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.

From a press release issued by organizers of the Superside FIM Sidecar World Championship:

Rule Change Excludes U.S. Team

Murray excluded on age rule

A last minute announcement shocked the Superside paddock on Friday, March 8 at Valencia, excluding the U.S. champions, Rick Murray and John Scott.

The recent delivery of the 2002 FIM rulebook included rule 1.10.1, the end of which states: “The limit for the maximum age finishes at the end of the year in which the rider reaches the age of 50.”

With no prior warning of the changes to the rule from the FIM, Murray had no way of knowing that he wouldn’t be allowed onto the Ricardo Tormo circuit at Valencia for the first event of the 2002 Superside season.

The RGM team were understandably devastated at the news that destroyed their chances of competing at the highest level. To their credit, they continued to prepare the machine in the hope that this ruling may be overturned.

“We were all prepared to come and race and do the best that we could. The goal was to qualify, race and finish and Friday morning we found out that the rules had changed and that I was too old to drive”, a dejected Rick Murray commented.

“We spent the rest of the weekend with Gary Francis trying to see if he could get them to change it, and we’re still waiting to see if they will change it.

“We will be at Monza if the rules get changed. The machine will stay here in Europe, but we’ll go back to the U.S. and we’ll come back as we can.”

Passenger John Scott was frustrated at the ruling, and their inability to do anything about it during the race weekend.

“I sympathise and I understand Rick totally. I think the thing that annoys us is that the rules were that if you were fit to race, and you’ve passed the doctors stuff, you were fit to race. Just making an arbitrary age is unjustifiable.

“Making that an issue after Rick had got onto a plane is just inexcusable. Rick was on his way! He was on a flight and couldn’t even turn back. And that’s just not the way of running a professional business. So I think that is just really poor form”, Scott said in frustration.

“On a personal level, I am really upset, of course. Just sitting here watching this going on is frustrating. We spent a lot of time, a lot of money, time off of work, organization etc, just to sit and watch a race. It’s frustrating!” he continued.

Despite not being able to compete against the world’s best, the RGM Racing team spent the weekend experiencing the Superside paddock at Valencia. Mixing with the teams, talking about set-up, tires and suspension, and enjoying the Superside hospitality for the weekend was all that they could do.

“With the inability to race out of the picture, this was one of the nicest weekends that I’ve ever had. The people were so great, the teams, the staff – it was very enjoyable”, said Murray.

From a press release:

Sirens Gearing Up for Endurance Season

WERA National Endurance team tests at Talladega

ANNISTON, Al.- Talladega Gran Prix Raceway was host to the Sirens on Monday as the team participated in a test session to prepare for the upcoming race season. The Sirens are an all-female motorcycle road racing endurance team organized by Maryland Motorsports.

Audrey Ghia, Shelli Langdale and Beth Wyse, the three Sirens who will compete in all nine rounds of the WERA National Endurance Series, were present at the test day. Several additional teams were invited to participate, as well.

The Ed Bargy Racing School, one of the Sirens’ sponsors, hosted the day and owner Ed Bargy provided endurance racing hints for strategies and pit stops. Bargy also gave helpful on-track assistance with race lines and techniques.

“Ed assisted the Sirens in simulating starts, stops, re-fueling and rider changes. It was very helpful,” explained Langdale. “I now have an idea of what to expect for the first race.”

The Sirens will be riding a Suzuki SV650 in the Lightweight Superbike class. For Ghia and Wyse, who are used to racing 600cc motorcycles, riding an SV for the first time was exhilarating.

“I loved it! What a fun bike,” enthused Ghia. “I think the bike will enhance our riding abilities. I think we’ll do great.”

The Sirens will compete in their inaugural race at the Grand Bayou Circuit in Belle Rose, La., April 6th. The endurance race will be four hours long. Sponsors of the Sirens include the Ed Bargy Racing School, The Plastic Dr., RacerSupply.com and SilkoleneStore.com. More information can be found at the Sirens website, www.sirenamoto.com.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

House of Motorcycles has scheduled its 11th annual Powersports Expo for Saturday, April 20 at 4904 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego, CA 92115.

The event will feature manufacturer displays and will collect donations for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Former racer Steve Sowden is running the event and can be contacted at (619) 229-7700.

House of Motorcycles is a Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha and Sea Doo dealer.

From a press release:

DAYTONA VICTORY ELUDES DISALVO

Batavia, New York rider Jason DiSalvo’s brave bid to win the AMA 250cc race at Daytona was cruelly thwarted by a slower rider in the MBNA 250GP race at the International Speedway in Florida today.

The 18-year-old – riding with a broken right foot, the legacy of a crash on his 750cc 4-stroke on Wednesday – was leading the race at a third distance and involved in a titanic scrap with the two time national 250 champion when they came upon a slower rider exiting the infield.

“Everything was going as planned and my race strategy was working well and the next thing I knew I was in the dirt. It’s very disappointing as I felt I had every chance of winning that race,” said DiSalvo, who set pole position by winning a tough heat race on Friday.

Despite his AMA disappointment DiSalvo had enjoyed success at Daytona following a successful test at the Jennings circuit in North Florida where he set the outright lap record. The Team America rider also won both the 250 Lightweight and 600 Middleweight races in the CCS championship the previous weekend at Daytona.

