Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

It’s 2:40 p.m. and AMA Pro Racing and Infineon Raceway officials are meeting to decide the status of today’s on-track activities at the Sonoma, California racetrack.

The sun is shining but the situation is not as simple as not having rain falling.

Water is seeping up through cracks in the track surface and is running across the line in several corners.

AMA Pro Racing’s Ron Barrick took three-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin out to look at the track and it is Mladin’s opinion that the track was in no condition to run.

Track officials took reporters out to look at the situation in turn 3.

Despite the fact that the sun is shining, water continues to flow out of adjacent hillsides and push up through the track, a legacy of over an inch of rain last night.

Best estimates are that the seepage problem will abate and the track will be raceable in about 24 hours.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing Wold Publishing, Inc.

At 1:00 p.m., we’re still waiting for practice to start at Infineon Raceway.

Crews are still working on getting water off some sections of the track.

The biggest problem seems to be water seeping up through the track surface in turn 8.

The lastest news is that the Saturday Superbike race has been pushed back to 4:00 p.m.

We’re awaiting further word…

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

It’s 10:30 a.m. local time at Infineon Raceway and the only on-track activity is a parade of ambulances, cars, trucks, scooters and two police dirtbikes (!) trying to dry out the track. The parade has made progress in eliminating some of the biggest puddles on some parts of the course but the track surface is still very wet as a result of heavy rains that started last night and continued on and off into the morning.

The new section of pavement in the esses is still under several inches of water, and the parade is actually detouring around that section by using the old course; work crews with brooms, a sweeper truck and a fire hose are trying to get water and mud off the new pavement.

A new schedule will obviously have to be formulated…

From a press release issued by Mat Mladin Motorsports:

2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship
Rounds 4 & 5 – Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, California, USA
Opening Qualifying Session Report


RAIN HALTS AMERICAN SUPERBIKE QUALIFYING AT INFINEON RACEWAY


Sonoma, California, USA – Continued rain showers throughout the day have forced race officials to call a halt to practice and qualifying sessions for the AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship round being held at Infineon Raceway (formerly known as Sears Point) today.

Rain fell periodically throughout the day, with only three classes being able to take to the circuit, (Formula Xtreme, Supersport and 250 Grand Prix) before more showers put an early end to each of those sessions.

Three-times American Superbike champion and current championship points leader Mat Mladin, did take to the circuit during the Formula Xtreme practice session aboard his Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000, only doing enough laps to familiarise himself with the conditions. No Superbike practice or qualifying took place today.

Weather conditions are expected to remain the same tomorrow (Saturday), before clearing on Sunday and Monday.

The disruption to the program will mean that the Superbike competitors will only have tomorrow morning’s qualifying session to set their best times before the first of two 18-lap Superbike nationals are held later in the afternoon, weather permitting.

If conditions remain wet tomorrow, race officials will reschedule the events for Sunday, and possibly Monday.

Mladin arrived at this weekend’s round of the championship fresh from a double victory at the previous round at California Speedway and leads the points chase with a total of 100, eight points clear of Honda’s Miguel DuHamel.

Proposed Saturday Schedule

8:00-9:40 a.m., Practice (All classes)
9:45-10:05 a.m., Superstock Qualifying, Even #s
10:10-10:30 a.m., Superstock Qualifying, Odd #s
10:40-11:10 a.m., Superbike Qualifying
11:20-11:40 a.m., Supersport Qualifying, Even #s
11:50-12:10 a.m., Supersport Qualifying, Odd #s
12:10-12:40, Lunch
12:40-1:00 p.m., Superbike Practice
2:00 p.m., Superbike race, 18 laps,
followed by 250cc GP Qualifying, followed by Superstock race, 17 laps.

2003 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship (points after 3 of 18
rounds)
1. M Mladin 100; 2. M DuHamel 92; 3. B Bostrom 87; 4. A Yates 86; 5. E
Bostrom 85; 6. K Roberts 81; 7. S Higbee 64; 8. A Deathridge 60; 9. V
Haskovec 55; 10. L Pegram 51.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA Pro Racing officials have issued a new schedule for Sunday at Infineon Raceway, as follows:

8:00-10:45 a.m.
Practice
250cc Grand Prix
Superbike
Supersport
Superstock
Formula Xtreme

11:00 a.m.
Superbike Race One (28 laps)

12:00 p.m.
250cc Grand Prix race (17 laps)

1:00 p.m.
Supersport race (17 laps)

2:00 p.m.
Superstock race (17 laps)

3:00 p.m.
Superbike Race Two (28 laps)

4:00 p.m.
Formula Xtreme race (17 laps)


Earlier in the afternoon, prior to releasing the new schedule, AMA Pro Racing and Infineon Raceway officials held a press conference on the situation.

The press conference included Infineon’s President and General Manager Steve Page, Vice President of Communications John Cardinale, Vice President of Facilities Jere Starks, AMA Pro Racing Director of Road Racing Ron Barrick, and riders Mat Mladin and Miguel Duhamel.

