Lockhart-Phillips USA Formula Xtreme Final Results:
1. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha YZF-R1/R7, 17 laps
2. Grant Lopez, Suzuki GSX-R1000, +2.788 seconds
3. Josh Hayes, Honda CBR929RR, +2.833 seconds
4. John Hopkins, Suzuki GSX-R1000, +6.573 seconds
5. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha YZF-R1/R7, +12.207 seconds
6. Tom Kipp, Suzuki GSX-R1000, +18.269 seconds
7. Francis Martin, Suzuki GSX-R1000, +23.455 seconds
8. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR929RR, +26.173 seconds
9. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki GSX-R750, +45.581 seconds
10. Steve Grigg, Muzzy Raptor 835, +46.545 seconds
11. Scott Harwell, Suzuki GSX-R1000
12. Geoff May, Suzuki GSX-R1000
13. Mauro Cereda, Suzuki GSX-R750
14. Chris Voelker, Honda CBR900RR, 16 laps
15. Scott Carpenter, Suzuki GSX-R750, 16 laps
16. Jamie Thompson, Suzuki GSX-R750, 16 laps
17. Mark Miller, Honda CBR929RR, 16 laps
18. Michael McAllister, Yamaha YZF-R1, 16 laps
19. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R750, 12 laps
20. Tim Bemisderfer, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 10 laps
21. Thomas Montano, Ducati 748, 10 laps
22. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda CBR929RR, 2 laps

Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki’s John Hopkins, 18, wins the 2001 Formula Xtreme Championship over Graves Motorsports Yamaha’s Damon Buckmaster by one single point, 256 points to 255 points. Hopkins won the 2000 AMA 750cc Supersport Championship over Buckmaster by three points.

The Formula Xtreme race win is Aaron Gobert’s first AMA National win.

Pole-sitter Jason Pridmore did not race after breaking his left collarbone in Saturday morning practice.

Pro Thunder Heat Race One Results:
1. David Estok, Buell 1200
2. Tripp Nobles, Buell 1200
3. Thomas Montano, Ducati 748
4. Chris Normand, Suzuki SV650
5. Thomas Fournier, Ducati 748

Pro Thunder Heat Race Two Results:
1. Mike Ciccotto, Buell 1200
2. Steve Keener, Suzuki SV650
3. Josh Bryan, Buell 1200
4. Deborah Venega, Ducati 748

Defending AMA Pro Thunder Champion crashed hard in the final corner on lap two of the second Pro Thunder heat race. Nash broke several ribs in the crash and most likely will not ride in the final.

Hal’s Performance Advantage’s Mike Ciccotto earned the pole position for Sunday’s Pro Thunder final by virtue of winning the faster of the two heat races. Ciccotto won the second heat by over 39 seconds over second place.

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

This news just in from Glenn Le Santo, on-site at Imola for the World Superbike Championship (WSB) season finale:

Eric Bostrom will stay with Kawasaki in 2002 and 2003, riding in the AMA series, and will ride multiple World Superbike rounds in 2003.

Chris Walker will ride in the WSB series for Kawasaki, along with Izutsu. Akira Yanagawa will become a development rider for Kawasaki’s new GP1 four-stroke project.

The Grand Prix Series organizer, Dorna, has developed a GP2 formula, based on 600cc production engines with racing frames and slick tires. The new formula will run as a Spanish Championship in 2002, and is likely to replace 250s in 2003 World GPs. With GP1 and GP2 allowing four-strokes, what will become of 125s is unclear, but some speculation is that the class will be reserved for upcoming youth.

WSB officials have made no announcement on rule changes, but insiders say that there will be no significant rule changes for 2002, despite the fact that manufacturers of four-cylinder machines were desperately hoping for some added displacement to help them compete with the 1000cc V-Twins. An announcement is due in December, too late for manufacturers to actually make many capacity changes anyway.

Suzuki’s intentions in the light of this news are unclear. Harald Eckl, Kawasaki team boss, and Andrea Merloni of Benelli, both looked crestfallen and very depressed at the news, as a displacement increase would have given both the four-cylinder Kawasaki ZX-7RR and the three-cylinder Benelli Tornado cheap horspower gains.

