Trevor Nation steals the show at the 2005 Goodwood Festival of Speed FORMER Superbike Champion Trevor Nation wowed the crowd at last weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed aboard John Reynolds 2004 Championship winning Crescent Rizla Suzuki GSXR1000K4. Trevor performed an array of spectacular donuts, 100mph+ wheelies and burnouts to the crowd’s ecstatic cheers and applause, eclipsing even the cheers for the Formula One cars! The Goodwood Festival of Speed was a true biker-fest in 2005, with former Champions from all over the globe displaying many of the most historic and rare bikes. The exclusive line-up included Freddie Spencer, Mick Doohan, Giacomo Agostini, Steve Parrish, Mick Grant and Sammy Miller to name but a few. Around 180,000 people visited the premier celebration of motorsport in the UK, along with big-name celebrities such as Bryan Ferry, Boris Becker, Jenson Button, David Coulthard, Damon Hill, Ewan McGregor, Jeremy Clarkson and Murray Walker. Crescent Retail Director Martyn James said: “Trevor did a great job of entertaining the crowds on our Championship winning Crescent Rizla Suzuki – he certainly hasn’t lost any of the bike control that made him such a great rider. “It has been a real honour and pleasure to attend the Festival of Speed for the second year in a row. The quality of displays and visitors is second to none and the enthusiasm for motorcycling has to be experienced to be believed.” The Goodwood Revival, complete with a Barry Sheene Memorial race, is the next major motorsport event to be held at the venue near Chichester on 16-18th of September. For more information on Goodwood visit www.goodwood.co.uk.

UPDATED SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED FOR 2005 RED BULL U.S. GRAND PRIX Changes Made To Friday Schedule of Events MONTEREY, Calif. (June 27, 2005) A slight adjustment to the Friday schedule for the first MotoGP World Championship race in the U.S. since 1994 is reflected in the updated schedule of events released today for the 2005 Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix July 8-10 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The major change involves the MotoGP World Championship, which will now take to the track on Friday for their first practice session at 10 a.m. (All times PDT) Sunday, July 10 marks one of the most anticipated events in the 49-year history of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, as round 8 of the MotoGP World Championship will take the green flag at 2 p.m. The race will be broadcast live in the U.S. on SPEED Channel and television coverage will reach over 300 million people in more than 200 countries. Also included in the schedule are a number of free fan activities to ticket holders, highlighted by a live performance on Saturday evening from Smash Mouth, presented by Yamaha & HSBC. The Bay Area-band will perform their hits, including “All-Star” and “Then The Morning Comes” beginning at 6 p.m. on a temporary stage constructed near the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca scoring tower overlooking Turn 10. Other free fan activities include Friday’s Parts Unlimited Fan Party from 5-7 p.m. in the Parts Unlimited Chalet in Turn 5; a screening of the movie Faster on the viewing screens across from the Turn 4 grandstand at 7 p.m.; and an autograph session featuring motorcycle legends Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawson, Steve Baker, and more as part of Yamaha’s Weekend of Champions. The Weekend of Champions autograph sessions will take place Friday and Saturday from 9-10:30 a.m. and 12:30-2 p.m. and on Sunday from 9-10:30 a.m. and 12-1:30 p.m in the Yamaha Marketplace. The historic weekend officially begins Friday, July 8 at 8 a.m. with a 30-minute practice session for the AMA Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship and a 50-minute practice session for the AMA Superbike Championship. Reigning MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi and the rest of the MotoGP field take to the challenging 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course at 10 a.m., for the first of two Friday practice sessions. The MotoGP field takes to the track twice again on Saturday, beginning with a third practice session of the weekend on Saturday at 10 a.m. Qualifying for Sunday’s race takes place from 2-3 p.m. Also qualifying on Saturday are the AMA Repsol Superstock Series (9 a.m.) and AMA