Mladin, who had seen the seepage on the track first hand said, “When you go out there on a dry racetrack it’s either got to be dry or wet, and we don’t race here in the rain for other reasons. Unfortunately, there are a few corners out there where it’s just impossible. If you’re going out there as a single rider and knew the course had a couple of wet spots, then it’s not as big of an issue, even though it’s still an issue. The way the track is now, you’re probably talking five or six seconds off what you could do if the track was dry. It’s one of those things that when you get a whole bunch of people on the racetrack at the same time it could become a problem. There probably would be a problem.”

“We really have to look to the AMA and the riders to let us know if the track is rideable,” said Page. “We had over an inch of rain here last night and the earth here is like a big sponge and it’s full of water right now. The good news is that the forecast from what we’ve seen is that we’re not likely to have much more in the way of showers, and with every hour, the water that’s trapped under the surface recedes and the track could be in fine shape tomorrow morning.”

“I think the AMA handled it very well,” said Duhamel. “The decision (not to ride) was not an upheaval of riders as maybe happened in the past; it was a constructive decision with the AMA and the track. It was a safety issue and we just didn’t do it.”

When asked why the track had not been completely resurfaced while there had been other, obvious capital improvements at the track, Page said, “We could go into a long, detailed explanation of the sequencing of different things. We create the environment and grade the bowl, the area around the track, first and foremost. Unfortunately, it had to do with a variety of reasons with the sequencing of the project. The portion of the track that hasn’t been repaved, we simply haven’t been able to get to that. By September 1st, all the areas that are still the old pavement will be replaced. You should also understand that, in some of the areas that we have new pavement, with the amount of water we have under the ground, with the amount of rain that we’ve had and to have an inch of rain at the tail end of our rainy season, there’s just a lot of water there, and regardless of what the surface is on the track you’re going to have water wanting to work its way to the surface.”

“After the repaving, that doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is solved,” added Cardinale.

“Once the water gets underneath the track, we’re in trouble,” said Starks. “So, part of the repaving process is a comprehensive drainage system to cut off the water before it gets under the track. Asphalt is porous. Gravity works on water just like it works on everything else and it’s going to go down and it’s going to come to the surface. It’s up to us to design a system that keeps the water underneath the track.”

Asked if running two Superbike races on the same day was going to be hard, Mladin said, “I don’t see it as being a major problem. What will be a major problem is trying to give everybody enough track time to try to figure out what kind of tires and stuff everyone needs to use. If we were to go tomorrow and (practice) for 15 minutes and then go race, you hope you make the right pick, but it’s the same for everybody.”

“Hopefully they’ll just go by points (for qualifying) and try and give us some extra time to practice so we can try to find some sort of setup,” said Duhamel. “For myself, it’s probably going to be three races; I’ve got the 600 also. It’s not a problem for Mat, he trains a lot, but for me, I didn’t do anything all winter,” joked the obviously fit Duhamel. Asked if mental exhaustion was going to be a problem, Duhamel said, “I’ll probably go faster; less air to my brain.” Duhamel then added, “It’s going to definitely be more taxing on the body. You’ll maybe see people going backwards because they’re just getting tired. This is definitely a very physical track. I’d rather not think about it.”

Page said track officials had thought about changing the date of the race after having problems with rain two out of the last four years, but added, “There would be a lot of other challenges working back through the other events that we do. The first part of May in this part of the country is usually a pretty dependable date. The fact that we’ve had two times, maybe we need to think about it. But we’re not going to immediately start petitioning for a different date.”

Barrick said, “Out intent is to run a very full program tomorrow. We’ll sit down with the track and see how early we have to start in the morning. The plan would be to hit the first Superbike race when it was scheduled for live television originally, and the second Superbike race would probably be at the end of the day to give the riders and crews an opportunity to regroup.”

Track officials also announced that Saturday tickets would be honored on Sunday, or can be returned for a refund.

And official track statement on the ticket situation included this:

All fans that attended Saturday’s racing will have three ways to redeem their tickets:

1. All Saturday event tickets will be honored at the gate for Sunday’s AMA Superbike doubleheader.

2. All Saturday tickets purchased through Infineon Raceway may be returned by mail for a direct refund. The address for Infineon Raceway is: Highways 37 and 121, Sonoma, CA, 95476. Please address letter to: AMA Ticket Refund.

3. All fans that purchased Saturday tickets through Ticketmaster should call 707-528-TIXS (8497) for step-by-step instructions on how to obtain a refund.

From a press release issued by FGSPORTGROUP, organizers of the FIM Endurance World Championship:

Imola 200 Final Qualifying

2002 World Champions Take Pole Position

Today’s two qualifying sessions for the 200 Miglia di Imola saw a succession of blistering fastest laps from the leading contenders. After the first session Zongshen No.1’s Warwick Nowland was a mere two hundredths of a second ahead of Piergiorgio Bontempi on the Zongshen No.2 bike, with Mike Edwards in third place on the Trackdaze No.11 machine only four tenths adrift.

