After reading about Rich Oliver’s crash at 145 mph up against the wall at Daytona, two very striking thoughts hit me:

1. What kind of stupid organization (Read: AMA) would flash cautions in only the chicane and not indicate there were problems elsewhere? Why does
safety continue to plague our only premier race series here in the U.S.? Why?!

2. As to Rich’s injuries, it really is clear that road racing is one dangerous profession, but I am also affected by how “casually” Rich seems to
be taking the loss of a finger. There’s not another sport on the planet where you would find a tougher guy than this Rich character. Anyone else cringe at the idea of grinding a digit down to the bone, and then issuing the declaration that “I just wanna get healthy again…to get back into it”?

He’s a “HE-MAN” in my book. I am mighty impressed.

But it does not surprise me, because I go to Laguna early each year and watch the teams un-pack and set up.

We were hanging out at Rich’s canopy, and I referred to Rich (talking to my pal), “There’s the Champ.”

I did not think that he had heard me, and he just laughed out loudly at my remark.

I meant that, Rich.

Dave Johnson

From a press release:

DUCATI CORSE PRESS INFORMATION

DUCATI AND THE CITY OF BOLOGNA TOGETHER IN THE 2002 WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP

This morning, in the courtyard of Bologna City Hall, the Managing Director of Ducati Motor Holding, Carlo di Biagio, presented to Mayor of the City, Giorgio Guazzaloca, the Ducati 998 Factory bike, on which was applied the coat of arms of Bologna City Council.

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Left to right: the Mayor of Bologna Giorgio Guazzaloca, Ducati Motor Holding CEO Carlo Di Biagio and Paolo Foschini, City of Bologna Sports Councillor

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The aim of the initiative is to underline the close ties between the Borgo Panigale manufacturer and its city.

In 2001 Ducati reached an important landmark in its history: its 75th anniversary.

In this long period Ducati, which has always had its roots in the area, has worked to consolidate its position in the international markets in terms of turnover, product and prestige, and at the same time has become one of the most recognised symbols of ‘Made in Italy’ throughout the world.

Today Ducati is an important industrial reality, one that is at the forefront in its high-performance sportsbike sector and, thanks to its commercial success in the world, has also helped to spread the culture and traditions of its city.

Furthermore Ducati continues to win not only on the international markets, but also on racetracks throughout the world, where the red bikes from Borgo Panigale have dominated the World Superbike Championship, winning 10 Constructors’ and 9 Riders titles in 14 editions.

“It is our wish to create a synergy and implement close ties between our company and the City of Bologna” declared Managing Director Carlo Di Biagio. “The union between industrial and sporting activities and their roots in the territory of Bologna create close ties between us, and for our company they are a source of great pride. The opportunity to bear the coat of arms of the City of Bologna on the fairings of the official Ducati bikes will further strengthen the rapport between the two, in particular due to the original and unique nature of the partnership.”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Randy Renfrow is recovering at home from massive injuries suffered in a crash on March 1 at Daytona, during the F-USA/CCS weekend. Renfrow broke 18 bones in 23 places, including two bones in his right foot, the tibia and tibia plateau in his right leg, and 13 ribs. Renfrow suffered a concussion and also bruised both lungs, was spitting up so much blood (for a week) that his blood count dropped, and suffered nerve trauma that has resulted in the left side of his body tingling with no touch sensation on the outside of his left arm, although his range of motion and strength are OK.

Renfrow has already undergone surgery on his tibia and tibia plateau, and may undergo surgery on his foot.

But despite all that, Renfrow plans to return to racing, and said he hopes to “Just get fixed up and see what happens. I plan to ride some more, get fixed up and hope my arm comes around, hopefully I won’t need any more surgery.”

Renfrow isn’t sure what happened in his crash, which occurred in the infield kink on the warm-up lap for the CCS 30-minute GTU race. “It would be speculation,” Renfrow said. “I remember everything up to going into that corner, and I remember the rear end coming around and the thing starting to get into a highside tankslapper and then coming up over the bars. My first thought was, ‘Somebody tapped me,’ but I don’t know. I was starting on the 25th row, in the second wave, of a race I didn’t plan to finish. I didn’t intend to finish, so I wasn’t charging real hard on the warm-up lap. I planned to just ride around for four or five laps and then pull in. It illustrates that it’s pretty easy to get hurt in this game.”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Red Bull Yamaha concluded a two-day test at Valencia Thursday.

American John Hopkins and Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle rode the team’s YZR500 Yamahas.

Hopkins took 0.4-second off his previous-best lap time at Valencia on the first day despite cold conditions, but then highsided late in the day on a new tire and rang his bell. Hopkins sat out the second day of testing with a headache.

Bayle is being considered as a test rider/replacement rider for the team, although nothing had been finalized at the end of the test.

The team expects Garry McCoy to be ready to race at the first round of the 2002 MotoGP World Championship, at Suzuka, Japan on April 5-7.

