A message from a reader (and racer) reacting to our coverage of the 2002 AMA Number debacle:

It appears that the AMA has also reassigned my number 97 in both the 600 and 750 SS classes. This after receiving my 2002 license renewal.

This whole number thing further illustrates the basic lack of competence this organization shows time and time again. Thanks for all of your efforts.

Garth A. Cloyd

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The 2001 MRA Board of Directors election is all about change in the Colorado-based club, and the focus is on the battle for Vice President of Rules and Tech.

Long-time MRA racer and sponsor Jay Sherritt is running for the position and blasted the status quo in the October issue of the MRA newsletter, which carried election information and ballots.

In his statement, Sherritt said, “…if, for example, it were to turn out that a rule was inadvertently changed because I didn’t know of a supplement to the rulebook, and if I found that various officers and board members had offered a false explanation to members to justify the change, instead of huddling and trying to find a way to conceal the truth and intentionally exclude members who know better, I will go to the members with the truth first, and then, once the playing field has been leveled, reintroduce the topic and invite those who are opposed to speak their piece. I will not tolerate club officers, board members or their family members racing motorcycles that do not meet class suitability requirements. Board members have an appearance of undue influence over racing decisions, and therefore they must be held to a higher standard…”

Charges aside, change is guaranteed in the MRA election since most current Board members are not running for relection. Non-incumbent Jay Sherritt is running against non-incumbent Bart McKiernan, while non-incumbents Leah Sherritt (Jay’s wife) and Andrew Drattlo are running for President. Non-incumbents Mark Schellinger and Ricky Orlando are running for New Rider Director, and non-incumbents Gina Fallon, CPA Marc Levin and Doug Lyle are running for Secretary, Treasurer and Track Marshall, respectively.

Official ballots must be received by the MRA by November 13 to be counted.

From Honda:

Rio Grand Prix, Jacarepagua, Brazil
Saturday, November 3, 2001

HONDA RACING PRESS INFORMATION


Valentino Rossi (Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR500) snatched a brilliant last-corner victory from Carlos Checa (Yamaha) at Rio this afternoon, bringing his season total to 11 wins. This latest success puts him second in the most-wins-in-a-season league, equal with fellow Italian legend Giacomo Agostini, who won 11 500 GPs in 1972, and just one victory behind record-holder Mick
Doohan (Repsol Honda NSR500), who won 12 GPs in 1997. It also moved him to eighth equal in the all-time GP winner list. Rossi has now won a total of 39 GPs, putting him equal with Fifties 250 and 125 star Carlo Ubbiali.

The victory was also truly historic, for it writes Rossi’s name in the history books as the last-ever winner of a 500 Grand Prix. The MotoGP World Championship moves into a new era next season when 990cc four-strokes join the series and Rossi will be part of that revolution aboard Honda’s RCV V5 four-stroke. But his last 500 win was anything but easy. Watched by 40,000 fans, Rossi had to fight hard throughout the two-part race, stopped and restarted due to a rain shower, the overall results decided on aggregate time from the two segments. And he made life tougher for himself for the restart, choosing the wrong front tire for the conditions. But he was still able to ride hard enough to chase Checa over the line, winning the race by a tantalizing 0.143 seconds, thanks to the time advantage he’d had over Checa from the few laps run before the rain came.

“That was a very difficult race and I didn’t event know I’d won until I spoke to one of my team on the slowdown lap,” said the dazzling 22-year old who started the race from row two, only his fourth start of 2001 off the front row. “I chose an intermediate front for the restart when I should’ve gone for a cut slick because the track was very soon dry. Checa used a cut-slick front and I had to push very hard to stay with him, so hard that I nearly lost the front and crashed a few times. Now I’m looking forward to tonight’s party – it’s going to be a long night! After that, I go on holidays for one month, then I have my first full test on the RCV at Jerez at the end of November. I hope the weather is good for the test because I want to really get to know and understand the machine. Honda say the bike has improved a lot since I last tested it when I was in Japan for the Suzuka Eight Hours at the end of July.”

