From a press release issued by Dorna:

Following information published about the future of a MotoGP race in the United States, this is a statement regarding the situation:

Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta explains: “There have been talks about the possibility of having a Grand Prix in the United States in 2004, more specifically in Birmingham, Alabama. Although the feelings were very positive, unfortunately the present situation makes it impossible for it to be included in the MotoGP World Championship calendar from next year. We will keep the discussions open with Barber Motorsports Park in the near future, and hopefully everything can be ready and tied up for 2005.”

Bruno Event Team, a sports marketing company based in Birmingham, Alabama, has been hired to manage spectator events at Barber Motorsports Park.

According to Gene Hallman, Bruno Event Team president, “We have had discussions with MotoGP regarding a 2004 US Grand Prix. While everyone involved clearly believes that the Barber Motorsports Park is the best circuit for a US Grand Prix, we have concluded that this brand new facility will need to first operate through 2004 before hosting an event of this magnitude.

“This additional time will give the Barber Motorsports Park another year of operational experience and allow us to have the park’s landscaping and museum in world class condition prior to hosting this event. We are continuing discussions with MotoGP regarding a 2005 event and anticipate having these discussions concluded by the fall of 2003.”

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Note: This post orginally credited Tommy Hayden as being fastest in the Supersport class when he actually did his fastest times on a Superstock-class Kawasaki ZX-6R (636). The post has now been corrected.

Mat Mladin used his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike to post the fastest time of the three-day team test at Barber Motorsports Park.

Mladin did a 1:25.054, and ended the test over half-a-second ahead of the field. His Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates ended up second-quickest with a 1:25.749, followed by factory Honda RC-51 pilot Ben Bostrom, who did a 1:25.942. All three riders posted their quick times late this afternoon, and were the only riders to get into the 1:25s.

In FX action, Ben Spies topped the charts on his Yoshimura Suzuki GSXR1000 with a 1:26.008, set this morning, followed by Damon Buckmaster on his Graves Yamaha YZF-R1 at a 1:26.192, set this afternoon. He is followed by Erion Honda’s Jake Zemke with a 1:26.774, which he did late yesterday afternoon.

In the always tight, 600cc Supersport class Jamie Hacking and his Yamaha YZF-R6 was fastest, with a best time of 1:28.450 set yesterday afternoon. Hayden is closely followed by Damon Buckmaster at a 1:28.535 set yesterday afternoon, and Jason DiSalvo at a 1:28.851 also set yesterday afternoon.

Top 10 overall best times:
Mat Mladin, Superbike, 1:25.054
Aaron Yates, Superbike, 1:25.749
Ben Bostrom, Superbike, 1:25.942
Ben Spies, Formula Xtreme, 1:26.008
Damon Buckmaster, Formula Xtreme, 1:26.192
Jake Zemke, Formula Xtreme, 1:26.774
Giovanni Bussei, Superbike, 1:26.870
Jamie Hacking, Formula Xtreme, 1:26.885
Kurtis Roberts, Superbike, 1:26.984
Roger Lee Hayden, Formula Xtreme, 1:27.540


Best times by class:

Superbike
Mat Mladin, 1:25.054
Aaron Yates, 1:25.749
Ben Bostrom, 1:25.942
Giovanni Bussei, 1:26.870
Kurtis Roberts, 1:26.984
Miguel Duhamel, 1:27.862

Formula Xtreme
Ben Spies, 1:26.008
Damon Buckmaster, 1:26.192
Jake Zemke, 1:26.774
Jamie Hacking, 1:26.885
Roger Lee Hayden, 1:27.540

Superstock
Tommy Hayden, 1:28.360


Supersport
Jamie Hacking, 1:28.450
Damon Buckmaster, 1:28.535
Jason DiSalvo, 1:28.851
Aaron Gobert, 1:29.250
Alex Gobert, 1:29.748

Tommy Hayden, 1:29.860
Tony Meiring, 1:29.914
Jake Zemke, 1:30.269
Roger Lee Hayden, 1:30.807
Miguel Duhamel, 1:30.857

Note: All times compiled from AMA timing and scoring.

From a press release:

Contract negotiations have broken down between Jake Holden and Gary Ricci of Ricci Motorsports.

After finishing 7th at Laguna in 750 Superstock, Jake will finish the rest of the season as a privateer, racing a GSX-R750 competing in the final AMA events.

Jake would like to thank all of his sponsors that helped him through Ricci/Bardahl and would like to thank all that continue to help in his racing career.

