Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~I vvr-encn e eo .corn Nat ional D il"'t T I"'ack S el"'ie s Indiana State Fail"'gl"'oun d s S T O RY BY S COTT R O USSEA U P HOT OS BY F LA T TRAK F OT O S INDIANAPOUS, IN,MAY 13 ~ ith the opening ra c e a t Fo rt 7 l:KJJ Worth , Texa s , kicking off the Fo rmul a USA /Wr en ch e ad. c om Nationa l Dirt Tr a ck Series in a s olid fa shion , a ntici pa tion was high , as th e riders a nd teams ro lled to the Ind ia na State F airground s and th e fam iliar Indy Mile in th e hope th a t the sa nc ti oning b od y a n d pro m o ter PACE Motor Sp or t s would co rrec t t he mi sh ap s o f t he p re v iou s week a nd improve th e s how. Instea d, th e Indy Mile t urned o ut to b e a d is appo intm e nt for all involved. The National main e ve nt was cancelled after just 11 laps when the ride rs b and ed together and info rmed Fo rmula US A officia ls that they felt th e ra c e track, which h a d be c o m e t e rr ib ly rutte d in the t urns, was u nsa fe . After a lengthy discuss ion, the decis ion was ma de to pay the full purse, based upon the finishing order of la p nine . No National series points we re paid. Alth ough a ll of the principals involved felt that th e right deci sio n was m ade , the tu rn of events at India napolis was d is hea rte ning to the rider s, the fans , a nd series promoter PACE Motor S ports. Ha rley -D a v id son 's Rich King was pa id th e winner's s ha re of th e purse , but th e night was definitely a los er for pr ofess ional d irt track racing . Th e a nnouncement that the ra c e was over c a us ed the fans in atte nd a nce t o b e c om e extre mely irate, a lthough there was no violence. Th e s toppage act uall y occ ur red when Ba rt e ls ' Harley - Davi d son 's Shaun Rus s e ll crashed on the b a c k stra ightaway after apparently running into the back o f White 's Har le y Davidson rider Mike Varnes . Russell was reportedly un conscious when he was loaded into an ambulance , and the situation appeared to be a g rim on e at th e time. Russe ll was transpo rted to the Ind ia na po lis Em e rge nc y Medical and T r a um a Cente r. He regained consciousness en ro ute and, after s pend ing the night to undergo X-rays and CT scans, was treated and released the fo llowing morning , "I don' t reme mber wha t h a p pen e d ," Rus s ell sa id by phon e on the Mond a y aft e r th e c rash. "I do n' t kno w if I ran into the ba ck of Va rnes or if mayb e I c a ug ht so m e t h in g on h is bik e wh en I tri ed to pass him. I just know that we go wa y to o fast on the mile for track cond it io ns to be like they were." 28 MAY 2 4, 2000' e y e I e Many riders compla ined tha t th ey had us e d a ll o f the ir tea roffs , a nd c o ul d not s ee. Russe ll s aid th at h e cou ld not re m e m ber if vision was a probl em for him . "I still had a few tearoffs o n m y helmet, " Russell said. As usual, the top riders wer e s plit as to who felt the track wa s unride abl e , and who felt that the race s hou ld co ntinue . Fasthog. com's Will Dav is, who won the op ening round of the se ries in Fort Worth and was running com peti tive ly in Ind y ma in , was vocal in his o pposition to continuing the race . "I thi nk tha t this is stupi d ," Da vis s a id. "I wa nt to go home . I think that th is is the d um best t h ing I've ever do ne . I d id n 't th in k that th e y could screw this p lac e up." King , who was lead ing the race at t he ti m e , said t ha t he thought if a restart were to occur, that it definitely should not go the full 25 laps , Ga rd n e r Racing 's S t e ve Be a ttie took particular offe nse at the fact that , the fans were booing the riders' deci s ion not to continue. "T he y do n 't understand ," Be a tt ie sa id. "Th ey don 't understand .that it is not us that is directly creating this stoppa ge. F**k, we come here first thing in th e mo rn in g expec t ing a pre pared tr a c k , th ey m onk ey a ro und all day, over-ca lcium th e tra ck a nd give us a p iec e of s hit. I just wa nt to get out of he re a nd hea d to the next race track ." O n th e othe r end of th e s pectrum we re riders like KK Mot orc ycle Sup p ly's Geo Roeder II and Roger s -Lake Racing 's Gary Rog e rs , who we re in favo r of continuing. Both riders we re having ca reer-best da ys on the m ile when the race was red -flagged, Roed e r running second and Rogers third. "It' s always a bad deal when it fin ishes under a red flag and somebody c rashes that ha rd ," I just hope th at Stubby (S ha un Russell ) is all right. I felt that I wa s strong en ough and that m y motorcycle was work ing g o od enough that I could hav e gone to the finish. I think th a t the deci s ion was the right decision bec a us e this is a new se rie s, an d it wo u ld be a bad deal if we had a bunc h of riders get hurt this way