From a press release issued by America Honda:

October 5, 2001

Torrance, CA — American Honda announced today that Honda Racing road racer Nicky Hayden will ride Honda’s CRF450R in this weekend’s Drag Specialties National Dirt Track Series at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in Del Mar, California.

Hayden is coming off of a four-race winning streak in the AMA/Chevy Trucks Superbike series.

Hayden will ride a White Brothers/Gary Jones-prepped Honda CRF450R during the Saturday, October 6 short track practice session of the Pro Single National Championship Series. If the practice session proves successful, the Owensboro, KY native will race the Honda 4-stroke motocrosser in the evening’s short track main event.

“I rode the bike yesterday and it felt great, said Hayden. “I plan to race the CRF in the short track Saturday. I’ll also race the mile Sunday. I don’t really have any expectations at this point, I will put my head down and do my best in both events.”

The Hayden family has a long history with the sport of dirt track racing. Nicky Hayden’s father Earl was once a professional dirt track competitor. Nicky’s two brothers –Tommy Hayden and Roger Hayden — compete full-time on the AMA road race circuit and have also competed in selected dirt track events.

Hayden underscored the family commitment to dirt track racing, adding, “My younger brother Roger will be racing on Sunday.” Roger Hayden has signed with Erion Racing to compete the AMA’s 2002 Pro Honda Oils 600 Supersport and Formula Xtreme series.

Henry Degouw has finalized the American team for the Macau Grand Prix, an annual race through the streets of Macau, a former Portugese territory recently returned to Chinese control.

Despite his recent retirement from AMA Pro Racing, Mark Miller will lead the American effort–last year Miller qualified second and finished third place finish in the event. Miller will be joined by Vincent Haskovec, both riding AMA Formula Xtreme-spec Attack Suzuki GSX-R1000s on Dunlop tires. The third rider will be CCS Florida stand-out Marco Martinez on his own Suzuki GSX-R750 Superbike.

The American delegation will leave November 10 with the race taking place on Saturday, November 17. The riders and teams will be treated to an all-expenses-paid, week-long vacation in Thailand following the race.

Degouw said that he originally feared that the annual Macau event would end after control passed to the People’s Republic Of China, but has found that the Chinese have put more into the promotion of the event than ever.

Final 500cc Qualifying for Pacific Grand Prix of Motegi in Motegi, Japan:

1. Loris Capirossi, Italy, Honda, 1:49.800
2. Max Biaggi, Italy, Yamaha, 1:50.248
3. Alex Barros, Brazil, Honda, 1:50.511
4. Valentino Rossi, Italy, Honda, 1:50.591
5. Shinya Nakano, Japan, Yamaha, 1:50.687
6. Kenny Roberts, USA, Suzuki, 1:50.944
7. Sete Gibernau, Spain, Suzuki, 1:51.108
8. Olivier Jacque, France, Yamaha, 1:51.210
9. Tohru Ukawa, Japan, Honda, 1:51.246
10. Jurgen van den Goorbergh, Holland, Proton, 1:51.370
11. Carlos Checa, Spain, Yamaha, 1:51.602
12. Alex Criville, Spain, Honda, 1:51.622
13. Garry McCoy, Australia, Yamaha, 1:51.630
14. Yukio Kagayama, Japan, Suzuki, 1:51.659
15. Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Yamaha, 1:51.664
16. Norick Abe, Japan, Yamaha, 1:51.789
17. Jose Luis Cardoso, Spain, Yamaha, 1:52.248
18. Anthony West, Australia, Honda, 1:52.259
19. Haruchika Aoki, Japan, Honda, 1:52.660
20. Leon Haslam, Great Britain, Honda, 1:54.253
21. Johan Stigefelt, Sweden, Sabre, 1:54.384
22. Barry Veneman, Holland, Honda, 1:54.972
23. Brendan Clarke, Australia, Honda, 1:56.805


Final 250cc Qualifying
1. Tetsuya Harada, Japan, Aprilia, 1:52.789
2. Daijiro Katoh, Japan, Honda, 1:52.813
3. Marco Melandri, Italy, Aprilia, 1:53.115
4. Jeremy McWilliams, Great Britain, Aprilia, 1:53.564
5. Emilio Alzamora, Spain, Honda, 1:53.834
6. Fonsi Nieto, Spain, Aprilia, 1:54.158
7. Randy de Puniet, France, Aprilia, 1:54.392
8. Roberto Rolfo, Italy, Aprilia, 1:54.501
9. Roberto Locatelli, Italy, Aprilia, 1:54.575
10. Naoki Matsudo, Japan, Yamaha, 1:54.584
35. Katja Poensgen, Germany, Honda, 1:59.679


