A link courtesy of Travis Ryan:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/qa.html.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

First-year Novice racer Justin Baccino (#469) died Sunday, September 26 from injuries sustained during a WERA Sportsman series race at Summit Point Raceway in Summit Point, West Virginia.

According to WERA Operations Manager Sean Clark, Baccino crashed in the Turn Five area of the track and was hit by a following rider who could not avoid Baccino.

A viewing is scheduled for Wednesday from 2:00 – 9:00 p.m. with funeral services slated for Thursday, September 30, according to a posting by Greg Winslow, a friend of Baccino, on the WERA.com BBS.

Flowers, cards, messages can be sent to:

Justin Baccino
c/o Blair – Lowther Funeral Home
P.O. Box 561
106 East Independence St.
Perryoplois, PA 15473

From a press release:

Fastrack Riders Las Vegas Update

Fastrack will be in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend Saturday October 2nd running on the 1.75 mile ten turn Classic Course with WERA West hosting their last race of the season on Sunday. There are still spaces available so to avoid the post registration fee please sign up ASAP. We expect the temperature to be in the low 80’s.

Fastrack and WERA West have decided to run a modified layout of the track we raced back in May. We are going to run the 1.75 mile layout on both Saturday and Sunday. Several riders who have ridden this layout state it is safer and makes for closer racing.

Please note that camping will not be available for this event and will not be available for the October 23rd and 24th event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. LVMS had an event where an accident occurred when they allowed camping and for that reason, their legal department has advised them against it.

This is the last WERA West event of 2004 with battles still going on for the championship in a few classes. WERA West will be announcing their 2005 schedule in the next few weeks and the series will be expanded to a seven month series.

Thank you everyone for a great sell out event at Willow Springs this past Monday. We had a great event and the weather was perfect.

To book a reservation or for any questions please call or e-mail Dana Webb @ 877-560-2233 or [email protected]

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Aaron Gobert won two CCS sprint races September 25-26 while testing changes to his Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 Superstock bike at the site of the AMA season finale, Virginia International Raceway (VIR).

“(Jamie) Hacking didn’t get to do the (team) test (in early-August), so he hadn’t ridden a 1000 there and wanted to come. So if you bring one guy you have to bring everybody, you know,” said Gobert, when asked about the origin of the test, which was attended by Gobert, Hacking, Jason DiSalvo but not Damon Buckmaster.

While Hacking and DiSalvo pitted during the CCS races to make changes, Gobert made every hot lap he could and ended up winning the GTO solo endurance event, which he holeshotted from the fifth row, and the Unlimited Grand Prix, without serious challenge.

The young Australian didn’t claim the wins, however, saying, “We told them to disqualify us. We told them don’t give us points and don’t give us prize money. We didn’t want to interfere with the points and prize money for the guys who are working hard to get there, you know? One guy told me he spent all day Friday fitting tires at some other ride day to be able to afford to come to the race. It makes you feel bad if you go there and take all their money and points and that kind of stuff. It was track time. That’s all it was, really.”

And it was valuable track time, according to Gobert, “It was a good day. I got a lot out of it. I got my bike feeling 100 times better than what it felt at the test, the front end feel. I had a completely different fork spec than DiSalvo and Hacking and, I think, Buckmaster, as well. As soon as I went to their set-up, it was just an incredible difference. I’m looking forward to coming back here for the AMA race now.”

As for Gobert’s wedding, which was originally planned for October 6 in Australia – after the postponed AMA season finale September 17-19 at VIR, Gobert has changed his wedding plans in favor of defending his AMA Superstock Championship points lead at the re-scheduled AMA season-ender October 9-10. Gobert is now planning to marry his longtime girlfriend Melanie Riley over Halloween weekend in Sydney, Australia.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Racers Tiffanie Ragasa and Stephen Bowline were married September 20, in Muir Beach, California.

From a press release issued by Shani Cobb:

With 107 entries, the final round in SEMRA’s seven round mini road racing series saw the crowning of six class champions and the overall points champion, Ted “Cannonball” Cobb. Winning six of the seven rounds in the GP85 class, Cobb took home the $1000 cash purse.

“I had some good competition against Brian Livengood and up and comer 10 year old Miles Thornton all season,” said Ted Cobb. “Those guys made me work for it, we had a blast!”

More information can be found at, www.SEMRA.org

From a press release issued by Galouises Fortuna Yamaha:

GAULOISES FORTUNA YAMAHA TEAM PREVIEW

Qatar Grand Prix
Losail, Qatar
September 30, October 1 & 2, 2004

MOTOGP VENTURES EAST TO ALL-NEW VENUE

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Carlos Checa face the prospect of four races in five weekends in their final push towards the end of an extraordinary MotoGP season. The opening section of the final quartet takes place at the all-new Losail International circuit on the outskirts of Doha in Qatar, the first time that a MotoGP race has taken place in the Middle East.

With a 39-point lead over his closest challenger Sete Gibernau (Honda) and a maximum of 100 points available from now to the season-ending race at Valencia on 31st October Rossi is in an enviable position, having taken to his Yamaha M1 with no small degree of success. The five-time World Champion has taken six race wins so far in 2004, a full 50% of all races, making this the most remarkable Yamaha season since the early nineties. His second place at the last MotoGP round in Motegi, Japan, was his 98th podium finish in the three different classes of Grand Prix racing. This puts Rossi in the top seven riders of all time to stand most frequently on a Grand Prix podium. Rossi is now about to face an all-new challenge at Losail – a track no MotoGP rider has any experience of, other than a walk around the track layout.

