Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

u.s. Grand Prix - The Schedule The AMA has released the official schedule for the combination U.S. • Grand Prix/AMA Superbike Championship round at Mazda Raceway laguna Seca, July 8-10. The schedule is as follows: FRIDAY, JULY 8 8 a.m. - 8:]0 a.m. 8:40 a.m. - 9:]0 a.m. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. 12: I 0 p.m. - 12:45 p.m. 12:45 p.m. - 2 p.m. 2 p.m. - ] p.m. ]: 15 p.m. - ]:50 p.m. 4 p.m. - 5 p,m. SATURDAY, JULY AMA Supersport practice AMA Superbike practice MotoGP free practice Superstars of Super Karts practice Lunch break MotoGP free practice Superstars of Super Karts practice AMA Superstock practice 9 8:]0 a.m. - 8:50 a.m. 9 a.m, - 9:]0 a.m. 10 a.m. - II a.m. 11:15 a.m, - 11:40 a.m. I I :50 a.m. - 12:]0 p.m. 12:]0 p.m. - I :]0 p.m. 2 p,m. - ] p.m. ]:10 p.m. - ]:]5 p.m. ]:45 p.m. - 4:20 p,m. 4:]5 p.m. SUNDAY, JULY 10 9 a.m. - 9:]0 a.m. 10 a.m. -10:20 a.m. 10:40 a.m. - 11:10 a.m. I 1:]0 a.m. Noon - 12:]0 p.m. 12:]5 p.m. - I :]0 p.m. 2 p.m. ]:]0 p.m. Superstars of Super Karts warmup AMA Superstock qualifying MotoGP free practice 3 Superstars of Super Karts qualifying AMA Superbike qualifying Lunch break MotoGP qualifying Superstars of Super Karts race AMA Supersport practice AMA Superbike race (28 laps, lOOk) No HRC Help, No Hodgson American Honda has not asked for any help from Honda Racing Corporation for the Superbike race at the Red Bull U.S. Gp, nor is the signing of Ducati Austin's Neil Hodgson for 2006 imminent, team manager Chuck Miller said. Miller responded to rumors that American Honda wanted HRC to ramp up its involvement so that Miguel Duhamel and jake Zemke would be more competitwe in front of the MotoGP crowd at Laguna Seca. "We've never asked for any specific help for laguna Seca," Miller said. He explained that they continue to have a dialogue with HRC and use a number of kit parts on the Honda CBR IOOORRs of Miguel Duhamel and jake Zemke. But, he said, "We never called in specifically and asked for laguna Seca parts." Miller admitted that it had been a challenge to develop competitive superbike machinery on short notice. The team wasn't told it wouldn't have works bikes until November, far too late to field a machine that could compete with Suzuki and Ducati. At Road America, the Honda showed good speed, but it's still no match for the dominant Yoshimura Suzukis. The development has been internal and not entirely progressive. "We've certainly gone down trails and turned around and gone off in the other direction, AMA Superstock practice MotoGP warmup AMA Supersport qualifying AMA Superstock race (17 laps, 60k) Track entertainment Lunch break MotoGP race (28 laps) AMA Supersport race (17 laps, 60k) Repsol Signs Up for More With Honda Repsol has won a bidding war against its fellow Spanish sponsorship giants Telefonica MoviStar to retain exclusive sponsorship of the factory Honda team. Although there is nothing specific in the contract, it is assumed (according to sources close to Repsol) that there will be at least one Spanish rider in the squad. Thus, the move is likely also to snitch Telefonica's young star player Dani Pedrosa, who seems certain to be signed for the HRC team sooner rather than later. This would be a big blow to Telefonica and will go with Dani." But the door may still be open for some involvement for Telef6nica with the Repsol team. according to a source at the Spanish petrol company, though he added, "It's hard to negotiate with somebody who tried to steal our team," Telef6nica was rumored to have offered HRC 20-million euros to take over the factory team, outbidding Repsol. But Honda decided to stick with its longtime allies. Michael 5catt Telef6nica, after years of investing not only in 125 and 250cc Champion Pedrosa but also a whole generation of talented Spanish riders, via their domestic series and training initiatives. It would be a blow also to Pedrosa's longtime mentor, former 500cc GP winner Alberto Puig, who is closely associated with all the Telefonica projects, though Puig has stated that he will stay with his protege Pedrosa even if it means having to split with longtime allies Telefonica MoviStar. The Spanish GP luminary told Spanish pressmen: "I have given up everything with 12 JULY 6, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS It Miller said, adding that it was to be expected. Miller also said that he'd sent