From a press release issued by series organizers:

SHANNONVILLE, ON–Calgary’s Clint McBain led the way on the opening day of practice for the first round of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship at Shannonville Motorsport Park on Friday.

Showing the benefit of an intensive off-season training program, the Coors Light Racing / Blackfoot Suzuki GSX-R1000 rider was fastest in both sessions. His morning time of 1:05.433 was marginally faster than the 1:05.528 he set in the afternoon.

“This is the first winter I’ve worked out right through and I’ve never been in better shape,” McBain said. “Our preseason has been phenomenal, really productive.”

McBain’s times were under the three-year-old track record of 1:05.746 set by Steve Crevier.

“We’re still working on some things and we made some improvements for the afternoon,” added McBain, who is still searching for his first career national Superbike win. “It was definitely easier to get to those times in the afternoon.”

Frank Trombino of Kleinburg, ON was second quickest on Friday with a time of 1:06.120 on his Brooklin Cycle Yamaha YZF-R1 and Harrowsmith, ON rider Jeff Williams placed third overall at 1:06.261 on his Diablo Performance Suzuki GSX-R1000.

“We’ve been fiddling with gearing and suspension and it seems to be working,” said Trombino, who set his best time in the second practice session. “The bike’s been getting smoother.”

Defending Parts Canada Superbike champion Pascal Picotte had the fourth best time on his Picotte Racing Yamaha YZF-R1. The Granby, QC native set a time of 1:06.317.

Fellow Granby rider Kevin Lacombe placed fifth on the Lacombe Racing / Brooklin Cycle Yamaha YZF-R1 with a time of 1:06.331, just ahead of Maple Ridge, BC’s Crevier, who recorded a time of 1:06.339 aboard his Diablo Performance Suzuki GSX-R1000.

In other action at Shannonville, Australian Craig Connell edged Coors Light Racing / Blackfoot Suzuki teammate McBain for the fastest practice time in Hindle Exhaust Pro 600 Sport Bike. Connell turned a best lap of 1:06.361 on his Suzuki GSX-R600 while McBain managed a 1:06.365 on his similar machine. Both were under Trombino’s class lap record of 1:06.704.

Trombino was third in practice on Friday with a 1:06.883 aboard his Brooklin Cycle Yamaha YZF-R6.

Eric Warren of Ballantrae, ON set the best practice time in International Motorcycle SUPERSHOW Amateur 600 Sport Bike action with a time of 1:10.174 on his Corner 2 Racing / CIBI Suzuki GSX-R600. Erick Beausejour from Val D’Or, QC placed second at 1:10.253 aboard the AMI Sport Honda CBR600RR and Toronto’s Craig Atkinson was third on his Pro 6 Cycle / McBride Cycle Yamaha YZF-R6 with a 1:10.787.

Qualifying for all three national classes will take place Saturday afternoon with feature races on Sunday.

This weekend’s event will be televised on TSN this summer and later this year on the Outdoor Life Network and Quebec’s RDS.

From a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

MLADIN THIRD FASTEST IN AMERICAN SUPERBIKE QUALIFYING AT PIKES PEAK

Fountain, Colorado, USA – Four-times American
Superbike champion Mat Mladin, will start from the front row of the grid for this weekend’s eighth round of the American AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship after recording the third fastest time during today’s qualifying session at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado.

After holding down the second fastest time for much of the session, Mladin’s best time of 54.413-seconds recorded in the closing minutes of the session left the Yoshimura Suzuki Australian with the third fastest time and
was headed on the time sheet by championship rivals Jake Zemke and Miguel DuHamel.

Zemke led almost the entirety of the 30-minute session and earned his first pole position of the season with a time of 53.774-seconds. Fellow
Honda rider DuHamel moved past Mladin in the closing minutes of the session to grab second with a 54.220.

“The session didn’t turn out exactly as we wanted it to be, but it was the best we could do,” said Mladin. “We have an acceleration deficit at certain tracks at the moment that we can’t make up and this is one of those tracks. We‘re going to try a few different things tomorrow morning to try and make the bike work a bit better and go from there. Jake (Zemke) has
about half a second on everybody at the moment, so we’re a bit down on him, but it is a long race around here.”

The short 2.12km (1.315miles) Pikes Peak layout offers different challenges to those on longer circuits. A good start in tomorrow’s race
will be followed passing a large number of lapped riders while trying to get the best out of the tyres which will be heavily loaded on the left hand side.

