Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Is Brainerd Out for AMA Series? cash to op erate." Geoff Gorv in, BIR pub's lic relations coordinator, referred calls on the future of the facility to Marty Carlson of MG Carlson Constructions, the firm which did construction work at the track . Carlson didn't return calls, but was q uot ed in a re cen t article in the Brainerd Dispatch as saying BIR wo uldn't close . "It definitely will funcJake Zemke won his fir st-ever AMA Superbike race at Brainerd last year. Will the race be on the 2005 schedule? o uld the Lockhart -Phillips Formula Xtreme C hampionship be an eightrace series? It's possible , depending o n th e C decisions several tracksmake in the coming month. Wha t is likely is that there wo n't be I I venues on the final calendar, according to AMA vice president for commercial development John Farris. The track least likelyto be on the sched ule is Brainerd International Raceway. "Brainerd , their situation is pretty public in terms of what they 're going thr ough as a co mpany," Farr is said, referring to the track's owner, Sports Resorts International Inc., putting it up for sale. "We 're in contact with them and no final dec ision has been made on whethe r they 're going to even open for the upcoming season. That contin ues to be tentative . Our general feeling is it's highly unlikely unless they make a strateg ic shift and give that property some tion as a race facility next year," Carlson told the paper, adding there were no plans to close BIR. He added : "It' s just for sale. It do esn't mean that the sche dule o r the format is going to change in any way. It will definitely be business as usual next spring." Gorvin did say that the highly ambitious public works project to pave the increasingly bumpy track wasn 't done. "It got bogged down and the track went up for sale, and it got pushed to the back burner," Gorvin said. Rumors of Virginia Internatio nal Raceway canceling the 200S AMA season finale aren't true , according to the AMA:s Farris. "They haven't said they wanted to cancel," Farris said. The rumors first surfaced several weeks ago on the strength of changes in VIR'sco mmitment to motorcycie racing. WERA and the Championship Cup Series (CCS) each Grand Prix make s its return Repeated calls to Conn ie Nyholm , coowner of VIR, and John Gardner, the media coordinator, were not returned. "VIR, we've had a dialogue with them over the last, pro bably, 'IS days and are still working out some things on how the event wo uld be run," Farris said. "We just do n't have any new information on that. We're ho peful that we can continue to run at VIR. We don't anyth ing final and official as of yet ." As for replacing BIR or VIR, Farris added that it was "unlike ly that you could add a new venue for 'OS just given the point in the calendar that we 're at right now." At least one, and possibly two, of the four road race championships won't run as sup- port for the co mbined AMNMotoGP meeting at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The track is committed to MotoGp, a new BMW series race, a Saturday Super Kart race and the AMA Superbike doubleheader. Because the track isn't available on the T hursday of Conside ring the com pany's involvement in Supersport and Superstock, it's likelythose are the two classe s that will end up on the program. Doma, the GP rights-holders, are said to favor only two AMA support races . Formula Xtreme, which thus far has been supported only by American Honda. wou ld seem the odd man out . "It's going to be such an impo rtant event in the worl d mo torcycle scene that it's a toug h decisio n on wha t runs and what doesn't run, Farris said. II the race weekend , squeezing an entire AMA lost one of their three race weekends, cut- program into the weekend, along with the more important. ting them back to two. The reasons, as othe r eve nts, is unlikely, according to Farris. SOOc World Champio n Kevin Schwantz will c be joined by three-time AMA Supe rb ike Champion Do ug Cha ndler to Mazda Raceway Laguna Se ca in Monterey. Ca lifornia, July 8- 10. 200S, CEO and general manager of the cir- cuit Gill C ampb ell announced last week. Included on the preliminary entry list is a quartet of past World and AMA Champions who are scheduled to compete in the "Super Stars of Super Karts" event, as we ll as a practice session and me dia day o n Wedn esday, January I2 at the racetrac k on the Monterey Peninsula. The Super Kart event will be run on Saturday, July 9, the day before the MotoGP. Fans at the MotoGP will T hr e e-time Worl d get to see Wayne Rainey Cham pion Wayne Rainey, (shown here with Mick four-time Wor ld Champion Doohan) race again - this Eddie Lawson and 1993 time in a Super Kart. 8 dates to new renters on the North Track. "We're trying to work in as many of our classes as possib le but don't have a reso lution to it yet ," Farris said, adding there we re good reasons for all the classes. "Ho w Superstock has been populated with factory involvement, you sure as hec k wouldn 't want to not showcase those teams and those riders . Superbike is obviously a given and the n you look at the other two classes and you think well for diversity you'd like to have a 600 bike running as well. That's kind of wha t it's getting down to ." Part of the answer could come from following the mon ey tra il. Yamaha stepped up to fund the $2 million worth of trac k improvements, without which the 200S U.S. GP wo uldn't be possible . Y amaha is also the official motorcycle of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and a sponsor. Which is how it gets to be an eight-race championship. But, given Farris's optimism toward VIR, it' s more likely to be nine races, ma king each one, including the season-opening Dayto na 200, that much Rainey, Lawson and Co. To Laguna World Super Karts will be a part of the MotoGP support program when the U.S. expecte d , are purely financial. VIR pro bably lost money o n the 2004 hurricane-postponed AMA race , and did lose money on the 200 3 ra in-delayed race . The 2003 delay was mostly unavoidable, but track management disagreed with AMA Pro Racing's dec ision to postpone the September race for th ree weeks in the face of Hurricane Ivan. The postponement den ied significant pub licity fo r the track when Speed Channel was prevented, fo r financial and logistical reasons. from televising the race live. The track is also said to be looking to open up JANUAR 5, 2005 • C Y CLE N EWS Y at the test session, according to Laguna's release. "Wo rld Super Karts have been immensely popular as they have competed at several of our events over the past coup le of years ." Campbell said. "To have them join the Moto GP lineup o nly en hances an already incre dible weekend. The entry list includes a number of Europ ean and Australian/ Ne w Zealand champions, as we ll as forme r World Grand Prix and AMA motorcycle champs." The World Super Karts join the full slate of AMA Supe rb ike and support classes that will make up the MotoGP weekend. Henny Ray Abrams

• Cover