Superbike Championship (11:50 a.m.). Two races are a part of the Saturday schedule: the Yamaha & GE Financial Superstars of Super Karts at 3:10 p.m. and round 11 of the AMA Superbike Championship, a 28-lap race starting at 4:35 p.m. Sunday’s 32-lap MotoGP race will be preceded by the AMA Repsol Superstock Series contest at 11:30 a.m. and followed by the fifth and final race of the weekend – the AMA Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship race at 3:30 p.m. Tickets are still available for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix by calling (800) 327-SECA or logging onto www.laguna-seca.com or www.ticketmaster.com. More information on the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix is also available at the www.RedBullUSGrandPrix.com.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I made my reservations prior to the announcement of the MotoGP at Laguna Seca, for the dates of July 1-July 11. I don’t have the exact date of the reservations, but it was just a couple of days after returning from the WSBK races last year. I received the State Government rate of $94 Sun-Thur and $147 Fri-Sat (excellent deal, might I add…) Last week, on July 21st around 2:30pm, I double checked my reservations on-line, and discovered, much to my horror, that the reservations were for July 1-July 7. I had received no phone calls, no communication whatsoever, and I had not contacted the hotel at all. I immediately called the hotel, and “Hope” told me that according to the computer, I had called Embassy Suites on June 14th and voluntarily cancelled the tail end of my reservations. I vehemently denied doing this, explaining that I had $1,000 worth of tickets purchased (two premier pit row suites), and there would be no sensible explanation for my cancelling those reservations. She said I would need to call “Gerard,” who had processed the cancellation. He would be in at 3pm. At 3pm I called, and Gerard was not yet in. I explained the need for immediate action regarding this. Hope again stated that she couldn’t do anything, and added that this was the first person she had talked to who had their reservations cancelled without being notified. She said that others were called and offered rooms in Santa Cruz. I told her that was unacceptable, considering how long ago I had made my reservations. I then added that Gerard should call me, I wasn’t going to keep trying to hunt him down for a problem that the hotel had created. I also stated that if this did not get resolved, I would seek legal restitution. At 3:15, Gerard called back. He apologized for the “computer error.” He said he didn’t remember doing the transaction, but that perhaps someone else had been logged on to his computer. He said that the reservation was back in place, at the original rate (interestingly, the rate now shows $147 for every night, but my faxed reservation confirmation does have a note saying to honor the original rates.) So, at this point, the problem has been resolved. But I shudder to think what would have happened if I had not double checked my reservation, and shown up on the 1st with nothing but my word against theirs and no hotel room for the big race. The added problem now is that I would like to change my reservation to arrive on the 3rd, but I don’t want to call or contact Embassy Suites for fear that they will use that as an excuse to cancel my race weekend reservations. Barbara Baker Sacramento, California See related post: DA Investigates Hotel Problems In Monterey June 25, 2005 ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=23266~

The Fastrack Riders truck was stolen from the parking lot of the Cannery Hotel on Craig Road, near I-15, in North Las Vegas Thursday night. The theft delayed the start of Friday practice held in conjunction with the combined WERA National and WERA West Regional races held on the Classic Course at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) this weekend. The truck is a 2004 turbodiesel Ford F350 Crew Cab Lariat with a gooseneck hitch, white exterior with grey leather, a CB radio antenna on top, a Line-X bedliner, and 6-inch Fastrack stickers on the side and back windows. The VIN # is 1FTW32P94ED01931. Anyone with information on the truck should contact Larry Pointer at 714-425-2159. In the meantime, Wheel Two Wheel, the west coast Pirelli distributor, volunteered to haul the Fastrack 5th-wheel trailer back from LVMS to Southern California.