Final 125cc Qualifying:
1. Youichi Ui, Japan, Derbi, 1:58.603
2. Manuel Poggiali, San Marino, Gilera, 1:59.288
3. Masao Azuma, Japan, Honda, 1:59.546
4. Toni Elias, Spain, Honda, 1:59.622
5. Lucio Cecchinello, Italy, Aprilia, 1:59.625
6. Mirko Giansanti, Italy, Honda, 2:00.018
7. Daniel Pedrosa, Spain, Honda, 2:00.124
8. Noboru Ueda, Japan, Honda, 2:00.126
9. Gabor Talmacsi, Hungary, Honda, 2:00.338
10, Max Sabbatani, Italy, Aprilia, 2:00.356

Times from the Sunday-morning warm-up practice for the Pacific Grand Prix of Motegi, in Motegi, Japan:

500cc
1. Rossi, H, 1:50.795
2. Haga, Y, 1:51.222
3. Barros, H, 1:51.386
4. Ukawa, H, 1:51.505
5. Kagayama, S, 1:51.573
6. Abe, Y, 1:51.589
7. Nakano, Y, 1:51.593
8. Capirossi, H, 1:51.651
9. Checa, Y, 1:51.825
10. Biaggi, Y, 1:51.876
11. Jacque, Y, 1:51.894
12. Roberts, S, 1:51.971
13. Criville, H, 1:52.245
14. Gibernau, S, 1:52.254
15. McCoy, Y, 1:52.406
16. West, H, 1:53.194
17. Cardoso, Y, 1:53.244
18. Aoki, H, 1:53.468
19. v.d.Goorbergh, P, 1:53.554
20. Haslam, H, 1:55.075
21. Stigefelt, Sa, 1:55.427
22. Veneman, H, 1:55.533
23. Clarke, H, 1:57.276

250cc
1. Katoh, H, 1:53.544
2. Harada, A, 1:53.927
3. Nieto, A, 1:53.968
4. Melandri, A, 1:54.296
5. Alzamora, H, 1:54.300
6. Locatelli, A, 1:54.514
7. McWilliams, A, 1:54.906
8. Rolfo, A, 1:54.948
9. de Puniet, A, 1:55.163
10. Sekiguchi, Y, 1:55.320
33. Poensgen, H, 2:01.277

125cc
1. Ui, D, 1:59.181
2. Borsoi, A, 1:59.390
3. Elias, H, 1:59.482
4. de Angelis, H, 1:59.691
5. Pedrosa, H, 1:59.785
6. Sanna, A, 1:59.787
7. Cecchinello, A, 1:59.822
8. Rodriguez, A, 2:00.200
9. Scalvini, I, 2:00.204
10. Jenkner, A, 2:00.231

Dr. Rob Tuluie has announced that he will skip the F-USA/CCS Race of Champions weekend at Daytona International Raceway October 17-21 and instead take his Tul-aris 780 back to the lab for continued development over the winter.

A press release issued by Tuluie stated: “Our next goal is to continue off-season development on the power valve engine. Once assembled, we will begin tuning this new motor at Hot Seat Performance on their engine dyno sometime in November. Using Hot Seat’s dyno will allow us to make use of their extensive experience as well as allow quick engine configuration changes. We will focus on setting up the Polaris-supplied power valve solenoid, complete with an adjustable electronic controller, custom-made for us by Jim Hubert of DCM Services. Thereafter, we will continue with minor porting, cylinder head, crankcase, exhaust pipe and ignition curve modifications in order to have a reliable and powerful package ready for Daytona 2002. The goal will be to arrive at a stable engine configuration that will not have to change during the next racing season. This should reduce the mid-season work level substantially. Final verification of this engine configuration will occur on Doug Lofgren’s dyno at Manley Cycle sometime in the December time frame, with a possible off-season test date somewhere warm and dry.

