Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Racers John France and Michael Hannas say they ran afoul of AMA officials at Sears Point as a result of criticism they posted on roadracingworld.com.

A letter from France criticizing the treatment of 250cc Grand Prix competitors at the Fontana AMA National and an e-mail from Hannas criticizing safety conditions at Sears Point resulted in a tongue-lashing for France and trouble in tech for Hannas, the riders said.

Returning a phone call from roadracingworld.com regarding Hannas’ charges, AMA Pro Racing’s Ron Barrick said May 7 that he had spoken to AMA Pro Racing Technical Manager Rob King and that they knew of no problems with Hannas’ bike getting through tech at Sears Point. “It’s pretty bizarre that he would think that,” said Barrick of the accusation. “I thought I had a pretty good relationship with Hannas.”

AMA Pro Racing Director of Professional Competition Merrill Vanderslice reacted angerly to France in the pits at Sears Point, France said.

According to France, the exchange at Sears Point started when he saw Vanderslice and said “That wasn’t a very smooth move out at Fontana, not letting us run.

“That kind of set him off,” continued France. “He said to me, ‘You had to go put something on roadracingworld.com about it. You had to go put something on there about it.’ He claimed if it wasn’t for him, the 250cc class would have been gone years ago. He was pretty mad, the little veins in his neck were sticking out and his face was turning purple. He told me that everyone in the AMA from the Chairman of the Board on down had read my letter on your website and were on his case about it.

“Everybody I talked to who read it thought it was pretty good, and pretty funny, kind of sarcastic. I said to him, ‘You don’t have any sense of humor about this, Merrill?’ And he said, ‘No, none at all.’

“He said that if he had let a rider who wasn’t within 112% out on the track and someone had collided with them, that wouldn’t be good.

“I just reported it the way it was. Everybody who talked to me said that was exactly the way it went down, that there was nothing in the letter that they could argue with.

“I don’t see where it would have hurt to let everybody run at Fontana. The whole weekend was screwed up and they could have let everybody go and said, ‘OK, next time you know what the rules are.’ When everything is messed up, give the riders the benefit of the doubt and let them go out there. In the past when everything was messed up they gridded us on points.”

Meanwhile, Hannas, AMA Supersport #21, said that his mechanic had trouble getting his racebike through tech at Sears Point and attributed the problem to his posted letter criticizing track set-up during an AFM weekend preceeding the AMA National.

“After hearing the AMA Pro Racing and Sears Point Raceway’s responses to the issues raised by Yates, Mladin, and Gobert in the Friday press conference, I could not help but laugh to myself,” wrote Hannas in an e-mail to Roadracing World.

“For the AMA to be mad at riders for openly and honestly answering questions asked by reporters is very unprofessional, whether the responses to the questions are in the best interest of the image of the AMA or not. Perhaps making sure that racetracks are safe for the level of competition that AMA Pro Racers ride at BEFORE official practice starts would be in the best interest of the image of the AMA; attempting to censor riders’ comments at an open press conference in my opinion is not.

“My props to Aaron, Mat, and Anthony for telling it how it is. Not that I possess any sort of psychic powers or anything, but it was clear to me that this situation would arise when I rode the track and offered my comments on the safety issue three weeks before the National. Maybe I should have directed my comments towards the AMA or the track officials, but past experiences persuaded me that they would be falling on deaf ears. It is encouraging that Sears Point is open to riders’ comments and suggestions regarding safety improvements. They have talked the talk, now it is up to the riders to see if the track can walk the walk.

“I am saying all this knowing that I will be scrutinized by AMA officials (After my comments regarding Sears Point before this weekend, my mechanic had to run my bike through tech three times before the third tech inspector ‘realized’ that it was legal in the first place) but it needs to be said.”

France’s original letter was posted April 25 under this headline:

04/25/2002 Letter From The Grid: One Racer’s Disastrous Fontana AMA National

Hannas’ original e-mail was posted April 16 under this headline:

04/16/2002 Racer Michael Hannas Says New Walls Make Sears Point Much More Dangerous