“We have to work hard in the early part of tomorrow’s race, see if we can get up front and what pace we can run as well as planning our strategy from there. Due to the short nature of this track, we come across lapped riders quicker and more often than at other tracks. We could come across the first group after about eight laps or so, so in a 48-lap race, your management
through the traffic is important. Race management is important in any race, but this one especially, it’s one of those races where we are looking to make up time, so tomorrow if we can’t get the job done, we’ll have to manage
the points as best we can.”

“Dunlop have a few new tyres for us this weekend. Being a bowl (banked speedway), they are like Daytona-type tyres and the things don’t have that much grip, it’s like a little Daytona and the tyres are made to last the race distance.”

Mladin arrived at the famous Colorado mountains circuit holding a 25-point lead over DuHamel in the championship with Zemke now just a further
point away in third after collecting an additional point for today’s pole position.

This weekend’s round of the championship features an abbreviated 2-day schedule which has been embraced by many teams and riders, with the
Superbike competitors having just one 1-hour practice session this morning, prior to the afternoon’s 30-minute grid determining qualifying session. Tomorrow’s schedule will see the Superbikes out on the track for a 30-minute
practice in the morning, followed by the running of the 48-lap (100km) Superbike national in the afternoon.

RESULTS

QUALIFYING, Round 8, 2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship, Top 10
1. Jake Zemke (Erion Honda) 53.774 secs
2. Miguel DuHamel (American Honda) 54.220
3. Mat Mladin (Yoshimura Suzuki) 54.413
4. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki) 54.548
5. Ben Bostrom (American Honda) 54.717
6. Josh Hayes (Attack Kawasaki) 54.890
7. Eric Bostrom (Ducati Austin) 55.297
8. John Haner (Hooters Suzuki) 55.821
9. Shawn Higbee (KWS Suzuki) 55.849
10. Geoff May (Prieto Suzuki) 55.969

2004 AMA Chevrolet Superbike Championship (Points after 7 of 18 rounds)
1. Mat Mladin (243, 5 wins); 2. Miguel DuHamel (218, 2 wins), 3. Jake Zemke (217), 4. Geoff May (154); 5. Eric Bostrom (147), 6. Lee Acree
(136), 7. John Haner (132), 8. Larry Pegram (117), 9. Josh Hayes (112), 10. Cory West (109).


More, from a press release issued by Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin:

BOSTROM TO START FROM SECOND ROW AT PIKES PEAK

Fountain (Colorado) – Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin’s Eric Bostrom cut nearly a second off his morning practice time in the afternoon session to finish seventh in today’s qualifying at Pikes Peak International Raceway. Bostrom’s qualifying time of 55.297 on the Ducati 999 was recorded in clear but windy conditions at the tight 1.3 mile (2.12 km) circuit.

“The bike is fast and we have a lot of grip,” Eric said after finishing his day at the mile-high venue. “Unfortunately, we didn’t do as well as we would have liked; I just can’t quite get it hooked into the corners and that’s something we’re going to work on. I think tomorrow morning we’re looking to take off another half-second or so, and then we should be ready for the race. Anything but a win here would be a real disappointment, but right now we’re hoping the changes we’re making tonight will benefit us tomorrow.”

Bostrom, four times the race winner at Pikes Peak, looks to make an impression in tomorrow’s long race. “The race is 48 laps long, but we’ll need to charge hard the whole time to stay with the lead pack,” Eric said.

Tomorrow’s 48-lap (100 km) AMA Superbike race is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. (Mountain Daylight Time).

TIMES: 1. Zemke (Honda) 53.775; 2. Duhamel (Honda) 54.220; 3. Mladin (Suzuki) 54.412; 4. Yates (Suzuki) 54.548; 5. B. Bostrom (Honda) 54.717; 6. Hayes (Kawasaki) 54.890; 7. E. Bostrom (Ducati) 55.297; etc.


More, from a press release issued by Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki:

RAPP, HASKOVEC, AND PERIS QUALIFY AT PIKES PEAK

Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki got up to speed quickly at Pikes Peak International Raceway in the opening day of the fifth round of the 2004 AMA roadracing series. It was necessary to do so, as this weekend’s event follows a two-day format as opposed to the typical three-day schedule for most AMA events.

The compacted schedule meant that the squad had to be fully dialed-in for an afternoon full of final qualifying sessions in preparation of Sunday’s races.

