Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

MatMladin you're going to hit them in the wet. Yeah, the lap times are slower, but not that much. There are issues like that. There just doesn't seem to be any conformity or conti nuity on what's going on during the season. You never know where you're going to stand. But t here are some tracks that make an effort like Infineon Raceway, MLAD IN: They made an effort for sure, but some of those races show - the Superbike races Saturday and Sunday - showed how many walls are unsafe. There are four spots on that racetrack that are still very, very, very unsafe . PRIDMORE: You know the biggest thing we fight in this country when it comes to AMA and racetracks? Tradition. That's why we go to Daytona, tradition. That's why we went to Loudon, tradition. That was what was kind of cool for me about going to Sears Point and seeing all the improvements. Here's a circuit that's been there since our dads were racing, it's been on the schedule, but t hey were willing to make changes. The t hing is that it's not right, but they're go ing to co ntinue to make them, hopefully. But at least they're listening. D U HA MEl: The ingredient for Sears to change was Sears itself. But unfortunately we can't rely on those racetracks to say, "We really like racing, we don't want those guys to get hurt.' Because to me, as far as I know, it was completely up to Sears doing it, the owner of the track [Steve Page) itself and [vice president of media and community relations) John Cardinale saying, "Hey, help us make this track better." I think it's really important they get mentioned. Why did it get done at Sears? Because they did it themselves. We can't rely on the good will of somebody and they 're not going to be greedy and skimp on safety. Safety needs to be the number-one thing. MLADI N: I also think it makes it hard when you go to Infineo n and the guys have made the improvement, but as a racer, you've still got to say what it is. Yeah, the guys have worked hard and made an improvement, but the racetrack is still far from safe . They've worked hard, but I just don't think the walls they've moved they're going to move any further. DUHAMEL: We need to talk to track owners some more. If we all got together and talked to them, they might be willing to do those changes more and more. BUCKMASTER: For the sake of a couple of air fares , for a couple grand more to get a few riders up there. DUHAMEL: The perfect example is Barber. The guy, it's not like he's running out of money and he thought he did a great job with safety, and I think he was probably shocked that the FIM doesn't want to go there, and even us, we're like, "Whoa, tum one and tum this and tum that." They have like eight million miles of run-off in one place where you're never going to go there. And coming out of the final turn the wall comes back. Whoever was in charge of that... MLADI N: ...doesn't understand racing. BOSTROM: It's a complete lack of foresight on the organization itself. Daytona's the perfect example. Miguel brought this up when we were down there with Ron [Barrick). Ron was like, "Hey, maybe we can go back there, but maybe we can get them to change a few things and get them to make the track a bit safer." Miguel is like, "Hey, these people, if they want a race there, they're not hurting for money. Why spend millions of dollars to make a track that's not even really that safe, and then in two years we're going to be bitching about it again? Why not spend that money and make a place that's going to be safe for the next 30 years?" BUC KMASTER: Do it once, do it right. BOSTROM: But there's not pressure on anyone to do that. MLAD IN: But 99 percent of the time the top riders are not spoken to about it either. You guys said Sears spoke to you . D U HAME L: They asked us, and we all showed up . And the parts we he lped arrange what we had to do are not too bad . They're not great, turn one es pecially. The chicane coming over the hill is not so bad. We eliminated some of the stuff. The thing is, they were willing. There needs to be an AMA safety guideline and just be done with it. And I th ink that would suit a lot of promoters to do the right thing , knowing that they won't spend $2 million and we'll show up and go , "This is crap." That's a lot of money. Let's spend it right. The GP r iders weren't really empowered u ntil Daijiro Kato died at Suzuka las t year. Then t hey formed t heir own safety co m m ittee. MLADI N: I think the GP guys did have a riders' safety counsel, so to speak. When Mick Doohan was still winning World Championships, they were flying him www. cy cieneW5.co m around loo king at racetracks. That just doesn't happen here. Because we're just all whingers. BU CKMAST ER: What sort of horsepower would a committee have? It seems one team will say one thing, and another team still wants to go and race. DUHAM EL: The AMA, we need to talk to them and maybe come up with guidelines, but not a ride r committee. The AMA is our ride r committee. The AMA is out there fighting for the rights of motorcyclists on the streets and getting trails not being blocked, so basically they're our savior. So at the race track they need to apply more of that mentality to save the riders . They're the ones that have all t he power. They're the ones that can see the promoter and say, "These are the guidelines that we have established for a safe track." Obviously, we don't want a GP track - that'd be $30 million. But maybe a $3 million repair. And the repair needs to be done in a way where it doesn't need to be done in two years. If you go to the promoter and you sell him that, he might be going, "O kay, I'll do this, and I won't hear bitching for another IS years or 10years at least ." MLADIN: To me track surface is a nonissue if track safety is okay, because it's up to you if you want to push it over a crack or over a whatever. Ifthere's no wall you can hit, it's yo ur own fault. We can co mplain about track surface beca use it' s nice to have a smooth racetrack, but if there's no wa llthere, it's up to you how hard you want to push . If the walls are moved back far enough . D U HAMEl: ...and the trees at some circuits . MLAD IN : ...the tracks cou ld be good for a long time . Miguel Duhamel D UHAMEL: Just to emphasize what Mat said, it's rea lly important that the right work be do ne. A place like Mid-Ohio, repave the track, voila, we're going well. Now you've got a lot more problems because this is faster, that's faster. Save that money and move this CYCL E NEWS • JUNE 9, 2004 43

• Cover