Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA Supersport racer Michael Hannas says that new walls at Sears Point Raceway make the Sonoma, California racetrack much more dangerous than it was last year.

Hannas formed his opinion after competing in last weekend’s AFM club race at thr track.

Hannas grew up racing 125 and 250cc racebikes at Sears Point. In 2000 he competed in the AMA 600cc Supersport Series and in 2001 he finished third in the AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series. This season Hannas is riding a ZX-6R sponsored by Hayward Motorsports Kawasaki in the AMA Supersport Series.

An e-mail from Hannas follows:

Just thought I’d offer up my two cents on the changes made to Sears Point after riding it during the AFM weekend. In my opinion, the track is more dangerous now than it was last year. The front straight is narrow with concrete walls on both sides, which could be extremely dangerous when AMA level riders are going through there three/four wide fighting for position, and is definitely dangerous on the start, as evidenced this past weekend by the number of crashes that resulted in injury during the starts of more than one race. Think Scott Russell at Daytona, except with half the room and concrete on both sides.

Turn one is now wide open in fifth gear on a 600, with bumpy pavement seams that you cross over while at a pretty good lean angle, pointed straight at the same hillside/bridge that has taken at least one life that I know of back in the old days. Two through 3 are the same, 3a has a chunk of pavement missing right in the racing line as you crest the hill, four has a new pavement strip that appears to be an asphalt patch over some sort of drainage pipe that was dug into the ground.

Turn five is the one place that is worlds better, with new, smooth pavement and adequate run-off. However, as you crest the hill and drop in to the carousel, you are back on old pavement that is more torn up and bumpier than ever. The exit of six puts you back on new pavement and seems to have additional run-off, but not much, and walls still surround both sides down the straight to seven, which puts you back on the old pavement and points you directly at a concrete wall strategically placed right on the edge of the track, all the way around the turn. Lose the brakes there and you’d better hit the eject button. The second apex of seven has another one of those asphalt patches over a drainage pipe, which is very bumpy.

The actual track stays the same through the 8/8a esses, with additional run-off on both the outside of 8 and 8a, however, it is not nearly enough and instead of hitting a hillside if you tuck the front entering 8a, you hit a concrete wall where the hillside used to be. The exit of 8a down the hill is a lot better in terms of run-off, though. New pavement starts again entering turn nine, with a rough transition, and it seems even bumpier than the old pavement. There might be a little bit more run-off there, but not much and still not nearly enough before the concrete wall.

As you tip it into 10, you transfer roughly back to the old pavement right before the apex of the corner, where you are at maximum lean angle. The old pavement of 10 seems bumpier also. I don’t know if this is because the racetrack was used as a road for construction trucks or what. I can’t comment on the AMA 11 since we didn’t run it, but it looks like the exit to it will be even tighter and closer to a wall than before.

Leading onto the front straight is so much narrower that the already tight AFM chicane was made even tighter, which caught me out on the first lap of practice when I nailed one of haybales used to make the chicane with the inside of my knee while hanging off in a normal fashion, which compressed my foot onto the footpeg hard enough to actually lift the rear wheel off the ground. The result of this was what the ortho surgeon called a 3rd degree sprain and ligament strain of my ankle, all I know is I can’t put any pressure on it and was unable to ride above an 80-85% pace or shift the bike properly. Not really because of the pain, but the limited range of motion and strength. At that 80-85% pace, I was not fearing for my life around the track, but I could see there being some major issues when all the AMA guys show up.

It really saddens me that some riders continue to paint a rosy picture of unsafe racetracks instead of really telling it how it is. We all saw what happened at Fontana when we decided to just put up with something we thought might be an issue, I sincerely hope that isn’t what is happening here. I don’t know how many feet of Airfence the AMA has access to, but I’d say they better bring all they can get their hands on, and then some.

Michael Hannas

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Suzuki factory test riders Akira Ryo and Yukio Kagayama rode their prototype GSV-R four-stroke V4s to a 1-2 finish in the opening round of the eight-round All-Japan Road Race Championship at Central Park Mine Circuit, on the Southern tip of Japan’s main island, Sunday, April 14. Kawasaki factory test rider Akira Yanagawa finished third in the first race outing for the Ninja ZX-RR prototype MotoGP racebike, setting the fastest lap of the race.

Ryo, the 2001 All-Japan Champion, won by 3.3 seconds over Kagayama, while the top three finishers were 28 seconds ahead of the field after 26 laps of the 2.082-mile circuit.

