From a press release issued by Yamaha Australia:

2003 Yamaha Formula Xtreme TT Series
Round 3, Winton Motor Raceway, Victoria
Race Report

CURTAIN CONTINUES HIS DOMINATION OF XTREME AND SUPERSPORT CLASSES AT WINTON

Like a good red wine, Kevin Curtain continues to get better with age as he swept all before him once again at round three of the 2003 Yamaha Formula Xtreme TT Series held at Winton Motor Raceway in northern Victoria.

Curtain and his pair of Nikon Yamaha Racing Team Yamahas won all four races in both the Xtreme (YZF-R1) and Supersport (YZF-R6) classes, smashing lap records in each category during his rampage at Winton.

His only blemish for the weekend, if you can call it one, was that he was bumped off pole position in the final moments of the Xtreme qualifying session by teammate and current series point’s leader Daniel Stauffer.

A quartet of second place Xtreme finishes for Stauffer still has him leading the points table for the premier class by six points over Curtain who rebounded in exemplary style after leaving the previous round of the series with two dnf’s from four starts.

While he appears to under considerable pressure to retain his Xtreme title, Curtain has already built up a healthy 95-point break over his nearest rival in the FX Supersport class, courtesy of 12 consecutive race wins to date.

“I was very happy with what I was able to achieve today,” said Curtain at the conclusion of the days racing. “It is a nice feeling to come away with a bag full of race wins and a couple of lap records, but it wasn’t as easy for me as it appears. I had four very good hard races in the Xtreme against Daniel and he was riding very well all weekend. I had to work hard to get past him and each time I did I wanted to make the move as clean as possible. He was able to make some very starts in each of the races and I had it all to do if I wanted to get the win. In the end it all worked out well and I’ve been able to bridge the points gap to him after the bad round that I had at Oran Park a few weeks ago.

“With the Supersport class, all I can say is that the Yamaha YZF R6 is just getting better and better. I’m getting a lot more comfortable on the bike and we are dialling in the suspension settings in a way that it is steering and doing everything that we want it to. It’s a great bike. I did expect to be challenged a bit more though, but for some reason I was just on it this weekend and everything just felt right.”

In Xtreme, Yamaha riders filled six of the top ten placings, while they fill eight of the top ten in the overall series points, proving yet again the performance of the Yamaha YZF R1.

Along with Curtain and Stauffer, Victorian privateer Cameron Donald (Gary O’Brien Yamaha) had his best result of the year, finishing third overall in Xtreme and pushing young Queenslander Brendan Clarke on the third of the Nikon Yamaha’s back to fourth. Stephen Tozer (Stafford Yamaha) finished seventh overall, with Queensland’s Ben Attard ninth aboard his Aluma-Lite Racing Yamaha.

Curtain’s pace in the Xtreme class showed as he not only smashed the existing Xtreme lap record, but set a new motorcycle lap record for the 3.00km Victorian circuit with a 1:24.428 in the fourth and final Xtreme race.

A trio of Yamaha’s led the Supersport field for overall honours with Curtain on top from teammate Clarke and Sydney privateer Glen Allerton, who had a best finish of third in race two. Procycles Yamaha rider Shaun Geronimi also had a solid consistent weekend, finishing fifth overall.

Sixteen-year-old Alex Cudlin moved to the top of the Superstock points table thanks to four race wins aboard his Fineline Motorcycles Yamaha YZF R6. He now holds an eleven-point lead in the class over Alex Tomasetti.

Round four of the 2003 Yamaha Formula Xtreme TT Series will be held at Queensland Raceway on the weekend of May 31 – June 1.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Tommy Hayden fought off a strong challenge from Vincent Haskovec–who took the lead at one point–to win the Superstock race at Infineon Raceway. Adam Fergusson was third.