“A dynamic handling computer model of the Tul-aris is undergoing an expansion to a full 3-D simulation. Previously, we had been able to simulate fully non-linear 2-D events, such as riding the virtual motorcycle straight up over a bump (a 2×4!) and similar planar maneuvers. We compared the simulated result (it took 4 hours of PC crunching time to compute a 30-second simulation!) and the measurement from an actual test and found excellent agreement. Now we will include cornering events. We already have all measurements for the Tul-aris chassis stiffness, hysteresis and damping, as well as the standard suspension damping and kinematics. A few measurements remain, for which we will use MTS equipment during the off-season. Our previous model was Pro-Mechanica based, but right now Greg and I are looking into converting it to ADAMS instead. The goal is to have the first true motorcycle racing dynamics simulation software, fully validated on actual test equipment. The last point (the one about validation) is very important if these simulations are to mean anything, else you’re just playing games and hoping your software’s answer is right. Once we have this and perform independent lab tests on the MTS equipment to make sure the model predicts the correct dynamics, we can perform racetrack set-up evaluations on the computer before having to try them out on the track. Since we’ve gathered quite a bit of track data this year with our PI system, we can hopefully start comparing model data to real data sometime this winter.”

Tuluie says that he is also working on an agreement to gain use of an East Coast University’s wind tunnel over the winter. However, Tuluie is still looking for a cash sponsor to help defray their travel costs associated with racing the Tul-airs 780 in the Formula USA Unlimited Grand Prix National series in 2002.

A missing word in a story on the Take Back The AMA campaign creates the wrong impression that campaign contributions are tax deductible.

The offending line of text, appearing on page 10 of the November issue of Roadracing World, mailed today, reads “Tax-deductible campaign contributions to offset the cost of printing and mailing election brochures are being accepted by the Roadracing World Action Fund, P.O. Box 1428, Lake Elsinore, CA 92531-1428, (800) 464-8336.”

The line of text should have read, “Non-tax-deductible campaign contributions…”

No campaign donations have been received to date as a result of the story, and anyone who contributes after the issue entered distribution (today) will be contacted and given the option of having the contribution returned.

We regret the error but hasten to point out that–unlike what the AMA typically has done in cases of making an error–we made the mistake public ourselves, accepted full responsibility, and took steps to correct the situation before issues containing the error reached readers.

Friday 500cc Qualifying Times:
1. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki, 1:50.944
2. Alex Barros, Honda, 1:51.007
3. Loris Capirossi, Honda, 1:51.141
4. Max Biaggi, Yamaha, 1:51.778
5. Valentino Rossi, Honda, 1:51.785
6. Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha, 1:51.858
7. Sete Gibernau, Suzuki, 1:51.938
8. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, 1:52.079
9. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, 1:52.085
10. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, 1:52.367
11. Norick Abe, Yamaha, 1:52.440
12. Garry McCoy, Yamaha, 1:52.629
13. Jose Luis Cardoso, Yamaha, 1:52.768
14. Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 1:52.883
15. Jurgen van den Goorbergh, Proton, 1:53.319
16. Alex Criville, Honda, 1:53.668
17. Haruchika Aoki, Honda, 1:53.718
18. Anthony West, Honda, 1:53.827
19. Yukio Kagayama, Suzuki, 1:54.367
20. Leon Haslam, Honda, 1:55.695

Friday 250cc Qualifying Times:
1. Tetsuya Harada, Aprilia, 1:52.945
2. Daijiro Katoh, Honda, 1:53.365
3. Marco Melandri, Aprilia, 1:53.910
4. Jeremy McWilliams, Aprilia, 1:54.104
5. Roberto Locatelli, Aprilia, 1:54.575
6. Naoki Matsudo, Yamaha, 1:54.629
7. Alex Debon, Aprilia, 1:54.859
8. Emilio Alzamora, Honda, 1:54.970
9. David Checa, Honda, 1:54.976
10. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia, 1:55.057
11. Franco Battaini, Aprilia, 1:55.150
12. Randy De Puniet, Aprilia, 1:55.230
13. Nobuyuki Ohsaki, Yamaha, 1:55.412
14. Roberto Rolfo, Aprilia, 1:55.413
15. Sebastian Porto, Yamaha, 1:55.527

