John
Gallaghen:
FIM Liaison
Southern California
native
John
Gallagher
became involved
in the
motorcycle-racing
community
in 1976,
as
a flagman and
a high school motocross
racer. He beSan working
Supercross
events
in 1977,
which eventually led him
to a
position
with the
AMA. Following a
three-year
stint
in Arenacross, he moved
into his current
position in 2003 as the
FIM race director
of the
World
Supercross GP Series.
We spoke with
him
regarding the differences
bewveen
the
FIM World GP and AMA Supercross
Series,
cn: Okag, so what
is th€ diff€r-
enc€ b€twE€n
th€
FIM WoPld
sup€rcross GP and
thE AMA
Supcrcmss
Scri€sP
iohngallagher
The FIM ls the
sanction-
ing body
over l7 events
this season. The
series is called the Amp'd
Mobile World
Supercross GP
The
lirct two rounds
took
place
in December of 2005
in
Canada, and were
run by the
canadian
Motorcycle Association
(CMA).
The
fol-
lowint 15 rounds
will take
place in the
U.S. during
2fl)6 and, as in the
past, is
under the direction
of th€
AMA.
Thereforc,
Anaheim one is the
World
Supercross GP's
third event. The
pro-
moter of the
Daytona AMA Supercross
decided to opt out
qf
the FIM sanction.
Anaheim
I is the opening
event of the
Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series
and is under
the dire
iohngallaghen
When
Clear
Channel and
Doma
(intemational
sports
management
and
marketing comparry)
decided to run
the
World SXGB the FIM wa! asked
to be
the sanstioning
body.
The FIM did not
went
to
"reinvert
the wheel"
in regards
to the
way
profeslional Supercross is
conducted.
The concept of Supercross
was invented
in the United States
and rid-
ers arE
familiar with the way the AMA
operates the Supercross
Series- lt didn't
make sense to
change, add or modifi any
existing rule€ or
regulatiors. I'm here to
oversee
the operdion
and nuke sure it is
consistent and faic and to
keep cbse tabs
on the World SXGP
qualified
riders and
reward
points
for the series,
cn: How do rac€rs
qualifg
to
comp€t€
for the FIM World
5up€rcross
GP titl€?
iohngallagher:
This season, a
racer
would
have had to compete in the first
two rounds held
in Canada
[in]
December.
There are 26 riders compet-
ing for the World SXGP title
for 2005,
including
James
Stewart,
Ricky
Carmichael,
Chad Reed, lvan Tedesco,
Michael Byrne,
Nicolas Wey and Heath
cn: What arc
thE inc€ntiv€s to
nacG the two FIM World
nounds
in Canada?
iohngallagher:
One, the opportunity
to
win the
FIM World SXGP
Title.
OEMS
and their advertising companies love
World thles,
which can sell motorc),cles.
For the
riders. the winner takes a
$100,000
bonus. For the top
privat€er
there are big cortinSency
prizes.
cn: With non-FlM
World SXGP
cont€nd€rs in th€ mix duning
th€ AMA rounds. how do€s th€
points pagout go p€r
rac€P
iohngallaghen
lf there are 20
riders in
the main event,
and say there
are l2 rid-
ers
that eligible for
points
in the
World
SXGP Series,
the
point
structure
will
work
like the AMA
point
fund. Our
12
World-qualilied
riders
receive first
through
l2th
points.
For instance, if
th€
lowest
placing
World-qualified
rider
phces
lSth in
the main, he will still
rEceive l2th
place
points
in
the
s€ries,
Dovid Stottteld
\<
I I
,{
Paul
Lindseg:
Picking Up
The Pieces
Not long ago,
the Motoworld
Racing.com/Suzuki team was a
force to
be reckoned
with, but after a horrible
2005 season,
the team is trying
to earn
back the reputation
in once had. So,
for
'06,
the team is
going
through a
com-
plete
overhaul,
goinS
with an almost all-
new
group
of
riders and
returning to the
brand that
got
the team
started six
years
ago -
Yamaha-
We chatted
with the team's
manaSer, Paul
Lindsey, about the team's
new directlon.
cn: How do€s it f€€l to b€ back
with YamahaP
paullindsey: Couldn't be
happier. We
started
out on Yamahas; Motoworld
is
one of the
largest Yamaha dealers
in the
country
and we couldn't be happier to
get
the opponunity
to
Eet
back
with
Yamaha.
We had a
great
four
years
with
Suzuki, but last
year
was definitely
a dif-
ficult season
for us for multiple
reasons.
Yamaha really stepped up therr effort
in
the Lites class,
which includes
us and
even Star
RacinS, and hopefully we can
put
Yamahas up
front.
cn: 5o ar€
gou
Yamaha
s main
Lit€s-class
t€amP
paullindsey:
To be honest,
l'm not sure
I know
that Yamaha of
Troy is still very
much
in
the
picture.
I know that equip-
mentwise, we're
receiving some very
senous support
on morors and suspen-
sion. and I'm totally impressed
with that
Yamaha has basically
rolled out the red
carpet for us. I
guess
the
rest i5
up
to
us. fu far as
I'm concerned, we're
all
teammates
-
Yamaha of Troy, Star
Racing,
everybody
-
we're all on blue,
En: How
glad
ar€
gou
to havc
last s€ason
bEhind
gouP
paullindsey:
You
know this industq/ it
kind of fickle.
lt's funny how much my
phone
stopped ringing when we s6rted
sucking, and all of a sudden
my list of
tickets for Anaheim
went way
down. I
take it all
in
stride,
this
is
going
into our
sixth
year
and,
you
know, we had four
really
good yearc
and one really bad
year;
so,
this sport is
"what
have
you
done for me lately," and unfortunately
we haven't done
much latel, so we
n€ed
to
get
back
on track.
We need to
get
better,
'05 was an
embarrassment, so
hopefully we can tum
it around.
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cn: Giv€
us the lowdown
on
gour
rid€rs
paullindsep we've gqt one crry over
from last
year
and that's.Justin
Brayton.
He's a kid that's really
gone
unnoticedi
in
fact, in my opinion,
we have two
guys
that
have
gone
severely unnoticed, and they're
both
from the Arenacross circuit,
and
that's Chad
Johnson
and
Justin
Bra/ton.
I'm really surprised that some
ofthe other
teams,
especially another Yamaha
team.
didn't'pick
Uohnsonl
up after what
he
did
last year on the East Coast-
We're really excited about Chad,
he's
going
to
ride the East Coast-
We also
have
Stephane
Roncada, he's excited
about
getting
on a
125 for Supercross
again, and
he's
Eoing
to ride the East
Coast. Another one who
lthink has
Sone
completely
underrated
is Tucker
Hibbert. He's down at Kevin Windham's
house
right now training. He's
hired a
personal trainer to live with him, and
he's ready to
go
for
the
East Coast, as
well.
We
also
picked
up Richie Owens
for the West, so we basically
have a five-
man team. And
we're helping out Andy
Bakken a little bit,
too.
cn: YorJV€
also hir€ forme
\{amaha
factorg rida K€ith
Bot\En.
paullindsey:
He's our best
emplo;,ee
and is incredibly knowledgeable
with the
bikes
and with the
riders. lt's funny, I
have a Keith Bowen
iersey
hanging in my
closet. I like to
give
him a hard time
about
it,
because
he's only two
years
older than
me. When he won the
Lakewood
National, I was a scrawny 14-
or
lS-year-old askinS him for his
iersey.
He's Roncada's
mechanic and kind of a
coach for
the riders.
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JANUARY
] 8, 2006
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CYCLE
NEWS
