Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Bob Dragich

The sun came out after rain and standing water on the track had kept racing action off Infineon Raceway for most of Saturday, May 3, but there was still a delay. At just after 2:00 p.m., Infineon and AMA Pro Racing officials loaded two vans full of journalists and took them out on the track to show them just what the problem was.

Accompanied by AMA Road Racing Director Ron Barrick, Infineon officials had the vans stop at turn 3. A jet drier had just turned off its engine, and just as it stopped, the dry pavement immediately started to percolate with water coming up through a number of cracks in the track.

Track President and General Manager Steve Page said, “This is one of three or four spots were having problems with. It’s a function of the amount of water that’s in the ground. The riders are understandably concerned. We got over one inch of rain last night alone.”

“It’s the runoff from the hills” surrounding the track said Vice President of Facilities Jere Starks. “It’s the same in turns 8 and 10. We run the jet (drier) over it and it comes right back.”

“We brought (three time Superbike champion) Mat (Mladin) out here,” said Barrick. “He said definitely not. It’s like hitting a spot of oil.”

Track Vice President of Communications John Cardinale pointed out that the parts of the track that have not been paved recently are all scheduled to be repaved in August. Starks added that it was more than just repaving that had to be done, and the attendant drainage was the tricky part.

“We have a responsibility to all the people in the stands,” said Page, adding that, “In 24 hours, the track could be fine.”

Asked why the event had been moved from August, its traditional date, to the beginning of May, Page said, “The timing worked out well with the Sonomafest we put together with Cycle World (magazine). This used to be the Winston Cup weekend. For those of you from Northern California, you know that it’s unusual to have rain like this in May.”

At 2:45 p.m., the official word came over the PA system that the day’s events had been canceled.