Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

u.s. GP in 20051 There will be a U.S. GP on the provisional FIM World Championship Road Race calendar when it's released in October, but will the re be a race? Doma CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta thinks so. "We think we have an agreement," he said. "We have a verbal. Now it's necessary to put that in paper." Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is the proposed site , but there are considerable financial obstacles to overcome , according to SCRAMP general manager Gill Campbell, who was in attendance at the recent Grand Prix of Catalunya to discuss the specifics with Do rna. "O bvio usly, we're still in the fact-finding stages, and we 're getti ng closer," Cam pbell said during an interview in the Proton KR garage. "The re' s no doubt about it. We 're inching closer. We both want to do it," Whether they can afford it is the issue. "It' s from SCRAMP's perspective that years," Ezpeleta said. "We are reducing the everything has to cure. We 're moving dirt, reduced fee because it's not the norma l fee. and we don't wan t to be m oving mud." We are red ucing the reduced fee trying to help them," It wou ld be a five-year deal. Even with the reduced fee , the numbers The date hasn't been allocated, tho ugh it' s likely to be early in July, one of the first two are daunting. Track improvements are bud- geted in the ballpark of $2 million, a figure that includes lost revenue fro m the track closure and payments to the county for the lost days . Then there's $3.5 million in operating expenses, plus Dorna's reduced fee . Dorna gets all signage and television money and would designate a title sponsor. Mazda Raceway gets the gate receipts and concessions, plus corporate sponsorship. SCRAMP wo uld prom ote the race. "We have to raise the m oney, and so there' ll be some entitle ments for corporations who come in to help fund this, so we 're go ing to be working very closely with Mot oGP to make that happen," Campbell said. Doma wou ld become a partner in the But time is tight. Whether it' s World Superbike or whether it' s MotoGp, there are some track improvements that have to happen . "In or de r for us to do it in the best possible time frame, some of it would have to begin th is September. So I have a very small time to raise this money," she added. "We need to take advantage of the weather, and part of it wou ld be do ne in the fall, part of it wou ld be done in the spring. We have to avoid the rainy months. Unfortunately, the rainy months would probably be the best event and agreed to a vast ly reduced fee . "We are reducing the fee fo r the first two months to shut the track down, but it's not the best time to do the construction because we 've got to do whatever event is best for the facility, and we certainly know that MotoGP is," Campbell said. "We've already gotten the feedback that from a fans' standpoint, there are a lot of fans out there that would like to see a MotoGP eve nt . We wou ld like to accommodate that . But it's got to be whatever is best for the facility from a cost factor, from a botto m line factor, and from a promotional facto r. What is the best that we can absolutely do?" 12 JULY 7, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS weekends. "We do n't know exactly the day because we need to look at the calendar of Formula One and the others," Ezpeleta said. Dorna would bring MotoGP and the BMW BoxerCup only. The rest of the program is up to Campbell, though it co uld be AHA "We 're look ing at that possibility," Campbell said. "It's certainly, again, one of the options that we're looking at, but nothing's decided," If not the AMA, then w ho? "It's a good quest io n," Camp be ll said. "I do n't have the answe r to that right now. I haven't had any discussio ns with the AMA, so I really don't know whe re they sit on th is at the moment." Inte restingly enough, a Mo to GP race wou ldn't mean the end of World Superbike. " No t necessarily," Camp bell said. "O bviously, right now we're looking at 2005 . We 've got one opening for a motorcycle event among our five dates." The SCRAMP charter allows them to only hold five major even ts a year. "So for 2005 , [MotoGP] will be a selection, but it doesn't necessarily mean in the future there isn't a possibility for World Superbike . We have a great relationship w ith Flammini and World Superbike . All power to them for what they 're doing with the series. We 're not going to strike anything out of the future at all," Three-time 500cc World Champion and Monte rey res ident Wayne Rainey is an advi- 40th Anniversary so r to Campbel l. "I do n't speak motorcycle," Cam pbe ll said. "Wayne speaks mo torcycles. He is the yin to my yang. In that res pect it's very important fo r us to have an advisor that can be a liaison between ourselves and the riders to be able to give us the best possib le advice, and we want to be able to accommodate the riders to the best of our capability." "I'm not the promoter," Rainey said, quashing a widely held rumor. "My ro le is to connect Gill with Carmelo and work with the track superintendent and Kenny [Roberts] Jr. and [Carlos] Checa Having them come over and look at the track and actually seeing what we had to do to fix th e track to make it acceptable for the riders. That was my role. Gett ing that done. He lping th em with the engineering as far as th e final plan; w hat it's going to take that the riders will accep t. Whatever help they need, I just kind of make some phone calls. I'm not in there real deep like they are. "There' s been a lot of work done already with the planning and the engineering. We 've got all that done. And the drawings have been approved by the riders." O ne other intere sting side note is that the Mazda Raceway U.S. GP doesn't mea n the end of the road for Barb er Motorsports Park. Bruno Event Team's Gen e Hallman , who promo tes events at Barber, said they'd make a decision in June on w hether they wo uld pursue a Grand Prix. Ezpe leta said there'd be no race (or Barbe r in 2ooS, but , he added, "the States is big enough fo r the future to have more, but of course not for next year." Henny Ray Abrams

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