Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

hen the fifth Medivac helicopter of the weekend lifted off from the infield of Phoenix International Raceway, conveying yet mother unfortunate innocent to a distant hospital, I was reminded not only of the Santayana quote, but my first trip to this facility about six years ago, and, sadly, how little had changed. What should certainly be the .final race at Phoenix International Raceway, unless all sense of decency and outrage is ignored - a distinct possibility these days - wa a catastrophic mess which put an ugly face on a wonderful though dangerous sport. Motorcycle racing is dangerous. No one would dispute that. Every race track has its glaring faults. If you race long enough you will fall down and if you fall down you will very likely get hurt. The extent of those injuries can be controlled with a little common sense and planning, neither of which was in great supply on an otherwise glorious, sun-filled weekend in the Southwest desert. By my count there were five incident that required the use of a helicopter to transport riders. Part of the reason tlle helicopter wa used, I was told by a race official. was simply the distance to the hospital, and not necessarily the severity of the injuries. That may well be, but seeing a chopper fly in over the foothills, accompanied by the eerie silence of a race track devoid of activity except for the transport of human tragedy, made an indelible impression on not only the fans - a handful on Saturday and 5000 or so on Sunday - but also the riders. One rider said there should be a limit: Three Medivac trips and the race is called off. The reason the helicopter needed to be called is that the race track is irredeemably un afe. othing short of a complete leveling and redesign could help the place, though the promoter is on record as saying he's willing to do whatever it takes to get the race back. We'll see how sincere he is. There are inherent hazards that no amount of hay bales and air fence can fix - not that some effort wasn't made. The fir t time the race was run w.as even worse. rn 1993, inclement weather led to a wet track, which led to a rider revolt of sorts. Riding, never mind racing, through the banked oval turns three and four on a wet track was undeniably suicidal. A small group of 250cc riders, among them Jimmy Filice and Chris D'Aluisio, made an effort to educate the rest of the class. For his efforts, Filice was "told his actions were the sort of thing W wasn't hay;baled.' ow they've got a that could shorten his career," I wrote at guy who's getting helicoptered out of the time in a guest editorial in Cycle here because there's no hay bales. I don't News. It struck a nerve with the AMA, know how many more times it's going to who responded with a strongly worded be before somebody gets killed or whatletter, then paid a visit to the CN headever, but it's sad, really sad. You can't quarters in Long Beach. Ironically, it wa race at a place like this, it's more of a surthen AMA president Ed Youngblood vival thing." and then road race manager Roger Pridmore said thathe'd taken part in Edmondson, the defendant and plaintiff an exhibition event at Phoenix prior to a in Edmondson's recent lawsuit against car race back in 1992. Way back then, he the AMA, who came calling. What are made recommendations, none of which the odd of that happening again? What were followed, he said. Part of the probwere the odds of the race happening lem is track ownership. At the time, the again? Pretty good, as it turned out, track was under different management. because we were back a year later. It's currently owned by the rnternational In the past year, rider safety has finalSpeedway Corporation, the company ly become a more central issue. That it that owns Daytona Internationa) Speedtook catastrophic injuries to riders such way and a number of other tracks. as American Honda's Mguel DuHamel Canadian Michael Taylor c·rashed and Harley-Davidson's Thomas Wilson into an unprotected concrete barrier outat last year's Loudon race is shameful. side of turn four in Formula Xtreme Loudon has responded by extensively practice. It wasn't the sort of place you'd reworking the design of the track, doing expect someone to crash, but safety conwhatever it takes to ensure the contincerns have to account for the unexpected ued survival of their event. Turn one and in this case the system failed. Why claimed DuHamel and Wilson la t year wa that? Just beyond where he crashed and has been reworked. Will it be his way into a helicopter ride, there were enough? As one rider told me, "So they tllfee rows of hay bales. Whose job was shortened the straightaway by 50 feet. it to place the bales further down the That means you'll hit the wall at 140 track? mph instead of 143." The short answer is that it's the The final verdict on Loudon won't be AMA's job. rn this case, however, they'd in for a couple of months, but you can't done a track inspection with a couple..of fault the track for trying. They consulted veleran riders and no recommendation with the AMA TRAC committee, which was made to make any is responsible for circuit safeimprovements to that particty, before making changes. ular spot. Should the AMA And no one doubts that ''Those who be held responsible? Ultithey'll spend whatever it cannot mately, yes. But what riders takes to make certain of the are fond of saying is that no 76th running of the Loudon Tenaenaber the one knows what it's like to Clas ic. Whether all the past are go through these comers on money and good intention in condemned to a Superbike, so no one can the world will save the race understand their concerns. remains to be seen. Of more repeat it." They had their chance and immediate concern is what - GeoJ:ge they failed, and they failed happened at Phoenix. Santayana again in the Formula Xtreme Everyone at the track, ridrace the next day. ers and team owners alike, Grant Lopez hit the was, or should have been, unprotected wall in tum five when his appalled. Some spoke on the record, othtllfottle stuck wide open while leading ers more casually. 