Prototype machines, which do not race for points or prizes in the All-Japan series, finished in the top five positions. The highest finishing Superbike was a factory Suzuki GSX-R750 ridden by Atsushi Watanabe, 35.7 seconds behind Ryo.

Ryo started from the pole position after turning a qualifying time of 1:23.646, and Yanagawa ran the fastest lap of the race, a 1:24.824 on lap two. The fastest lap turned by a Superbike rider during the race was a 1:26.146 by Watanabe.

The next round of the All-Japan series is May 12 at the tight 1.294-mile Tsukuba Circuit near Tokyo.

Results follow:

1. Akira Ryo, Suz GSV-R, Prototype, 37:04.898, 26 laps
2. Yukio Kagayama, Suz GSV-R, Prototype, -3.322 seconds
3. Akira Yanagawa, Kaw ZX-RR, Prototype, -3.653 seconds
4. Tamaki Serizawa, Suz Tornado S-1, Prototype, -31.745 seconds
5. Keiichi Kitagawa, Suz GSX-R1000, Prototype, -32.987 seconds
6. Atsushi Watanabe, Suz GSX-R750, Superbike, -35.760 seconds
7. Takeshi Tsujimura, Yam YZF-R7, Superbike, -37.700 seconds
8. Wataru Yoshikawa, Yam YZF-R7, Superbike, -38.491 seconds
9. Yuichi Takeda, Hon RC51, Superbike, -40.305 seconds
10. Osamu Nishijima, Kaw ZX-7RR, Superbike, -75.731 seconds

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

An AMA rule designed to keep factory Superbike riders out of Thursday practice has snared privateer Brian Livengood, who is currently ranked 4th in AMA Superbike points. The AMA rule bans the top 10 riders in points from participating in Thursday practice.

“Give me a break,” said Livengood when asked how he felt about the ban. “It’s really hard for privateers to have one day to learn a track and set up their bikes.”

In a recent e-mail, AMA Pro Racing Director of Professional Competition Merrill Vanderslice stated that the rule was made to “protect factory teams from themselves.” But instead of specifying factory riders, the rule is based on points.

“I haven’t ridden many of the West Coast tracks and this makes it very difficult. At Fontana I had two practice sessions then went straight out to qualifying,” said Livengood.

Top 10 privateers campaigning more than one class will find the rule even more restrictive when they attempt to learn a track, and then set up two bikes. The rule does allow for other track testing, but not within the week before the race. Privateer riders like Livengood, (who relies on Team HSA for his transportation to the track), simply do not have the resources to set up or participate in independent test sessions like those held by factory teams.

BRITISH SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
NORTH WEST 200
From a press release:

KING RUTTER TO DEFEND HIS NORTH WEST CROWN

Team Renegade Ducati are pleased to announce that Michael Rutter will contest this year’s North West 200 in Northern Ireland. Rutter will return to the North West as the undisputed champion, after winning the three main feature races and dominating the event last time out.

The 28-year-old West Midlander, who counts the North West 200 circuit as one of his all time favourites, will compete in both Superbike races aboard the same Team Renegade Ducati 998 Testastretta that he currently campaigns in the British Superbike Championship.

‘Everyone knows how much I love the North West,’ said Rutter, ‘and it’s great to be going there with Team Renegade Ducati. We’ve got a brilliant package here, which puts us in a very strong position for the two Superbike races. I’ve always hoped we could work something out in terms of competing at the North West this year and thankfully its all come together. There won’t be a better bike on the grid, but there’s a lot of hard work to do between now and then if we’re going to get it right. The way my season’s gone so far, though, I’m confident we will!’

Due to the clash between the Isle of Man TT and rounds 9 & 10 of the British Superbike Championship at Snetterton, the North West 200 will be the only real roads event that Rutter competes at this season.

‘Obviously it would have been great to go to the Isle of Man TT races as well,’ added Rutter, son of former World Champion and TT winner, Tony, ‘but unfortunately there’s a date clash with both British Superbikes and the Silverstone World Superbike round. I’ve got a really strong chance of winning the BSB title and there’s just no way we could afford to miss a round of the series.’

The North West 200, the most prestigious event on the Irish road-racing calendar, was last held two years ago; the 2001 race was cancelled due to the UK wide foot and mouth restrictions.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Aprilia USA has moved to new headquarters.

