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.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

On-track activities at Infineon Raceway have officially ended due to rain. A new Saturday schedule has been published, as follows:

8:00-9:40 a.m., Practice
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.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

AMA Supersport practice started at approximately 11:20 a.m. Friday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, was stopped 11 minutes later and was re-started again minutes later.

Practice was delayed due to a wet track caused by overnight rains, practice was then stopped for more light rain and at post time Supersport riders were being called back out to continue the stopped practice.

“There were some areas of standing water,” said AMA Pro Racing Vice President, Director of Communications Kerry Graeber, when asked about the delay to the start of Friday practice. “We were not comfortable with putting bikes on a damp track.

“According to Ron Barrick (AMA Pro Racing Series Manager), this track has too many different racing surfaces, and it doesn’t hold water well. The track cannot be run in the wet.”

A complete resurfacing of the Infineon Raceway road course is planned for the off-season, and AMA Pro Racing hopes the new surface will allow racing in the rain.

When practice started AMA Pro Racing timing and scoring appeared to be functioning properly.

Before the most recent rain and delay, AMA Pro Racing had issued the following revised Friday schedule:

11:20 a.m. – 1:20 p.m. Practice:

1. Pro Honda Oils Supersport
2. Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme
3. Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock
4. MBNA 250cc Grand Prix

1:30 – 2:10 p.m. Chevy Trucks Superbike Practice

2:10 – 2:40 p.m. Lunch Break

2:20 p.m. Mandatory Rider Briefing for All Classes

2:40 – 4:00 Practice (same order as morning session)

4:10 – 4:50 p.m. Chevy Trucks Superbike Qualifying

5:00 – 5:30 p.m. Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock Qualifying, Even #s

5:40 – 6:10 p.m. Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock Qualifying, Odd #s

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Infineon Raceway Public Relations Manager John Cardinale made an announcement in the media center at approximately 2:35 p.m. Pacific Time that AMA Pro Racing would not call Friday’s activities at the Sonoma, California racetrack rained out until 4:00 p.m. local time.

Cardinale said AMA Pro Racing will wait until 4:00 p.m. to publish a revised weekend schedule.

If it stops raining before 4:00 p.m., on-track activities can run until 7:00 p.m. local time, according to Cardinale.

When the AMA practice and qualifying schedule resumes, the MBNA 250cc Grand Prix practice session will be the first thing on the track.

“Worst case scenario and Saturday gets entirely rained out,” said Cardinale, “they (AMA Pro Racing) will grid by points, pre-entry and post entry, and everything will run on Sunday including both Superbike races.”

Cardinale said these announcements were also made in a rider’s meeting held by AMA Pro Racing Series Manager Ron Barrick.

Weather radar shown on television monitors in the media center makes any more on-track activities Friday look unlikely. It is currently raining at the track, and a wide band of heavy rain showers is still en route to the area of the track.

From a press release issued by the WCM MotoGP team:

WCM has now received the first castings for the next version of the WCM engine. These feature a Cassette Gearbox, allowing the internal ratios to be changed without splitting the engine. The castings will now be sent for machining.

WCM has to hope that the FIM allow them to compete in Jerez and further GPs so that the engine development can continue.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Former AMA Champion Jamie James has taken on a new role, as a suspension consultant for Ohlins.

Speaking at Infineon Raceway Friday, James said he would be attending the rest of the 2003 AMA National road race events to “talk to riders and help them come up with a better set-up, break down the communications barrier and maybe do some testing.”

James said he worked with suspension expert Dale Rathwell during much of his racing career, but that quality suspension help was not readily available to all riders.

“Back when I was racing, I don’t think it was available to everybody,” said James. “Most of the factory teams already have Ohlins technicians, but I’m here to help anyone who is using Ohlins suspension on their bikes. There are no favorites at the Ohlins truck.”

James won AMA National Championships in 750cc Supersport and Superbike in 1989, Pro Twins GP1 in 1990 and 600cc Supersport in 1994.