Results
1. Tommy Hayden, ZX-6R, 17 laps
2. Vincent Haskovec, GSX-R750, -2.721 seconds
3. Adam Fergusson, GSX-R750, -9.5
4. Jason DiSalvo, YZF-R6, -15.6
5. Jimmy Moore, GSX-R750, -17.1
6. Josh Hayes, GSX-R750, -19.9
7. Tony Meiring, ZX-6R, -20.2
8. Opie Caylor, GSX-R750, -20.3
9. Jordan Szoke, GSX-R750, -26.6
10. John Haner, GSX-R750, -26.9
11. Mike Ciccotto, GSX-R750, -37.7
12. Jeremy Toye, GSX-R750, -40.9
13. Chris Ulrich, GSX-R750, -46.4 (crashed)
14. Alan Schmidt, GSX-R750, -52.3
15. Jake Holden, GSX-R750, -52.56
16. Matt Furtek, GSX-R750, -53.05
17. Brian Stokes, GSX-R750, -54.31
18. Michael Hannas, GSX-R750, -68.98
19. Danny Eslick, GSX-R750, -69.19
20. Jeff Bostrom, GSX-R750, -80.51
21. Hawk Mazzotto, GSX-R750, -89.49
22. J.J. Roetlin, GSX-R750, -89.63
23. Doug Pitcock, GSX-R750, -97.46
24. Mickey Lane, GSX-R750, -1 lap
25. Chad Rolland, GSX-R750, -1 lap
26. Tom Wertman, GSx-R750, -1 lap
27. Jason Chisum, GSX-R750, -1 lap
28. Corey Sarros, GSX-R750, -1 lap
29. Bryan Edginton, GSx-R750, -1 lap
30. Michael Dantonio, GSX-R750, -1 lap
31. Mark Degross, CBR600RR, -1 lap
32. Jay Jacobson, GSX-R750, -1 lap
33. Paul Timman, GSX-R750, -2 laps
34. Rocky Caceres, GSX-R750, -2 laps
35. Rich Conicelli, GSX-R750, -2 laps
36. Mark Simon, GSX-R750, -7 laps
37. Jason Peters, GSX-R750, -11 laps
38. John Dugan, GSX-R750, -15 laps, DNF, crash

From a press release:

Barry Gilsenan has formed a new race team for 2003 under the title of Team Celtic Racing with riders Des Conboy and JJ Walsh.

Conboy will be running the full Formula USA series and select LRRS events on Suzuki GSX-R600s while Walsh will run the full LRRS schedule.

Joining the team as crew chief will be Mark Rosema.

Current sponsers include Pirelli, Hindle, The Olde Village Inne, Markbilt racebikes, Vortex, Innovative Motorcycle Research, Street & Comp and Suzuki of Ramsey.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

It is 8:40 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, the track is dry and the second practice sesson of the day, for Superbikes, is on track at Infineon Raceway.

The skies are partly cloudy.

Rich Oliver was fastest in the first session, for 250cc GP machines.

The AMA Pro Racing timing & scoring system is up and running but is double-scoring several riders. For example, Ben Spies is currently shown on T&S monitors as being 1st and 2nd-fastest, Miguel Duhamel is shown as being 6th and 7th-fastest, and Aaron Yates is shown as being 8th and 9th-fastest.

Update: The session was red-flagged at 8:46 a.m. due to a crash, with Andy Deatherage shown on monitors as being the fastest rider, with a 43.342-second lap. Eric Bostrom was shown as 2nd-fastest at 1:39.308.

Update: Bikes are back on track at 8:50 a.m., with 15 minutes left in the session.
Update: At 8:58, Deatherage still tops the timing & scoring monitors at Infineon, followed by Rob Christman, Mladin, Yates, Bostrom, Spies, Rapp, Duhamel, Kurtis Roberts at 9th and 10th fastest, Pegram, Acree, Chandler, Caylor and Pridmore.

At 9:00 a.m., riders are filing back into the pits with a light sprinkle falling on parts of the course.

At 9:04, T&S is showing Christman fastest followed by Mladin at 1:38.806, the fastest legitimate time; others include Pegram, Yates at 4th and 5th fastest, Bostrom, Spies, Rapp, Duhamel, Roberts at 9th and 10th fastest, Acree, Chandler, Howard, Caylor and Pridmore.

At 9:10, the Superbike session was restarted with about five minutes remaining on the clock.

Fastest Times At The End Of The Superbike Session
1. Mat Mladin, 1:38.397
2. Larry Pegram, 1:39.099
3. Aaron Yates, 1:39.154
4. Eric Bostrom, 1:39.219
5. Ben Spies, 1:39.327
6. Steve Rapp, 1:39.529

As the Supersport bikes went on track, the trend of double-scoring riders continued on the timing & scoring monitors, with several riders appearing multiple times in the order.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

According to a public address system announcement made at about 2:45 p.m., all on-track activities at Infineon Raceway are over for the day.

