Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1546195
AUGUST 23, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 90 BY HENNY RAY ABRAMS CHICANERY C an Keith Kizer save road r a c i n g f r o m t h e A M A ? The hope here and in the paddock is yes, but with equal doses of optimism and skepticism. Kizer comes to road racing with the blessing of, among others, Kevin Schwantz. The Schwantz and Kizer fami- lies have a long history, and Kevin believes Keith is the right man for the job. He's not alone. In talking with a number of people in the paddock, there was only one note of dissent, and that was from someone with severely compromised credibility. In a gathering Kizer had with reporters on Saturday, it was clear that he'd either read the recent roundtable discussion that Cycle News hosted at Miller Motorsports Park or had been briefed on it. His central issues were some of the same shared by the Superbike team managers: safety and com- munication. He didn't mention leadership, but he didn't have to. If he does the job that's been created for him, the question will answer itself. There's no reason to believe he won't, if his bosses at AMA Pro Racing let him. Their history of kneecapping series managers is well known - ask Steve Whitelock - and nothing they've done recently sug- gests a change of policy. In fact, if he succeeds, it will be in spite of the AMA, not because of it. A day after his appointment was greeted with optimism by the paddock, AMA Pro Racing proved themselves incapable of sustaining good news. At Saturday's riders' meeting, an AMA vice president showed an alarming range of ignorance that culminated with him making an ass of himself and AMA Pro Racing. Doug Neubauer had no reason to be at the riders' meeting: He's the vice pres- ident of AMA Sports, the AMA's Amateur and Pro-Am competition division. But that didn't stop him from asking for the opportunity to spew venom about some- thing he knew nothing about to riders he didn't know, including Ben Bostrom. But first, a little history. As I've pointed out many times in this space, the AMA has a sad record of solic- iting rider opinion on safety issues, though Ron Barrick did organize a group of riders at Road America this year. (Road America track president George Bruggenthies was originally credited with organizing the meeting.) Barrick, for his part, has done a great deal for rider safety but, aside from Road America, has refused to formalize rider involvement. This year the riders, often led by Yamaha's Jamie Hacking, took issues into their own hands. They met with track officials during early-sea- son tests, and the results are impressive, with improvements everywhere. Infineon Raceway has long been the standard for soliciting rider input. During an early-June Mid-Ohio test, new members of the track-management team asked to meet with the racing com- munity. After the meeting, the group did a lap of the road course, noting everything that could be improved. The number-one issue was the horrendously high curbing. "We knew that time was really short, but we said if you can get these curbs fixed for the race, that would be the num- ber-one goal right now, because we can't race with it as it is," American Honda's Jake Zemke remembers. Mid-Ohio agreed to fix the curbs in time for the race and they did. No one from the AMA was at the test. This was an initiative of the riders and teams, and the track improvements would not have gotten done without them. How could it have? For anyone in the AMA to suggest otherwise is a lie. For someone in the AMA to chastise the rid- ers for nearly screwing up the process, which Neubauer did, is disgraceful. That an uninformed interloper, who should never have been given the platform to spew his nonsense, was allowed to is the sort of stupidity that Keith Kizer may have to deal with. The bet here is that Kizer won't be allowing guest hosts at riders' meetings in the future. "We want to funnel it into one place, to where the AMA, the racers, the tracks, everybody's on the same page," Kizer said. "So, if we can communicate through one avenue, I think we're going to have a lot better chance of getting results." That's what the riders have wanted all along. It's depressing that it's taken a new face at the AMA to finally recognize the value of the riders they're meant to protect. Nothing will get fixed without the rid- ers. Nothing should get fixed without the riders. But it has to be the same riders. "There are going to be rider commit- tees that are put together, and what's going to happen is that at each race, it'll be a different set of riders, so that you're not just always going to the go-to guys - it's not always Mladin or Hayden- it's going to be a different group of guys, which will include the privateers," Kizer said. "Because there's obvious issues with the backmarker guys - well, maybe there's issues with them, too, that we need to talk to them. There will be def- initely be communication between everybody." No disrespect to the privateers - I'd put Jason Pridmore or Josh Hayes on a safety committee any day of the week - but the speeds the factory guys are going gives them a perspective others don't have. A wall that the guy in 28th isn't worried about could be lethal for the fast qualifier. AMA communications boss Kerry Graeber said that work was already pro- ceeding on a rider-safety delegation, but that nothing had been settled. "Is it the same five guys? Is it a rotating group of three guys? Those are some of the details we're sorting out," he said. Here's one detail you don't need to worry about: rotating riders. You rotate tires, you rotate pitchers - you don't rotate members on a safety committee. They don't do it in MotoGP; they shouldn't do it here. Mat Mladin, Jamie Hacking, Jake Zemke, Tommy Hayden. That's your committee. Every all-teams test, every race, those are the guys to make the decisions. All riders should be encour- aged to attend the safety meetings - as they are in MotoGP - but for consis- tent results, the core has to remain the same. Kizer will have to navi- gate any number of mine- fields, none more likely to be lethal than the road leading to Pickerington. An example: Last week, AMA Pro Racing announced expanded eli- gibility for the 2007 Formula Xtreme class. In a press release, they said, "The changes to the eligible model list are the result of actions taken by the newly formed AMA Racing Committee created earlier this year as part of a reorganization of the AMA and AMA Pro Racing." The AMA Racing Committee is separate from the rules- making committee. The newly formed rules-making committee is comprised of one representative from each of the participating OEMs, plus an equal num- ber, plus one, from within the industry. The FX rules were discussed in the one rules-making committee gathering, but not voted on. Which means their input was bypassed, ignored, or marginal- ized; not a good sign, but also not a complete surprise. Welcome to AMA road racing, Keith. CN New Kid in Town Kizer will have to navigate any number of minefields, none more likely to be lethal than the road leading to Pickerington... Welcome to AMA road racing, Keith.