Jake can be reached through his manager/father Richard Holden at 253-279-5244

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

(Note to the Canadian BBS denizens who have been cutting and pasting our posts regarding this incident, without permission and without credit: Do not cut and paste our copyrighted original material, instead, post a link.)

AMA Pro Racing officials black-flagged racer Sandy Noce out of the restarted 250cc Grand Prix race at Mid-Ohio despite uncertainty that they had the right rider.

Over their radios, officials discussed the accusation–made by an official working his first weekend as a grid marshall–that Noce had returned to the paddock and switched to a back-up bike during the red-flag period. Before Noce was black-flagged, another grid marshall actually went to Noce’s trailer, found his spare bike inside with rain tires mounted and the engine cold, and reported her findings over the radio.

Officials also ignored statements by a Superbike racer, Mike Walsh, that Noce’s TZ250 had been in his sight on pit lane the entire time.

Despite the uncertainty, officials went ahead and black-flagged Noce, who was running in sixth place and gaining on fifth place at the time.

The error was discovered after Noce pitted and the new grid marshall–who had stood next to Noce’s bike on pit lane during the entire red-flag period and had actually spoken with Noce during that time–realized his error.

“They mistook me for someone else who went back into the pits because my bike was white and his bike was white,” said Noce by telephone Thursday. “They thought I was him.

“In the end they did award me sixth-place points and money, and gave me my entry fees back.

“I did another lap the first time I saw the black flag, because, when you’re racing and you know you’ve f–ked up and you get the black flag, we’ve all done it, you know. In this case, I didn’t know of anything I’d done.

“The first time they black-flagged me I just cruised down the pits at about 40 mph and nobody met me, so I went back out. The second time they black-flagged me, the flagger was just violent with the flag and the number board, like he was shaking with rage. They really wanted me to come in, so I came back in, and they told me to go over there and talk to that official.

“The official who had me black-flagged was guarding the same pit exit where we were, and we were talking (during the red flag). It didn’t take him a second when I pulled in the second time to realize he had made a mistake. He said ‘Oh, shit! Wrong guy! I’m really sorry.’

“I freaked out. ‘You’re sorry!?’ I said.

“I lost it.

“Maybe I would have been eighth, maybe I would have been fifth, maybe I would have crashed. They never gave me the chance to know. It would have made more sense to let me finish the race and then sort it out.”

When not racing, Noce is the Dunlop race tire distributor for Canada.

From a press release issued by Oliver Yamaha:

Rich Oliver has done it, winning his fifth AMA 250 Grand Prix Championship in style, with a final lap victory wheelie across the finish line of the Mid-Ohio racetrack, and a fist in the air for his crew!

Rich said after the race, “I’m really happy to have reached our goal, I’ve wanted to win this title for Robert Ward the last three years, and now we have! We worked all year from the point of view of winning the Championship, and I feel good about our consistent performances.

“The bike has been good, most of the time it’s taken some set-up work, but in the races it’s been good or great each of the nine times. I sure have a fast Yamaha, probably the fastest Yamaha ever built in the U.S., so that makes it easier for me.

“I do things with that bike that you can only do when you’re in the zone–riding from the heart. Some times I’m just blown away by how I can dream up a line around a circuit, and then put it into reality with that Yamaha!

“I have to thank Robert, my Mom Ginny and Dad Bob, my brother John, along with my crack crew of specialists; suspension expert Jim Lindemann has been great all year, and so have the guys on the Factory Dyno. How about that cool blue paint from Greg Sabatini, and a huge thanks to Pat and Gary from Wilson’s Motorcycles for buying me the Yamaha TZ250 that we race. Daniel from Advanced Motion Controls is also a great help to us. And a big thank you to Yamaha USA for all their support over the season, along with all our other great sponsors including Ferodo, Silkolene, Shoei, Micron, Sharkskinz, Dunlop and VP Fuel.

“I have to also give a special thanks to my finacee Karin. She has been at every race supporting me and running the pit board. It’s nice to see her on the wall every lap…keep those plus seconds coming Karin!”

Robert Ward had these comments post race, “I’m thrilled that we won, now the pressure is off and we can pull out all the stops for the last two Nationals. I’m excited about the next two events”

Karin commented, “This has been a wonderful season to share with Rich. I vividly remember the day last winter we spoke about the upcoming season and Rich said one of his main goals in 2003 was to win the Championship and go out on top. What a great accomplishment and statement he made this weekend. The points leader, the 2003 (and final) 250 GP champion, broke his own track record and is currently the winningest AMA pro racer. It’s great to see such determination, persistence, and hard work pay off!”



