From a press release issued by Castrol Honda:

CASTROL HONDA TEAM

LIFE’S COOL FOR HOME BOY EDWARDS

Edwards has taken advantage of the three-week gap between this year’s Misano and Laguna Seca rounds of the championship to take a hard-earned break in his native homeland.

COLIN EDWARDS: “This is what lifes about for me, I know I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do when I’m racing but when I’m home I’m just like anybody else work’s done and I’m home. In the past few years I’ve seen the need to break away from racing and settle back into home life. It’s not just the distraction from chasing a world title but it also recharges my batteries and fires me up to go racing again.”

A couple of weeks’ break at home is inadvertently offering him that change of approach only Sunday’s Laguna Seca action will prove its effectiveness.

Edwards recalls: “In the old days I was building up to every race for the full week before. I was miserable, focusing my mind, preparing my thoughts and training hard. That didn’t work for me. I’m not saying it’s the right way or wrong way but, for me, it wasn’t right. By the time I got to the races I was too wound up, anxious and under pressure before I even started practice it didn’t work. Now, I’m home, switched off and that’s the best preparation I can have. When I arrive at a race I’ve arrived just to race. From the moment I drive through the paddock gates theres no doubting what I’m thinking about that works for me.”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

First Person/Opinion By John Ulrich

I’ve long had my doubts about the “14K The Movie” project being vigorously promoted in the motorcycle industry by racer Tony Morris.

Perhaps I’m just stupid.

Call me ignorant, but I haven’t been able to understand how running a race team in not only the Formula USA Series but also in the WERA National Endurance Series is a viable way to raise money for producing a movie.

And although I may just be dense, I surely do not see what signing up sponsors for those race teams–especially product sponsors–has to do with financing a movie.

And what’s up with those bikes running around with 14K The Movie logos on both sides of the fairing? They can’t show up on film that way without the project turning into a parody like Space Balls or something, although, given the notable lack of film crews at various events I’ve seen the bikes run in, there probably is no chance of that happening anyway.

Morris has been successful in obtaining free motorcycles and related products for various riders–including himself–to race under the 14K The Movie banner. How that relates to getting a movie made, I don’t know.

What brings this all on is the fact that I have just read the script, forwarded to me by Morris in an apparent attempt to show me that this is a real, serious movie project.

The first personal reaction I have is that while this could possibly be a very entertaining, gripping and dramatic movie for the general public, it will probably make most people involved in motorcycle road racing wince.

It reminds me of my reaction to the movie “Driven”, which I saw on an airplane returning from a motorcycle race. I was still staring at the videoscreen and watching the credits when a flight attendant mis-read my look of shock and horror for one of excitement, looked at the Roadracing World logo on my shirt and said “You can probably really relate to that movie, huh?”

For anybody who hasn’t seen Driven, it’s about an open-wheeled car racing series featuring clips of various actual CART team owners and cars, along with a through-the-public-streets-with-civilian-traffic racecar chase scene, racecars turning around and going counter-race-direction on track, a bunch of weaving and dodging on the banking, a team owner who tells a guy who is winning or finishing second in races that he’s washed up, and race action that–like some bad TV commercials I’ve seen–includes racers who are able to magically speed up and pass other racers upon radio command from their team owners. Man, I wish it was that easy, that races could be won by simply radioing a rider (or driver), “Take him now!” or “Make your move, Tony!”

(I’ll pause here to admit that maybe basic technical accuracy is not essential to a movie’s success, given as I saw “Top Gun” again on TV the other night. One dogfight scene in that wildly successful movie features fighter jets dodging desert mountain tops and streaking along desert canyons, close to the desert floor. Yet the movie’s hero, played by Tom Cruise, then gets in trouble for briefly diving below the dogfight’s “hard deck” of 10,000 feet in chasing an instructor, and never mind that no jet in the scene ever looked to be over 10,000 feet. It probably made real fighter pilots wince. And now a guy I know who actually served on a nuclear submarine has informed me that Red October was full of inaccuracies. So obviously movie success doesn’t ride on technical accuracy…)

Anyway, in 14K The Movie, we have a street racer who uses a 500cc streetbike to beat a guy on a 1200 in a straight-line run out of the final corner of a street race, then shows up at Willow Springs and immediately is competitive–we’re talking lap-record competitive here–and it’s more of the same at racetrack after racetrack. A street rider with a couple of actual road races under his belt is instantly racing for the lead with a dirt racer with equally few road races worth of experience. God knows what happened to the dozens of guys with years of experience and good bikes who usually, dare I say it, soundly beat rookie racers who have just showed up off the local canyon road.