ESTOK RIDES BUELL FIREBOLT TO THUNDERBIKE VICTORY AT VIR Bilansky is Second on a Buell, Estok Shares Thunderbike National Series Points Lead ALTON, Va. (June 26, 2005) Millville & Wildwood Harley-Davidson/Buell rider David Estok won the Formula USA Thunderbike National at Virginia International Raceway aboard a Buell Firebolt. The victory is the second of the season for Estok and boosts him into a tie for first place in Thunderbike National series points. Five other Buell riders placed in the top ten, including second-place finisher Hal’s Performance Advantage rider Dan Bilansky. Estok was the top Thunderbike qualifier on Saturday with a 1:33.605 lap, a new qualifying record for Thunderbike at the 2.25-mile North Course at VIR. Weather conditions on Sunday were variable, and the 12-lap Thunderbike race started on a wet-but-drying track. Suzuki rider Darren Danilowicz led the first couple of laps before Bilansky passed him and started pulling away. Estok made a smart decision by choosing an intermediate rear tire, which helped him weave his way through the pack as the track dried out. He overtook Bilanksy about halfway through the race and turned on the steam, winning the race by more than 13 seconds. Danilowicz finished third, ahead of Suzuki rider David Yaakov, who placed fourth. Seven of the 14 Thunderbike qualifiers were riding Buell motorcycles. In addition to Estok and Bilansky, the following Buell riders finished in the top ten; Kenwood/Sirius Satellite Racing rider Sam Rozynski in fifth, Blue Springs Harley-Davidson/Buell rider Walt Sipp in sixth, Daytona Harley-Davidson/Richie Morris Racing rider Clint Brotz in eighth and Kenwood/Sirius Satellite Racing rider Joe Rozynski in ninth. Defending Thunderbike series champion Bryan Bemisderfer, riding for Evo-Twin Racing/Harding Harley-Davidson, qualified fifth but dropped out of the Thunderbike race after four laps due to a mechanical failure. After five of eight Formula USA Thunderbike National events, Estok and Yaakov each have 123 points to share the series points lead. Bemisderfer is in third place with 91 points. Danilowicz has 87 in fourth place, with Joe Rozynski close behind at 83. The next event on the Formula USA schedule is August 12-14 at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Ala. The Formula USA National Thunderbike series is a horsepower-to-weight ratio restricted class, open to a variety of production-based motorcycles. Buell-mounted riders compete in the eight-event 2005 Thunderbike series race for a share of the $70,500 contingency fund posted by Buell Motorcycle Company. To learn more about Buell motorcycles, visit your local Buell dealer today and experience the pure streetfighter attitude, style and performance only found on board a Buell. For the Buell dealer nearest you, pull into www.buell.com. More, from a press release issued by CCS Florida: Martinez Unbeatable on Ducati CCS Florida at Homestead-Miami Speedway June 26, 2005 Marco Martinez was unbeatable on the Desmomaniac’s prepared Ducati 996 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This winning force, a combined effort between Champion Racing and Desmomaniacs, succeeded in its mission of putting Ducati back on the podium. Martinez took home four first place trophies for his efforts, winning the Unlimited Grand Prix, GTO, Middleweight Superbike and Supertwins classes. The Supertwins race was combined with Unlimited Superbike, which Martinez also entered. He started with the second wave and was able to push his way up front in the Supertwins class and work his way through half of the Superbike field to finish fifth in that class. Desmomanic’s choice of machine for Martinez is Carl Fogarty’s 1999, ex World Superbike, which Martinez exclaimed to be “Unbelievable.” More, from a press release issued by Blue Springs Racing: Sipp has an up and down weekend at VIR! Alton, VA Blue Springs Harley-Davidson rider Walt Sipp finished 6th at round five of the Formula USA Thunderbike Championship, held at picturesque Virginia International Raceway. After missing the first round of practice Friday due to a late arrival at the track, Sipp worked quickly to get on pace. He used the CCS Thunderbike race as a tune-up finishing a respectable 4th place. Saturday practice was even better with him further quickening his lap times; although it wasn’t without incident. “Yeah I was coming out of turn two and just got on the gas a little too hard. The rear spun up and almost high-sided me. I saved it, but I came down on the windscreen shattering it with my chest. From what I hear, the guys behind me got a pretty good show!” Qualifying looked to be even better with the shiny new slicks mounted. However, it was not to be. On the third lap of qualifying a rear brake issue caused the rear end to lock up and come around almost high-siding him again! This time though he was not as lucky as he found his way in to the grass and crashed. All