Rossi’s team-mate Carlos Checa, a 31-year-old Spanish-born London resident, will be going for his first win of the year in Qatar. Having experienced both highs and lows this year, Checa’s grinding determination has brought him to his current seventh place in the championship standings, with realistic ambitions of finishing within the top four before the season end.

ROSSI UP TO THE QATAR CHALLENGE

The combination of Rossi, his YZR-M1 and the expert support from the Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team has not only taken six wins this year, but also four pole positions and the lead in the BMW award, for the rider with the best combined time in all of the season’s qualifying practices. For Rossi however, the new track is just another challenge his peerless talent has to match up to and master.

With vast experience of winning championships, Rossi knows that last weekend’s second place at Motegi was an important result, especially as his main rivals all found Motegi a difficult nut to crack, another vindication of an overall championship challenge. “The bike was working really well in Motegi. There were problems with it sliding towards the end of the race and I thought it was better to hold on to second place and valuable points than to push any harder and risk falling. Anyway Tamada was so strong that I don’t think it was possible to beat him. We need to continue the same level of work for the rest of the season, remain concentrated and pull off good results for the remaining four races.”

The Losail circuit, just outside the Qatari capital of Doha, is already piquing Rossi’s imagination. “I’ve been looking forward to Qatar and waiting for a chance like this for a long time,” said Rossi. “It’s such a long time since we went to a new track, at least one that’s new to everyone. It will be the chance to see who is really the best rider, as we will be making new lines on a new surface. It’s going to be so hot, and it will be hard to make it through the whole race in such conditions.”

Rossi has seen the new MotoGP venue first hand, and came away impressed with the job at hand. “I have already visited the Losail circuit for the foundation ceremony in December,” affirmed Rossi. “It seems like a really good place, and I hope it will be a good competition. I really hope a lot of people come to watch us. In a way it’s like every other race for us because we’re setting the M1 up at new circuits all the time this year. We seem to be good at getting the best out of it in limited time. I think there are something like 15 corners at the Qatar circuit, more than almost any other, so that should be interesting.”

CHECA ANTICIPATES A WARM WELCOME

The punishing temperatures expected at Qatar have filled some MotoGP riders with trepidation – the prospect of a full duration MotoGP event in the heat of an Arabian desert. Not so the super-fit Checa. “The hot weather won’t be a big problem for me, it’s normally the same in Malaysia,” stated the Catalan rider.

Checa also feels that the unknown nature of the circuit will help the more experienced riders, himself among them. “A surprise is always nice. The pressure at Losail could come from the track itself, or other unexpected problems at a new venue. Many people say that the track could be slippery or dirty and it will be very hot. But I think it’s always nice to go to a new place. I normally like to go to new circuits.”

DAVIDE BRIVIO – TEAM DIRECTOR

Heading up a talented group of engineers and administrative staff in the Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team, Davide Brivio has seen the remarkable progress of Rossi first hand, but he knows that Losail will present one of the more unique challenges the team has faced in 2004. “Qatar will be very difficult; it will also be very hot,” nods Brivio. “Looking at the map of the circuit it has a lot of corners, a lot of different types of corners, and that provides us with many challenges. But it also makes life more interesting for everyone involved.”

Brivio continued, “I think it will be hard for the riders and for everybody to work on something new and see how things will go at an absolutely brand new track – which bike, rider and tyre will adjust to the circuit best. We are going there with 39 points advantage but these last four races will be very important. We need to ‘manage’ this advantage, for Valentino to be on the podium in each of the races to achieve our final goal. For Carlos, Losail can be a good track and he is very fit, a factor which will help him a lot. In the last races, for whatever reason it has not been so good for Carlos, so Losail offers him the opportunity to have better results.”

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING

The Losail circuit will boast the most cutting-edge facilities ever enjoyed by MotoGP but the track itself is the only part that will make any impact on the result of the race and the overall championship battle.

At 5.4km Losail is of a greater length than most MotoGP venues, and certainly few existing tracks feature quite so many corners, and in such endless varieties. To their eternal credit the track designers have eschewed the adoption of rhythm-disrupting chicanes, yet have managed to make the layout of the circuit fascinating on paper. Several high-speed corners, plus two tighter hairpins, make Losail a circuit of contrasts. Six left and ten right hand corners are laid on top of a largely flat surface, removing at least one complication to the machine’s set-up.

The true nature of Losail will only reveal itself during the first practice sessions, but the relatively fast corners that abound around the track will require stability from chassis and suspension set-up. The fact that the track will demand an almost constant alteration of machine direction and lean angle adds another requirement – agility when flicking from side-to-side.

The last corner and the first, both right handers, will be preceded by exceptionally heavy braking, but these are expected to be the only places at which such severe braking forces will be generated.

VALENTINO ROSSI: INFORMATION
Age: 25
Lives: London, UK
Bike: Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team YZR-M1
GP victories: 65 (26 X MotoGP, 13 X 500cc, 14 X 250cc, 12 X 125cc)
First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc)
First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc)
GP starts: 136 (44 x MotoGP, 32 x 500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc)
Pole positions: 34


CARLOS CHECA: INFORMATION
Age: 31
Lives: London, UK
Bike: Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team YZR-M1
GP victories: 2 (500cc)
First GP victory: Catalunya, 1996 (500cc)
First GP: Europe, 1993 (125cc)
GP starts: 164 (44 x MotoGP, 92 x 500cc, 27 x 250cc, 1 x 125cc)
Pole positions: 2 (1 x MotoGP, 1 x 500cc)
First pole: Spain, 1998 (500cc)