Alex Barros (West Honda Pons NSR500) had been looking in great form before the rain, running in the lead group, but he couldn’t continue at that pace after the restart and slipped behind Rossi, Checa and third-finisher Max Biaggi (Yamaha) to finish a distant fourth. “I wanted a good result for the fans,” said the man from Sao Paulo. “But tire choice was a lottery for the second race and I didn’t make the best choice.”

Loris Capirossi (West Honda Pons NSR500) was next up, crossing the line 1.6 seconds down on his team-mate. It was a disappointing result for the Italian who had been hoping to beat Biaggi and move to second overall; instead he ended the season third, still his best-ever 500 campaign. “But I’m happy enough,” he said. “Today’s was a difficult race and I ended the year third overall, like on the podium! I knew it’d be difficult to get second, now I’ll take a rest and try to improve next year.”

Alex Criville (Repsol YPF Honda NSR500) completed the two-part race in seventh place, seven seconds down on sixth-home Norick Abe (Yamaha). “The second race was much better for me and I was hopeful of a good result,” he said. “But I chose an intermediate rear which wasn’t the right tire as the track quickly dried, so I couldn’t maintain a good pace.”

Most disappointed man at Rio was undoubtedly Tohru Ukawa (Repsol YPF Honda NSR500). The Japanese racer had scored his first-ever 500 pole position in superb style on Friday and thus had high expectations of scoring his first 500 victory. The former 250 GP winner lived up to those hopes in the first few laps, leading the race from 2000 champ Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) and Rossi. But the weather spoiled everything for Ukawa, who crashed on the second lap of the restart, while holding a close second place on corrected time. “For once I got good starts in both races but this time I didn’t finish,” said Ukawa who’s recently made a habit of starting badly then charging through the pack. “I knew I could fight for the win, or a podium finish at least, but then I went and made a mistake when overtaking Alex. It’s a real shame but now I must look towards next year.”



From Suzuki:

TYRE GAMBLE GOES WRONG FOR SUZUKI RIDERS

World Grand Prix, Round 16, Race Result, Jacarepagua, Brazil, Saturday, November 3, 2001.

Team Telefónica MoviStar Suzuki riders Kenny Roberts Jr and Sete Gibernau were victims of unpredictable weather at today’s Rio GP, the last race of the 2001 season.

In a race stopped by rain after four laps and restarted for the remaining 20, the team gambled that the rain would continue and sent both riders out on full wet tyres. Instead, against their private forecast, the rain stopped and the well-drained 4.933km Nelson Piquet circuit dried at once. Roberts and Gibernau were among several wrongly-shod riders condemned to cruising round at the back of the field. Gibernau finished 12th, in the points but one lap behind, with Roberts 16th, another lap adrift.

It was a disappointment for both. Roberts had started from the front row of the grid and led the first and third laps. He was second by less than half-a-second on lap four, when the race was stopped. After the restart he realised at once he was in trouble, and pitted at the end of the first lap with the idea of changing tyres.

Instead he went out again, cruising round in the hope of picking up points. Gibernau was ninth and moving forward on lap four. He fell on the next lap as the rain began, but was able to restart in any case. Like Roberts he was in trouble from the start; but without stopping he was able to claim four points, to make sure of a top-10 championship finish. He was ninth overall; defending champion Roberts was 11th.

Today’s race, watched by an enthusiastic 40,000-strong crowd, was the last ever for the 500cc class. From next year, the premier category will be open also to 990cc four-strokes. The winner was 2001 champion Valentino Rossi.

SETE GIBERNAU – 12th Position
“I thought I had a good chance in the first race. I didn’t start too well, but I was catching up the leading group and feeling strong when it started to rain and they had to stop the race. In fact I crashed because of the rain, but I was able to make the restart. After that, the position was simple. We made a wrong choice of tyres, and that was it. It was obvious from the start and all I could do was ride carefully and wait for the finish. Now we have to go home, and work hard to prepare for a better season next year.”

