About 300 linear feet of Airfence inflatable soft barrier is being deployed at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois today, for use during the AMA Pro Racing Mile dirt track race this weekend.

The Roadracing World Action Fund made a soft-barrier deployment deal with the Illinois Motorcycle Dealers Association (IMDA), which promotes the race, after AMA Pro Racing declined an offer of soft barrier funding for dirt track use.

The deal between the Roadacing World Action Fund and the IMDA was brokered by AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr, who is on the Board of Directors of the Roadracing World Action Fund.

The actual deployment of the Airfence soft barriers at Springfield is being directed by Dan Lance, who is being paid by the Roadracing World Action Fund.

The deployment is part of an educational program designed to demonstrate the safety and economic advantages of using soft barriers in front of walls lining racetracks.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION:

From four-time AMA 250cc Grand Prix Champion Rich Oliver, via e-mail:

There was a guy walking around the pits at Road
Atlanta last weekend wearing a T-shirt that said,
“Anyone but Mladin.”

I don’t think he’s a fan of Mat’s, but he did have it right in some ways.

Mat’s the Superbike points leader who saved a huge high-speed crash when his tire let go at 175 mph.

Maybe anyone else but Mladin would have bailed off, and not been able to wrestle their Superbike to a low-speed crash instead of a high-speed disaster. Mat pulled it off.

Then he tried to dig himself and the bike out of the pea gravel, to get back to the pits for another try, but the bike just wouldn’t come out and he walked back down the hill, on camera, with a strained smile on his face anyway. Anyone but Mladin may not have been able to pull that off.

Then the next day instead of being leery of the tire, he goes out and smokes off quick time in the morning session, and comes back out and wins the race even with a fogging visor. Anyone but Mladin didn’t seem to do that, either.

In the winners’ circle Mat and his wife smiled a
little at each other. You could see from the way she looked at him that she understood what her husband had just done.

I wonder if the guy sporting the T-shirt ever had that look from his wife.

I would quess probably not…

Rich Oliver




And now, some reader reaction, via e-mail:

I wouldn’t wear a T-shirt like Rich Oliver described but here is another opinion on Mat. Many of us avid U.S. race fans would love to love Mat like we do Miguel, Anthony, and others from outside the U.S. He is cut of the same cloth as probably the top 4 or 5 riders in the world and I love to watch him ride a motorcycle as only the very blessed can.

I just wish that he could be a bit more understanding of us mortals when he gives his opinion. He is almost always right in what he says, but it’s not always well received because of the way it is said.

I know he probably could care less what I think, but I would like to be able to be a fan of his for more than just his considerable riding prowess. It just makes going to the races and being a fan that much more fun for me.

Larry Gilbert
Orlando, Florida



After reading Rich Oliver’s take on T-shirts worn by fans declaring support for ‘Anyone but Mladin’ I feel that I had to reply to agree with the fan and the T-shirt.

It isn’t that we don’t like Mat as a person, but there are several things in play here:

1) Mat is the Tony Stewart of motorcycle racing. He does not want to be a poster-child for AMA racing. Mat does not display any great effort to support nor grow the sport and U.S. racing. To the contrary he brings attention to all the things wrong with it. He complains about sub-standard equipment, then when he wins he doesn’t seem much better (See podium at Fontana).

3) To a certain extent there is an expectation that great AMA riders should get picked up for World rides, helping parity along. Combine this expectation with a ‘Foggy’-like distain for Americans (and our tracks) that Mladin periodically displays leaves me wondering ‘Why is this guy still here?’

2) AMA Superbike racing needs more parity. Mat’s dynasty years have felt much like the two-wheeled equivalent of Formula One racing where Ferrari doesn’t win only when they break or crash. AMA racing will not reach its potential for growth if the races are boring and the result basically pre-determined.

In short I pull for ‘Anyone but Mladin’ in the interest of the sport. Where can I get one of those T-shirts?

J. Greissing
Fremont, California



Somebody saw Mladin smile?

Mark your calendar!

Tyler Sandell
Seattle, Washington

From a press release:

Kyle Racing is proud to announce on May 23, 2003, we sold our 1000th Ohlins shock.

