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/128231
AMAIChe vy T ru c k s U ,S , Superbi ke S erie s R o u nds 15- 1 6 : V irgin ia In ter n a t io n a l R a c e w a y that they we re looking at a bigger picture than jus t 'what' s on the racetrack , • M aybe with bette r communication between the AMA pro board and AMA board and the advisory board, there'll be a be tter understandi ng o f that and we 'r e reque st ing tha t in th e fu ture . B ec ause o ne thing l'v e learn ed in my position . I don 't always agree and unders tand why thing s go that way, but when you find out all the fact s , so met imes it all make s a lot mor e sense, And we ju st don ' t have all the facts all the time, And that frustra te s us all. And believ e me, I've felt many times our voice isn't heard and why do we do this and we have a representa tive [R ay Blank! o n th e bo ard , I don ' t alwa y s hear his inpu t. He doesn't call me up after the board meeting and tell me exac tly what went on, beca use tho se are private meeting s. W Prieto Racing' s Michael Barnes made only seven laps before pulling in when ominous sounds emanated from the engine of his Suzuki GSX,R1000 , ' 1heard a noise in the tum coming out of the last com er and decided to tuck in, - Barnes said, The Floridian was havmq a good day when he wa s sidelin ed, He completed the first lap in fourth , then dropped to fifth, and was running in seventh when he wa s put out. The AMA was te sting a new finish-line camera system that is the mo st accurate in the wo rld , w ith an eye toward having it ready for the 2004 AMAlChevy Trucks U ,S, Superb ike Ch arnpionsh ip. The FinishLynx camera takes 10,000 pict ures a seco nd, by far the mos t of any camera. A s a poi nt of co mparison, general grade television cameras take 60 frames a seco nd . The camera and so ftware w ere developed by Lyn x Sy st em Develop er s , a Bo ston -based co mpany that's supplied hmsh-hne cameras to the Tour de France, track and field , and horse racetrack s, Giles Nor ton, the director of co mmunications, was exci ted by the speed of the Supe rbike s as co mpare d t o hu ma ns and ho rses , • He' s demonst ratin g it this weekend . W e're takin g a loo k for next year, ' AMA direct or of timing and scoring Ken Rogers said. ' We deftnitely want to incorporate it into our syst ems . " Erion Honda 's Kurtis Roberts said that D unlop woul d have to improve the quality and consist ency of its tires for next year after the numerou s tire failures In 200 3. ' Everyone knows they haven 't been wh at they should be all year as far as things like that. gelling people out,' Robert s said. 'It would need to be stepped up a littie bit for next year , especially if everyone's going to be on fourcylinders. !Valentino] Rossi sets the lap record on the last lap at C zechoslovakia {on M ichelin tir esl . W e have to be two seconds on the pace, and the thing still can go . There' s not much of an excuse, exce pt things need to be bette r." Yoshim ura Suzuki' s Mat Ml adin tied Fred Merkel's 19-yearold record of 10 wi ns in a Superbike season when he wo n Saturday ' s race at VIR. M erkel won 10 times in the 13-race 1984 campaign, his wi ns co ming at a number of track s no longe r on the AMA calen dar , M erkel won at Riverside, Pocono, Portl and and W illow Springs, in addition to Sears Point , Road Am erica, Laguna Seca. Brainerd , M id·Ohio and Dayt ona, in a fall race, no t th e M arch classic . That race was won by Freddie Sp encer . Ml adin won tw ice at Fontana, Infineon Raceway and Mi d-Ohio , wi th his other win s co ming at Road A tlanta. Road Ameri ca, Mazda Haceway, Laguna Seca and here at VIR. The VIR w in gave M ladin 24 for his caree r, two behind American Honda' s M iguel Duhamel for mo st eve r. Mike Hale wa s back in the AMA paddock for the first time in a littl e ove r a year, this time to race the Kneedraggers.com Yamaha in the Supersport class . His last AMA race was the final round of last year' s AMA champions hip, here at VI R, and his last mot orcycl e race was a few months back, again here , in an F·USA meeting . Hale's life now revolves around three thing s, his family, co llege , and a new real esta te developmen t ven ture . Hale and his wife. Kim, had their second chi ld, a son, Lane M ichael, on Jun e 24. He joins nearly three-year-old sister Macy in the Hale fold . In June, Hale will be graduating wi th a BBA in finance from the U nivers