KENNY ROBERTS – 16th Position
“We simply made the wrong decision. We had advice from the weather people that it was going to carry on raining, and it was still wet and drizzly on the line for the restart. Until we actually left the line. It’s disappointing. I felt we would have done well here, given different circumstances. But in the end there were too many ifs.”

GARRY TAYLOR – Team Manager
“We took the same gamble on the same meteorological advice at Valencia – and there it worked. We finished first and third. This time, it went against us. That happens sometimes when you gamble. In fact we had Kenny’s spare bike ready on slicks in case he decided to change after the warm-up lap, but he stayed out there, and the die was cast.”


from Marlboro Yamaha:

RIO GRAND PRIX, JACAREPAGUA
Race Day, Saturday, November 3, 2001

MARLBORO YAMAHA DENIED THRILLING RIO VICTORY
Marlboro Yamaha Team riders Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi played a starring role in today’s thrilling season-ending Rio GP, run as a two-part aggregate race after rain interrupted proceedings. Cheated of victory by a backmarker at the very last turn, Checa finished second, just a fraction behind Valentino Rossi (Honda) with Biaggi third. This was the third time this year that the Marlboro Yamaha Team duo have stood together on the podium, following their one-two performances at the French and German GPs.

“Maybe Carlos could’ve won without the backmarker, but that’s racing,” said Marlboro Yamaha Team director Hiroya Atsumi. “The good thing is that he rode a great race, and Max too, it was very exciting for all of us. Now we have finished this year, so the 500 class is history and we can now focus 100 per cent on developing the new YZR-M1 four-stroke for next season.”

Today’s Grand Prix was the 580th and last 500 Grand Prix before up-to-990cc four-strokes join the MotoGP World Championship from the start
of next season.

CHECA SECOND BUT SO UNLUCKY
Carlos Checa led most of this afternoon’s restarted Rio GP, only to run out of luck at the very last turn and lose the race. The Marlboro Yamaha Team man had been in the midst of the leading pack before the rain shower that brought out the red flags, ending that four-lap segment in fourth place. He was right on the pace again when the race was restarted. Running front and rear cut slicks in the tricky conditions, he took the lead from Rossi on aggregate time on lap 16 and stayed out front, just a fraction ahead of his Italian rival, who had completed the first four-lap segment 0.195 seconds ahead of Checa. So when Checa found privateer Anthony West (Honda) on the racing line at the final corner of the last lap, Rossi was able to get close enough to win the race by 0.143 seconds on aggregate time.

“I saw the chequered flag and I thought I’d won,” said Checa. “When I found out the result it was probably the worst feeling of my life. I’ve been chasing this win for three years with my team, the team did a great job here, the bike felt good and I thought I’d found my opportunity. West turned around as we were coming at him, Rossi saw him too, then I met him in the middle of the turn, so I couldn’t open the throttle where I usually do and that was enough to lose me the race. I don’t know what West was thinking.

“This is such a frustrating way to lose and the people that run this sport must do something about the blue-flag system. On Friday I complained that there were no blue flags to warn lapped riders to move over, but it hasn’t made any difference.”

BIAGGI SECURES SECOND OVERALL
Max Biaggi took a hard-ridden third place at Rio to secure second overall in the last-ever 500 World Championship. Starting from the third row, the Italian was in the thick of it from the first laps, and was the only man who could run with Carlos Checa and Valentino Rossi after the restart.

“This was a very tough weekend for me,” said Biaggi, winner of three races this season. “This track is so bumpy that we couldn’t get the bike set up to suit me. I couldn’t use my speed because I wasn’t getting enough feeling from the front, that’s why I qualified tenth. I think the damp conditions helped today, though maybe my choice of an intermediate front wasn’t perfect.

“It’s great to get second in the championship. Okay, so second isn’t brilliant but it’s all I could do today. Over the last few days I’ve read a lot of newspapers telling me how motivated Capirossi was to beat me for second overall, so I wanted to ride a good race to make sure of second. Now we look forward to next year and the big question mark of four-strokes. We’ve got a lot of testing ahead of us and I hope we can have a great machine for 2002 so we can go one better than this year.”