Fresh off his Formula Xtreme pole position at Barber Motorsports Park, Vincent Haskovec put in another front row qualifying effort this weekend. His time of 56.053 seconds around the tight 1.3-mile circuit aboard his GSX-R600 was good enough to take the fourth position on the grid.

Steve Rapp continued his strong Barber form aboard his Michelin-shod GSX-R600 as well. The Californian was fourth fastest in the morning Supersport free practice and qualified as the top Suzuki-mounted rider in class with a 56.172 second lap, good for sixth.

His young teammate Chris Peris claimed a second row grid position, out-qualifying a factory Suzuki entry. The Canadian posted a time of 56.521 seconds to take eighth on the grid.

In Superstock, Rapp and Haskovec qualified their
GSX-R750s alongside each other on the outside of the third row. Rapp was eleventh fastest (56.222) while Haskovec was twelfth (56.305). However, their smaller displacement machines are expected to perform better under racing conditions in the 28-lap final around the
tire-eating raceway.

At the end of the day Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki Crew Chief Keith Perry said, “It wasn’t a bad day, but it could have been better. After running so well last week, we don’t feel all that good about our results today. There were some bright spots but we feel we should be even higher up than we are.”

“In Formula Xtreme, clearly we need to find a little more power,” he continued. “We’ve been pushing the development along on that bike, but we’re still waiting on a few parts.”

“I’m pretty positive about Supersport. I think we can run both our riders up with the lead guys,” Perry said.

“In Superstock, we struggled a little with the 750 at a track we thought it would be better at. The 1000s did a little better here than we thought, but our tire situation is looking good, and we usually shine a little brighter in the races than in qualifying. We did all of our laps on race tires while many others relied on qualifiers to set their best times.”


More, from another press release issued by Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki:

Print, Radio, TV: Valvoline EMGO Suzuki Two-seater Gives More Media Guest Rides At PPIR

Steve Rapp and the Valvoline EMGO Suzuki two-seat
GSX-R1000 Superbike covered all the bases during promoter practice Friday, May 21 at Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR), giving guest rides to reporters from newspaper, radio and television media outlets.

Liz Somers, a Copy Editor for one of Denver, Colorado’s major daily newspaper was the first guest rider on the 180-horsepower, 187 mph machine. “It was great. It was exhilarating,” said Somers. “It was fun to go around the track and feel how it feels to lean against the bike. Actually, I had my foot scrape the road a little bit. Now I know why they do it. It’s so much fun!”

Asked what she thought of the opportunity to ride on the two-seater, Somers said, “I think it’s great, especially for people who aren’t race fans, to give them an idea of what it is and how fit these guys have to be and how mentally prepared they have to be for the race. A lot of people don’t realize that. They think you just hop on a bike and go.”

Maureen “Mo” Redfern, co-host of KILO 93.4 FM’s popular morning show “Ross & Mo Mornings” in Colorado Springs rode second and said, “It was bad ass! It’s got to be the hottest thing I’ve ever done. It was unbelievably fun. The first lap was scary as hell, and then after a while I started to get into it. Actually, after nine laps I probably could have been a racer myself.

“I couldn’t believe how close we got to the ground in the turns. Oh my God! That is unbelievable. When it happened the first time, you think there’s got to be something wrong. The first thing that goes through you’re head is, ‘This is bad. This isn’t going to work.’ And it does. It’s amazing how quickly it works! So like I said the third time around I was ready. Then it quit.

“We’ve been talking about it (the two-seater ride) for two days (on the radio show), and I think we’ll be talking about it for two more days. If it was just been a promotion, we would’ve talked about just as long as we had to, and that would’ve been it, it would’ve been done. Now we’ll talk about it…in fact, I’ll talk about it for years now and how cool I am and how gay the guys (at the radio station) are because they didn’t get to do it. Yeah, we’ll talk about this a lot. It’s huge! It’s better than getting paid.”

Asked to compare her ride to other experiences in her life, Redfern gave a startling revelation. “Well, I did get to fly with the Thunderbirds once,” said Redfern. “But that was terrifying. They try to scare you and try to make you throw up. They mess with you. And Steve (Rapp) was very safe, very calm. I could feel that he was clam, and that comforted me a lot. He was just relaxed and everything was cool. Absolutely, this is much better, by far, than flying with the Thunderbirds.”