Alessandro Antonello has signed to ride Ducatis for DFX racing in 2002, running works 2001 Ducati, the effort being bankrolled by Pirelli. Steve Martin, who has been doing development work for Pirelli, will still ride for DFX in 2002.

Aprilia’s Superbike program has failed to attract significant sponsorship so will only have one rider in 2002. There is no indication as yet who it will be, but given the souring of the team’s relationship with Troy Corser, and the fact that they are unlikely to be able to afford his wage demands, it looks increasingly unlikely he’ll return with them in 2002.

Chris Vermeulen has signed to ride a CBR600F4i in World Supersport with Werner Daemen, in Daemen’s own team, from Belgium, which will be under the umbrella of Ten Kate Honda. Ten Kate will of
course run Pere Riba and Fabien Foret. All four bikes will feature Ten Kate engines and
logos, but the Daemen bikes will have subtle paintwork differences. No other Honda teams will have access to Ten Kate engines in World Supersport.

There will be no Castrol Honda Supersport team, although Honda Britain is considering running a team in World Supersport due to a collapse of confidence in the British series. Honda Britain has withdrawn from the British series in protest, and so an entry onto the world stage is logical, providing the company can find the funding.

James Whitham and Paolo Casoli are returning to the Belgarda Yamaha for WSS in 2002.

Saturday Morning 600cc Supersport Practice Times:
1. Anthony Gobert, Yamaha, 1:28.701
2. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, 1:29.360
3. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki, 1:29.469
4. John Hopkins, Suzuki, 1:29.776
5. Josh Hayes, Honda, 1:30.131
6. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 1:30.411
7. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 1:30.429
8. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda, 1:30.430
9. Jake Zemke, Honda, 1:30.599
10. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, 1:30.929
11. Tommy Hayden, Yamaha, 1:31.172
12. Chris Caylor, Suzuki, 1:31.176
13. Lee Acree, Suzuki, 1:31.208
14. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, 1:31.406
15. Grant Lopez, Suzuki, 1:31.438
16. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, 1:31.578
17. Robert Jensen, Suzuki, 1:31.805
18. Daigoro Suzuki, Kawasaki, 1:33.421
19. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, 1:34.518
20. Chuck Neighoff, Yamaha, 1:34.530

When Jamie Hacking hit a bare section of steel barrier at VIR Saturday morning, it wasn’t the first time he crashed and hit the same barrier.

Back at the track Saturday afternoon after undergoing X-rays at a local hospital, Hacking said that he crashed in the same location and hit the same barrier during testing at VIR August 13-15.

After the first crash, Hacking said, he warned track officials that the section of steel barrier needed to be padded with Air Fence for the AMA National.

More than a month later, Hacking crashed again in the same location and again hit bare steel barrier, and again miraculously escaped without any broken bones, although his back is extremely sore and he cannot stand up.

“I hit the same Armco in testing, and told them they needed Air Fence there,” said Hacking, speaking while lying on a couch in his motorhome in the VIR paddock.

Asked who he told, Hacking said he spoke to track manager Jack Abbott.

Hacking’s comments contradict claims by AMA officials that no one had ever hit the steel barrier at that location before. AMA officials also said that they had consulted with riders, teams, track officials and WERA officials before deciding where to place Air Fence and before deciding to hold 12 sections of Air Fence in reserve instead of deploying it.

Jamie Hacking crashed on his second lap in this morning’s 600cc Supersport practice session at VIR and slid into bare steel barrier outside the entrance to turn three.

Hacking was helped into an ambulance and taken to the track medical center.

The barrier outside the middle of the turn and the exit of the turn is padded with styrofoam blocks and Air Fence, respectively.

Not all the 38 sections of Air Fence owned by AMA Pro Racing have been deployed at VIR.

AMA Pro Racing is currently considering proposals from potential contractors to handle Air Fence transportation and deployment in 2002, AMA Pro Racing employees apparently finding the task of transporting and deploying Air Fence daunting.

The purchase, transportation and deployment of 35 new sections of Air Fence by AMA Pro Racing this season was funded with $104,000 donated by the Roadracing World Air Fence Fund and another $100,000 in supplemental funds donated by Honda, Suzuki and Harley-Davidson.