ROSSI TAKES 11TH WIN
World Champion Valentino Rossi continued his relentless trophy hunt at Rio, securing his 11th victory of the 2001 season and his sixth victory from the last seven races. Once again things fell just right for the Italian youngster, who’d been getting well out of shape as he battled to stay with the flying Checa. “I made a mistake with my front-tyre choice, I should’ve used a cut slick, not an intermediate,” he said. “I pushed so hard that I nearly lost the front and crashed a few times, and when we finished the race I didn’t know who had won. I only found out when I stopped and asked one of my team members. Now I’m looking forward to the end-of-season party, it’s going to be a long night! After that, I’ve a one-month holiday, then I start testing Honda’s four-stroke at Jerez at the end of November.”

Local star Alex Barros (Honda) finished the race fourth, just ahead of his team-mate Loris Capirossi.


From Proton:


PROTON RETIRES FROM STOP-AND-GO RIO GP

Round 16: Rio GP, Jacarepagua Race Report: Saturday, November 3, 2001

Jurgen van den Goorbergh: Did Not Finish
Proton Team KR rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh retired from today’s Rio GP, last race of the 2001 GP season, after rare mechanical trouble struck on the first lap of a race that was stopped three laps later when it started to rain. Because he was not running at the time, Jurgen was not eligible for the restart, leaving the Dutchman angry and disappointed after a weekend that had promised a lot for his last race with the team.

Jurgen had qualified well, on the third row of the grid, and was fastest in race-morning warm-up. But his troubles started directly the lights went green, with gearshifting difficulties. Even so, he finished the first lap in 12th. But the problem rapidly got worse, and he was forced to stop out on the track without finishing the second lap.

It was particularly disappointing because it had been something of a struggle to make the race. Ruled out of the previous round after suffering concussion in a practice tumble, he was still suffering a week before the Rio GP, and not sure whether he would be fit enough to start. He was given medical clearance just in time to fly to Brazil, but even during practice was having trouble concentrating. Day by day he got better, however, and by race day he was feeling fit, and confident of finishing the season with a good result.

The race, watched by a 40,000-strong crowd, was won by new 500cc World Champion Valentino Rossi. The four-plus-20 laps of the 4.933km Nelson Piquet circuit were the last ever race in the classic 500cc class. From next year, the premier category will be open also to 990cc four-strokes.


JURGEN VAN DEN GOORBERGH
“You could say that was disappointing. Or even more than disappointing. I came here to race, and I believe I did a good job to make it through to race day. This morning I was fastest, which shows I was capable of a good result. Then in the race something broke. It’s a shame to finish the season this way – the bike has been quite reliable all year. Until this important day”.


KENNY ROBERTS – Team Owner
“The bike ran all weekend with no problems. Then we got to the race, and it had a problem These things always seem to come at the wrong time – but that’s the way it goes sometimes”.

Vanletino Rossi won the 500cc Grand Prix at Rio, which was red-flagged after four laps for rain, then restarted to run another 20 laps on a drying track (Rossi turned the fastest lap of the race, 1:53.258, on lap 20 of 24).

Crashers included Shinya Nakano (who restarted), Oliver Jacque, Jurgen van den Goorbergh, Sete Gibernau (who restarted), and Tohru Ukawa. Kenny Roberts pitted shortly after the restart, then rejoined the race.

500cc Results
1. Valentino Rossi, Honda
2. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, -0.143 second
3. Max Biaggi, Yamaha, -6.980 seconds
4. Alex Barros, Honda, -19.053
5. Loris Capirossi, Honda, -20.655
6. Norick Abe, Yamaha, -20.829
7. Alex Criville, Honda, -27.894
8. Jose Luis Cardoso, Yamaha, -45.110
9. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, -2:25.532
10. Garry McCoy, Yamaha, -1 lap
11. Leon Haslam, Honda, -1 lap
12. Sete Gibernau, Suzuki, -1 lap
13. Anthony West, Honda, -2 laps
14. Haruchika Aoki, Honda, -2 laps
15. Brendan Clarke, Honda, -2 laps
16. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki, -2 laps
17. Barry Veneman, Honda, -2 laps