In celebration of this for the next 30 days, for each shock or fork sold, we will donate $50 to the Roadracing World Action Fund.

We have been selling Ohlins shocks, forks and steering dampers for 5 years. This long relationship with Ohlins, as well as being the largest Ohlins retailer in the USA, allows us to both have the lowest prices and ship shocks ready to ride with the correct springs and valving at no extra cost.

Thanks to all of our customers for their support.

Dan Kyle
Kyle Racing
www.kyleusa.com
801 B California Avenue
Sand City, CA 93955
Tel: (831) 394-1330
Fax: (831) 394-1331
Email: [email protected]

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION:

Via e-mail

1997, WERA GNF, Road Atlanta, my son Gordy Lunde, Jr. hits a concrete wall barely protected by haybales and dies from his injuries. The track owners immediately changed the track. Thank you, but it was a little late. Last year two racers are injured and the track owners changed the track. Now we have a rider injured in the “new” section that was changed to prevent injuries …. the day “after” a bike hits the same wall!

Isn’t this going to get real expensive changing the track every time someone hits a wall? Or wouldn’t it be better to eliminate some walls or at least do a damn better job of protecting them? Oh wait, the walls don’t need protection, the riders do!

Who the hell does a track inspection before a race is held? Anyone? The person who did it, if any, is the one that should be held responsible for this latest fiasco. It’s not real hard to pick out contact points w/walls etc. if you just do a track ride (not drive) and look it over closely. A bare concrete wall straight ahead of you entering a turn should put up a huge red flag in your eyes.

How many racers will have to be injured or killed before the tracks and race organizations in this country wake up and realize changes need to be made for motorcycle racing? Not just band aids but real changes to improve safety for all participants.

The lack of any change, no attempt whatsoever by the track or AMA to make the area safer at Road Atlanta after a bike hit that unprotected barrier borders on criminal!

Just my .02 cents but damn it, I miss my son!

Good luck, Woody.

Gordon Lunde
Wegman Benefit Fund
Milwaukee, Wisconsin


Editorial note: Gordy, we miss your son, too.

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION:

Via e-mail

Being a former Loudon regular, I am very familiar with walls and racetracks. It would seem to me that a simple procedure would be easy to initiate that might save lives and and prevent injuries.

Get a layout of each track on the schedule before the season starts, with the position & distance of each fixed barrier to the track surface for reference. Have a team of riders/ promoters do a lap on paper looking at the potential impact zones and likely possible angles from running off, bumping of bikes, sliding & hooking, etc.

This could all be done without visiting the track for the most part. You would cover pretty much every conceivable situation with some simple guessing by guys who have had just about every type of get-off there is.

Naturally, when a wall is parallel to the race surface, it is less likely to become an impact zone without a freak situation. There will no doubt be isolated instances where every precaution is still not enough, but a better effort would no doubt make a difference.

I agree with Mr. Lunde’s outcry for looking at the situations in advance. I was at Road Atlanta right after his son’s tragic accident, and boy, did it wake us up to that impact zone. Why do we have to be reactive instead of proactive?

A good guy to ask for help would be Dave Sadowski. He was the victim of an impact to a badly-positioned Armco section at high speed at Grattan Raceway that I believe helped him decide to give it up.

A few more gravel traps couldn’t hurt either. Everybody bitches that you always crash when you go in one or it makes a mess of the bike, but I’d choose that over hitting a wall or barrier every time.

Bob Robbins
CCS MA #46 & Proud Has-been
Riegelsville, Pennsylvania

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION:

Via e-mail

I would like to point out that this isn’t the first instance of a rider and bike falling down, hitting a barrier, and then not having protection brought in immediately. Didn’t Jamie Hacking hit a barrier in a test at VIR, and then hit the same barrier (still unprotected) a few weeks later at the actual race? Did the AMA just assume lightning wouldn’t strike the same place twice?

I, too, have expressed how disappointed I am that no long term contribution program was set up, particularly for the manufacturers. I would like to see Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Buell, and Ducati all donate $2900 a year for 10 years. $2900 out of the promotion budget for any of these companies is like the average guy buying lunch, and yet it could make such a huge difference in rider safety.