According to an announcement issued by the company, which distributes Aprilia motorcycles and scooters in the U.S., “Progress on the racetrack is measure in laptimes. Progress on the sales floor is measured in sell out. Progress for Aprilia USA is measured in square footage.”

The new address is:

109 Smoke Hill Lane, Suite 190
Woodstock, GA 30188
phone (770) 592-2261
FAX (770) 592-4878

This just in from Andy Edwards:

This is the text of a letter I have mailed to the AMA and to Roadracing World today:

This is my race report from Fontana. Unbeknownst to me, the AMA decided to do timed qualifying rather than heat races for the 250s. The cutoff is 112%. Historically I am usually at between 107 and 110% of Ricardo de Oliveri’s time in the heat race. (I want to quit work and do this full time, but my wife is not in favor of this plan – in the cold light of day neither am I really). If you look at the 250 times you will find that typically 112% will eliminate quite a few. I am not the only one with access to the laptimes, I think the AMA knows this too. The Pro Thunder class is the same – unfortunately there is a wider variation of equipment and possible equipment set-up than in the supersport classes. In the regulations that the AMA sent out for Fontana it states that the 112% rule does not apply to Pro Thunder. I wonder why it said that, seeing as how there was no Pro Thunder race at Fontana? Does the left hand know what the right is doing? However, I digress.

Clearly the aim of this change is to reduce the field – to the point that the class goes away. I say this because a moment’s thought will reveal that although the 112% limit is touted as a safety enhancement, it is not. Imagine that you are in a tight race on the last lap and you come upon a backmarker. Will he be easier to get past if he is running at 106% of your time or 115% of your time? If he is going only 6% slower, he is plainly going to be more difficult to get past than if he is going 15% slower. Maybe he should not be there at all. This thinking would have left six bikes in the superbike race on Saturday and seven bikes in the shortened superbike race on Sunday. Maybe we should have yellow flags and pace-cars to level the field like they do in NASCAR. I can’t believe that they still do this at Daytona after last year’s debacle. When will they realize that we are not NASCAR?

So I repeat, the unstated desire of the AMA seems to be to do away with all support classes until you are left with 600 and Superbike. (Why is it unstated, aren’t we the members, aren’t we paying the salaries, aren’t we the AMA?)

Anyway back to the race report. As there were about 15 or so that had run the club race the weekend before, or had run at Fontana at some point in the recent past, there were some problems matching their pace. The second session was cut short when Greg Esser crashed. We were allowed to go out for the last six or seven minutes and I got one lap before my engine grenaded on the front straight. I took the engine out in the hope that the crank was OK and I could wash the debris out of the cases. It became rapidly apparent that the crank was also history and there was a good possibility that the cases were too. The cause appeared to be that the wrist pin had exceeded its lifespan. I wanted to change the top end after the race at Daytona and before my flight as I would not see the bike again before Fontana, but I only managed to get the gearbox changed back to standard internal ratios, I wasn’t able to do anything to the top end. I planned to do it after practice on Friday at Fontana. There goes my kit cylinders. The original plan by the AMA was to have timed qualifying on Saturday. I started on the bike but it was dark pretty much immediately and I was dog tired so I resolved to work on it on Saturday pretty much giving up on racing for the weekend. However it rained all day Saturday stopping them from running qualifying so I thought I was in like Flynn. I finished putting the thing back together Saturday night (missing another practice which occurred Saturday afternoon late). Sunday morning the schedule came out which turned out to be 5 laps practice, 20 minutes qualifying and race at about 1.00. I did my best in qualifying but there was no time on the motor and I hadn’t had much practice so my best wasn’t good enough.

There were 32 entrants originally. 19 made the grid. There were approximately 10 who went to the grid to get thrown off. (Actually there was still some question as to what the deal was at that point). I was one of them. In the race there were 14 finishers if you count Thad Halsmer who pushed his bike across the line to be counted. So primarily as a result of the AMA’s actions there was a 13 bike race.