The final rider on the bike was Fox Sports Rocky Mountain television news anchor Chuck Garfien, who said, “It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I always look as a sport as something with a ball. This doesn’t have a ball, but there’s definitely athletics involved and the speed, the turns and the braking. It was an experience.

“I’ve always seen the races on television, and I never really knew what it was like to be on the bike. For the first time I’m now on the bike and see what these guys do, and they’re not just drivers, they’re athletes. I definitely have a new found appreciation.

“Steve (Rapp) was great, a great ambassador to the sport, and driver, as well. He made me feel comfortable, because going into it I was like a little ninny, like a little grandmother. But he and everyone on the team made it very comfortable for me, and I’m glad I did it.”

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The first AMA Supersport practice at Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR) saw Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking, the defending Champion, set the fastest time (56.019), while his teammate Damon Buckmaster did not ride in the session due to injury and may not race in the class this weekend.

“I don’t know what it is about this place, but I like it. It’s not my favorite track in the world, but I just seem to go good here,” said two-time PPIR Supersport race winner Hacking. “Everything’s good. We made a few changes and were able to go better. I ran the whole session on one set of tires and went quickest at the end.”

As for Buckmaster, Yamaha Team Manager Tom Halverson told Roadracingworld.com, “He’s just going to try to run Superstock practice and see how he feels. At this moment, we’re 90 percent sure he will not run in Supersport, but like I said, we’ll know more after this session.”

Buckmaster injured his right elbow, right shoulder, left wrist and left ankle/foot in a crash during practice May 16 at Barber Motorsports Park.

Saturday Morning’s Provisional AMA Supersport Practice Times:

1. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha, 56.019
2. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 56.049
3. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha, 56.253
4. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, 56.263
5. Ben Spies, Suzuki, 56.469
6. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki, 56.482
7. Chris Peris, Suzuki, 56.716
8. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki, 56.726
9. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 56.921
10. Tony Meiring, Kawasaki, 57.062
11. Ben Attard, Suzuki, 57.335
12. Michael Barnes, Yamaha, 57.498
13. Jason Perez, Yamaha, 57.636
14. Heath Small, Yamaha, 57.690
15. Danny Eslick, Suzuki, 57.874
16. Lee Acree, Suzuki, 57.935
17. Darren Luck, Suzuki, 58.143
18. Giovanni Rojas, Yamaha, 58.309
19. Chris Siebenhaar, Honda, 58.431
20. Nicky Moore, Suzuki, 58.709
21. Martin Sims, Yamaha, 58.865
22. Pedro Valiente, Yamaha, 58.936
23. Jason Mathiason, Yamaha, 59.978
24. Brad Hendry, Yamaha, 59.019
25. Daniel Doty, Yamaha, 59.044
26. Montez Stewart, Yamaha, 59.215
27. Mike Shreve, Yamaha, 59.359
28. Ryan Andrews, Triumph, 59.566
29. John-O Bowman, Yamaha, 59.643
30. Justin Meyer, Yamaha, 59.710
31. Doug Venezia, Yamaha, 59.838
32. Nathan Dressman, Yamaha, 59.848
33. Crash Lowe, Suzuki, 59.917
34. Hector Romero Moreno, Honda, 59.947
35. Nathan Hester, Yamaha, 59.953
36. Jeff Grace, Kawasaki, 59.978
37. Anthony Manciu, Yamaha, 1:00.164
38. Tyler Jones, Yamaha, 1:00.409
39. Elton Curry, Kawasaki, 1:00.547
40. Tamer Kekhia, Yamaha, 1:00.674
41. Michael Applehans, Yamaha, 1:01.328
42. Jim Davis, Yamaha, 1:01.533
43. Eric Pinson, Triumph, 1:01.673

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

SPEED Channel will televise the AMA Supersport race from Pikes Peak International Raceway live on Sunday, May 23, two days before it will show the AMA Supersport from Barber Motorsports Park, which took place May 16.

This means that SPEED commentators Brian Drebber, Dave Sadowski and Greg White will be making references to events from the Barber race, which viewers have not been seen yet, during the PPIR telecast.

The AMA Supersport race at PPIR was not originally planned to be broadcast live. However, the time slot in Sunday’s schedule became open, and SPEED programming executives chose to put the AMA Supersport race in the time slot and “take their licks” from viewers, according to a source within SPEED.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The AMA Superbike event this weekend at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colorado is only a two-day event, breaking away from a decades-old trend of three- and four-day AMA events, according to paddock veterans. In fact, a quick survey of knowledgeable sources found no one who could remember when the last two-day AMA Superbike event was, if ever.