DNF
Tohru Ukawa, Honda, -17 laps
Jurgen van den Goordbergh, Proton, -23 laps
Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, -24 laps


250cc Results
(Wet)
1. Daijiro Katoh, Honda
2. Marco Melandri, Aprilia, -0.508 second
3. Roberto Locatelli, Aprilia, -1.382 seconds
4. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia, -3.569
5. Jeremy McWilliams, Aprilia, -3.846
6. Tetsuya Harada, Aprilia, -11.032
7. Emilio Alzamora, Honda, -14.786
8. Roberto Rolfo, Aprilia, -26.769
9. Naoki Matsudo, Yamaha, -42.705
10. Franco Battaini, Aprilia, -45.602
26. Katja Poensgen, Honda, -2 laps


125cc Results
(Wet)
1. Youichi Ui, Derbi
2. Simone Sanna, Aprilia, -0.112 second
3. Arnaud Vincent, Honda, -27.647 seconds
4. Toni Elias, Honda, -32.325
5. Manuel Poggiali, Gilera, -37.646
6. Alex de Angelis, Honda, -42.052
7. Masao Azuma, Honda, -42.563
8. Jakub Smrz, Honda, -42.642
9. Gianluigi Scalvini, Italjet, -42.867
10. Jaroslav Hules, Honda, -43.854


Final 500cc World Championship Points:
1. Rossi, 325
2. Biaggi, 219
3. Capirossi, 210
4. Barros, 182
5. Nakano, 155
6. Checa, 137
7. Abe, 137
8. Criville, 120
9. Gibernau, 119
10. Ukawa, 107
11. Roberts, 97
12. McCoy, 88
13. van den Goorbergh, 65
14. Haga, 59
15. Jacque, 59
16. Cardoso, 45
17. Aoki, 33
18. West, 27
19. Haslam, 13
20. Chris Walker, 9
21. Yukio Kagayama, 6
22. Johan Stigefelt, 6
23. Clarke, 5
24. Veneman, 4
25. Mark Willis, 3
26. Jay Vincent, 3
27. Jarno Janssen, 1


Final 250cc World Championship Points:
1. Katoh, 322
2. Harada, 273
3. Melandri, 194
4. Rolfo, 177
5. Nieto, 167
6. McWilliams, 141
7. Alzamora, 136
8. Locatelli, 134
9. Matsudo, 112
10. Battaini, 75
30. Poensgen, 2


Final 125cc World Championship Points
1. Poggiali, 241
2. Ui, 232
3. Elias, 217
4. Cecchinello, 156
5. Azuma, 142
6. Borsoi, 130
7. Sanna, 125
8. Pedrosa, 100
9. Ueda, 94
10. Vincent, 94

AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr and 1993 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz have agreed to serve on the Board of Directors of the Roadracing World Action Fund., Inc. a new non-profit corporation now being established.

The Roadracing World Action Fund’s primary mission will be the acquisition and deployment of Air Fence for motorcycle racing use.

Other Directors will include Roadracing World Editor John Ulrich, Roadracing World Publisher Trudy Ulrich and former racer Bruce Hammer, who became a quadriplegic as the result of hitting a bare steel barrier during an AMA National in 1982.

The Roadracing World Action Fund, Inc. will take over operations of the Roadracing World Air Fence Fund, an informal fund which has collected over $150,000 for the purchase and deployment of Air Fence at road races in the U.S.; a dirt track division of the Air Fence Fund was recently established, with about $9000 collected so far.

Details will be announced as available.