'Among the more outthe Formula Xtreme race. He came to a spoken was Jason Pridmore, a rider who very definitive and sickening halt, teaches rider safety and one who has according to those that saw the accident, suffered his share of injuries. and didn't move for what seemed like an "We're not getting any protection eternity. His injuries turned out to be from the people who are supposed to minor. Not long after the accident, a protect us," Pridmore said while watchflatbed truck carted a load of hay bales ing the Formula Xtreme debacle on Satto the site for added protection. Better urday. "Our purses suck and they take late than never? us to hit places like this. It's not good. The most dangerous part of the 1.51They're going to come out with the stanmile track is the bowl, the banked-oval dard excuse of, 'Well, no one's ever turns three and four leading onto the crashed there before and that's why it front straight. You mak~ a mistake there and bad things will happen. As I was standingin the far end of the pits, Ty Piz put his Yamaha TZ250 into the hay balelined wall on the exit of the turn, considerably shortening its wheelbase. Both of Saturday's final events, the Formula Xtreme and the 750cc Supersport, were red-flagged because of acci50cc Supersport incidents. One of dents happene in the bowl, with the bike catching fire. There was air fence behind the hay bales in turn .four. It looked silly sitting there behind the bales, but that's where the riders had wanted it placed. After winning the race, Mat Mladin said that if you hit the air fence "it doesn't explode, it just deflects you into the race track and someone decapitates you from behind." To try to race here would mean not using the bowl. but changing the track to resemble Las Vegas, a layout which runs parallel to but doesn't use the banking on its run to the front stretch. Right now, there's no room for such. a move in Phoenix. With the recent proliferation of race tracks, is there a compelling reason to put riders in harm's way at a track like PIR? Of course not. Will the AMA board decide they need a race in this burgeoning metropolitan area? Who knows? It's best not to try to figure them out. Sometimes there are things they just don't see. Take the Formula Xtreme race, for example. While fighting for second place, Paul Harrell, claiming he was forced off line, ran straight in turn one, skipped the infield, and rejoined the race without losing a spot on the back straight. The AMA said they didn't see it. How do you not see that? Everyone at the track saw it. "Our tower didn't call that in as a short cut," AMA road race manager Ron Barrick said. "It's partly our fault for not catching it right away." After taking part in the podium ceremonies for finishing second, Harrell admitted it - he had no choice - and in due time he was penalized, falling from second place to fifth. Even though he wasn't informed of the penalty until the next day, he accepted the penalty graciously. It took the AMA that long to look over the videotapes and check the times on the transponders before making a call. Hows this for a scenario: A gamechanging call is disputed in the last minute of the Super Bowl. What does the NFL do? "We didn't see it. We'll let you know tomorrow." Maybe not. CIII Lookin[! Back ..... 30 YEARS AGO... APRIL 8,1969 20 YEARS AGO... APRIL 4, 1979 10 YEARS AGO... MARCH 29, 1989 his issue of Cycle News featured a cornic strip cover, giving no clue as to what you might find inside... The second annual Viewfinders Grand Prix in Westlake Village, California;was highlighted by a great battle in the 100cc Novice class, as Steve Goldberg (Hod) and Bruce Baron (Suz) battled right to the dleckered flag. Goldberg took the win. Gary Bailey (Gre) got away from Gary Conrad (Hus) and Lars Larsson (Hus) for the 250cc Expert win. J.N. Roberts won the 500cc Expert class... BSA took out a full-page add, touting the new Memorial Stadium short-track qualifying record of Barry Briggs while aboard a BSA 250 Shooting Star. Briggs cut a 19.77-second lap and then lowered it to 19.68 seconds two days later.., Roland Pagan used a Triumph Trident to win the ACA Heavyweight Production road race class at Willow Springs International Raceway. nteresting Kawasaki photos made a big splash on our cover, as the company finally took the wraps off its new Uni-Trak rear-suspension system, which debuted on the factory works bikes at Hangtown. While obviously not the first single-shock rear suspension on the market, the Uni-Trak wa innovative, and it set new design standards that future designs would follow. Anyway, we had the full rundown on page 18... Speaking of Hangtown, Bob Hannah (Yam) dominated both 250cc motos at the 11 th annual Hangtown Motocross Classic, which served as tlle opening round of the AMA National MX Series. Hannah's factory teammate, Broc Glover (Yam),overalled the 125cc cla s via 1-3 moto finishes ... Bruce Ogilvie and Chuck Miller teamed up to win the SCORE Mexicali 250 aboard a Yamaha. The Husky team of Scot Harden and Brent Wallingsford finished second overall... We showed you bow to prep your bike in this week's installment of Championship Enduro. eff Stanton (Hon) remained on a roll after winning the Daytona Supercross, recording a follow-up victory at the next round of the ~ Supercross Series in Houston, Texas. Stanton finished allead of second-placed Johnny O'Mara (Suz) and third-placed Ron Lechien (Kaw) after a knock-down, drag-out battle among the three that lasted for the entire race... Suzuki officially reentered the off-road market with the 1989 RMX, and we were there to test it for you. The verdict? That Suzuki had delivered on its promises with the RMX. Power might 1"\ave been a bit short for experts but was fine for the majority..: Ed Lojak (Yam) won the AMA/GNCC seriesopening San Flea 100 in Sanford, North Carolina... The Honda team of Randy Morales and Chuck Miller won the SCORE Great Mojave 250... We interviewed Team Suzuki's Johnny O'Mara on page 26... Bobby Schwartz (Wes) put together a good week in speedway racing to CIII earn another Spring Classic title. T 80 I J

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