According to American Suzuki’s Jeff Wilson, the Yoshimura Suzuki team took Hacking to a local hospital to take X-rays of his lower back. Yoshimura’s Don Sakakura said that Hacking has having supporting his weight on the back.

750cc Supersport Combined Qualifying Results:
1. Ben Spies, 1:28.149
2. Mike Ciccotto, 1:28.594
3. Lee Acree, 1:29.354
4. Jimmy Moore, 1:29.390
5. Michael Barnes, 1:29.557
6. Chris Ulrich, 1:29.896
7. Robert Jensen, 1:30.388
8. Scott Harwell, 1:30.591
9. Vincent Haskovec, 1:30.627
10. Rich Conicelli, 1:30.828
11. Richie Alexander, 1:31.004
12. Andy Caldwell, 1:31.131
13. Tony Meiring, 1:31.443
14. Anthony Lupo, 1:31.966
15. Billy Ethridge, 1:33.621
16. David Ortega, 1:33.995
17. Chris Rankin, 1:34.072
18. Jamie Thompson, 1:34.313
19. Justin Blake, 1:34.798
20. Jeremy Barker, 1:35.143


Chris Ulrich collided with Jimmy Moore on what Ulrich said was going to be his best lap, when Moore drifted wide with his foot out in the last corner; Moore intended to enter the pits and Ulrich was attempting to pass him on the outside.

From a Ducati press release:

WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 13 – IMOLA (ITALY)
September 28-30 2001

PREVIEW

The 2001 World Superbike Championship draws to a close at Imola’s Enzo & Dino Ferrari Circuit with the final round of an enthralling season that has seen Ducati Corse make a clean sweep of both Riders’ and Manufacturers’ titles. Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) clinched the Riders’ title in Holland, while Ducati won a record tenth Manufacturers’ crown at the previous round in Germany. The race at Imola will be a triumphant homecoming for the Bologna-based constructor, whose factory lies just along the Via Emilia, and what better place to celebrate victory in the WSBK championship than at a circuit dedicated to another Italian motorsport legend, EnzoFerrari.

A PIECE OF HISTORY
This weekend’s final round is also special for another reason because 29 years ago the Imola circuit saw the unfolding one of the most important chapters in Ducati’s history. In 1972 the Italian manufacturer took a sensational 1-2 win in the Imola 200 Miles race with Paul Smart heading home Bruno Spaggiari on special twin-cylinder Ducati 750 Imola Desmo bikes. The race changed the destiny of Ducati, which redefined its approach to racing and focussed its attention almost exclusively on competition reserved for production-based machines. The rest, as they say, is history, and Ducati’s record in WSBK since the category’s creation in 1988 is an extraordinary example of the company’s outstanding racing heritage. For this occasion, the number 21 championship-winning Ducati 996R Infostrada of Troy Bayliss has been sprayed in a silver livery evoking Smart’s 1972 bike and the Australian will be wearing special black leathers designed by Dainese for Imola. The 1972 Ducati 750 Imola Desmo will be on display in the paddock and both Smart and Spaggiari will make appearances at Imola.

With 369 points on the board, Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) cannot be caught by his rivals and the newly-crowned champion goes into the Imola race with all the pressure off and eager to add to his tally of six wins this year. “I still feel really good after winning the world championship three weeks ago”, declared Bayliss. “It’s a great achievement and everyone in the team is still happy but we’re looking forward to this weekend and hopefully we’ll get a good result. The silver bike looks really sparkling although I haven’t seen it in the sun yet! It’ll be a great race with everyone hoping to win, although I expect Colin to be the man to beat here”.

A sensational end-of-season run by Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada) has seen the 23-year-old Spanish rider surge up the points table and confirm the expectations Ducati placed in him when they signed him up for a full WSBK championship season at the end of last year. “I’m just going out there to do the best I can in the final race of the year”, said Xaus. “Obviously now that I’ve won a race, it’s a weight off my shoulder, but it hasn’t changed my mentality. I will be happy once again to finish on the podium and end my season on a high note”.

Ben Bostrom (Ducati L&M) is also determined to leave his mark on the legendary Imola track. The Californian lies just 31 points behind his fellow-American Colin Edwards and with 50 points up for grabs, will be aiming to help bring about a Ducati 1-2. At Imola Ben will also receive a special prize from championship organisers SBK International, ‘Most Approachable Rider’, voted by visitors to the official SBK website and the Paddock Show.

