Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

At the request of FIM president Francesco Zerbi, a meetinS was held at the FIM headquarters in Mies on February 3 to dis- cuss the future of Superbike rules, accord- in8 to the Flf4. Those attendint the meet- in8 included Guy Maitre (FlM CEO), Paolo Flammini (FGSport general director), Sug- uru Kanazawa (MSMA president), Takanao Tsubouchi (MSMA se.retaD/ Seneral), Claude Oanis (FlM/CCR president), lgna- cio Verneda (FlFl sports director), Oriol Puig Bulto (Fll"l/CTl president) and Fabio Fazi (FlM/CTIvice president). The big news that came from the meeting is that a second meetin8 will be set up in which representatives of the three or four feder- ations who run Supe.bike National Cham- pionship will be invited in order to work on a conforming Superbike rulebook, the Fll'1 says. Ducati announced a record-b.eakin8 staft to 2006, posting an 80-percent sales increase for the month of.lanuary. The 999R inrro- duction showed that Ducati is and always wall be about crafting high-performance racing bikes," says Michael Lock, CEO of Ducati North America. "But Ducati is also provinS we can build our l4onster lineup with the successes of rhe S2R, S2R1000, and the upcominS lYonster 54Rs. We're really enjoy- AMA Pro Racing Undergoes Reorganization A MA Pro Racing wrll undergo a dramatic overhaul, with Athe changes puttrnS more power rn the hands of the AMA Board of Directors, it was announced in a series of press releases following the February 17 AHA Board of Directors meeting at the lndianapolis trade show. But there were a number of unanswered questions, such as who willrun racinton a day-to-da/ basis and what the role of the current series mana8ers will be, among others. Not lont after the AMA r€leased its plans, American Honda voiced iE di$pproral by resiging from both the AMA Board ofTrunees and th€ AMA Pro RacinS Eoad on Saturday mominS. The resiSnation from th€ Board of Trustees ends a more-than-30-year run, with Arnerican Honda senior vice president Ra), Blank havint served since 1989. Blank's resig- nation from the Pro Racin8 Board was made moot with the dissolution of the Pro RacinS Board on Friday ni8ht, Overall, thooSh, th€ industry respons€ wes positive. The bigSest chanSe was the disbanding ofthe AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors. whose members were told on Friday night that their services were no lon8er needed. The board, which had been in existence since 1994, con- sisted of chairman PJ. Harvey and members Cary l.C. Agaianian. Mike Buckley, tuul Dean, Jeff Nash, Kevin Schwantz, John Ulrich and Ray Blank. Harvey said earlier this month that he wouldn't be seeking re-election when his term expired ar the end of February The board will be replaced by new, rules-making com- mittees. desitned more specifically for the various disci- plines. The new committees will be comprised ofone rep- resentative from each ofthe manufacturers involved in the series, along with at least that number of other industry members appointed by the AMA president, plus one. That would ensure that the manufacturers wouldn't have a majority. ln road racing, for instance, it would likely include Buell, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki. Suzuki and Yamaha- Rules-making committee members will have three- year terms, unless they represent a manufacturer who no longer has a motorcycle homologated for that type of competition, in which case they ll have to resrtn. The rules-making committees will b€ independent enti ties charged with developint rules in conjunction with the AMA Pro RacinS staff, who will send their proposed rules to the AIYA Board's Racing Committee for review and recommendation. The Racint Committee will forward the proposed rules to the full AMA Board for ratification. The Al4A Board Racin8 Committee will not be directly involved in the rules-development process. The makeup of che AMA Board Racing Committee wasn't revealed. The Board of Directors will be able to accept or reject the workint committees' proposals, but won't be allowed to make changes. A veto will require nine of the l2 Board of Director members. Changes approved by the Board of Directors won't 80 into effect for at least one full racinS season. A separate executive commiftee, made up of elected chairmen ofthe various committees, will handle changes required durinS the course of the sezson. Emergency rule changes will be handled by the AMA Pro Racint staff lf it works propedy, rhe new framework willfoster bet- ter communications betlveen AMA Pro RacinS and the Al"lA Board of Trustees, who will have llnal say. lt will, for the first time, tive Pro Racint an unfiltered voice to the board, What wasn t addressed was the role of the series man- agers and the current advisory boards. or who would be in senior management posts. The members of the road- race advisory board, for example, could move over to the new rules-makinS committee. While the committees work on racing rules, a separate AMA Board Racint Committee will focus on lont-term stratetic planning. "We are creating a system designed to increase the transparency of the nrles-making proceas for AMA profes- sional competition," AMA CEO Patty DiPietro said in a statemen!. "By openinS up these rules-making committees to all panies involved in our racing programs, we will make sure that everyone's voice is heard on these important issues. And we will make public allwritten reports from