Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Despite a date appearing on the official FIM calendar, the World Superbike Championship series will not visit Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant in 2004 because the event promoter has refused to pay a deposit to be placed on the facility’s calendar and, after a recent inspection by officials, the track will not pass FIM homologation without modification.
Daniel Levert, of JD Levert Productions, Ltd. the promoter of the proposed SBK event, called Roadracingworld.com Monday to question a November 23 posting, “Mont-Tremblant Will Not Host World Superbike Round In 2004.” In that article, journalist and race promoter Colin Fraser reported that he had been informed by Mont-Tremblant officials that his Parts Canada Superbike Championship event was the only motorcycle racing event on the track’s 2004 calendar. Levert disagreed with the report.
“As we speak, the event is still on for 2004. I don’t know where you get your information that it will not happen,” said Levert, adding that the track had just been inspected by CMA (Canadian Motorcycle Association, Canadian equivalent of the AMA) President Marilynn Bastedo, FGSport Group (organizers of the World Superbike Championship) President Maurizio Flammini, FIM Track Safety Inspector Claude Danis and FIM’s Paul Duparc November 13.
“And as we speak Mr. Michael Ney, who is the president of the track at Mont-Tremblant, is still waiting on the owner’s decision whether or not they will do the modification…Mr. Danis asked to be done in order to hold a heat of the World Superbike Championship series at Mont-Tremblant,” said Levert, before explaining that many safety modifications would have to be completed at the track during each year of his three-year promoter agreement with FGSport Group in order to maintain FIM homologation.
“If you like, I can give you the President of the track, Mr. Michael Ney. He will probably tell you the same thing he told the three reporters who have already talked to him about that, that they are waiting on the decisions if yes or no we are going to do the work on the track,” said Levert, before providing a telephone number for Ney.
Reached at his office at Ferrari Quebec, where he also serves as president, Ney gave a conflicting version of reality. In fact, Ney told Roadracingworld.com that no one from Levert’s group, Flammini’s FGSport Group or the FIM have communicated to him the results of the track inspection or any modifications necessary for FIM homologation.
“I haven’t heard anything from Levert and his partners since the inspection,” said Ney. “I know that we have to make changes, but nobody’s communicated those changes and nobody’s suggested how those changes get paid for.”
In a follow-up telephone interview, Levert told Roadracingworld.com the reason no one from his group contacted Ney following the inspection was because Ney did not attend the November 13 inspection, which insulted Flammini.
Asked to respond to Levert’s charge, Ney acknowledged that he did not attend the inspection, explaining that family emergencies with personnel at his car dealership left him unable to attend. But Ney pointed out that he tried, unsuccessfully, to reach both Levert and Flammini on their mobile phones that day, and added that Mont-Tremblant’s General Manager of 27 years, Vince Loughran, was on-site and at the disposal of the inspectors.
But the main issue preventing World Superbike from coming to Mont-Tremblant in 2004 boils down to the fact that Levert has refused to pay a deposit to secure a date on the track’s 2004 schedule, according to Ney.
“I said, ‘Daniel, we would love to do an event. Give me a check and I’ll hold the dates.’ And he said, ‘What, you don’t trust me?’ What a leading question. I don’t trust anybody,” said Ney. “We’ve got track days booked next year, quite a few, and everybody gives us a deposit otherwise you just can’t deal. Race promoters are next to bad stock-and-bond promoters as far as I’m concerned. If you’re serious about it, surely you’ve got a little bit of money you can put forward and we’ll hold the date…We can’t do business unless we have a deposit.” Ney said a letter of intent between Levert and Mont-Tremblant for a track rental on July 2-4, 2004 expired October 15, 2003 when Levert refused to pay a deposit for the date and a vintage car race was scheduled in its place.
When asked to comment on Ney’s charge that he refused to pay the required deposit, Levert lost his temper and said, “That’s bullshit! It was always our intention to give a deposit. When he comes up with these f–king stories that there wasn’t yeh, yeh, yeh, yeh. That’s BS. That’s major BS. It’s a guy who’s trying to squeeze out of a situation where he f–ked up. He never showed up at the track when a major player in the World Superbike Championship series was up at his track in order to inspect it, in order to bring an international event to his goddamn track and he didn’t even show his f–king face.
“I’m pissed, man! I’m pissed and my f–king thoughts are coming out of my mouth right now, so forget Mont-Tremblant. They will not be a heat of the World Superbike Championship series in Mont-Tremblant with the attitude these bastards are having.
“They said they want this event in Mont-Tremblant, and now they are turning it all the way around. He’s the one who told me the bridge had to be changed. He knew about that. He knows that there has to be major changes to the track, and now he’s telling you, ‘We’re waiting for a deposit.’ (laughs) That’s bullshit! I think (track ownership) never intended to do any changes to the track and to just tell us to go and f–k ourselves and that’s why he’s saying all this bullshit. Come on, a deposit?…How can we make a deposit if we don’t even know if the track is going to be homologated? That would be one helluva question to ask that motherf–ker.”
Even with all of the drama, Ney said holding a World Superbike race at Mont-Tremblant is not out of the question.
“We’d love to do it,” said Ney. “And we loved doing the Canadian (Superbike) event as kind of a test to see if we could run a motorcycle event there, because motorcycles did run at Tremblant years ago. And as I said, it was very successful, the media loved it and the riders were just very excited about the whole thing.
“We would have to make some changes to some corners for bikes. And even for next year for the final round of the (2004) Canadian Superbike Championship, we are going to make some alterations. But I don’t know what Flammini has mentioned to Daniel (Levert) about changes. We’re anticipating we would have to widen the (space) under the bridge. That means the whole bridge would have to come out. We could probably do some of that work in the very early spring, and when I say early spring I mean March, when we’re not going to be operational anyway. But no one has communicated (the FIM’s requirements) to us.”
All Levert has to do to get the process started, said Ney, was pay a deposit to be placed on Mont-Tremblant’s calendar, but from the sound of Levert’s anger, it doesn’t seem likely. “I can tell you right now we are going to turn around and we are going to work for 2005 and we are going to work for Blainville (a government testing facility owned by Transport Canada, which has only two paved ovals, according to Levert). And if we cannot get the political will for Blainville, Mr. Flammini will meet with Mr. Panoz and we will go in Mosport. You can quote me on that,” said Levert.