I don’t think that the way the AMA is going is good for bike racing in general. Why are they opposed to promoter practices? I have heard, third hand, that they have conducted market surveys and find that there isn’t any support from the spectators for the support classes specifically the 250s. Well whilst working on my bike I did my own market survey and found the exact opposite. There were people stopping by talking to me and looking at and photographing my broken engine parts all day Saturday. I’m not sure that the factory teams were letting them take pictures of the inside of their engines. I think that the motivation for people to go to the races to spectate needs to be examined. I went to the races when I was a teenager because I didn’t have the necessary wherewithal to get a bike and do it myself. I wanted to go and see what it was all about. That’s why my friends went. We wanted to be there, to vicariously ride with the racers, to identify with some of them. We wouldn’t have done it quite like Dave Croxford (factory Norton rider – seen him crash more times than you’ve had hot dinners) of course but we’d have been there. Now at the average race there are only a finite number of factory riders who have time to shoot the shit with you but there are usually any number of privateers that’ll discuss the weather, or two stroke tuning, or the rate of reproduction of the average wallaby. If you eliminate the support classes will this be the case? Will the average spectator who is usually a motorcyclist and probably even a club racer or at least has done the odd track day, sit still in the fourteen mile long grandstand and watch the show? Will he even show up? No, I think he or she wants to be involved based on my market survey. I looked in the grandstands and, as Mike Baldwin said just after they replaced racebikes with Superbikes at Daytona, there was nobody there.

Andy Edwards

From a press release:

Tul-aris Dominates Unlimited GP Trophy Dash, Finishes Second in Heavyweight GP and Comes Within 0.07 Seconds of the Lap Record at Mid-America Motorplex Races

The first race weekend at the Mid-America Motorplex saw Steve Johnson on the Tul-aris setting the pace from the first practice on Friday. New, solenoid-operated, exhaust-port power-valves help extend the powerband for this twisty and technical circuit. Previously, our powerband ranged from 6500 rpm to 8700, but now extends as far down as 4800 rpm, as was verified by our Pi data acquisition system and dyno runs at Lofgren Racing/Manley Cycle.

In the first race, the 20 lap Unlimited GP Trophy Dash, Steve rapidly outdistanced the rest of the field and opened up a 33 second lead by the 10th lap. On lap 17, with a huge lead, Steve pulled into the pits low on fuel. We use the 20-lap Trophy dash events for extended practice, as typically we do not quite have the fuel tank capacity to run the full distance of this mini-endurance event.

During the 8-lap Heavyweight GP race on Sunday, Steve, starting in 10th, moved quickly into the lead on the first lap and on the second lap almost broke the lap record. The official DBcom track timing device timed Steve at a 1:34:016, with the lap record at 1:33.955, a difference of only 0.07 seconds! His lead in the race was short-lived as the power valves (which worked for all of Friday and Saturday flawlessly) stuck closed shortly thereafter, which cost us about 30 HP on the top end. Even without the power valves, Steve still turned times in the 1:35 and 1:36 bracket in the remaining laps and finished the race in 2nd place.

We are now at a stage where the Tul-aris has become a dependable racing machine. Steve ran and finished every practice and race for the 3-day weekend (except running out of fuel during the Trophy dash). Our initial setup was close and only improved as we figured out Michelin tire compounds for this abrasive track with the help of Tom Mason of Mason Racing Tires.

The Ohlins suspension and our patent-pending shock linkage was working so well we only made minor damping adjustments. An additional small trail adjustment on the DCM Services adjustable triple clamp made it very exciting to see Steve carry huge cornering speed and lighting fast transitions through the chicanes. Some improvements remain, such as part-throttle carburetion and power valve reliability, but the strong points of the Tul-aris, such as the braking, cornering speed and quick steering are helping secure consistent podium finishes. The power valve design was brand new for this event, the electronics built by Jim Hubert of Deux Ex Machina and the mechanism machined in the Tul-aris workshop with the help of Tul-aris team members Dave Adolfson and Dave Heisserer. We’re pretty confident that we can make these work reliably for us at our next event at Road America near Elkhart Lake, WI at the end of April. Look for us there at the Headhunter Racing pit, who are providing our team with free transportation and pit accommodations. Additional support in the workshop and at the track was provided by our crew chief Dale Athman and team members Ivon Tortosa and Rob Paetzold.

In addition, we would like to thank all of our sponsors and supporters: Hot Seat Performance, Nutec Racing Fuel, Walt Schaeffer Michelin, Ohlins USA, MTS Systems, Lofgren Racing/Manley Cycle, Yoyodyne Titanium, GP Tech and Headhunter Racing. Steve Johnson is sponsored by Delano Sport Center, Hy-Per Sports, Mason Racing Tires, EBC Brakes and Lockhart Phillips.