Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE AMA/MBNA SUPERBIKE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Round 12: Route 66 Raceway , VEB133 By Henny Ray Abrams JOLIET, IL, AUG. m owing rid7erebpressu re, of ea AM At-, to th threa L!j ened o y cott th I.,:;) along with th e race promo ter, can- celed the ina ug u ra l Route 66 Raceway road ra ce N atio na l - round 12 of the AMA /MBN A Su p e rb ik e Se r ies bec ause of sa fe tv co nce rns, so me o f which were wea ther-rela ted. The AM A tried to pu t the best spi n o n it, b laming incl ement weather and th e inability to attrac t any of the facto ry su pe rbike tea ms to test at the new joliet, Illinois, facilitv in ad va nce as th e reasons that th e t~ack wa sn' t acceptable to th e ri ders . The riders, a nd th eir team ow ne rs, wer e mostl y un ited in d eploring the track as be ing unacceptable and condemned the AMA for the ir decision to allow the race to happen. "I ca n' t say what wen t o n through this whole process, but som ebo dy reall y dropped th e ball ," A meri ca n Hond a team manager Ga ry Mathers said as th e teams we re puIli ng ou t in a light drizzle on Fridav a fternoon. "We'~'e go t big shoulders and we' re trying to ex pa n d t h e sp or t," AM A director of pro competition Merril l Vand e rs li ce said. "If th e r id ers are co ncerned about th eir ability to race, we ' re concerned too ." The race a t jo liet, jus t so u th of Chicago, was an atte m pt by the AMA to ge t in to a no the r big market. .Th e facilit y, w hich had never host ed a m ot o rcycl e ra ce bu t had run o ne ca r race, wa s a s to p -a nd -go s treet- ty p e facilit y, lined al mos t enti rely wi th con crete ba rricades and with v e ry littl e runoff. Mu z z y Ka wasak i's Dou g Cha nd ler descr ibed the s ta rt-fi n is h area as a fourth-gear kink with no ru noff. " It ' s worse than Sears Poin t," he said. In order to make the tr ack acceptable, th e AMA's Ron Barri ck had enlist- ed two priva teers, Tod d Harring ton and Rad Greaves, to ride at the facilitv and ma ke recommendations . Their suggestions we re acted u pon, according to Barri ck an d tr ack owner Dale Coyne, but more work need ed tobe done and there si mply wasn't time . From th e m in ute the ri d ers began to arrive on Thursday, the race was in d oubt. Exacerba ting the situation was the weathe r. Because the layout uti lizes the d rag strip as a fro nt st raig ht, an d becau se the drag strip is es pecially slip pe ry due to th e ru b be r-a n d -t ra cti o n compou nd, track ow ne r Coy ne sai d t ha t the y co u ld n' t run in th e ra in . It h ad been ra in ing near ly all week, with litt le relief in sight. With ideal weathe r, the owne r migh t have been able to make all the changes th e rid ers proposed after seeing th e tra ck fo r th e fi rs t time . Bu t th e ra in didn't stop and it wo uld 've tak en all of both pra ct ice d ays to m ak e th e track acceptable to th e rid ers - which wo uld lea ve them wi th a one-day event. After a m ee tin g bet ween the track ow ner a n d th e A MA, a n d after th e AMA co ns u lte d with its head q uart er s in Wes terville , O hio, th e race was officially canceled on Friday afternoon. • AMA Pro Racing issued a sta ternent qu oting Vand erslice as saying, "We had hoped , up to the very last mi nute, that we could race this weekend at Rou te 66 Ra cew a y . Th e C h icagoland area is a huge m arket , w it h g rea t po te n tia l to int roduce racing to new audiences , a nd Rou te 66 Raceway is a very impressive faci lity. The Route 66 sta ff d id everyth ing they cou ld to ge t the track read y, bu t the rider s were very un comfortable with the course in its cu rrent config uration." Reigning AMA Superb ike champio n Dou g Cha nd ler was o ne of th e ri ders who supported the decision to no t race . " I' m d is app o inte d ," the Mu z zy Kawasak i rid er said . "We put ou r trust There was a lot of stand ing around and abs olutely no racing at the Route 66 Raceway in J oliet, Illinois . The race was cance led due to racing conditions that were deemed unsafe by the rider s and ultimately by the AMA. (From left to right) Doug Chand ler, Tommy Hayden and Nicky Hayden disc us s the s ituation as the Muzzy Kawasa ki truck prepares to depart the facility. in the AMA 's d eci sio n th a t this was going to be okay, an d when we got here, 'there ' s a n u m ber of th in gs that weren't righ t. I kind of gave Ro n (Barr ick) th e be nefi t of the do ub t pr io r beca use every tim e he's come her e, th is ' has been an ope n pa rking lo t wi th, o kay, th e g uys telling h im , 'T his is go ing to be atu r n her e and ther e?' You don 't kn ow w ha t it's goi ng to loo k like until yo u ge t all the walls and barriers a nd everything put up. I ca me in last ni g ht and wen t a ro u n d, it w as lik e, 'Th er e's no way.' I had privat eer guys that I've never talk ed to come up