In 14K The Movie we have racers kicking each other off the track–literally, using their feet–and guys who run off into the gravel, don’t crash, turn around, regain the pavement and are quickly back fighting for the lead. We also have our street-racer-turned-road-racer quickly sponsored to free, race-prepped Suzuki racebikes delivered via Penske rental truck, courtesy of a named-in-the-script, real-life American Suzuki Motor Corp. executive.

14K The Movie has all sorts of Hollywood elements and stereotypical additions to motorcycle road racing–on-track action, fistfights, a love interest with an over-protective father, rental car destruction, food fights, a good guy versus a bad guy, crashes, blood, the street racer finally renouncing street racing as too dangerous, even the “Race Of Champions” getting delayed so the good guy can get out of jail after being framed by the bad guy’s evil dad, a thrown race, and, finally, a bad guy becoming a good guy.


Will 14K The Movie be a big Hollywood hit? I suppose it could be, although I’ve never seen any of the movies said to have been actually produced by the guys said to be actually involved in this one.

Will 14K The Movie transform motorcycle road racing into the next great thing in American culture? Will this movie make motorcycle racing as popular as car racing in the United States? Is this project the key to future success and economic prosperity for everybody in the motorcycle industry?

I don’t see it happening.

But I look at it this way: At least some real racers–I’m thinking of Eric and Jeff Wood here–got to ride free bikes built with free stuff, courtesy of 14K The Movie. They’re deserving guys, competitive guys, guys who sweated and strained and struggled over the course of, oh, maybe 10 years, to get to the point where they could win Formula USA races. And if it took 14K The Movie to get them the type of serious sponsorship help they’ve long deserved, at least some good has come out of this, and never mind if 14K The Movie never shows up at a theater (or in a video store) near you.

In the meantime, again, the big question in my mind–and forgive my ignorance for asking–is, what does getting free bikes and free stuff and using those free bikes and that free stuff to run at least two race teams have to do with raising money to produce a movie? Why try to raise movie money from the motorcycle industry in the first place, instead of from the same Hollywood types who funded Driven and Top Gun and Red October and a whole slew of motorcycle-themed movies? If it’s all about raising awareness and publicity, why run in two non-televised racing series? I just don’t get it, and again, forgive my ignorance, I may just be dense.

And again, all of this is just my personal opinion, and I could be completely wrong…

From a press release:

Freddie Spencer School forms alliance with Pacific Track Time

“Learn from the best, ride with the best”

Freddie Spencer High Performance Riding School, the world’s premier instructional school for road riders and racers, announced a strategic association with Pacific Track Time, an upscale provider of track day events on the West Coast of the United States. The association was formed to provide an upscale safe and professional environment for Spencer School graduates to practice skills learned at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, while giving Pacific Track Time a “next step” direction for riders seeking professional instruction.

Freddie emphasizes at the school that when learning new skills at any level it is important to continually practice the skill until it becomes
second nature. Freddie feels that Pacific Track Time offers a great riding experience in a nice controlled environment for riders to improve
their skills.

Todd Robinson, Sales Director of Pacific Track Time, states, “When organizing and executing professional track day events we quickly realized that it only takes a couple days for some riders to potentially start building and then reinforcing bad habits on the track”.

He continues “While we have a riding staff to help riders become oriented to the track and work on safety basics, we feel it’s a disservice to riders to have them continue to ride track days without encouraging them to seek out higher levels of instruction…and there’s no better place to put someone than in the hands of a master teacher like Freddie Spencer”.

During Pacific Track Time’s regular season, Spencer School instructors will be attending selected events as guest instructors and bring a taste of Freddie Spencer’s High Performance Riding School to a larger audience by with lunchtime introductory seminars. Spencer School graduates and Pacific Track Time Frequent Riders will also receive discounted admission to each other’s respective event dates.

More information on Freddie Spencer High Performance Riding School can be found at www.spencermotorcycles.com or by calling (702) 643-1099. More information on Pacific Track Time can be found at www.pacifictracktime.com, by calling (877) 809-2170, or by visiting Pacific Track Time’s booths at Laguna Seca WSBK or the West Coast IMS Motorcycle Shows.

This just in:

“My name is Dennis King. I am one of those ‘real racers’ you speak of on the 14k Endurance team. I think that you and people like you will hurt this project. Just because someone got some free product and some free motorcycles does not mean that they are scamming the system.

