From a press release issued by Honda UK:

FORET LEADS HONDA TOP THREE AT SILVERSTONE

Honda’s Fabien Foret continued his challenge for the World Supersport championship title by setting the fastest time in Friday’s opening
qualifying session for the British round at Silverstone.

Frenchman Foret ­ second in the championship, just four points off the series lead ­ continued his run of form after winning round five of the
championship at Monza, Italy two weeks ago.

Foret, riding for the Dutch Ten Kate team, led a Honda top three as talented Australian youngster Chris Vermeulen was second quickest on the van Zon
CBR600 with Honda UK team rider Karl Muggeridge third after topping the leaderboard for much of the 45-minute session.

Muggeridge said: “I had a good session. It’s the first time at this circuit for everyone and I really like the place. We¹re getting the machine dialled in and Pirelli are confident about providing the race tyres to win.”

Katsuaki Fujiwara was fourth fastest to complete the provisional front row for Sunday’s 19-lap race. The session ended with two minutes to go as a heavy shower hit the 3.16-mile circuit.

Scotsman Iain MacPherson, riding alongside Foret in the Ten Kate Honda team, was fifth fastest with BKM Honda’s Christophe Cogan sixth.

Friday¹s World Supersport qualifying times: 1. Fabien Foret, France (Honda), 1:52.259; 2. Chris Vermeulen, Australia (Honda), 1:52.462: 3. Karl
Muggeridge, Australia (Honda), 1:52.926; 4. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Japan, (Suzuki), 1:53.091; 5. Iain MacPherson, GB (Honda), 1:53.135; 6. Christophe Cogan, France (Honda), 1:53.467; 7. Paolo Casoli, Italy (Yamaha), 1:53.504;
8. Christian Kellner, Germany (Yamaha), 1:53.556; 9. Stephane Chambon, France (Suzuki), 1:53.667; 10. Werner Daemen, Belgium (Honda), 1:53.798.


More, from a press release issued by Team Ten Kate:

Foret battles through wind and rain to provisional pole

Fabien Foret put his Ten Kate Honda onto provisional pole despite gusting wind and a rain squall that brought the first Supersport qualifying session to a premature end today.

Heavy rain had fallen throughout the night but the track dried before the World Supersport riders took to the Silverstone tarmac for the first timed qualifying session. Although the rain held off until the closing moments, the wind was gusting strongly, making life difficult for the riders around the former aerodrome.

“I’m happy with pole, naturally,” smiled Foret, winner at Monza two weeks ago. “But it was difficult in those conditions. But now if it rains for tomorrow¹s practice, I’ll stay on pole, but if it’s dry, then I know I can
go faster as we’ve some more progress to make in chassis set up. The WP Suspension guys are working really hard to perfect the set up. The problem here is bumps, the F1 cars really ripple up the surface and many of the corner exits are very bumpy. But it’s a challenge that I’m confident our technicians and the WP Suspension guys can rise to.”

His team mate Iain MacPherson finished fifth fastest, continuing to improve as he gets his riding style adapted to the Ten Kate Honda. “I think I could have gone faster still,” said MacPherson, “but I didn’t get a clear lap with
my best qualifying tyre on, then the rain came before I got back out again.”

Team Manager Ronald ten Kate was smiling again, “It seems we have lots to be happy about nowadays,” beamed ten Kate. “Coming straight from a win at the last round, and now here in first qualifying, we have four Ten Kate Honda’s in the top ten, with two on the provisional front row.

“Iain MacPherson has really benefited from the Misano test last week,” continued ten Kate, “he’s made some changes to the bike’s set up to suit his riding style and it’s definitely working. Even if it rains for the race we’ll be strong, Pirelli have provided us with some excellent wet weather tyres.”

From a press release issued by Aprilia:

Aprilia Racing Press Information

Noale, 23 May 2002

As was hoped, Marco Melandri and Jan Witteveen met to sort out their differences yesterday at the Racing Department of Noale. Marco was called in to clarify the situation which had, to some extent, marred the weekend at Le Mans.