From a press release issued by VJB Racing’s Tony Bell:

Road racer Vicky Jackson-Bell was injured while taking part in a track day at Glen Helen MX park.

Vicky was hit by a well- known factory rider who was practicing for the upcoming AMA National.

Vicky sustained a left shoulder dislocation, a dislocation of the left hip and a compound fracture of the left hip socket.

Vicky was taken to the Arrowhead Medical Center in Colton, California where she is sedated. Surgery is planned for May 8th once her condition has stabilized.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

The status of the racing surface of Infineon Raceway remains a question mark, but AMA Pro Racing has announced tentative plans for the rest of the Supercuts Superbike Challenge.

Kerry Graeber, AMA Pro Racing Vice President, Director of Communications, told Roadracingworld.com that the current priority for officials is drying the track, “which includes several spots of water running across the track.”

When the track is dry, says Graeber, practice will resume with the MBNA 250cc Grand Prix class followed by the first Superbike practice.

After those groups practice, AMA Pro Racing will attempt to run the first 28-lap Superbike race followed by the 17-lap Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock final.

If more, dry track time remains Saturday, it will be used for practice for the Supersport, Formula Xtreme, Superbike and 250cc Grand Prix classes.

“The reason we are trying to get races in today,” said Graeber, “is because the weather outlook for Sunday is now looking bad also.”

The tentative plan for Sunday would be practice in the morning followed by the final events for Supersport, 250cc Grand Prix, Formula Xtreme and Superbike.

Graeber said that AMA Pro Racing has given up hope of having any timed qualifying sessions for any class and would grid the final events based on current point standings, order of pre-entry followed by order of post-entry.

From a press release issued by AMA Pro Racing:

AMA PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE U.S. FLAT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP TV SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED

PICKERINGTON, Ohio – The television schedule for the 2003 AMA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championship has been released and five more events are to be televised on Speed Channel this season, in addition to the Daytona Short Track event that was aired in March. In addition to Grand National coverage, select Harley-Davidson Sportster Performance Series races will be shown.

AMA Flat Track fans will get a good mix of racing venues to watch – from the famous Springfield Mile to the neighboring TT circuit. There will also be the opportunity to catch televised racing from a new venue, the half-mile at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, as well as the race at Scioto Downs in Columbus, Ohio.

“Flat track racing is traditionally some of the closest in all of AMA Pro Racing,” said Bruce Bober, AMA Pro Racing’s Flat Track Manager. “We’re confident that the sport will continue to win new fans as they are able to watch these races on Speed Channel. We’re fortunate to have companies such as Progressive Insurance and Harley-Davidson Motor Company, whose support helps make these flat track broadcasts possible.”

The next AMA Grand National on the TV schedule is the tradition-rich Memorial Day Weekend running of the Springfield Mile. The race will be shown as part of Speed Channel’s Two-Wheel Tuesday on June 24 at 9 p.m. EST and rebroadcast twice. Defending champion Chris Carr will be shooting for a third-straight victory in the Memorial Day Springfield Mile race.

The cameras then move next door to the Springfield TT circuit. The Hayden brothers from Owensboro, Ky., have owned that track since its inception and look for Tommy and Roger Lee to be among the frontrunners again this year. The Springfield TT race will first be shown on Two-Wheel Tuesday July 1.

Sharon Speedway’s Half-mile is one of the new venues on the schedule this year. The July 5 race will be shown on Speed Channel July 22. The scenic Scioto Downs venue in Columbus, Ohio, will run on Sept. 20 and taped for an Oct. 7 showing on Speed. Scioto Downs is the race closest to the AMA Pro Racing headquarters in nearby Pickerington, Ohio, and it’s quickly become a favorite venue to fans and racers alike. The 2003 AMA Flat Track television package wraps up with the season finale, September 26-27, at the Springfield Mile. That race will first be shown on Oct. 21. Considered the most prestigious single race in the championship, Springfield almost always produces exciting finishes decided in final draft maneuvers coming down the front straight on the last lap.

Visit www.1800FlatTrack.com for the complete broadcast schedule.