The new team consisting of 250cc 2-stroke tuner Ian Emberton, mechanic Oliver Hutchinson, telematrist Mark Bull, 4-stroke mechanic Mike Earnhardt, and coach Jeff Haney have Jason and the bikes well prepared to win at Daytona. “We really could have done with points today and this is just what we didn’t need. But we’ll pick ourselves up and start again at Fontana in a couple of weeks time,” said team owner, Jim DiSalvo.



This reaction just in, from a reader:

Hey guys,

I read your material everyday and you do a spectacular job. I just read the Disalvo’s version of what happened at Daytona and it says nothing about the very talented and young although experienced Jason taking out a lapped rider who was indeed holding his own line. The article does do a fantastic job of promoting Jason as a racer. How about the consequences to the rider who was cruelly taken out and is probably an under financed privateer?

Bottom line is that Jason should apologize to the other rider and remember that once upon a time he also was a slower rider.

How did Nicky win the 200 doing 30 more laps with twices as many slower riders? It’s called maturity and being a true sportman.

Thanks for keeping us up on the racing world.

Mike Foster


Another reaction, from another reader:

A key difference between Nicky and Jason negotiating traffic: The slowest guys in Superbike qualified at 112% of 1:47 or around 2 minutes flat. That means the slowest guy out there is still haulin’.

There were people out in the 250 race hanging around 2:20-2:30 (on what, a bicycle?). (If Oliver had been out there several people would have had to refinish their bikes to replace the paint that had been sucked off when he went by.)

IMHO, it looked like Jason was caught out by a “swooper”. The rider started way outside and swooped to the inside to a very early apex. At the start of the pass it looked like Jason had/left plenty of room and suddenly he had nowhere to go. I’m not sure anyone was particularly at fault. Then again, perhaps Jason should have been suspicious of a guy that slow using that much track.

BTW, throwing your gloves anywhere in the vicinity of a live racetrack is a stupid thing to do. I guess that’s where the “he’s only 18” stuff comes in.

Donald Beck

From a press release:

Sears Point Raceway, Jim Russell School
Unveil Sears Point Karting Center

SONOMA, Calif. (March 13, 2002) – Sears Point Raceway unveiled today another element of its comprehensive $50 million Modernization Plan as track officials took the wraps off the state-of-the-art Sears Point Karting Center.

The Center will feature a twisting 16-turn, three-quarter-mile road course that will be 28-feet wide and can be divided into six different configurations. Some of the track highlights include an 850-foot sweeping straightaway, and another 450-foot sweeping straightaway that leads into a challenging combination of turns. The Center will be the premier karting facility in the western United States.

Memo Gidley, who drove for Target Chip Ganassi in the CART FedEx Championship Series last year and resides in nearby San Rafael, took the ceremonial first lap around the challenging circuit. He was joined at the press conference by officials from both Sears Point Raceway and Jim Russell International Karting, which will be the track operator.

“I’ve driven on many kart tracks around this country and this one ranks right up there,” Gidley said. “It has all the elements of a first-class karting track, from tight corners to sweeping straightaways. It is a premier facility.”

The Sears Point Karting Center will feature a scoreboard, two transponder-timing systems and bleachers, as well as a kart maintenance and storage center. The track, which was designed in part by Jim Russell International Karting, was built to CIK/FIA standards. The Jim Russell School has been based at Sears Point Raceway since 1996.

“This track was designed for everyone, from the serious international competitor to the business person looking for a unique recreation alternative for their clients or staff,” said Steve Page, president and general manager at Sears Point Raceway. “It’s exciting to see that design turn into reality today.”

Jim Russell International Karting will feature a variety of on-track activities to suit every enthusiast, from beginner to advanced. There will be open testing, a number of different kart racing series, as well as a variety of kart schools. Minimum age to compete is 8 years old. Please visit the Web-site at www.russellracing.com for detailed information on all programs, as well as pricing.


“Finally, Northern California has a world-class karting facility at a premier racetrack. You can’t beat that combination,” said Ken Ude, President of the Jim Russell School. “We have invested a lot of time and effort into this facility to bring karters the absolute best in terms of track, facility, equipment, instruction and racing. I truly think we have something for everyone. From our family-oriented cadet programs to sprint karts to shifters to the arrive-n-drive racing series, there is a plan for everyone.”

The Jim Russell School has been teaching the art of auto racing since 1957, and past graduates include Formula One standout Jacques Villeneuve, former CART Champion Jimmy Vasser, Emerson Fittipaldi, Casey Mears and Gidley. When not in operation by the Jim Russell School, Sears Point is open to hosting national, as well as international, karting events.

Once such event confirmed for 2002 is the “Stars of Tomorrow Series.” CART and the North American Karting Association (NAKA) have combined to host six regional kart racing series, one of which will be held at the Sears Point Karting Center. The six-race series at Sears Point begins April 21. The eventual winner of Stars of Tomorrow at the national level gets an invitation to test with a CART racing team.

The Sears Point Karting Center is part of the raceway’s ongoing $50 million Modernization Plan that will transform the facility into one of the premier road-racing and entertainment venues in the world. The comprehensive two-year project began in September, 2000, and is expected be nearly complete by the Dodge/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Winston Cup, June 20-23, 2002.