wasn’t lost though, as the one lap Walt did do was good enough for 8th on the grid with a 1:37.260. “I was pretty disappointed with not being able to run more laps in qualifying; I was just getting warmed up. With as effortless as the low 1:37 felt, I’m sure I could have run 1:36 flat,” said Sipp. After two hot, but beautiful days, things changed dramatically Sunday. The rain came and soaked the track along with much cooler temperatures. So with the damage from Saturday fixed, Walt began then to prepare the bike for a wet race. Walt said, “I wouldn’t call myself wet weather specialist, but the rain doesn’t bother me. I think that’s a big part of it, you know keeping a positive attitude.” With full rains mounted he took off for the sighting laps; only one problem though, the rain had stopped and the sun started coming through and drying the track. With no time to change to a different tire, he was forced to start on the super soft rain tires. After getting held up a little bit on the start behind a rider with DOT’s on and falling back to eleventh, he slowly started making his way back to the front. “When the track was still pretty damp I felt good, but as the race wore on and the track got more and more dry I started to get worried about my tires. I caught and passed as many people as I could, but on the last few laps I backed my pace down trying to make sure my rains would last till the end. After the race was over the new Dunlop rains still looked good. I probably could have pushed even harder and caught at least one more person,” said Walt. As it turned out he made his way up to 6th at the end. Not what he was looking for, but it’s something to build on after the tough luck so far this season. Look for Walt and the Blue Springs crew to be back fighting for a podium at the next round August 12-14 at Barber Motorsports Park. Find out more at www.waltsipp.com.

Howard, Small, Young, Tan, Falt and McDonald at Oak Hill Raceway Ty Howard, Heath Small, Logan Young, Tyler McDonald, Alan Tan and Eric Falt all cashed in with big wins at round six of the CMRA Championship Roadracing Series held at Oak Hill Raceway in Henderson, Texas. Temperatures approached the century mark at the east Texas venue as 481 sprint entries filled the grids for an action-packed and crash-filled weekend of racing. Howard was the top money winner, claiming over $4000 in Kawasaki contingency money in addition to CMRA purse money after taking four wins during Sunday’s sprint action. Howard’s wins came in the Racing Performance Services B Superstock Expert race, which features a $150 purse; the C Superstock Expert race, which features a $500 purse; the Pace American Trailers Formula 1 Expert race, which features a $1000 purse; and the RaceworX C Superbike Expert race, which features a $150 purse. Howard also added $150 for taking the Mr. Corder Racing Fast Lap Award, which pays $150 for the fastest sprint lap. He turned a 1:22.918 during his win in the C Superstock Expert race. Tyler McDonald also claimed a paycheck by taking wins in the 125 GP class, which features a $250 purse, and the South Central Race Center D Superbike Expert division, which features a $150 purse. Other riders visiting the pay window included Heath Small, who took wins in the Motorcycles Unlimited A Superbike Expert race, which features a $150 purse, and the Komodo Racing B Superbike Expert race, which features a $250 purse; and Logan Young, who won the Sum of All Parts A Superstock Expert class, which features a $150 purse. Eric Falt claimed the lion’s share of the $500 purse paid in the Lightweight Twins Expert division by taking a hard-earned win in the race, while Alan Tan topped a fast field in the Formula 2 Expert race and took the winner’s share of a $250 purse. Jon Francis won the AF1 Racing Heavyweight Twins Expert race, which pays a year-end points fund. In the Novice divisions, Cory Burleson was the only multiple winner, taking wins in the D Superstock, D Superbike, B Superstock, C Superstock, A Superstock and C Superbike Novice classes. In Saturday’s Shogun Motorsport’s Mini Endurance Series, Team K&N Racing took first place in the 6-hour event, topping Team Jesus by two laps in the process. Team K&N was the top finishing Formula 4 entry, ahead of Team Jesus, while RS Express finished third overall and third in the F4 class. The top-placing Formula 5 entry was Awtooling, in fifth overall, while STD Racing 2won the F6 division in 9th overall and Excel won the F7 class in 13th overall. In Saturday’s Mini Sprint action, Tyler McDonald topped Zac Chapman to win the Formula 4 race, while Dennis Dudley beat out Conner Blevins for the Formula 6 win. In the Formula 5 race, Derek Wagnon edged Anthony Smith and Conner Blevins returned to top the Formula 7 division over Dirk Anderson. The CMRA returns to racing on July 30-31 at Texas World Speedway, in College Station, Texas for round seven of its championship series.