Tohru Ukawa is on pole for Saturday’s Brazilian Grand Prix, at Rio. Times follow:

1. Tohru Ukawa, 1:51.431
2. Loris Capirossi, 1:51.462
3. Kenny Roberts, 1:51.767
4. Shinya Nakano, 1:51.820
5. Valentino Rossi, 1:51.863
6. Sete Gibernau, 1:51.874
7. Carlos Checa, 1:51.920
8. Olivier Jacque, 1:51.974
9. Norick Abe, 1:51.993
10. Max Biaggi, 1:52.011
11. Jurgen van den Goorbergh, 1:52.109
12. Alex Barros, 1:52.177
13. Garry McCoy, 1:52.324
14. Alex Criville, 1:52.771
15. Jose Luis Cardoso, 1:53.050
16. Anthony West, 1:53.764
17. Haruchika Aoki, 1:54.319
18. Leon Haslam, 1:54.557
19. Brendan Clarke, 1:56.254
20. Barry Veneman, 1:56.776



250cc Times:
1. Fonsi Nieto, 1:53.819
2. Daijiro Katoh, 1:53.860
3. Jeremy McWilliams, 1:54.011
4. Roberto Locatelli, 1:54.376
5. Tetsuya Harada, 1:54.474
6. Naoki Matsudo, 1:54.511
7. Marco Melandri, 1:54.598
8. Randy de Puniet, 1:54.644
9. Franco Battaini, 1:54.649
10. Alex Debon, 1:54.892
30. Katja Poensgen, 2:00.712


125cc Times:
1. Youichi Ui, 1:58.676
2. Andrea Ballerini, 1:59.085
3. Daniel Pedrosa, 1:59.133
4. Toni Elias, 1:59.187
5. Manuel Poggiali, 1:59.214
6. Lucio Cecchinello, 1:59.244
7. Joan Olive, 1:59.546
8. Jakub Smrz, 1:59.573
9. Simone Sanna, 1:59.661
10. Gino Borsoi, 1:59.749

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Stuart Stratton’s view of an official standing on the grid at the start of the warm-up lap for the October 19 CCS GTO Expert race at Daytona may have been obscured by a second bike, an eyewitness said today.

Racer Jim Lester said that he saw another rider in front of Stratton as Stratton practiced a start and left for the warm-up lap. The second rider swerved around official Virgil “Spud” Davis but Stratton hit Davis before veering into the pit wall head-first.

“He was behind another bike,” said Lester in a phone call to Roadracing World. “What I saw was, the other bike veered over, and he (Stratton) hit the guy (Davis).”

Lester said he rejects the theory that Stratton was looking down at his instruments during his practice start and looked up too late to avoid Davis, who was walking down the grid and motioning riders to leave on the warm-up lap.

“Once you get moving, you look where you’re going,” said Lester. “Nobody does a start and keeps looking at their instruments, no way. He couldn’t see the official because he was following another bike.”

Stratton was fatally injured in the incident, while Davis suffered leg injuries and is expected to recover.


Another eyewitness was Tricia Matusick, who desribes herself as being “Crew Chief/Fiancee for rider #31, Dr. Jeffrey Purk, DDS”, and who desribed the scene and her reaction as follows: “Being up on the hot pit wall right where Stuart Stratton was killed, makes it very hard to be a caring, supportive, Crew Chief/Fiancee for my rider.

“I had just jumped back over the wall from sending my rider out for the hot lap. Looked down the rest of the grid and was watching all of the other riders take off. When I noticed Stuart taking off, all I could think was, what the hell was he doing. The next thing I know he hit Spud, I saw him go up into the air, lose his shoe and hit the ground.

“I was standing right in front of the wall when Stuart hit. The clutch lever came over the wall and hit the back part of my shoulder. As soon as Stuart stopped, I jumped over the wall to check on him. I yelled ‘Hello, can you hear me?’ There was no response. I started to yell for help. I reached down on Stuart’s left side to try and find a pulse. I couldn’t find one. In the meantime I was still trying to get help. The starter came over and helped. I told her I couldn’t find a pulse, and she told me to get security over there. Everyone was helping Spud.

“I was yelling and finally the ambulance got there and they asked me to get back. I will never forget what I saw that day and how bad Stuart’s injuries were. The blood, his eyes and how they looked because the faceshield on the helmet was gone, the feelings in my stomach that I had. All the questions I had to answer, the reports I had to write down. It was rough.

