tu rn, Aaron Slight said, "They stopped a couple of games, but there's still thousa nds of people. Righ t on the en trance to the first comer the re's a base ball game. It 's be tter, bu t what w e wa n ted d one, w a s n ' t d on e . And the p e o p le wa tching have dogs." Claudio Marati , th e Flammini representative for the U.S. and Mexico, told one journalist that he was asked to pay $100,000 to someone who claimed he could cau s e all s p o r ti n g activities to cease. Mara ti also said the new management of the track was spending $750,000 on circuit im p rovements, and another $2 million over two years to seal off the tra ck completely. About 10 minutes afte r Slight returned, Russell and Fogarty w ent out with Alb ert Fantini, the cler k of the course , and an employee of the Flammini Group, the World Superbike series organizers. "The first thing we saw was a dog," Russell said when he got back. "If they want to have a ra ce, they have to get their shit together. If we raced in conditions like this we'd be bringing ourselves down to a level that we don't need to be at. Everyone's spen t a lot of money to be here and went through a lot of headaches. I wan ted to race bad. My shit was working good. Now I've got to wait until Daytona to race again." "I think everybody' S pissed off - really," Fogarty sa id . "Nobody's making any decisions." At approximately 4:11, an ann ouncement was made that all games had been stopped and tha t in 10 minutes a 50m inute timed pra ctice w ould s ta rt. "We've been around the track and the track is ready," the official announced ov er the public ad d ress syste m. "The FIM has decided y ou can go o u t and take th is practice, a 50- mi n u te timed practice." . At the appointed hour, tw o Mexican riders and an American, Tra y Ba tey, rid ing a Honda RC-30 owned by a Mexican busi nessman, took to the track, soo n to be joined by a third Mexican. But six riders are needed for a gri d, accordin g to world superbike ru les, and race organizers wen t th ro u gh th e paddock trying to drum u p su ppor t. French ma n Dominiqu e Sarro n th en w ent ou t, as w e ll a s It alian s Ma u ro Moroni and Aldeo Presciutti, tho u g h they we re h eckl ed the w h o le ti m e they w ere preparing to practice by fellow Italians Giancarlo Fa la p pa a nd Fabrizio Pirovan o. Falappa made an obscene gesture to Presciutti as he pulled out of the pits. The s ess io n en d ed and the qualifying results went to the FIM who would hold the ir u sual jury meeting at 7:00 p.m. to decide' th e fate of the race . At about the sam e time, one o f the organizers app roached Roche and told him that if th e riders didn't ride, th ey mi g h t hav e some trouble ge tti ng th e ir machinery o u t o f the country. It was suggested they put on a lo-lap exhibition race. But the b ikes had been crated up, the rid ers had left, a n d Ru ssell, for one, had some serious celebrating to do. 0\ Results WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SUPERB IKE SERIES FINAL POINT STANDINGS (AI"r 14 01 14 round s): 1. ScottRussell (37 8.S ); 2. Car l Fo g ar t y (3 49.S); 3. Aaron Slig ht (316); 4. Fabrizio Pirovano (290); 5. Giancarlo Falappa (25 5) ; 6. Piergio rg io Bontem p i (284.S); 7. Stepbane Mertens (172); 8. Terry Rym er (116) ; 9. Christer Lindholm (102); 10. Mauro Lucchi ari (94.5); 11. Fred Merkel (91.5); 12. Juan Gar riga (71 ); 13. Andrien M orrison (66); 14. Ieffry Devries (64.5); 1S. Andre as Meklau (63.5) 16. ; James Whitham (58) ; 17. Fabrizio Furla n (49) ; 18. Adr ien Mor ill as (43) ; 19. Andreas Hoffmann (40); 20. Keiichi Kitigawa (34). 9