On a normal, three-day AMA Superbike weekend, official practice starts on Friday morning and continues into Friday afternoon, followed by qualifying sessions for Superbike and one of the support classes, usually Formula Xtreme or Superstock.

Practice, final Superbike qualifying and qualifying for the remaining support classes take place Saturday morning and early afternoon, followed by the first Superbike race (if it is a double-header event) and one of the support races.

Sunday morning sees warm-up sessions for each class in the morning with the remaining final events in the afternoon.

The two-day schedule at Pikes Peak calls for practice for each class Saturday morning and single qualifying sessions for each class – including Superbike – Saturday afternoon.

Each class will have a warm-up session Sunday morning, followed by final events in the following order: Supersport, Superstock, Formula Xtreme and Superbike.

Many from the larger teams in the AMA paddock are optimistic about the two-day event format in Colorado and the potential for more two-day AMA events in the future. But some privateers who don’t have access to pre-season testing say the format doesn’t give them enough practice to get up to speed and set up their bikes.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Graves Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking took pole position, his second of the season, for the AMA Superstock race Saturday during qualifying at Pikes Peak International Raceway. Riding a Dunlop-shod YZF-R1, Hacking turned a time of 54.577, a new lap record for the revised class on the 1.3-mile infield road course.

The old record of 55.535 was set by 2003 AMA Superstock Champion Josh Hayes in 2003 on a Suzuki GSX-R750.

“The wind was playing a big role, I think, in the session,” Hacking told reporters. “My qualifying lap back there, I ran it in pretty hard on the brakes because I thought the wind was blowing toward us. I was way wide! I didn’t even know if that lap was going to be any good. I came in, looked at the board and I was on top. I was pretty surprised.”

The bonus Championship point for earning pole position increases Hacking’s Superstock point lead to 18 points over his teammate Aaron Gobert, who qualified second.

Third Graves Yamaha rider Jason DiSalvo and Kawasaki’s Tommy Hayden earned the final two spots on the front row.

Neither Damon Buckmaster nor Chris “Opie” Caylor attempted to qualify for the Superstock final, which will consist of 24 riders.


Provisional AMA Superstock Qualifying Results:


1. Jamie Hacking, Yamaha YZF-R1, 54.577
2. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1, 54.655
3. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha YZF-R1, 54.749
4. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 55.063
5. Roger Lee Hayden, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 55.225
6. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 55.298
7. Josh Hayes, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 55.345
8. John Haner, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 55.349
9. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 56.093
10. Alex Gobert, Honda CBR1000RR, 56.199
11. Steve Rapp, Suzuki GSX-R750, 56.223
12. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, 56.305
13. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 56.433
14. Jake Holden, Suzuki GSX-R750, 56.492
15. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 56.670
16. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 57.029
17. Christopher Ancein, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 57.510
18. Montez Stewart, Yamaha YZF-R1, 58.017
19. Christian Pistoni, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 58.039
20. Jason Curtis, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 58.111
21. Kevin Hanson, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 59.058
22. Brad Puetz, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 59.168
23. Dan Sallis, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 59.706
24. Corey Sarros, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:00.411

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Far fewer riders are participating in this year’s AMA National at Pikes Peak International Raceway compared to 2003.

In total count, using the number of riders who went out in the first official AMA practice for each class, 66 fewer riders are at Pikes Peak this year compared to last year.

Total rider count at PPIR in 2003 was 189, compared to 123 this weekend.

The Superbike class drew 41 riders in 2003 and 29 this weekend.

The Superstock class drew 47 riders in 2003 and 26 this weekend.

The Formula Xreme class drew 40 riders in 2003 and 27 this weekend.

The Supersport class bucked the trend, drawing 37 riders in 2003 and 40 this weekend.

Of the 66 missing riders this weekend, 24 came from the 2003 250cc Grand Prix class, which is no longer part of an AMA National weekend.

The PPIR rider count continues a season-long trend.