Racers Edge’s Dale Kieffer and Vesrah Suzuki’s Tray Batey were the big winners in the fifth round of the WERA National Challenge series at Las Vegas International Speedway’s Classic Course, Sunday, June 26th. Kieffer took flag-to-flag wins in both the A Superstock and Formula 1 races on his Suzuki GSX-R1000, while Batey battled Jack Pfeiffer for the Heavyweight Twins Supersport victory on his Suzuki SV1000, and also took his Suzuki GSX-R750 to a commanding win in the B Supestock race. Arclight Suzuki’s Chris Siglin continued to run well in the 600cc ranks, winning a close C Superstock race over Vesrah Suzuki’s Mark Junge, and finishing third in the 750cc B Superstock race on his 600. Racer Supply Co/Raceworks rider Ben Thompson had a successful weekend in Las Vegas, winning the B Superbike race, taking a close second to Kieffer in both the Formula 1 and Open Superstock races, and finished second to Batey in B Superstock. Young gun Josh Herrin used his Yamaha YZF-R6 to take the C Superbike win, and also finished fourth in the C Superstock race, while Howard Lynggard took his Yamaha YZF-R1 to the Senior Superbike victory. Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo showed up at Las Vegas, where the factory rider recently purchased a new home, to get in extra testing time on his Yamaha YZF-R1 and R6 machines prior to the upcoming Laguna Seca AMA National. Because DiSalvo had no WERA points, he was forced to start from the back of the grid. Although he was able to make his way to the front of several races, including Formula 1, DiSalvo elected to pull off on the final lap in all the races he rode so as not to take any contingency or purse money. AMA regular John Haner also made the trip to Las Vegas in hopes of getting added track time and also making some money, but a crash in Sunday morning practice put him out of the event. Haner was unhurt in the crash, but his GSX-R750 was heavily damaged. RESULTS Formula 1 Expert 1. Dale Kieffer (Suz GSX-R1000) 2. Ben Thompson (Suz GSX-R1000) 3. David Weber (Suz GSX-R1000) 4. David Sanders (Suz GSX-R1000) 5. Jason Curtis (Suz GSX-R1000) 6. John Jacobi (Suz GSX-R750) Formula 1 Novice 1. Jon Lawson (Suz GSX-R1000) 2. Mitch Ward (Suz GSX-R600) 3. Tony Palarie (Suz GSX-R750) 4. Eddie Barajas (Suz GSX-R1000) 5. Daniel Shaff (Kaw ZX-6RR) A Superstock Expert 1. Dale Kieffer (Suz GSX-R1000) 2. Ben Thompson (Suz GSX-R1000) 3. Mark Junge (Suz GSX-R1000) 4. Corey Eaton (Suz GSX-R1000) 5. Michael Beck (Yam YZF-R1) 6. Premek Glinz (Suz GSX-R1000) A