“But still to this day and forever I will always be supportive to my rider and any other rider who is out on any track.”

From a press release:

Lone Ducati 748 holds off Thundering Buell Hordes

Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia. Saturday October 27th, 2001.

On Tuesday October 23rd, Thomas Montano and the team from Munroe Motors arrived at Road Atlanta, Georgia, for the decisive showdown in the AMA Pro-Thunder series. Coming in to this last round, staged in conjunction with the WERA Grand National Finals, three competitors had the chance of winning the series… Ducati riders Montano and defending #1 plate holder Jeff Nash – who was a no-show owing to injuries sustained at the previous round in Virginia, and Buell-mounted AMA 750 SuperSport winner Mike Ciccotto.

The underlying battle was between the dominant brands of Pro-Thunder… title sponsor Buell was throwing in everything possible to try and win the series – Ducati had beaten them in previous years with Shawn Conrad in 1999 and Nash in 2000 – but Buell was determined to beat the Italian bikes. To this end they trooped out a couple of hired guns – Michael Barnes on Ciccotto’s back-up motorcycle, and Shawn Higbee debuting the new Buell XB9R Firebolt – in addition to their regular fast guys Dave Estok and Tripp Nobles.

The Pro-Thunder series has seen incredibly close racing up front this year, with any of these top competitors capable of winning, and Buell’s strategy for Road Atlanta was for Ciccotto to win the race, and have the other four riders block Montano out of a podium finish.

Montano’s team had their own plans however, when they hired AMA 250 G.P. Champion Jimmy Filice’s team owner James Siddall of World Sports to assist with chassis and suspension set-up. Siddall installed the data collection system off his 250 Yamaha onto the Munroe Motor’s 2001 Ducati 748R, and used his experience to optimize the race bike. Despite starting with their race-winning set-up from the last AMA round in Virginia four weeks previously, substantial changes were made to the Ducati… including different triple clamps for more trail, raising the front ride height 10 mm, raising the rear ride height 10 mm, and fitting stiffer fork springs with a raised fork oil height. All the efforts of the practice sessions came to fruition on Saturday morning’s timed qualifying session… Estok, Nobles, Barnes and Higbee all put in a quick lap to qualify, and then pulled in so as to leave the track clear for Ciccotto. Half way through the session, Ciccotto ripped off a 1:29.976 lap time, and pulled into the pits, his team confident of pole position – as Tom’s fastest time was only a 1:30.056. Montano stayed out on track trying to better his time, and then to the dismay of the Buell team members, Tom posted a scorcher of 1:29.862 to take pole position and the extra championship point.

Ciccotto came over to the Munroe Motors team and said ” If Tom can take it today, then he deserves it” – a very sporting gesture that shows the camaraderie of the competitors in Pro-Thunder.

Finally the time came for the race, and the strategy was simple: if Montano finished on the podium, he would win the championship. With the team crew members chain-smoking and biting nails at the trackside wall, the riders lined up for the start. At the green flag, Ciccotto shot away into the lead, and the pack spread out behind him. Barnes was in second followed by Higbee and then Montano in fourth. Estok was out immediately as his bike broke its clutch, and Nobles was trailing behind Montano as his bike developed a misfire. On lap two, Higbee retired when his bike broke, and then on lap three Montano passed Barnes to take second place.

Up front, Ciccotto was riding like a man possessed, and slowly drew away from Montano to lead by four seconds. Barnes was running about a second behind Montano in third place, while Nobles was a distant fourth. As the race wound down, Barnes closed in on Montano, and on the final lap was close enough to dive up the inside on the brakes going into the tight second gear turn 10 – from around 160mph off the back straight.

“I saw Barney coming up on my left side, his bike squirming hard on the brakes – but I’d been checking over my shoulder and I could see Tripp (Nobles) was a ways back in fourth place, so I just moved over and let him through” Montano explained, “…I knew third (place) was good enough, so I just motored around the last few turns and took the checkered flag”.

