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/128327
Roundtable: Part I wall, move this thing. Do that . And ifyou do that, we can live with the surface; we'll live with It until you make enough money. MLADIN: This [PPIR) is the safest track we go to. The back wall, for sure there's a little a little bit of a chance around there. But you're only taking one chance . BUCKMASTER: What else are you going to hit? BOSTROM: The only other thing is maybe a bike could crash through the esses and get back onto the track. But you could do that at Barber. DUHAMEL: At Barber it happened. PRIDMORE: We were so luckyat Barber. In the rain there, can you imagine if you lost the front coming off that back straightaway in the rain - that left? You'd slide across the rain and take everybody out. DUHAMEL: It happened in the dry. Eric Wood went straight across there. I came up right afterwards. That's another good example where you need to sit down and do the right modification. Go up to Mr. Barber and say, "This needs to be addressed ." BOSTROM: It's weird even looking at Barber. Some . of the run-off areas are in the completely wrong spot. There's tons of variance, almost if you rode the track backwards , it'd be safer in a few spots. It's like, who Jason Pridmore designed it? PRIDMORE: Where they had the air fence coming out though the fast kink to the right turn three, where the air fence was , is about SO yards further to the left. 44 JUNE 9, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS You weren't going to hit the air fence , it would just sit there looking at you once you hit the Armco . MLADIN: If you highside coming onto the front straight, you're past the gravel. BOSTROM: Not to mention that turn out of two or three coming over that hump. MLADIN: Even turn one. It's fast in there. In that race you [Bostrom] got in there. If you would have lost it there, you would have made the wall. No problem at all. And that 's off the start. DUHAMEL: I think there're a few people and a few bodies that have tried to approach promoters and the AMA and say, "Here's a guideline: you go so fast through this corner, the radius needs to be like this." It's not that complicated. Obviously, they have it down pat in Europe. The speeds that we're going now with the 1000s, they're great bikes, there's definitely an urgency now to get that done. It's good that we're having this forum. But talking is great, but not if leads to nothing. And we've done a lot of talkingfor many years . I've been around AMAfor a long time, and there's always a lot of yes, nodding, and people forget, or they just don't pay attention to it. But this needs to be addressed . PRIDMORE: You know what I'm scared about right now, what I'm truly scared about right now, with everything that's going on at Daytona, with all the changes, we might not get there before January and test tires, and then you run into all kinds of other commitments for the tire manufacturers; Daytona's going to be on the schedule . Daytona is going to be on the schedule . Right now they know that there's a problem. And they said it might be January 31 before you go down there and test. Well, that doesn't give tire manufacturers enough time to make tires . So Virtually, you're screwed. But you know what? As soon as this last race of the year is over, Daytona will be on the schedule for 2005. See, that's the problem , because there has to come a point where you just go, "Damn it, we're not doing it." MLADIN: I think it has to be a rider's voice for sure . But Daytona Is on the schedule because the manufacturers see it as the most valuable sales tool of the year. That's who has to make the decision there. They have to back you guys . And It's above the team manger. It 's the guys who don't come to the races. PRIDMORE: And it needs to start getting addressed right this second. We're all riders, and whoever needs to make those decisions needs to start looking at that pretty heavy right now. DUHAMEL: Unfortunately, that 's the thing: We don't have anybody to go to . We don't have a riders ' union, and the AMAdon't have anybody that we can go 40th Anniversary to . I'll be the first to say that Daytona is a great venue because it's been a great venue, but if it's at the cost of our well-being going back there, especially now with the speeds going faster, I'm one of the first guys to say that we can't go there, and we don't go there, and it's just that simple. But we need guidelines, and we need to do it. Because if Daytona is going to spend money to do it, they should do it right. PRIDMORE: And I hear things of what they're doing and making all these improvements, and it's great, and they come to the AMAevery year and say, "This is what they want ." They want to see more guys on the grid. They want to see this and this. What are they doing for us?What are they doing to make it better for us so that we can put on a better show that we feel is going to be safer. I don't like drafting six, seven people there. MLADIN: Daytona. everyone takes it the wrong way. Everything you say about it, you're a whinger. But the bottom line is, I understand the heritage of the racetrack, too, and I've won there a few times, and it's great. But the bottom line is, I want a life after racing, and I'll always say something about it. I don't care about the racetrack or its heritage. BOSTROM: I've never won there, and I have no desire to win there. Who do you need to talk to? MLADIN: There's nobody to talk to. They don't hsten . Youcan talk 'til your black and blue. They won't listen . You're just a number. DUHAMEL: And again, the measurements have to preset to what is safe. How fast is this corner? How much run-off you have. There is a formula, and that formula should be applied. When a track is being done or being safe, it just needs to go by the book. MLADIN: And slowing the bike down isn't going to help. There's all this talk about 600s being the premier class. You [Miguel) ride a 600, you [Damon) do, you [jason] do . BUCKMASTER: The corner speed on those things is more than a Superb ike. MLADIN: You tip over in a comer where the walls are a problem - you're going to hit the wall harder. Definitely the speed and the tires are an issue with the big bikes, but if the tire manufacturers can keep that under control, I don't think big bikes are an issue when it comes to racetrack safety. We all know 600s - if you don't have corner speed, you don't win. Full stop. PRIDMORE: I think there are certain cop'outs too. As soon air fence started to really be brought in... MLADIN: ...that's the worst thing that's ever happened . PRIDMORE: That's the worst thing that's ever happened because it made all the racetracks start thinking to themselves , "We don't need to fix it. We can put air fence up." It's great that the people went to the efforts they did to help us with that , to at least try to improve the safety. But it's not the answer. BUCKMASTER: It's just a band-aid for a big problem. That's what I was talking about with horsepower. You can form it as much as you like, but how does it have horsepower? There was at one time an AMA riders' rep. PRIDMORE: I think over in Europe, the riders over there are known everywhere. You go anywhere, and [Valentino) Rossi is everywhere. You go into a mall, and there's Rossi stuff. Where have you ever seen us in mainstream places? MLADIN: On a racetrack in Europe if a guy raises his