In a 5:20 PDT phone call to Roadracing World headquarters, Sears Point Raceway spokesman John Cardinale said that the parking problems at the Sonoma, California racetrack are temporary and that big improvements will be seen in time for next year’s racing season.

Cardinale also said that Sears Point officials will position vendors behind turn 10 instead of in the paddock this year, to make more room for race team support vehicles. And the area immediately in front of the new garages being built in the paddock will be paved tommorow, allowing the removal of construction fences and making more room.

“We’ll make room,” Cardinale said when asked if all the competitors expected for this weekend’s AMA race will fit in the paddock despite space lost to garage construction.

According to Cardinale, the paddock will be 80 percent larger next year, and run-off room in several corners will be increased, so that every corner has at least 50 to 100 feet of run-off.

“It’s going to be a tight fit this year,” Cardinale admitted. “But we had to do this work sometime, to get this track out of the dark ages.”

Cardinale also denied that teams were promised that parking would begin at noon. “We wouldn’t have made that promise knowing that the school was here today,” Cardinale said.

“We wouldn’t have showed up here at noon if they hadn’t said that,” a team member still waiting at the front gate said.