At Daytona this year, 57 riders ran in the first Superbike practice versus 71 in 2003; 39 ran in the first Superstock practice versus 52 in 2003; 52 ran the first Supersport practice versus 42 in 2003. The Formula Xtreme class didn’t run at Daytona in 2003 but did in 2004, with 20 riders running in the first FX practice session. The 250cc GP class didn’t run in 2004 but did in 2003, with 42 riders running in the first practice session. In the non-AMA BoxerCup class, 44 riders ran in the first practice session in 2003 versus 20 riders this year.

At California Speedway this year, 38 riders ran in the first Superbike practice versus 61 in 2003; 38 ran in the first Superstock practice versus 63 in 2003; 46 ran in the first Supersport practice versus 41 in 2003; 28 ran in the first Formula Xtreme practice versus 27 in 2003; 29 riders ran in the now-eliminated 250cc GP class in 2003.

At Infineon Raceway this year, 42 riders ran in the first Superbike practice versus 57 in 2003; 36 ran in the first Superstock practice versus 53 in 2003; 42 ran in the first Supersport practice versus 35 in the first dry Supersport practice in 2003; 30 ran in the first Formula Xtreme practice versus 36 in 2003; and 39 riders ran in the now-eliminated 250cc GP class in 2003.

At Barber Motorsports Park this year, 42 riders ran in the first Superbike practice versus 51 in 2003; 30 ran in the first Superstock practice versus 48 in 2003; 44 ran in the first Supersport practice versus 39 in 2003; 25 ran in the first Formula Xtreme practice versus 29 in 2003; and 37 riders ran in the now-eliminated 250cc GP class in 2003.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

“I thought it went exceptionally well,” said three-time AMA Superbike Champion Doug Chandler after his first-ever ride on his new HMC Milwaukee Ducati 749R AMA Formula Xtreme racebike during promoter practice Friday at Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR).

“Anytime you get something all brand new put together, you expect a lot more gremlins than really occurred,” continued Chandler. “For its first day on the track, it went around exceptionally well. The bike has been flawless. I think it’s more me getting myself up to speed than the bike. The bike seems to be ahead of me right now.”

Fully recovered from leg injuries that knocked him out of AMA Supermoto racing last season, Chandler said he has only done two days of riding on a road race track (at Laguna Seca during a Keith Code California Superbike School) since early in 2003 and just needed to knock the rust off.

“We’re as prepared as we could be with the short notice,” Team Owner Mitch Hansen told Roadracingworld.com. “We have one bike ready. We’re waiting on some more parts to get the second bike ready. I think we’re prepared pretty well, but once we get out in practice we’ll find out how prepared we really are.”

Hansen said his team is being supported by Ducati North America, and Ducati Corse in Italy is helping out with World Supersport kit parts, which result in Chandler’s 749R producing over 140 rear-wheel horsepower.

“We’ve got Gary Medley, Elliott Cho, Richard Boyd, myself – we’ll see how it works. We’ve got good chemistry on the team, and Doug has worked with everyone before. So hopefully we can hit the ground running,” said Hansen.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Yamaha/Graves Yamaha’s Damon Buckmaster has a non-displaced fracture of the navicular bone in his left wrist and is currently deciding whether he will sit out races for treatment or continue to ride with the injury.

“It’s still intact and it’s still recoverable for the season,” Buckmaster told Roadracingworld.com Saturday afternoon. “Like, I can get it repaired and come back and still finish pretty well at the end of the year. Our big concern is if I damage it or fall or get knocked off. I might not even have to get knocked off. If I damage it more at all, I could finish the year on the sidelines. So we’re trying to make the right decision here, but it’s just a very difficult decision for me to make and say, ‘OK, let’s quit,’ because I’m not a quitter.”

Buckmaster has consulted with his normal physician, Dr. Thomas Bryan, and with famed orthopedic surgeon Dr. Arthur Ting, both of whom recommended that Buckmaster stop riding and have the fracture repaired.

“So I have it on pretty good authority it needs repair and to continue riding is a pretty stupid thing to do,” said Buckmaster. “I’m just going to talk to (Yamaha Team Manager) Tom (Halverson) a bit more, and we might give Keith (McCarty, Yamaha Racing Supervisor) a call and try and get the information from a few different angles. I don’t want to make a decision that someone isn’t happy with.”

If he stops riding to get the fracture repaired, Buckmaster said he may return for the Brainerd AMA round in late-June.

Buckmaster injured his hand/wrist in a crash during practice May 16 at Barber Motorsports Park.

Update: Buckmaster has decided to withdraw from the races at PPIR and immediately return to California for treatment to his injured left hand.