I don’t think the factories want to have extended television coverage of one of their bikes laying smashed into a wall with the camera on a severely injured (or worse) rider laying on the side of the track next to their smoldering bike.

I have released a new instructional video on suspension set-up, and I have pledged $5 of each copy sold to the Roadracing World Action Fund. We have already sold 50 copies, so I am going to mail in a check today for $250, and will continue to do so until my video stops selling. (the video is available at www.traxxion.com).

Max McAllister
President
Traxxion Dynamics, Inc.
Woodstock, Georgia

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIRST PERSON/OPINION:

Via e-mail

Here’s a few more thoughts on the walls at Atlanta:

I raced in the very first AMA National at Atlanta in 1971 and thought it to be one of the best racetracks and facilities on the circuit at the time. But speeds have increased and changes have been made to keep up with progress. That I understand. What I am unclear about is how a track change is approved for use in AMA Nationals?

Gordon Lunde made some very good points in his letter and I’d like to take those even a step farther. He is so right that a motorcycle needs to be used to spot danger points, but you have to do more than send someone out on a Gold Wing or a Buell to see where the problems are. On a streetbike those walls look like they are mile away. And the “pilot” needs to be someone with the experience of seeing that stuff at speed. Names like Mladin, Duhamel, Roberts, Yates, and a couple of Bostroms come to mind.

I don’t know if these guys were in the loop on the changes at Atlanta or not? Maybe they were. I was very impressed by the way that California Speedway worked with these guys and AMA Pro Racing to make the changes there this past year and that seemed to work pretty well.

I would hope that some policy could be put in place that establishes some group of riders that would be consulted on any change to any previously approved race track. The FIM has just this week announced a Rider Safety Committee for MotoGP and I would encourage AMA Pro Racing to follow their lead.

Another point to note is that danger points on a dry track can differ from a wet track. Ask Miguel Duhamel how much farther a rider can slide on wet pavement. When tracks are reviewed, the danger points need to looked at with the assumption that it can rain. At a minimum, an additional supply of haybales and/or Airfence needs to be on hand if it does rain. I know that takes time to set up, so really a track needs to be outfitted assuming it will rain.

As I read the letters coming in about Woody’s crash at Atlanta, one message is clear, the AMA’s supply of Airfence as well as that provided by the Roadracing World Action Fund program is still insufficient to keep riders out of the fences. So we need to keep the campaign going until riders no longer are making direct contact with walls and fences. I lost too many friends in my racing days to fences and here we are today talking about the same problems.

Gordon, we all agonized with you when your son was killed and also wish the best for Woody Deatherage.

Put me down for another $500 on the Roadracing World Action Fund campaign and I challenge others who read this to join me.

Don Emde

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Suzuki MotoGP racer John “Hopper” Hopkins turns 20 years old today.

Hopkins was born May 22, 1983 in Ramona, California, shortly after his parents, Roy and Linda, emigrated from Acton, London, England. Hopkins’ father, an Isle of Man TT winner, passed away when John was 12 years old. Hopkins’ mother resides at the emerging star’s ranch in Ramona, California.

Hopkins got his AMA Pro road racing license when he turned 16 in 1999, immediately started finishing well in AMA 600cc Supersport and 750cc Supersport races and won the 1999 Aprilia Challenge Cup Championship. In 2000, Hopkins won the AMA 750cc Supersport Championship and also won seven out of 12 Formula USA Unlimited Superbike races. In 2001, Hopkins won the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship and tested with the Red Bull Yamaha 500cc Grand Prix team.

At age 18, Hopkins joined the Red Bull Yamaha team for the 2002 FIM MotoGP World Championship and scored points in 12 of 15 race starts with a best qualifying result of sixth (Catalunya, Donington Park), and a best race finish of seventh (Assen).

Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Racer and Roadracing World contributor Beth Wyse and boyfriend Craig Cranmer became engaged on May 15. The couple is planning a Spring, 2004 wedding.

CCS racer Devin Simon and longtime girlfriend Erica Thomas became engaged on April 5. The couple is planning a November 28 wedding in Chicago, Illinois.