Rich has won all nine events this season, bringing him to a total of 69 wins. Now that is one more AMA win than Miguel Duhamel so for now Rich is the all time win leader in AMA Pro road racing, however, we’ll see how long that lasts against the talented Duhamel!

Defending 250 Champion Chuck Sorensen has been a strong challenger all year as well as Simon Turner, Colin Jensen and many others. All will be trying to beat Oliver at the next race in Virginia, so with no Championship points to consider, it should be a wild one! Hope to see you there.

Next race, VIR! July 23rd-27th, 2003

Point Standings for the top 10:
339 Oliver (Mystery School, 2003 Champion)
237 Melneciuc (Mystery School Grad.)
233 Turner
225 Sorensen
223 Pyles (Mystery School Grad.)
206 Marchini
166 Jensen (Mystery School Grad.)
164 Sorbo (Mystery School Grad.)
160 Esser
158 Noce

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Group A Free Practice:

1. Yoshimura Suzuki GP1 DAXIM (A. Watanabe/Y. Kagayama), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:07.494

2. Seven Stars Honda 11 (N. Hayden/R. Kiyonari), Honda RC51, SB, 2:08.674

3. Seven Stars Honda 7 (T. Ukawa/H. Izutsu), Honda RC51, SB, 2:08.798

4. Team Cha-llenger (Y. Fujiwara/T. Kayo), Yamaha YZF-R1, JSB, 2:09.294

5. F.C.C. TSR ZIP-FM Racing Team (T. Tsujimura/S. Itoh), Honda CBR954RR, XF1, 2:09.781

6. F.C.C. TSR (Y. Konishi/T. Mori), Honda CBR954RR, JSB, 2:10.058

7. Garfield RSK (H. Kobayashi/H. Goata), Suzuki GSX-R1000, XF1, 2:10.077

8. Masked Rider 555 Honda (T. Yamaguchi/Y. Takahashi), Honda CBR954RR, JSB, 2:10.189

9. Wins Factory & Vega Sports (H. Kawasa/K. Teramoto), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:11.461

10. Moriwaki Motul Racing (M. Okuno/R. Tsuruta), Honda CBR954RR, FX1, 2:12.208

15. Zongshen Suzuki 2 (I. Jerman/B. Bonhuil/P. Bontempi), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:13.175

17. Corona Light TiForce Endurance Team (J. Szoke/P.Young), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:13.449

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The Group B practice started at 4:30 p.m. local time and ran until 6:00 p.m., past sunset.

Thursday Evening’s Group B Practice Times:

1. Kenz JTrust Mojo Suzuki (K. Kitagawa/K. Fujiwara, JSB, 2:08.492

2. Team Sakurai Honda 74 (C. Kameya/T. Okada), Honda RC51, SB, 2:09.526

3. YSP & Presto Racing (S. Nakatomi/W. Yoshikawa), Yamaha YZF-R1, JSB, 2:09.946

4. Team Sakurai Honda 71 (Y. Nukumi/G. Kamada), Honda RC51, SB, 2:10.505

5. Alpha OMC Racing Supply (A. Tamitsuji/Y. Konno), Suzuki GSX-R1000, JSB, 2:10.912

6. Weider Honda ATS DDBoys (O. Deguchi/H. Aoki), Honda CBR954RR, JSB, 2:11.179

7. Over Racing Radio-I (Y Hamaguchi/H. Takahashi), Yamaha YZF-R1, JSB, 2:11.253

8. Corona Extra TiForce Endurance (A. Fergusson/A. Gobert), Suzuki GSX-R1000, XF1, 2:11.297

9. Club Yamaha Motorcycle Racing (M. Tokinaga/A. Morita), Yamaha YZF-R1/7, XF1, 2:11.602

10. Team Etching Factory 15 (S. Takemi/K. Hasegawa), Yamaha YZF-R1, XF1, 2:11.783

11. Zongshen Suzuki 1 (W. Nowland/S. Mertens), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:11.964

12. Moto Liberty Arata-EX & Kiss-FM (D. Polen/Y. Sugai), Honda CBR954RR, XF1, 2:13.236


16. Suzuki GB Phase One (J. Pridmore/J. Ellison/J. Lindstrom), Suzuki GSX-R1000, SP, 2:13.669

From a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing:

PRIDMORE’S MID-OHIO RESULTS ILLUSTRATE RESURGENCE OF NON-FACTORY SUPERBIKE TEAMS

2003 AMA Superbike Rules Lead to Close Racing

PICKERINGTON, Ohio (July 31, 2004) — Jason Pridmore’s pair of second-place finishes at the Mid-Ohio doubleheader of the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship last weekend on his Attack Suzuki marked the best finish in the series for a non-factory team since Dale Quarterly’s second on a Ducati in 1995 at Laguna Seca.

