From a press release issued by AHRMA:

AHRMA West Coast Roadrace Update

Due to circumstances beyond the control of AHRMA, the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days West event at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma , Calif., and the Corsa Motoclassica event at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, Calif., will not take place in 2003. Here are the facts surrounding each:

Sears Point – VMD West

The AMA and Infineon ( Sears Point ) officials were not able to reach agreement on the 2003 event. Exact reasons behind this were not disclosed to AHRMA. Since AHRMA is a subcontractor for the AMA at Sears Point , AHRMA is not and was not involved in the negotiations.

Upon being notified of the loss of VMD West, AHRMA contacted Sears Point to inquire into the possibility of AHRMA securing the Sears Point venue. Unfortunately, all dates for the 2003 season were already allocated to other organizations. AHRMA has requested to be considered for a date for 2004, but it is impossible at this point to know if this will work out or not.

Willow Springs

In assembling its 2003 schedule, AHRMA had included Willow Springs at the direction of the past promoter of the event, and scheduled it for the same weekend as in 2002. Unfortunately, the promoter did not act in a timely manner to secure his date with Willow Springs. AHRMA made efforts to help the promoter secure an alternate date as well as to secure a date at the adjacent Streets of Willow facility, all to no avail.

Other California venues contacted

Upon discovering the above venues were not available to AHRMA for 2003, the following tracks were contacted, none of which had dates open:

·Buttonwillow
·California Speedway
·Laguna Seca
·Thunderhill

It should be noted that AHRMA has spoken to the above venues for consideration for dates in 2004. Based on information that AHRMA now has, it appears that both Buttonwillow and Thunderhill may be serious candidates for 2004 events. It is naturally too early to speak for 2004 dates, but AHRMA is committed to doing everything within its power to secure dates within California for the 2004 season. The northwestern portion of the United States is also being considered for a possible date on the 2004 schedule as well.

If you should have any questions on this, feel free to contact the AHRMA national office.

AHRMA’s 2003 national schedules will be available in mid-to-late November.

David Lamberth, Executive Director