ity of Texas in Arl ington that he expects to help in his new career in real estate . He and a busines s partner are developing a 10-acr e com mercial plot in north Fort W ort h. The Kneedraggers.co m Yamaha had Hale at the tail end of the lead pack , he said. ' The race pace should be okay , W e cou ld get a solid top 10 maybe ; that's what we 're hoping for , ' Yamaha race boss Keith McCarty didn' t come right out and say it. but he implied that Yamaha wouldn't be competing in the Superb ike class next yea r. '" th ink we 're leaning in that direction , but there ' s still some things to cons ider whe ther we 're go ing to do anythi ng there or not, ' he said, • At this momen t I wo uldn't say that we would or we wouldn't. ' Like all the other team bosses , M cC arty was waiting for th e final technical rules for the class . " Now that the rules are out. it' s time to make some decisions. I guess, I guess we're just really try ing to evaluate everything that we have and eve ryt hing we know and try to go from there, but we really haven't co me to any clear-cut decision as of yet.' The one constant is the rider s. All four, Jamie Hackin g, Damon Buckrnaster, Jason D iSalvo and Aaron Gobert , are signed for next year . If Yamaha doesn' t com pete in Superbike, it' s likely it will have the same rider/class lineup as this year with everyone doing Soperspo rt and t he new S uperst oc k class, except for DiSelvo . " It makes the mos t sense if we were going to do it that way. " McCarty , like seve ral o thers , was d ismayed at the lack of input the roa d race advisory bo ard had in the new Su perbi ke rules , 14 S EPTEM BER 10. 2003· cue I n e " The advisory boar d is nothing more than a roo m to get every- bocIy riled up in a pissing con tes t ,' M cCarty said. ' They don 't make any sense any more beca use the AMA doesn't take whafs been discussed . Look for the minutes of the meeting. Does anybod y take the ti me to read them? A re they accura te? It' s the same thing on the motoc ross side. It' s ridiculo us that they even have them . It' s a waste, in my mind, of people's time, But unfortu nately if yo u didn' t go, there'd be the rhetoric like the poli tic ians, 'We ll, you don't care because you don't show up.' W ell, I care, I jus t wa nt it to mean so me thing . " A s for t he edge the new rules give to the V -twi n s , M cC arty sees it as a slap in the face of the Japanese manufact urers . ' It' s kind of funny - w e've go t fou r com panies that are pr etty much going in the same direction, and the reaso n they're going that way is because that' s really what sells. And they 're here to sell prod uct . They all kind of go in this direc tion. So you kind of think, well that AMA racing, we want to suppo rt tho se people , If yo u to ok the mo ney that every co mpany that the four major co mpanies , take it away, tell me wh at kind of racing you 'd have here? So for them not to pay attention to that is really narrow-minded, I think." M c C art y we nt on t o say that s ince Yama ha hasn 't do ne any development of the R1 for the Superbike class, the new rule s don' t aff ec t it. ' For tho se that did, that spen t the money , that came out there, my gues s is that they' re probably not too happy about the situation, W hat I think about the rules is, it's a shame that we can't get a formula like this, that the powers-that -be won 't liste n to more expert peo ple than they do , instead of a lot of peo pie that think they know it all, I think that is a bit of a shame . ' Reaction to the AMA Pro Racing Board' s decision to tighten the rules on four-cyhnder machines while allowing more flexibility for V -twins wa s me t wi th near-universal sco rn by the managers o f the teams using Japanese rnultis . • A t the [road racel advisory meet ing, a majority of the advisory vo ting members voted in favor of havtnq one set of rules for all bikes running in S uperbike . " Yos himu ra Suzuki' s Don Sakakura said. ' 1 don't know who makes the rules. II's like the advisory board.., why are we going to those meeti ngs?' The advisory board Is composed of mernbers of all the Japane se team s , plus others, but at the race level. The AM A Pro Racing board, however, finalizes the rules. " It ' s the upper group that has the final decision, but they 're not involved wi th the race track here. ' Among the rules that w ill diminish the competitiveness o f the four-cy linders is the rest rict