On the podium, AMA’s Ron Barrick handed Montano the Pro-Thunder #1 plate, as the teams congratulated each other on such a close finale and a great championship season.

Tom Montano and the team from Munroe Motors would like to thank the following companies for their support and for producing the finest racing products available in North America: DUCATI Motorcycles North America, ARAI Helmets, PERFORMANCE FRICTION Brake Pads, STM Clutches and Sprockets, NUTEC Fuels, AZIONE MOTO Performance Accessories, MBP Desmo Valve System, ALPINESTAR Boots and Gloves, DUNLOP Tires, and special thanks to James Siddall of WORLD SPORTS, and to personal sponsor VEHICLE SYSTEMS.

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By John Ulrich

AMA Pro Racing has issued road racing numbers for 2002, and in doing so has demonstrated its own continued disfunction.

Want an example?

Grant Lopez has been #5 in AMA Formula Xtreme for three years. In 2001, he finished 3rd in AMA Formula Xtreme points.

On the 2002 number list for Formula Xtreme, Grant Lopez has been arbitrarily assigned #19 while #5 has been arbitrarily given to Michael Barnes.

Why?

Lopez has also been assigned #19 in Superbike, a class he did not compete in at all during the 2001 season.

Why?

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Lopez told me when I asked him why he has suddenly become #19 instead of #5 in Formula Xtreme.

Lopez’s case is just one of many. Anybody who has actually been paying any attention to AMA Pro Racing for more than the past 10 minutes can easily spot other weirdness in the list of assigned 2002 numbers. In another case, Chris Ulrich’s request that he be allowed to retain #18 in AMA Superbike–a request first made the week after the cancellation of the Willow Springs round at which Chris was scheduled to race in Superbike, and repeated about four times since then–has been ignored and the number left unassigned, for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, Jason Pridmore has been re-assigned #43 in Superbike, although he, like Chris Ulrich, did not actually earn points in a Superbike race in 2001.

The underlying question is, why is AMA Pro Racing even issuing arbitrary numbers before the stated December 20 deadline for license renewals being turned in by riders wanting to retain their 2001 numbers? If the deadline is December 20, why is AMA Pro Racing moving numbers around now, almost two months prior to the deadline? Waiting until after the December 20 deadline would make a whole lot more sense, and cause a lot less confusion.

I can quickly name three organizations with more riders than AMA Pro Racing that do a far better job with number assignments and accommodating rider requests for given numbers: WERA, CCS, Formula USA.

Numbers are more than digits to riders. Many riders are attached to various numbers; many would like the same number in various classes they compete in.

The problem with AMA number assignments is nothing new. For 2001, AMA Pro Racing could have consolidated Lopez’s numbers in Formula Xtreme, 750cc Supersport and 600cc Supersport. Instead, he was assigned #5 in Formula Xtreme, #15 in 750cc Supersport and #65 in 600cc Supersport.

Why?

I have complained about this lack of logic in number assignments before. In response, AMA Pro Racing CEO Scott Hollingsworth suggested that, if asked nicely, his staffers would try to accommodate number requests. I guess that explains Lopez’s number problem–he didn’t ask them nicely to not give away his Formula Xtreme number without even telling him they were doing it.

The real problem is that trying to deal with the AMA staffers who handle number assignments is like trying to deal with a rock. They don’t get it, they never have gotten it, they never will get it, they don’t care what you want, and they’ll do what they want anyway.

A start toward improving the situation would be Hollingsworth asking his staffers to not give away a rider’s long-standing number–like Lopez’s #5–and to not assign that rider a completely different number–#19–for no discernable reason.

Numbers and number assignments are part of the basic rider services that appear to be of no concern whatsoever to AMA Pro Racing staffers, and I doubt that Hollingsworth even has a clue what the big deal is.

All the more reason why AMA Pro Racing needs a thorough housecleaning–from the top down–and a restaffing with people who understand the basics of racing and racing organization management.

Including rational number assignments.