the rules-makinS committees to the AMA Board, so that any- one can monitor the process of creating new racinS rules," AMA Board chairman Rick Gray added: "This new structure allows us to use the expertise of our Board of Drrectors most effectively. By allownt these commrnees to work on the Association's lonS-term direction in each of these critical areas, we can be more responsive to the interests of all A.MA members." lndustry reaction was generally upbeat. "They've staned out with some good ideas, and they have a platform there," American Suzuki vice presadent Mel Harris saad at the lndy trade show. "lt's toint to come down to execurion and makint all those rhings work, (hat's where it has Bot to go. Some years ago, we used to have meetints with the marketint tuys and the team managers, and talked about the technical aspects and the rules that they were BoinS to propose, and then the marketint Suys would say 'ls it lthe bikes] legal?,' so on and so forth. I think they are tryinS to go back now and get that kind of influ- ence and make it better for everyone, One ofthe current situations right now with the Buell probably wouldn't have happened if they had those meetings. Now they have a real problem, and it has to be solved. Hopefully, going for- ward, we will have some things that we can all agree on and have a good race season." The homoloSation of the Buell XBRR wis one of two reasons American Honda gave for the resignation of Rey Blank from the boards. The other was the firing of AIYA CEO Scott HollinSswonh. "Recent issues, including the departure of dedicated individuals from AMA Pro RacinS and its inability to stand by its own nrlebook with.etard to recent Formula Xtreme considerations, have been particularly alarmint," a press release said. American Honda spokesmanlon Row said that, despite Honda's withdrawal from the boards, they plan to take part in the rules-makint committees, a point they also made in their press release. "Currently, h is our intention to participate in whatev- er Al'14 committees are developed for promulgating rules," he said in a phone conversa(ion on JUesday, and he clarified the Formula Xtreme reference. "we think the Buell thing is inconsistent with the rulebook, based on what's in the rulebook, and from what we've read in the trades, based on what we've heard, it doesn't meet the rules. What's alarming about it is from what we're hearing and reading; it's very clear-cut." Yamaha isn't concemed with the legaliq/ ofthe Buell at the moment. lts aim is the Daytona 200, accordinS to Bob Starr, Yamaha's corporate communications manaSer "With all this stuflSoinS on, I can tell you, our focus, the big focus for us, has been the Daytona 200," he said by phone. "We've got two grJys [Eric Bostrom and Jason Disalvol and a brand-new R6 that are very, very capable of winninS, and we reSoinS there with the intent on winnint." Srarr also said that Yarnaha plans to take pan in rhe rules-makint committees, af Siven the chance. "l don't know rhe details yer, but cenainly. if we're offered, Yamahawillrake part," hesaid. "l don't knowallthe details yet. Keith lMccary] and I talked about it a liftle bit this morning. Cenaint we would (ake par( in this. lt looks like there's going to be, from wha! I understand of it, kind of an even represen(ation, and lhey're reaahing out for the nranufacturers to make the rules, They re goinS to mana8e the whole effort, but we're Soing to work on the rules. ' Hennl Rd|f AbromslBloke Connet PastranaX3AtDaytona Travis Pastrana has announced that he will compete in three different events durint Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Florida: the Orange Crush GNCC event in De Leon, Florida, on l'larch 7; the Daytona Flat Track on l4arch 9; and the Daytona Supercross on l'larch 10. "l m doint the GNCC, the Daytona flat track and the Supercross during bike week," said Paslrana. "l'm really excited about it- l've always wanted to race tha( GNCC. I think Ican ride three hours: l'm in pretty good shape riSht now. I have tlvo rally car races between [now and] then, so I should be able to stay in one piece until I get to Daytona." Team 199/Red Bull/Cemic's Suzuki team m.rna8- er Ron Meredith is currently putting the bikes together for Pastrana's '\rifecta." He's buildint an RM-2450 flat tracker, an RM250 for the GNCC, and an RM-2450 for the Supercross. "Some days I definitely feel like I'm trying to be the ringmaster of the circus," s3id Meredith. "Travis has always wanted to run that GNCC. I expect he will do well. We all know that'Iiavis can ride sand whoops like nobody else. We're piecinS toSether the parts we need to build a real GNCC we+on for him. I'm looking at a brand-new trailei because we don't have the room forallofhistoys he'll ne€d this week." According to Racer Productions, motocros, Supercross letend &ck Johnson rs also plannrnS on competing in the GNCC opener in Florida. Trovir Poslrono will muhi-rosk in Dqyton6. b il CYCLE NEWS . MARCH 1,2006 I ing the momentum we ve experienced early this year from rhese bikes and our popular Sportclassics. There's no doubt 2006 will be a year to remember here at Ducati North America." Ducati Nonh America's landmark year in 2005 and successes early in 2006 are evidenced by a 56-percent overall rncrease rn total Ducati sales for the last six months. accordint to data published b), the Motorc/- cle lndustry Council (MlC). / r! ) a t

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