“I met Tony Morris a few years ago at a race in the Pocono’s. He had helped me in the pits because I was alone. At no time did he come off as nothing but a friendly man and a enthusiast of the sport. I later ran into Tony at Daytona where he informed me of his project and his involvement. I admit that my first reaction was that he was probably full of crap. Several months later Tony called me at my house and asked me to ride on his endurance team.

“Now, several months into the race season, Tony has supplied me and my team with everything that he had promised. My team is currently running third in middleweight superbike as you are probably aware.

“As far as the whole movie project, people like yourself will only hurt the project. Why would you publish an article that does nothing but talk down on mister Morris and his project? Who are you to judge him?

“I was there when Tony sent you the movie script. I was also at Tony’s house when other people had called who are invovled in the project. I happen to believe that he is doing something positive and constructive and if this movie makes it to the big screens the road racing industry will benefit. However, if you and people like you continue to slander the project and the people involved in it then we both know that you weaken any chance that it may or may not have!

“Opinions are like assholes, right? All of us have them. Keep yours to yourself or at least out of the magazine.

“A pissed off racer,

“Dennis King”



More, from a reader who wished he had thought of it:

“Boy, all that seemed pretty obvious to me when they announced the ‘filming schedule’ awhile back and none of it has taken place. I’m just pissed I didn’t think of it first–how about I make a documentary on a private road race team financed by a motorcycle magazine! Sounds like a winner.

“Do you have Suzuki’s number?

“Cory Mann”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Corona Extra Suzuki team principal Landers Sevier e-mailed Roadracingworld.com to correct a July 9 posting titled “Americans Plentiful, World Stars Scarce On Suzuka 8-Hour Entry List”.

Sevier wrote, “Adam Fergusson will be teamed with Jordan Szoke at the 8 hours…not Steve Rapp. Thanks, Landers”

The information that Rapp would team with Fergusson on the Corona 8-hour team came from the official Suzuka 8-hour entry list published July 5.

From a press release issued by HM Plant Ducati:

The taming of the Corkscrew

The Superbike World Championship touches down in the USA this weekend. With it comes the chance for Neil Hodgson, James Toseland and the rest of the HM Plant Ducati team to escape the cold, grey British summer for the more temperate environs of California.

The Laguna Seca circuit is a favourite of both HM Plant Ducati riders and Hodgson for one will be gunning for his first victory of the year.

“I love everything about the Laguna Seca event,” says Hodgson. “I may never have won there but I got real close last year when I came second to Ben Bostrom and then got on the podium in the other race. I’ve had other rostrum finishes there too, so I guess that it suits me. A lot of riders think that it’s dangerous, and it just might be, but it’s precisely that element of danger that makes it so good to ride – it sorts the men out from the boys.

“Right now I’m working on achieving my overall goal of finishing third in the championship. I really want to close the gap on Edwards and Bayliss and the best way to do that is by winning a few races. Laguna and Brands are my favourite tracks and I’ve had a fair amount of success at them in the past. With a little bit of luck, this should be the best month of the year so far and I’ll be doing everything within my power to make sure that I can translate this confidence into championship points.”

James Toseland has just signed a deal that will see him remain with the team for the next two seasons. The 21-year-old Yorkshireman’s 2002 form has earned him seventh place in the championship standings and he is hoping to reach new heights in America.

“Laguna is great circuit and one that I had a good result at last year, but there’s so much more that makes this round so good,” explains Toseland. “It’s always a pleasure to stay in the Monterey area because the climate is perfect for training as well as racing and the people are so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the sport. I’m really glad that my future is secure with HM Plant Ducati and I really want to show the whole team how much it means to me by scoring my best result of the year.”

2001 results
Race one:
1. B. Bostrom (Ducati) 40:32.161; 2. N. Hodgson (GSE Racing Ducati) +1.337; 3. T. Corser (Aprilia) +2.923; 10. J. Toseland (GSE Racing Ducati) +37.617

Race two:
1. B. Bostrom (Ducati) 40:31.320; 2. T. Corser (Aprilia) +2.360; 3 N. Hodgson (GSE Racing Ducati) +15.310; 7. J. Toseland (GSE Racing Ducati) +19.079

From a press release issued by SBK, organizers of the Superbike World Championship:

Round 9 – Laguna Seca– (USA)
12 – 14 July 2002

Laguna Seca, 11 July 2002

California Dreaming

Situated close to the famous coastal town of Monterey, Laguna Seca features a captivating layout, the shape of which is determined by the sloping walls of the dry lake the track nestles within.