to m e th is morning a nd say, 'Ma n, wha t are we goi ng to d o? Th is place ain' t sa fe.' Whi ch is really unusu al. In the past, any tim e those guys have caug ht wind that we' re going to d o so me thi ng, they're th e firs t ones that get ou t th ere because th e y th ink tbey ca n ge t so me ex t ra money. But to hav e them come up saying, 'This p lace is bad : it's a big proble m . ow, w i th e v ery on e co mi ng together a nd realizi ng it's a p roblem, it 's kind of a bad d eal th a t - th e AMA doesn't see the problem." Chan d ler, w ho le a d s A merica n Honda 's Ben Bos t rom in the M B A Superbike championship by two poin ts, benefited from the race no t running. He co ntinu es to ha ve limited mob ilitv in his right leg and severe pa in in his rig ht foot, the result of cras hes a t the Laguna Seca round of the Wo rld Superbi ke race and th e AMA race a t Mid-Ohi o a wee k lat er. Bostrom was one of the few rid ers who wa nted to ride, bu t he was eve ntu a lly co nv inced b y h is te am t hat it wa sn ' t the righ t cho ice. Yoshim ura Suzuki's Mat Mladin also wo u ld have benefited fro m runnin g the race . The Suzu k i GSXR750, wh ich is d own o n p o w er to th e o th er facto ry machines, wo uld have been their eq ua l her e and Mla d in, who cu t his teeth in Au stralia, d oes well on tigh t and technical circu its. Still, he didn't see any way the y cou ld race on the tem po rary facility a n d in t he e n d he sa id, " I' m not go ing to jeopa rd ize my f-i ng nec k for anybody." He was asked if the track could be fixed. " N o p e ," he res p on d ed. " N o t th is weekend it can't. l 0 wav. You need to go for a drive and truly 'have a look .a t it. Have a look at right when yo u come throu gh the tunnel here and you get on the drag strip and it's bull-t, it's just bull-t. In the dry it's f-ing dangerous. In the we t, yo u just could n' t do it." "The d rag stri p's just like ice," Cha ndler concurred . "So, I mean eve n damp, th e owner said , 'N o, you guys can't race.:" Ml adin ' s Yos h im u ra Suzu ki teamma te Aa ron Yates ag reed . "W hen I got here , I look ed at th e tr ack an d I just felt th at it's not a race trac k w he re ou r caliber of raci ng - o ur leve l is suppose d to be Pro , we shouldn' t have to be dea ling with such .a rinky-dink facility:' Yates said. "I just really d on ' t understa nd why we even made it here. I'm glad to see everybody hanging together and hanging it up." Like Mladin, Yates saw the advantages for the Suzuki. "It probablywould 've been a place I would 've done well," Yate sa id . "It' s not a place I wanted to go out. Coming here, I wa s really looking forward to riding and doing good , and then I see the track and it's a joke - we shou ld n' t be here. I guess I feel like the weather probably he lped us reall y stick it to them an d make su re that we didn't ride. I'm glad it happened. They should really rea lize that this shou ldn' t be toler ated, and that we should have faciliti es especially at ou r caliber." At one point, ea rly on Friday before the official cancella tio n, it was believed the race wou ld be held with w ho mever decid ed to ride. The re was tal k of so me but 1-8 00p r iv a te e rs r idin g . CYCLEGEA R's Ste ve Rapp, w ho's leadin g t h e Te amli ne 750cc Su p e rs p o rt Cha m pions h ip, wasn't a mo ng them , "Because of the track, part of it' s the d ecision o n the othe r teams and the rid ers an d I kind of have to do wha t they th ink's righ t, too," he said . " If I go out there bein g the Lone Ran ger by myself, w here does ihat put me? I hav e a champicnship at s take . We tal ked to the top five guys in our class and we all decid ed th at we're not go ing to rid e. If anyone else rid es, it' s not go ing to matter cha m p io nsh ip w ise . It ' d be th e sa me thing th e next race." After meeting wi th the AMA and the track owner on Friday morning, most of the team m an a g ers d ecid ed to ba ck th eir rider s' decision . "It's a shame we go t to th is point," Yoshimura Suzuki's Do n Sakakura said . "I feel bad for a lot of people, bu t I just feel like the riders' safety is in jeopardy a nd they feel unsafe on the track - as Suzuk i, we' re ob liga ted to m ee t th eir need s in th at area . If they d on't feel safe on it, then we ought not to run for the weekend. It's their decision not to ride ; . we respect that. " A me rican H o nda te a m m an a g er Gary Math ers felt mu ch the same way. "It's unfo rtunat e tha t we ge t d o wn here o n Thu rsda y o r Frida y and find t hi s pl a ce un a cce p ta b le , " h e sa id. "Tha t's unfortuna te. We had q uest ions abo ut thi s track a m onth ago and we had had so me di scu ssio n with the AMA an d, b asicall y, they were very va g ue . The y d id n' t give us any answers. Seve ral of the team ow ne rs who sponsor d rag ra cers h ad so m e drag ra cers here on

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