Marco Melandri expressed all his regret for his recent statements to the Press, in which he had referred to his state of unease.

The current technical progress of the official RSW 250 was examined together with Ing. Witteveen and the Racing Department technicians, as were the solutions to be adopted so that Marco can improve his feeling with the bike.

There has always been great mutual esteem between Marco and Aprilia, and this was fully confirmed and it could be said that the of minds is now stronger than ever. Both have a common goal: to fight tooth and nail for victory in the world 250 class.

All attention is now focused on the next round of the World Championship: the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, where Aprilia and Marco Melandri intends to play a truly leading role.

From a press release issued by Rob Tuluie:

Steve Johnson on the Tul-aris Sets Fast Time of Race Weekend at Blackhawk

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Steve Johnson on the Tul-aris at Blackhawk Farms. Photo by Jack Beaudry.

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Steve Johnson, riding Dr. Rob Tuluie’s Tul-aris GP bike, overcame the handicap of a 25th starting position and raced through the field to a 2nd place finish in the 8-lap Unlimited GP feature race.

Only early leader and multiple track-record holder Larry Denning (4&6 Racing Yamaha R1), who had the benefit of a front row starting position, was spared a pass by Steve on the Tul-aris. During the race, Steve set the fastest lap time of the race (and the entire weekend).

The amazing thing is that Steve did this while running in traffic and passing 24 riders, while the race leader had a clear track in front of him for the entire race!

Even so, Steve narrowed a 7 second gap to the leader at the start to a 4 second gap at the end of the race. Steve also finished 3rd in the over-crowded 23 lap GTO race, which we used for extra practice. Altogether, we covered 280 racing miles on the Tul-aris this weekend with no mechanical failures, just working on suspension setup, jetting and tire selection. Our set of Michelin racing slicks provided good grip and outstanding tire life – we managed to get 160 miles out of a medium-soft rear slick and even more out of the front slick. We used new front brakes, supplied by GP Tech, which worked outstandingly and allowed Steve to pull amazing late-braking maneuvers. By race day, we had our Ohlins suspension set up perfectly for this twisty and bumpy race track, enabling Steve to carry more cornering speed than anyone else. Only the motor, which had been run at 4 events in a row without a rebuild (Mid-America, Road America, Brainerd and now Blackhawk) is definitely in need of a fresh top end. Considering that typically racing 2-strokes need new top-ends every race weekend, the durability of the Hot Seat Performance Polaris engine parts is outstanding. Even our home-built powervalve controller and mechanism worked flawlessly all weekend!

We are itching to get back to Blackhawk to win – and we will pre-enter next time to assure a better starting position (starting positions are based on time of entry) – and to set the lap record. Steve thinks we pretty easily can go another second faster, considering the cool track temperatures (low 50 deg F) and lack of ultimate traction this weekend, with the extra power of a fresh motor and the benefit of a few clear racing laps!

We’d like to thank our sponsors and supporters: Hot Seat Performance, Nutec Racing Fuel, Walt Schaeffer Michelin, MRT, Ohlins USA, MTS Systems, Lofgren Racing/Manley Cycle, Yoyodyne Titanium, GP Tech and Headhunter Racing. Steve Johnson is sponsored by Delano Sport Center, Hi-Per Sports, Mason Racing Tires, EBC Brakes and Lockhart Phillips. This weekend’s Tul-aris race crew included Dave Heisserer, Dave Adolfson, Hardy Baehni and Chris Koening.

From Team Oliver Yamaha:

Atlanta race report: Perry Melneciuc puts in solo effort to finish 5th in the race and stay in 2nd place in the 250 GP Championship, Oliver missing in action, relaxing in hospital!

Melneciuc does it all!

Team Oliver’s Perry Melneciuc had an exciting day of racing on Sunday at Road Atlanta, but the really hard work was done during the weeks leading up to the race, as Perry and his wife Kellee had to take over Team Oliver Yamaha at Sears Point after Rich Oliver was airlifted out after a crash, semi conscious and broken up, babbling about missing air fence!