Superstock Novice 1. Jon Lawson (Suz GSX-R1000) 2. Tony Palarie (Suz GSX-R750) 3. J.B. Layman (Yam YZF-R6) 4. Eddie Barajas (Suz GSX-R1000) 5. Scott Layman (Suz GSX-R750) B Superstock Expert 1. Tray Batey (Suz GSX-R750) 2. Ben Thompson (Suz GSX-R750) 3. Chris Siglin (Suz GSX-R600) 4. Reuben Frankenfield (Suz GSX-R750) 5. John Jacobi (Suz GSX-R750) 6. David Weber (Suz GSX-R750) B Superstock Novice 1. J.B. Layman (Yam YZF-R6) 2. Mitch Ward (Suz GSX-R600) 3. Tony Palarie (Suz GSX-R750 4. Terry Heard (Yam YF-R6) 5. Javier Ramirez (Yam YZF-R6) 6. Kirk Wilde (Suz GSX-R750) C Superstock Expert 1. Chris Siglin (Suz GSX-R600) 2. Mark Junge (Suz GSX-R600) 3. John Jacobi (Suz GSX-R600) 4. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R6) 5. David Weber (Suz GSX-R600) 6. Chad Lewin (Suz GSX-R600) C Superstock Novice 1. Nick Scoggins (Kaw ZX-6RR) 2. J.B. Layman (Yam YZF-R6) 3. Curtis Cash (Kaw ZX-6RR) 4. Mitch Ward (Suz GSX-R600) 5. Javier Ramirez ((Yam YZF-R6) 6. Terry Heard (Yam YZF-R6) C Superbike Expert 1. Josh Herrin (Yam YZF-R6) 2. Derek Keyes (Yam YZF-R6) 3. Brian Land (Yam YZF-R6) 4. Mark Crozier (Kaw ZX-6RR) 5. David Siminski (Suz GSX-R600) 6. Will Eikenberry (Kaw ZX-6R) C Superbike Novice 1. Nick Scoggins (Kaw ZX-6RR) 2. Mitch Ward (Suz GSX-R600) 3. J.B. Layman (Yam YZF-R6) 4. Javier Ramirez (Yam YZF-R6) 5. Daniel Shaff (Kaw ZX-6RR) 6. Terry Heard (Yam YZF-R6) Heavyweight Twins Supersport Expert 1. Tray Batey (Suz SV1000) 2. Jack Pfeiffer (Apr RSV1000) 3. Vincent Chu (Duc 999) 4. Gary Schilling (Suz SV650) 5. Morgan Broadhead (Suz SV650) Heavyweight Twins Supersport Novice 1. David Nguyen (Dun 999) Heavyweight Twins Superbike Expert 1. Jack Pfeiffer (Apr RSV1000) 2. Vincent Chu (Duc 999) Heavyweight Twins Superbike Novice 1. David Nguyen (Dun 999) Lightweight Twins Supersport Expert 1. Gary Schilling (Suz SV650) Formula 2 Expert 1. John Ulrich (Yam TZ250) 2. Morgan Broadhead (Suz SV650) 3. Nicole Johnson (Hon RS125) 4. Chuma Gault (Yam FZR400) Formula 2 Novice 1. Peter Bilicki (Hon NT650) 2. Dennis Ergo (Yam FZR400) D Superbike Expert 1. Chuma Gault (Yam FZR400) D Superstock Novice 1. Peter Bilicki (Hon NT650) D Superbike Novice 1. Dennis Ergo (Hon NT650) Senior Superbike Expert 1. Howard Lynggard (Yam YZF-R1) 2. John Thomas (Suz GSX-R750) 3. Vincent Chu (Duc 999) 4. James Davis (Yam YZF-R6) Senior Superbike Novice 1. Curtis Cash (Kaw ZX-6RR) 2. Tom Trainer (Suz GSX-R600) Clubman Novice 1. Peter Bilicki (Hon NT650) Mini 50 1. Vincent Chu (Der 50) Mini 80 1. John Cagle (Yam 80)