Pridmore’s success highlights what has been a very good year for privateer teams in the championship — four non-factory riders are in the top 10 in the series standings. New AMA Superbike rules allowing 1000cc, four-cylinder machines have proven to make it possible for the first time in many years for non-factory riders to be competitive at the top level of motorcycle road racing in the United States.

Pridmore, son of three-time AMA Superbike Champion Reg Pridmore, earned his best-ever AMA Superbike finish last weekend, even better than when he was a factory Suzuki and Ducati Superbike rider. Pridmore is a 13-year AMA racing veteran.

“I think this is what we need,” said Pridmore of the new AMA Superbike rules. “I think next year if we can get Kawasaki and Yamaha and some of the other manufacturers involved in the new formula then things will really get moving in the right direction for many of the privateer and support teams in Superbike.”

Shawn Higbee is another leading AMA Superbike rider who feels he is benefiting from the new rules. Higbee raced as a factory Ducati rider in 1996 and is matching or bettering this season the performances he had on a factory bike.

“The new Superbike formula has definitely brought the field closer together,” said Higbee, who rides for Kaufman Trailers/Millennium Technologies Suzuki. “The gap has closed between the privateer and factory teams. The biggest difference is the cost. Before, even if you could buy the parts, it was very expensive to field a competitive Superbike. That left the smaller teams to race 750 Superstock machines and they had nowhere near the horsepower to be competitive. With the new rules a team can buy a bike and do fairly light modification and have trap speeds within a few miles per hour of the factory bikes.”

In addition to the competitiveness of the non-factory teams, the new rules have lead to very close racing in 2003. This season Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki have each earned victories in the Superbike class and Ducati has made the podium. Up to the Mid-Ohio round, the championship race was one of the closest in years with just six points separating the top two riders and the top six riders all within reach of the championship. Several of the races have been decided on the final lap with close battles at Daytona, Road America and Mid-Ohio.

While Yoshimura Suzuki’s Mat Mladin has won the majority of races and leads the championship as it nears the final round, he’s fought hard for his wins. This was evident in the dramatic conclusion to Saturday’s Superbike race at Mid-Ohio that saw he and Honda’s Kurtis Roberts swap the lead several times on the last lap before Robert’s crashed near the finish line opening up the door for Mladin to take the victory.

AMA Pro Racing Vice President, Director of Communications, Kerry Graeber says the rules package established by AMA Pro Racing has caught the attention of other sanctioning bodies around the world. “We’re glad to see that other organizations are looking at the new AMA Superbike rules as the basis for their rules,” said Graeber. “There’s movement to unify national and World Superbike rules to encourage participation from the factories as well as making it cost effective for smaller non-factory teams to be competitive.”

The AMA U.S. Superbike Championship, in its 28th season, was the first national championship featuring street-based motorcycles and spawned the Superbike World Championships as well as numerous national Superbike championships.



Editorial Note: Larry Pegram claims his third place at Road America earlier this year was the most recent best finish in AMA Superbike by a rider for a non-factory team, and, of course, Quarterley (note correct spelling) won an AMA National at Mid-Ohio in 1993.)

From a press release issued by MonsterMob Ducati:

STEVE HISLOP
1961 – 2003

On behalf of all at Paul Bird Motorsport like so many, we are saddened and shocked by the news of Steve Hislop’s tragic accident resulting in his untimely death yesterday.

Steve rode for the team for two very successful seasons and gave us not only our first British Superbike title but our first World Championship pole position at Donington Park, all of which we will never forget.

The combination of Paul Bird Motorsport and Steve Hislop proved the one to beat in 2001 and 2002 which culminated in him winning last season’s Championship and in doing so completed his fairytale return to the top after injury and bad luck dogged his previous bids.

Team owner Paul Bird said “We will forever be indebted to Steve for what he has done for us. It’s fair to say we wouldn’t be where we are now if it wasn’t for him. For now all our thoughts are with his dedicated mum Margaret and his two lovely children Connor and Aaron. All of us are going to miss him but we will all remember him very fondly.”