First Perry and Kellee had to drive the rig to Road Atlanta, then fly home and pick up their motor home in Florida. Then they had to do a round of work to keep their business going and their customers satisfied. Then it was back on the road to Atlanta in the motor home, to set up the team pits and tent, and install a new motor in their primary race bike to replace a fast but unridable and unreliable motor designed by Rich Oliver. All of that required that Perry miss Thursday promoter practice putting him behind the rest of the 250 riders on track time! Nonetheless, Perry Qualified 4th for the main event starting on the front row, and rode a strong race to finish 5th. Perry comments, “I want to thank my wife Kellee, and my mechanic Shank Williams Jr. for all their help this race, they worked so hard to keep me in the points chase for the Championship, now it’s down to myself, Sorensen, Disalvo, and Sorbo.”

Points after Road Atlanta:

Sorensen, 137
Melneciuc, 106
Disalvo, 92
Sorbo, 91

Oliver found in Santa Rosa, hiding out and enjoying the fringe benefits of being in intensive care!

Rich Oliver spent a week in the hospital being pampered by the nursing staff and avoiding once again a long drive to Atlanta. After breaking his pelvis and losing a finger at Daytona, Rich had used that excuse to avoid driving the rig home from the Florida, and now has avoided another long drive by conveniently breaking his arm, fracturing his shoulder, grinding off a couple of toes, and concussing himself. “Well what can I say”, said Rich, “I think it’s a small price to pay, just think, when I was laying there in the hospital, high on morphine, catheter installed you know where and the nurse just about to give me a suppository so I could finally use the bathroom, I laughed, Ha Ha, no truck stop food for me!”

Rich plans to be back at Pikes Peak in Colorado, and to take over the driving duties from there on out. “I’m running out of digits to grind off, so I guess I better just bite the bullet and drive” whined the former Champ, “I’ll buy some new CD’s or something”


Team Oliver Yamaha is sponsored by:

Yamaha Motor Corp. USA
Dunlop Tires
Advanced Motion Controls
SHOEI Helmets
Silkolene Lubricants
Wilson’s Motorcycles
Sunsports Motorcycles
Auto Werks Paint
Rick Shell Crankshafts
Lindemann Engineering
Supertech
Sharkskinz
VP Racing Fuels
NGK Spark Plugs
EK Chain
AFAM
Chicken Hawk Tire Warmers
Kushitani Leathers
Helimot Leathers
Marietta Motorsports
Ferodo and Braketech
Frenotec
I Need Stickers. Com
Doc’s Custom and Collision
South Coast Inc.
AST Research
Cytomax, Cyto Sport

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

From a letter sent to Roadracing World:

A few weeks ago you posted a comment from a reader on your website concerning the new BeaveRun Motorsports Park near Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania in which he questioned the track’s suitability for motorcycle racing.

I have waited to respond until I visited the construction site as I wanted to review his concerns now that grading is at a stage where I am able to compare final grades with computer layouts.

Partly as a result of his comments I have made a few changes to the shape of three of the turns, altering them to modify the “accident-tangents” of the corner to maximize run-off room. I am now confident that the track will be very suitable for motorcycle racing (as was always my intent) and that his concerns can now be lessened.

BeaveRun will be a fast but technical track with a significant amount of grade change and corner cross cambers that will influence race lines and overtaking. While it is not an “open” type track like GingerMan, Mid-America and Carolina and will have many barriers, I believe that run-off areas will be adequate for motorcycle racing – certainly better then most similar tracks. Unfortunately it is not always possible to build tracks on flat wide open sites that make it feasible to eliminate barriers completely. The BeaveRun site has significant elevations which make for great viewing and interesting riding and which have required a considerable amount of earth moving. The consequence being that we have had to take extra care to plan necessary barriers where they need to protect from banks, drops and other features but in such a way that they will have the minimum impact potential.

Your correspondent also noted the track representative’s lack of awareness of “Air Fence”.