ion to stoc k air boxes and thrott le bodie s, while the tw ins are allowed one alter nate, AMA·approved thro ttle body type / set as we ll as afte rmarke t air boxes . ' If [D ucati! brings a works-level twin team with a com pet itive rider and full support, I hone stly believe we 'd have a hard time compe ting wi th the revised rules, ' Sakakura said. ' W e saw th at at Laguna Seca. They 're taking something away from us throttle bodies and air box . You 're looking at a substantial loss of performance .' Sakakura said the changes were discu ssed at the mo st rece nt road racing advisory board meeting and that they'd vote d In favor of retaining the 200 3 rules. Annandale Racing will disband after th e final ro und o f the A M A / C hevy Truc ks U .S . S upe rb ike Ch ampi on shi p at Barb er We love M otorsports Park . team co-owner Anna John son said. K it: our hearts are in it; the mot orcycle peo ple are the best people, Internally, we we ren't able to meet our goals,' said Johnson, who co-owns the team w ith Dale Lemaster. Annandale expande d this year with tw o rider s in Formula Xtreme and Supersport . Last year they had two rider s in Super stock only. The diffe rence in cos ts we re significant. The team wa s partially fund ed by Lema ster' s home building com pany, and both Lema ste r and John son have account ing backgrounds, and they understo od that the numbe rs didn 't add up. The decision to quit wa s made around the Mid-Ohio weeke nd. It was based on the economi c climat e and the change in focu s of Speed Chann el' s television coverage. W ithout the TV expo sure, it wa s hard to sell sponso rs on the program. Though they won't be racing next year, Johnson didn't rule out a return in the future. They' ll be selling their machinery and equipment on www.annandalehonda.com after the Barber race. Ara .'s brand-new powder ~coated pop-up a w ni n g wa s de stroyed in a hurncane-like blast that hit VI R just after the end of Saturday 's Supe rst ock race . " It was last seen over Kansas following a witch on a bicyc le, ' Arar' s Bruce Porter jo ked about the loss of his month -old shelter, ' The tables went with it . ' Porter wa s on an access road out of the track, st uck in traffi c on his way to the South Bo ston Speedway Supermoto race when the rains and wind hit. Four comer work ers tried to save the tent but had to give up when ligh tning st rikes began. Then it went care ening across the parking lot. taki ng down three motorcycles. Mi chelin' s Jim Rhode s said the team would have the use of a semi for the final AM A race at Barber M otorsports Park while the road race semi is being pr epared fo r next year . Who will use Mi chelin tires has yet to be decided , with the recent deci sion by the W orld Superbike organizer s to have Pirelli as a spec tire confu sing the issue. Kawa saki and Suzuki are both under contract to D unlop for 2004, so the likely candidates would be Du cati, at whateve r level of suppo rt it comes in with, and Honda, wh ich has alw ays used M ichelin in W o rld Sup erbi ke . Mi ch elin has made repeated entrea ties to Honda, but it wa s never willing to offer the support and for years didn 't have a Supe rsport tire. Now that it has both, the M ichelin hand is much stron ger . Rhod es said he wa s initially hiring tw o people, a truck driver and a tire fitter, and VII' so more as th e si tuati o n beco mes bet ter d ef ined. He also said M ichelin had boo ked three days of test ing at Dayt ona International Speedway just prio r to the annual Dunlop test in early December. Yoshimura Suzuki' s M at M ladin earned $5600 for the weeken d, 54 000 for winning Saturday' s race and $1600 for coming in fifth on M onday , Am er ican Honda' s M iguel Du ha mel won $5250, including 53000 fo r coming in sec ond in Saturday's race and third in M onday' s. Kurtis Roberts won 54 000 on Monday and $ 1225 on Saturday. Yoshimura Suzuki' s Aaron Yates may race in the final round of the British S uperbike S eri es at D oningto n Park , accordi ng to team manager Don Sakakura. Yate s wou ld ride as a replacemen t for the injured Yukio Kagaya ma of th e Rizla Suzuki team in the September 28 event, a week aft er the AMA season ends at Barber M ot orsport s Park, Sakakura said Suzuki wa s discussing internally and no decision had bee n made on wheth er he'd ride or what he'd ride. Attack S uzuki' s Jason Pridmore had a frightening incide nt when his clutch