From a press release:


Cycle Gear, America’s foremost motorcycle accessory retail store, opened a new store in Bakersfield, CA on March 4, 2002. This new Bakersfield location expands and compliments Cycle Gears existing Southern California locations, increasing the number of stores to 20. The 5000 square foot Super-Store is located at 1921 24th St. The 28-year-old, fast growing, motorcycle accessory chain specializes in tremendous product selection and excellent customer service, offering customers their “100% Satisfaction Guarantee” and “Best Price Guarantee.”

Cycle Gear will kick off its Bakersfield Grand Opening with a huge Grand Opening sale, offering great deals on name brand off-road and street clothing and a variety of accessories. A complete selection of name brand helmets, boots, gloves, goggles, pants, jerseys, leathers, leather and textile protective apparel, tires, chemicals, and tools are just some of the products that motorcycle enthusiasts can expect to find at this super-store!

This just in:

Huge Industries Racing crashed their truck and trailer leaving Daytona. About 50 miles east of the western border of Florida the Huge Industries Racing rig was passed by two busses and lost control and ran into the ditch, rolling and destroying the 2002 Ford crew cab truck and the enclosed trailer, along with all of its contents, two 2001 GSX-R750s and entire pit set-up. The majority of the contents except the bikes were thrown out the back along with a couple of barrels of race fuel that managed to catch fire, and the majority of the contents were damaged in the fire.

Driver Brian Howard (pit crew) and passenger/team rider Scott Jensen were unhurt. The truck and trailer were totalled and left at a wrecking yard–the majority of the contents, Scott, and Brian were picked up by racer (and friend) Aaron Clark, who turned around to pick them up.

(Information provided by Scott Jensen.)

From a press release:

Daytona race report:

Team Oliver’s Perry Melneciuc finishes second in AMA 250 Grand Prix race! Rich Oliver out with broken pelvis!

Perry Melneciuc finished a career best second place in the Daytona 250 race on Sunday March 10th. After qualifying 7th and starting on the second row, Perry blazed off the line and ran in second place into turn one at the start! Chuck Sorensen and Jason DiSalvo took off, leaving Melneciuc to defend third place from Roland Sands, Jeff Wood, Mike Himmelsbach, and Al Salaveria. All these fine riders would end up breaking down or falling short of catching the consistent Perry, who never varied from his pace the entire race. When DiSalvo crashed out of the lead, Perry moved into second and never looked back. Mechanic Shank Williams Jr. and Perry’s wife Kellee Melneciuc cheered from the Daytona pit wall as Perry came past the checkered flag, to start his 2002 season with a fine tally of 32 AMA championship points.

Happy and excited after the race, Perry said “I really want to thank my wife Kellee and Mechanic Shane (a.k.a. Shank Williams Jr.); they did a great job with my TZ 250 Yamaha, and thanks to Rich and Robert Ward of Team Oliver Yamaha for all their support and faith in me, today it really paid off big!”

Oliver down and out in huge crash!

Rich Oliver had the field covered by about 2 seconds a lap, but his advantage when down the drain after a nasty crash on the Daytona high banking Friday morning in practice.

Rich tells what happened, “There were warning flags for oil and debris displayed in the chicane, so I went through that section with caution 3 times to check it out. As it turns out, those flags also applied to the entire section of track all the way around the banking, down the front straight, and to the start finish line, about a mile or more of track! This I did not know! There was a layer of water on the banking high up by the wall, and that’s what I hit in fourth gear at about 145 mph. I flew about 15 feet in the air, (according to the turn worker on the scene), and landed flat on my back and side. I didn’t realize there was anything wrong with that section of track, and that’s why I was going flat out, 100% in that section. I got up, got my wind back, and looked at my finger hanging out of my glove. Most of it was gone, and the rest looked like bad news, and my hip felt weird, so I let the medics take me away to the local hospital. There a hand surgeon cleaned up the finger, and I found out I had broken my pelvis on the left side. You could say I was pretty disappointed with the whole situation, but what can you do but try to heal up and win again as soon as possible!”

Rich hopes to be back on his Yamaha at Fontana, and is really proud of Perry’s fine finish for the team at Daytona.

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.

Tough guy Steve Rapp crashed out of the Superstock (formerly 750cc Supersport) race Friday, March 8 at Daytona, ripped open his left elbow, visited the Infield Care Center, got taped up, raced in Supersport (formerly 600cc Supersport) later that afternoon, then had surgery that night to clean up, inspect, install a drain tube and sew up the damage.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Al Salaverria, who charged from 52nd to third in the AMA 250cc Grand Prix race at Daytona, is hoping a continuation of his one-race deal with Shark Energy Drink will keep his AMA comeback going.

Salaverria hadn’t raced in two years when he gridded up at Daytona on his Aprilia RSV250. A string of intermittent bike problems in practice and Salaverria’s qualifying heat race were finally traced to a bad ignition black box the morning of the 250cc final.

Salaverria will know his racing fate later this week or early next week.