IN
THE
WIND
P32
CALISTOGA HALF-MILE SCHEDULED
T
he previously cancelled Santa
Rosa Mile in California will be
replaced by the nearby Calistoga
Half Mile with the new race set to
take place on Saturday night, Sep-
tember 27 instead of the original
Sunday, September 28 date origi-
nally held by Santa Rosa.
The series thus returns to Calis-
toga after a two-year absence with
Steve De Lorenzi of SDI Insulation,
Terry Otton of Ramspur Winery
and Chris Morgan of Motorsports
Ventures combining to promote
the race. In addition to the half
mile AMA Grand National race,
the event will also feature a vintage
race bike display.
SMART EXPLAINS
W
e caught up with FIM World Superbike tech-
nical director Scott Smart to ask him a few
questions regarding the 2015 World Superbike
rules package.
We have seen the main points of the new
rules now, but can you tell us why they were
brought in?
With the state of sponsorship in the paddock
it makes sense to make everything cheaper. You
cannot make things cheaper just by changing the
technical rules but you have to, in effect, make the
running costs of the season cheaper by making the
mechanical side cheaper - but also requiring less
staff to operate the systems. Right now if you do
an annual budget, as well as engines and so on,
you have massive costs of paying very good staff
to travel around the world and stay in hotels. If you
can get that down to a more manageable level then
immediately you will make big savings, which are
as big as the technical savings were in themselves
in the first place. In fact, larger. The whole point
of the costs is the knock-on effects, not the actual
words of the law as far as the technical words go.
It appears that the entry cost will be reduced
in 2015 for national teams moving up, but what
about teams that thought it would be all Evo in
2015?
Anybody who comes to SBK for the first time
next year will find that the start-up costs will reduce
FIM World
Superbike
technical
director Scott
Smart.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