35. Katja Poensgen, Honda, 1:59.714

Friday 125cc Qualifying Times:
1. Toni Elias, Honda, 2:00.383
2. Youichi Ui, Derbi, 2:00.464
3. Masao Azuma, Honda, 2:00.709
4. Mirko Giansanti, Honda, 2:00.758
5. Alessandro Brannetti, Aprilia, 2:00.800
6. Lucio Cecchinello, Aprilia, 2:00.900
7. Manuel Poggiali, Gilera, 2:00.937
8. Angel Nieto, Honda, 2:00.983
9. Gianluigi Scalvini, Italjet, 2:01.197
10. Daniel Pedrosa, Honda, 2:01.214

From a press release issued by Steve Clark’s Tight Squeeze Racing, which runs the TSR Injury Fund:

Due to the recent attacks on the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon, the TSR Injury Fund is going to donate all the proceeds from our 2001 contribution drive to the New York Times 9/11 Neediest Fund.

More information about the fund can be found at http://prodpub.wavesys.com/cw/donations.asp?charity=neediest911

TSR understands that this drastic measure is not what we have advertised throughout the course of our contribution drive, and are willing to offer refunds to anyone, provided they return their original ticket stub. We feel that at this time and magnitude of need, that this is the correct course of action to take.

Please note that the items that have been donated to the Injury Fund will still be given away as the Raffle prizes, and the drawing date has not changed. It will still be held on Oct 28th, during the WERA GNF, at Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA, and winning ticket holders do not need to be present. A listing of these prizes is available on the TSR website at http://www.tightsqueezeracing.org/raffle.htm.

In addition to those listed on the website, we would also like to recognize the following pledges that we received at the WERA VIR National event:

Thermosman Suspensions (http://www.thermosman.com/)
-One Penske 8900 Rear shock, $1300

Team INA
-One Poulan 2375LE, 18-inch, Gas Chain Saw, $150

TSR will continue accepting donations for the 9/11 Fund until the end of the 2001, then we will resume our normal operations for 2002.

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

We’re collecting nominations for the Fifth Annual Roadracing World Young Guns feature, highlighting up-and-coming young road racers from the United States and Canada.

To qualify for the Young Guns feature a racer must be between the ages of 13 and 19, have finished in the top three in a sanctioned road race on a 125cc or larger motorcycle with full-size wheels, and reside within the United States or Canada.

The Roadracing World Young Guns series started as an answer to critics who said America lacked up-and-coming young riders.

Young Gun alumni include AMA stars Nicky Hayden, Tommy Hayden, Michael Hannas and Chris Ulrich, and Young Gun graduates who have gone on to continued success on the regional level include Ryan Burke, Adam Coco, Justin Long, Jonah Miller, Geoff Pestes, Jeremy Saathoff and Ben Walters, Jr.

Returning Young Guns for 2002 include Jason DiSalvo, Roger Lee Hayden, Nathan Hester, Jake Holden, John Hopkins, Kevin Lacombe, Barrett Long, Tony Meiring, Chris Peris, Jason Peters and Ben Spies.

To nominate a youngster for the 2002 Young Guns feature, call Roadracing World headquarters at 909-245-6411 and request a Young Guns questionnaire. The questionnaire must be completed and returned by November 20, 2001 along with an action photo and a head shot suitable for magazine reproduction; all submitted photos must include permission to reproduce, from the photographer. Scans and photocopies of photos are not usable. All photos must have the name of the rider and the photographer on the back, along with applicable additional information such as where and when the photo was taken, including the racetrack and race sanctioning body.

The mailing address is:

Roadracing World
Attn: Young Guns 2002
P.O. Box 1428
Lake Elsinore, CA 92531-1428

The Federal Express or other overnight delivery address is:
Roadracing World
Attn: Young Guns 2002
581-C Birch St.
Lake Elsinore, CA 92531

The four Young Guns features done to date appeared in the November 1997, March 1999, February 2000 and March 2001 issues and can be seen on this website, www.roadracingworld.com.

If you have any questions, call 909-245-6411 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. PDT and ask to speak to David Swarts.

Mauro Cereda has been named AMA Superbike Rookie Of The Year and will be honored at the AMA Pro Racing Awards Banquet, scheduled for December 7, in Palm Springs, California.

Cereda finished 17th in the AMA U.S. Superbike Championship and 14th in the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship, riding a Suzuki GSX-R750 sponsored by C.J. Czaia.