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/295587
IN THE WIND P32 was told a final decision would be made in the near future concern- ing the official results and subse- quent penalties to be assessed. The next day, April 3, the AMA Pro Racing media department contacted me directly to conduct a telephone interview about the win (http://amaproracing.com/ rr/news/index.cfm?cid=59682). The interview was published on the AMA Pro Racing website that same afternoon. "On April 8, I was contacted again to say I would be disquali- fied, lose 30 championship points, and lose the previously issued purse money. This was followed by the press release of April 11. I will certainly be ask- ing for clarification in this deci- sion to make sure I know how to avoid this happening again. It's a tremendous blow to me person- ally because my honor has been called into question. I apologize to the other riders for this unfortu- nate turn of events and congratu- late Tyler O'Hara on winning the race. All I can do now is move for- ward, knowing I didn't intention- ally do anything wrong." WORLD SUPERBIKE: CHANGES ARE PLENTIFUL A final version of the new 2014 World Superbike rules ar- rived on April 10 - one day before practice started at Motorland Aragon in Spain. Or at least, we must presume they are the final rules, as the FIM book is about to be printed. The section covering the ho- mologation process seems as complicated as a legal document, but the scope of changes in World Superbike racing in 2014 are vast, from shorter minimum lengths of races, Superpole, homologation changes and re-changes, heavily shortened race days, engine al- location limits, new tire allocations, shorter practice sessions… The drip feed of rules and Dorna/FIM ideas through all of 2013 and right up to the start of the second round in 2014 has been regular, but it is only a look at the entirety of the rules that the fundamental chang- es are also fundamental in their number, as well as their effect. The latest drama, the loss of a round in Russia, and the contin- uation of two rounds as not 100 percent certain - to be confirmed (Qatar at the end) and subject to homologation (Phakisa, as the penultimate round) – mean that the season may still go from 14 rounds to 11. Unlikely, but pos- sible. And nobody saw Russia being lost until the Crimea crisis developed, of course. The fallout of the loss of the Russian round, suddenly an- nounced at Aragon, means that one of the most unpopular events on the calendar is gone for a year at least. Hard to get to, end- lessly bureaucratic in nature and difficult to work at, the Moscow round will be missed by few. The organizers of the race put out a press release right after the FIM announcement that they expect- ed it to be a single year miss. The politics behind the deci- PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE continued on page 34