Originally built in 1957, on US Army land, the original track was a near complete circle around the lakebed, until the requirements of international competition lengthened it to its present 3.610km. Laguna is home to the spectacular Corkscrew, which sees the track drop left, down a 30% incline from its highest point. A unique section, it is approached blind and is one of many challenging sections on the track.

Few permanent buildings feature in the pit area at Laguna, due to the peculiar status of the track location, with the circuit itself operated as a charitable trust by the SCRAMP organisation. The tented village, which springs up on race weekends, however, does lend a carnival atmosphere to proceedings.

The normally hot and dry atmosphere makes life fun for the spectators, gruelling for the competitors, who swelter in the high afternoon temperatures. The current lap record dates to 1999, and his held by Anthony Gobert, on a 1:25.185.

The story of the 2002 season so far has been an almost exclusive Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) and Colin Edwards (Castrol Honda) battle, although peculiarly, nether of these riders have won at Laguna before. With the exception of local wild-card Makoto Tamada’s race two win at Sugo, Bayliss and Edwards have won every race so far, with Edwards on two and Bayliss on a whopping 13.
As neither rider has won at Laguna in SBK before, there has never been a better time for one of the other riders to break their personal 2002 duck.

Six-time 2001 race winner Ben Bostrom (L&M Ducati) may be the most confident of those riders, with good memories of his double Laguna win fresh in his mind. Another major force at Laguna last year was Neil Hodgson (HM Plant Ducati), and on his 2002 form he also stands a good chance at one of his most favoured tracks.
Hodgson will be joined once more by his younger team-mate James Toseland, a rider still learning how to beat the best Superbike exponents in the world, but moving closer with ever outing.

Noriyuki Haga (Playstation 2 Aprilia) is the lone Aprilia runner and a proven force at Laguna, looking to jump-start his 2002 season once more.

The final factory twin cylinder rider due to compete at Laguna is none other than Ruben Xaus, team-mate of Bayliss and exciting to the point of hysteria on occasions.

Other factory riders in the Laguna mix ride three or four four-cylinder machines. Peter Goddard competes on the Benelli triple, while the best placed four-cylinder rider at present is Chris walker, from the Kawasaki Racing Team.

Gregorio Lavilla forms a one man Alstare Suzuki factory team, and will be anxious to show himself in a good light against the other strong four-cylinder riders.

Regular American Superbike racer Eric Bostrom has once more been drafted into the factory SBK Kawasaki team (replacing the still injured Hitoyasu Izutsu).

Six local AMA wild card riders will be allowed to compete at Laguna, and will make life hard for all the top riders. They are current AMA Championship leader Nicky Hayden, his Honda team-mate Miguel Duhamel, the injured but recovering Anthony Gobert (Yamaha), Suzuki riders Mat Mladin and Aaron Yates, plus the local Ducati charger, Doug Chandler.

With the intense July heat and a very physical circuit to negotiate, wins at Laguna have never come cheap. The track has also seldom favoured Michelin riders; such is the base of combined knowledge the near-exclusively Dunlop supported riders in AMA championship have to call on.

Of the current runners in SBK, Ben Bostrom (L&M Ducati) has been the most recent winner, taking a double last season and a race two success in 1999, while he was still an AMA competitor.

Noriyuki Haga (Playstation2 Aprilia) has also scored two wins, both on Yamahas.

Significantly, almost any manufacturer’s machine has proved capable of winning at Laguna, opening up the enticing prospect of a four-cylinder winner for the first time this season.

Laguna Seca is the one round of the SBK championship which does not feature a round of the World Supersport Championship.


From a press release issued by Suzuki:

SUZUKI IN THE STATES

2002 Superbike World Championship, Preview, Round 9, Laguna Seca, USA, July 14th

ROUND nine of the Championship takes the teams out of Europe for the first time since April and is the last of this year’s flyaway trips.

Laguna Seca has been a fixture on the calendar since 1995 and is one of the most spectacular racetracks of the series. The 3.610 kilometre circuit featuresserious changes of elevation and one of the most famous corners in motorsport ­the Corkscrew. A blind approach is followed by a difficult left-right swoop,which plunges no less than fifty feet. Last year, local hero Ben Bostrom dominated the event, taking Superpole and winning both 28-lap races. Although circuit knowledge is vital, of the past 14 races, six have been won by Americans and eight by overseas riders.