failed on the start line of Sa turday 's Sup erbike race. Pridmore, w ho' d qualified on the seco nd row in sixth, put his hand up as the rest of the fie ld dodged him. ' 1was freaking out, • Pridmore said. The scare caus ed him to use co mpletely differe nt gearing for Sunday's race . There'd been wa rning signs before the start . Pridmore said it took thr ee tri es to get going, and a practice start at the back of the grid on the warm-up lap hadn't go ne well, ' 1 knew it was go ing to happen, ' he said , ' 1trie d anyway , and it stalled . ' Pridmor e' s S uzuki was push-start ed, but he didn't get far. He came out of tum one, telling himself to take it mellow, that the race was 28 laps . Then the bike - snapped around me in that fas t part [turn tw o], and by the time I caugh t it, I was off the trac k, ' Pridmore spent part o f th e wee ke nd wo rking as a pit repo rter/ interviewe r for Speed Channel. There was general skepticism abou t the , conditions of the track prior to the Iong·...layed start of the Pro Honda Oils Supersport race. But no on e fell in the lums four-five area, partly becau se of caution , ' 1think it was probably in everybody's mind, back of everybody's mind anyway, how slippery that sec tion was, but it was defini tely comi ng to us as the race we nt on , ' race wi nner Damon Buckmaster said. ' 1 think the same for everybody, it was a bit of a dodgy situation, but we need to get this show on the road for our spo nsors and our fans this weekend, ' Teammate A aron Gobert said , " I fig ure d aft er the way everyone w ent throug h afte r the first 10-minute session, it blew it out of the way. It was like mot oc ro s s , Th ere ' s ju st one area you cou ld g o through, and that was it. Towa rds the end o f the race it was pretty good . It was borderl ine acceptable. " Keith Code saved the AMA by allowing it to use his track on M onday morning . Code rented VIR for four day s, beginning M on day morning. fo r a fully subscri bed (60 rider) Californ ia Superbike Scho ol. The school nor mally alternates betw een track and class roo m, but Code agreed to start late, with the AMA expec ted to finish all on-track activities by 11 a.m. Co de didn't have to give up the trac k but said he was a • st upid, incurable race r.' M onday and Tuesday are one-day schoo ls, with an advanced two -day schoo l on W ednesday and Thursday. The schools, unlike the AMA races, will run rain or shine. No L imits Motorsports will pro bably be bac k in the same form next year, according to team own er Ben Curti s but, like all of the Honda teams , has to wait until after the dealer show to see which mode ls Honda wants to market. • It' s 85 ·percent certain that we 'r e doing the same thing, ' Curti s said . This year, the team started with Curti s' son, Jason, and Doug Chandler, both racing the Formula Xtre me and Supersport clas ses . Chandler left the team aft er Road America and was eventua lly replaced by Lance Isaacs , who rode for the team last year. Best line about having the races postponed until Monday goe s to Yoshimura Suzuki's Tom Houseworth, the crew chief for Ben Spies. ' That 's how you end up WIth a middle seat,' House said . Sec ond -best line of the week end wen t to Repsol Honda' s N icky Hayden, in Virginia to watch his brothers. After Kurtis Roberts was told that M onday' s race wou ld be 20 laps instead of 27 , Hay den said, ' 1'11 bet you wish yesterday's wa s 20 . ' Robert s had a rear tire failure on the 24 th of 28 laps while he was holding a 10· second lead. Kurtis Roberts wa s denied a permanent video reco rd of his first win when Speed Channel pulled out on Sunday night. M on- . day' s race was n't televised , which left Speed Channel scrambling for any kind of foot age it cou ld get for ' Two W heel Tuesday ' and its ot her mot orcycling program s. A t one poi nt a call went out ove r th e trac k publi c add res s sys tem ask ing for anyo ne w ith good quality video foo tage to co me forwa rd. Roberts was nonplussed. " I wan t to see Saturday' s race more than today' s anyway , ' he said. Robert s did ge t some TV time on M onday night, however, the Erion Honda rider appea ring on Dave Despain' s ' W,nd Tunnel." W hile he was on air, Roberts rece ived congratulatory pho ne calls from team owner Kevin Erion, who had to leave on Sunday and therefore mis se d his rider's firs t S uperb ike vi ctory, and Honda motocrosser/supercrosser Ric ky Car michael.