Part of my role in designing and consulting on track construction is to educate my clients on the most appropriate and up-to-date safety measures available. This process is on-going throughout the development of the project and not all information is provided up-front. Certain items, such as “Air Fence” are detailed in the design manual that I provide my clients with information provided as when appropriate. The information on “Air Fence”, (which I strongly recommend) had not been provided at the time of the presentation as the engineers were at that time still focused on basic design and construction issues.

It is my intention to recommend that “Air Fence” be used in appropriate locations as and where necessary.

I would like to thank your correspondent for noting his concerns and would like to re-assure him that motorcycle safety is and will always be a major priority of any track that I design. I hope that he will enjoy the challenge of racing at BeaveRun when it opens later this summer.

Sincerely,

Alan Wilson

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Just wanted to drop a line regarding AMA Pro Racing’s response to questionable track conditions before the Superstock race at Road Atlanta on Saturday afternoon.

There was a problem with water seeping up through the track in the turn five area (a la Sears Point), which the track workers attempted to dry up with blowers and were even seen wiping the ground with paper towels.

While the delay was lengthy, I believe the AMA made the proper decision by allowing the riders two sighting laps to determine the severity of the problem, then consulting with the riders.

Ron Barrick of AMA and Cameron Gray of RPM basically told the riders what the possible options were and left it up to the riders to decide what to do. The riders decided to make the area a no-passing zone, with a waving yellow flag displayed there the whole race.

It was nice to see a promotor willing to work with the riders, instead of only caring about “the show,” (Loudon 2001).

I commend Ron Barrick, the AMA staff, and RPM for their consideration of rider safety above all else.

Thanks, guys.

Michael Hannas


This reaction just in:

I wasn’t there personally, but assuming things happened as Hannas describes, then I am extremely pleased with the way that the AMA handled the Road
Atlanta situation with water seepage. It appears the AMA finally understands that the AMA/RACER relationship does not have to be adversarial and given the opportunity, racers can often provide valuable information when “situations” arise… especially ones dealing with track safety.

As for the AMA race at Loudon in 2001, I wish we were given the same consideration that they gave the Superstock racers at Road Atlanta this past weekend.

I was waiting to compete in the 250 GP race while the whole 600cc fiasco unfolded on pit road. I’m fairly certain that if we were given the
opportunity for a few practice laps, that the majority of the entries would have voted to race. Instead, many riders spent a lot of time and money to attend that weekend and went home Sunday without the opportunity to compete. (I was able to stay over until Monday and actually did pretty well, but it just wasn’t the same.)

Hopefully, AMA Pro Racing has finally turned the corner and is heading in the right direction.

Tony Iannarelli
Springfield, MA

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Jeremy Toye won the Toyota Cup Unlimited Formula 1 race during last weekend’s WSMC event at Willow Springs Raceway. Toye, riding his Lee’s Cycles Suzuki GSX-R1000, beat a three-way battle for second involving Jack Pfeifer on his Team Orthopedics GSX-R1000, Jason Perez on a Ducati and Ken Chase on a Suzuki GSX-R750. Pfeifer, Perez and Chase finished in that order.

Pfeifer won the Solo GTO, Open Superstock, Open Superbike and Open Modified Production races on his GSX-R1000.

Perez won the Roadracingworld.com 600cc Superstock race on a Suzuki GSX-R600, ahead of Owen Richey and Jacob West.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Eric Wood will race a Buell XB9R in the Sportbike class during the F-USA National at Loudon, New Hampshire June 14-16.

Wood won the AMA Pro Thunder race at Loudon last year and is a past F-USA Sportbike Champion.

In related news, the New Hampshire International Speedway is now equipped with 135 soft barrier sections, 85 more than last year, and the recent redesign of the NASCAR oval has eliminated the transition bumps where the road course crosses the oval, according to racer and NHIS motorcycle safety director Jerry Wood, father of Eric Wood.

Formula USA will bring an additional 20 sections (about 560 linear feet) of inflatable Air Fence, provided by the Roadracingworld.com Action Fund, to the track.

An LRRS race at the track last weekend drew 970 entries despite snow flurries on Saturday.