Last year Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Gregorio Lavilla was racing for another team and took a 12th in the first race, but DNF’d in the second. Laguna Seca is a demanding circuit ­ physically and technically ­ and the team know it’s going to be a hard weekend ­ especially in view of the strength of the numerous ‘wild card’ riders taking part.

GREGORIO LAVILLA
“Laguna Seca has not been a particularly kind track for me in the past, so I’m hoping to have a good weekend there this year. Last year was not that good and the year before I didn’t take part due to injury, so I think it is bout time for some good results. This year has proved to be as hard as we all expected in some ways, but there are some positive signs of improvement head. We made some progress in the last round and if we can carry that through and build on it, we will continue going forward.

“Unfortunately at Laguna Seca ­like all the circuits we go to this year ­we have no data that we can use from last year because we are running different suspension. It means that every time we get to a track, we have to start from scratch and spend a lot of the qualifying trying to get a good bike set-up. It’s a fact, nothing more, nothing less. Some tracks are better than others for our bike and I’m hoping my Suzuki handles well, so that I can really attack Laguna Seca.”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

According to a press release, White Buffalo Racing, a road racing parts and accessories business, has established a new website at www.whitebuffaloracing.net.

The company also fields a racing effort in WSMC.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

The 25th Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race will feature many Americans but few international racing stars, according to a provisional entry list.

In stark contrast to past Suzuka races that included nearly every top rider from international and domestic road racing series around the world, the provisional entry list for the 25th running of the classic endurance event is relatively light on star power. The biggest names for the Coca-Cola-sponsored contest are Tohru Ukawa, Daijiro Kato, Alex Barros and Akira Ryo.

Former Suzuka 8-Hour winners Ukawa and Kato will team on a Team Cabin Honda RC51. Makoto Tamada will ride another Honda RC51 pairing with Cabin Honda Team Manager and former Suzuka winner Tadayuki Okada. Alex Barros will join Yuichi Takeda on a Team Sakurai Honda RC51. Takeda is third in the All-Japan Road Race Series point standings.

Having finished on the Suzuka podium for the past two years, Ryo and Yukio Kagayama will be tough on a factory-supported Suzuki GSX-R750; Ryo and Kagayama have been test riding the prototype GSV-R in 2002.

The top Yamaha team appears to be the YSP Racing & Prest duo of Takeshi Tsujimura and Wataru Yoshikawa, fourth and fifth in All-Japan Series points.

Although an Akira Yanagawa/Eric Bostrom/Chris Walker team on a factory ZX-7RR would have been exciting, Kawasaki will have no official factory team in the Suzuka field this year.

Although the Suzuka race is round four of the FIM Endurance World Championship, few of the series regulars make the long and expensive journey to race in Japan. Among the World Endurance regular teams signed up for this year’s race, Zongshen has entered two Stock Sport teams on Suzuki GSX-R1000s with Stephane Mertens and Warwick Nowland riding the first and Igor Jerman and Bruno Bonhuil riding the second. GMT94’s Sebastien Scarnato and William Costes are scheduled to race on another Stock Sport Suzuki GSX-R1000.

American Jason Pridmore and Brit Mike Edwards will take their usual seats on a QB Phase One World Endurance Suzuki GSX-R1000 in the Stock Sport class. Similarly, Mike Ciccotto and David Estok will ride a Herman Verboven/Hooters/Ti Force Suzuki GSX-R1000 at Suzuka.

It appears as though the Arata-Ex & Tsukigi team has replaced Doug Chandler with Mike Smith as partner to Doug Polen on an X-Formula Honda CBR954RR. Polen’s history at Suzuka is long and varied, but Smith, riding with teammate Takuma Aoki, finished third at the 1993 edition of the Suzuka 8-Hour on a Honda. Scott Russell and Aaron Slight won that race on a Kawasaki with Eddie Lawson and Satoshi Tsujimoto taking second on a Honda. Names appearing below Smith’s on the result sheet included Mick Doohan and Daryl Beattie, fourth on a Honda, Alex Barros and Peter Goddard, seventh on a Suzuki, Kenny Roberts Junior in eighth on a Yamaha, Randy Renfrow and Steve Crevier, 42nd on a Honda and Scott Zampach, Mike Hale and Noriyuki Haga DNF.

The biggest surprise on the Suzuka entry list is Team Corona Extra/EBSCO/Ti Force riders Adam Fergusson and Steve Rapp on an X-Formula Suzuki GSX-R1000.

There are 87 teams entered for the August 4 race, 21 in Superbike, 14 in Stock Sport, four in X-Formula, 38 in JSB1000 and eight in Prototype.