one of his team members on a fact-finding mission around the world to assess the state of Honda machinery in other championships. "One of my guys, he looked and took pictures and talked to everybody. and we now have a better understanding of what the rest of the world's using," Miller said. Former 2S0cc GP racer Alberto Puig and his protege Doni Pedrosa look set to move to the Repsol team in 2006. Multiple teams are using the same bike, but there are different choices on sWingarms, linkages. suspensions and various other pieces. Some of the World Superbike teams get a limited level of support from HRC, he said. The comments among the various teams were generally similar, Miller said. Now it's down to seeing if they can work together, "doing that more and more with all the teams around the world. "What's Chris [Vermeulen] USing? That'd be so cool. Now we're doing the same thing," Miller said. The consensus is that the World Superbike teams "purchase more than we do. HRC will sell you whatever you want. Our goal and vision is to try to build it in America and build it by Americans. Unfortunately, to get where we want to be, you've got to move out of the house first," he said, paraphrasing the original rationale gwen by the senior American Honda official for not choosing to pay for works bikes. Miller did say that, historically, the team received new parts after the Suzuka Eight-Hours, later in july. On the rider front, Miller said that, though he'd heard of the unsubstantiated Internet rumors about Hodgson coming to Honda, the current plan is to keep Duhamel and Zemke. "That would be our goai," he said, adding that the contracts of most of the factory riders are up for renewal in 2006. "Miguel, he continues to ride well," Miller began, "he continues to be competitive. Jake, we've invested a number of years, and he continues to be competitive, he continues to learn. Always our focus is to keep our guys, unless there's a big hiccup or a big problem." If those two can't be retained, Miller said there were a number of other contingency plans, "to be business smart. Henny Roy Abrams It Kawasaki and Superbikes - In or Out? The recent decision by AMA Pro Racing to retain the same four classes in the AMA Superbike Championship did little to convince Kawasaki to join the Superbike class in 2006, according to team manager Mike Preston. "Right now, there hasn't been a decision to race Superbike," Preston said in a phone call from Kawasaki's headquarters in Irvine, California. Preston said that Kawasaki U.S. had submitted some plans to Kawasaki Japan and that no decision had been made. "We never rule out anything until everything's done," he said. As to when that might be, Preston said he expects a decision sometime after the Red Bull U.S. GP at Mazda Raceway laguna Seca. "That's our imposed deadline," he said. ''All of our stuff's been submitted to japan and so forth, so we've asked that we'd like to see something by then. But I don't know if it will happen or not. I'm going to guess that it won't be until after Laguna Seca, because we will have some Japanese management coming there. We'll be talking to them there, they'll have some meetings, and most likely we'll get things ironed out there." Preston vacillated on his feelings about AMA Pro Racing's decision to retain the current class structure. At one point he said he wanted to be positive, then later changed his tenor. "I'm excited they made some sort of commitment," he said before adding, "I don't think they really fixed anything. I think there will be some questions that we had. I assume that they'll think about what they've done later, when it all comes out. Maybe it's better than I think. What am I missing here? "We need to improve the show, make the show better. Then we can sell it," he said. "There's obviously some stuff that I don't know, because they didn't change anything. Either they didn't have enough tracks lined up, or they can't sell it anymore because there's no sponsor. I have no clue. I really have no clue. Still, Supersport and Superstock have been providing some of the best racing." Further comments hinted that Superbike might not be in Kawasaki's future. ''As far as getting all the people to race in one class, with the way they have it, it's not going to happen, I don't think." he said. "There are too many places to go." Henny Roy Abrams

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