right off the bat." Th er e wa s di s ap p o in t m e n t in Roe der's e yes , as he was o ne of th e few who a rgu ed for some kind of cont inua tion effo rt to appea s e the fan s . "I don 't know what to say ," Roeder said. "I gu ess it wa s the right decis ion for everybody involved , but yo u know th at we ha ve got to k e e p t h e fans nevus A happy victory ceremony? Don't believe it. (Left to right) Third-placed Gary Rogers, w inner Rich King and runner-up Geo Roeder II posed o n the podium before an e mpty grandstand after disgruntled spectators were told the race was canceled due to unsafe conditions. h app y . There wasn't too man y of them here tonight, but we get a bad rap when the y go home and tell their budd ies that th is su cked be cause we did n't finis h the race. It's a ca tch -22 fo r me . Whe n I'm doing good , it is usually on a race tra c k like this o ne ." Re ign ing AMA G r a nd Nati o nal Champion Ch ris Ca rr wa s a lso on hand , and he wa s in fa vo r of the stop page. "I think tha t the decision to call the race wa s the best de cis ion all the way around . We have been told fro m the beginning that one of their [pACE's l big t op ics wa s keeping t he ri de rs safe . O b v io u s ly t h e y d id , b u t t he decision ca me with s ome a ssistance fro m th e rid e rs . I th in k that th e be st solutio n wa s what happen ed ton ight. I fe e l ba d fo r the fan s b e c au s e th e y wa nte d to see some m or e ra cing , but to b e hon est with yo u , I was rid ing to wa rd the front and I was onl y givi ng ' it a bo ut eig ht ten ths . I was be ing ve ry c a utio us . I thin k that it wa s be s t to c halk th is up as a b a d n igh t an d move on . I s till ha ve fai th in PACE a nd in Fo rm ula USA. I just th ink that we 'r e ha ving some t e et h in g prob le m s, and we are running into some pr oblem s with these tracks. Some of it is mother nature , and some of it is human erro r when p r e p p in g the tracks . Tonight was human error. " In re s ponse , PAC E Motor Sports Vice President of Motorcycle Operatio ns Mike Kidd phoned Cycle News ' o n the Mon day a fter the e v e n t to explain the Indy debacle. "T h is s ituati on sucked, " Kidd ad mi tted . "It seemed like when we a rri v e d in t o wn , we knew that we were goi ng to h a ve p ro blems . O ur . adva nce ticket sal es we re down , a nd th en o n F rid a y ni ght , th e thund er sto rms ca m e in , and we k ne w t hat wou ld hurt sal es even more. On S at urd a y, ou r crew was desper at el y try ing to get it all together a nd get th e _track ready. I was afraid to put a load of c a lcium chloride on th e tra c k with a ll th e moistu re it had in it , bu t o ne of the gu ys that works the track told me that if we did n o t, th e tr a ck would become du s ty , a nd we wan t ed th e riders to be a ble to see. On ce we put th e ca lcium down , there wa s jus t no way th at we coul d get the tra ck to dry out. In fact , it e ven pull ed more moistu re to th e surface . "T he n whe n we went to tu rn the lights on, we fou nd ou t that th e ligh tni n g from th e previous ni ght h a d blow n a tra nsformer, a nd non e of the lights in turn one wo uld turn on, so by the time that we had that fixed , o u r s how was de layed to where we s tarte d th e first he at race a t 9 p.m." Kidd s a id that he was pleased with th e fact th at the transponder s yste m worked th is t im e , altho ug h he said th at th e com pany p lans to upgrad e to a better brand system before th e next . rac e. He als o said th at he wa s happy with th e way th at th e ra cin g had gon e up until th e stop pa ge, As for th e decis io n m ad e by the rid ers , Kid d sa id th a t he ha s m ixe d feelings . "The rig h t decisio n wa s mad e under the ci rcumstances, " Kidd said. "Ride r sa fety is our hig hest concern . But if t h e g uys c o u ld just learn to back off a littl e , we c ould have finis he d the race . The prob lem is that dirt trackers always giv e it 100 percent. They d id come to Indy and support us. We paid o ut th e fu ll purse because we want to show them our appreciation for th eir support. "T h is is n ot an e a s y task, " Kidd continued . "It is difficult, but we a re still full speed ahead on our dirt track pro g ra m , and our co mmitment to excellence is stronge r than ever. We plan to ha ve a new event refer ee by the next event , and we a re looki ng for a fulltim e tra ck -p rep guy :We know that th is is critic al , a nd if there is 'one thin g that this com pa ny has lea rned, it is how to corr ect our problems and try to make imp rovemen ts. I do n't think that a failure he re or th er e is a ny th ing new to this com pa ny, We a re looking forward to the S yra cuse Mile s o that we can continue to dial -in this series. " CN

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