Nowland went out at the end of the second session with a special Dunlop tyre fitted, and trimmed half a second off his time, putting the No.1 Zongshen bike firmly into pole position. Suzuki GB Phase One’s Olivier Four and James Ellison managed to refine their bike’s set-up and Four was able to go nearly two seconds faster, moving up to second on the grid. Third place went to Bontempi and the Zongshen 2 machine, with Edwards managing to hold onto fourth place despite the Trackdaze Suzuki being virtually standard.

Fifth place went to Ducati Cuneo, with Foti a clear four seconds faster than his team mates Gerbaudo and former world champion Lucchinelli. In sixth place was Yamaha Austria. They had suffered an engine problem earlier in the day when a number of cam retaining bolts failed, but will be back to full power for the race.

Police Nationale took seventh, a real achievement by the team who have had very little time to prepare their bikes. Yamaha Endurance Moto 38 were eighth, Bolliger Kawasaki ninth and Ducati DRE 101 tenth.

Warwick Nowland – Zongshen No.1: Everything has gone well; this is our first race since Vallelunga but everyone has worked very hard. The race tomorrow will probably be between us and the other Zongshen bike. We’re the two most consistent team, but anything can happen in a race.

Stephane Mertens – Zongshen No.1: I feel like I’ve come back very well after recovering from my injuries over the winter. I can smile now because my lap times are getting close to Warwick and I’m happy with the team.

James Ellison – Suzuki GB Phase One No.3: We were working on race set-up rather than going for the fastest lap, and we’re not using qualifying tyres. There’s still more to come from Olivier and I.

Piergiorgio Bontempi – Zongshen No.2: I tried to push very hard today because it’s a long race tomorrow.

Mike Edwards – Trackdaze No.11: I thought we’d be happy with a top ten position because the bike is completely standard. We’re trying to get a set up that suits all three of us; as my team mates get quicker the settings we’re using get closer to my ideal.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Bob Dragich

The sun came out after rain and standing water on the track had kept racing action off Infineon Raceway for most of Saturday, May 3, but there was still a delay. At just after 2:00 p.m., Infineon and AMA Pro Racing officials loaded two vans full of journalists and took them out on the track to show them just what the problem was.

Accompanied by AMA Road Racing Director Ron Barrick, Infineon officials had the vans stop at turn 3. A jet drier had just turned off its engine, and just as it stopped, the dry pavement immediately started to percolate with water coming up through a number of cracks in the track.

Track President and General Manager Steve Page said, “This is one of three or four spots were having problems with. It’s a function of the amount of water that’s in the ground. The riders are understandably concerned. We got over one inch of rain last night alone.”

“It’s the runoff from the hills” surrounding the track said Vice President of Facilities Jere Starks. “It’s the same in turns 8 and 10. We run the jet (drier) over it and it comes right back.”

“We brought (three time Superbike champion) Mat (Mladin) out here,” said Barrick. “He said definitely not. It’s like hitting a spot of oil.”

Track Vice President of Communications John Cardinale pointed out that the parts of the track that have not been paved recently are all scheduled to be repaved in August. Starks added that it was more than just repaving that had to be done, and the attendant drainage was the tricky part.

“We have a responsibility to all the people in the stands,” said Page, adding that, “In 24 hours, the track could be fine.”

Asked why the event had been moved from August, its traditional date, to the beginning of May, Page said, “The timing worked out well with the Sonomafest we put together with Cycle World (magazine). This used to be the Winston Cup weekend. For those of you from Northern California, you know that it’s unusual to have rain like this in May.”

At 2:45 p.m., the official word came over the PA system that the day’s events had been canceled.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

With rain holding off and the track surface reasonably dry, AMA Pro Racing officials have issued another new Saturday schedule, labeled Revised Saturday Schedule II, including practice and qualifying sessions.

Practice is now scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time.

The new schedule follows:

12:30-1:30 p.m.
Practice
250cc GP
Superbike
Supersport
Formula Xtreme

1:35-2:05 p.m.
Superbike Qualifying

2:10-2:30 p.m.
Superstock Qualifying, Even #s

2:35-2:55 p.m.
Superstock Qualifying, Odd #s

3:00 p.m.
Superbike race one, 28 laps

4:10-4:30 p.m.
Supersport Qualifying, Even #s

4:40-5:00
Supersport Qualifying, Odd #s

5:00
Superstock race (17 laps)

6:00-6:30 p.m.
Formula Xtreme Qualifying

6:40-7:00 p.m.
250cc GP Qualifying

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

It has currently stopped raining at Infineon Raceway, and if it doesn’t start raining again, track officials hope that on-track activities can start at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

The tentative plan calls for the lunch break to be cut to 30 minutes and track officials are looking into the possibility of running until 7:00 p.m. tonight to get the day’s full on-track schedule in.

That schedule includes practice, followed by Superbike and Superstock qualifying sessions.