“I can’t wait for Imola”, declared Bostrom, “because I have to make up for the last two rounds, in particular the one at Assen when we
never really got going. When you are used to finishing in the top 3, it’s hard not to be disappointed when things don’t go well. Sorry for the other guys out there, but I plan to win and that’s the end of the story.”

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after 12 of 13 rounds): Riders
1° BAYLISS (DUCATI INFOSTRADA) 369 (2001 World Superbike Champion)
2° Edwards (Honda) 317
3° BOSTROM (DUCATI L&M) 286
4° Corser (Aprilia) 264
5° Hodgson (Ducati GSE) 254
6° Chili (Suzuki) 225
7° XAUS (DUCATI INFOSTRADA) 191
8° Yanagawa (Kawasaki) 170
9° Okada (Honda) 149
10° Lavilla (Kawasaki) 147.

Manufacturers
1° DUCATI 508 (2001 World Superbike Champions)
2° Honda 369
3° Aprilia 298
4° Kawasaki 270
5° Suzuki 241
6° Yamaha 30
7° Benelli 4.

THE IMOLA CIRCUIT

The need for speed has formed part of Imola’s DNA since ancient times. Imola was called Forum Cornelii at the time of ancient Rome and there was already an amphitheatre for chariot racing in 80 BC. The current track took shape at the end of the 1940s. To create work for the depressed post-war economy, it was decided to build a series of public roads linking the Via Emilia, where the Rivazza curve can be found today, to the town of Codrigano and the Tosa curve. Four Imola motorsport enthusiasts (Alfredo Campagnoli, Graziano Golinelli, Ugo Montevecchi e Gualtiero Vighi) then decided to build a racetrack between the hills. This was followed by the enthusiastic dedication of Checco Costa, who went on to organise a series of major motorcycle racing events at a circuit that has since become one of the greatest racetracks in the world.

CIRCUIT RECORDS (no WSBK lap records)
Lap Record, n/a
Superpole, n/a
Qualifying, n/a
Italian Superbike, Casoli (Ducati) 1’54.272 (155.513 km/h) 1999TV COVERAGE
Eurosport (pan-European – all times CET): 29/9 1100 Qualifying (live)
30/9 0830 Superpole (delayed), 0930 Warm-up (live), 1145 Race 1 (Live), 2000 Race 2 (delayed).

INTERNET AUDIO & VIDEO ‘LIVE’ COVERAGE
Ducati fans world-wide can get a feel for WSBK action from Imola this weekend with ‘live’ audio/video coverage from the Ducati Infostrada pit garage during qualifying. Exclusive ‘web-cam’ video coverage, organised in collaboration with Motonline, will be broadcast on: www.ducati.com, http://sport.iol.it/ducati/index_ducati.jhtml and www.motonline.com. The first link-up will be during Friday qualifying at 1445 CET with the second during Saturday final qualifying at 1045 CET. The Ducati Corse ‘chat-line’ will also offer Internet users the possibility of chatting live with newly-crowned World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss, who will answer questions directly from the pit garage. The ‘chat-line’ will be operative at 1830 CET on Friday 28 September and can be accessed through www.ducati.com and www.iol.it.


And now an Aprilia press release:





Aprilia Superbike Press Information
Superbike World Championship 2001
Round 13 – Imola (Italy) 28/29/30 September 2001
Preview

Superbike makes its debut on the Santerno circuit: Sunday’s arena for the final round of the 2001 Championship. Riders on the three official twin-cylinder RSV Mille bikes from Noale: Corser, Laconi and Antonello.

Imola will be hosting the final round of the 2001 season and the debut of Superbike on the track named after Enzo and Dino Ferrari. But if one takes a closer look at the annals of motorcycling history, Sunday’s meeting could be termed a return to the “origins” of the sport. Indeed,what might be considered as the forerunners of Superbike made their first appearance here on 23 April 1972: the historical 200 Miles of Imola. Some of the legendary names of motorcycling appeared in that memorable event: Paul Smart, Bruno Spaggiari and Walter Villa.

“Modern” Superbikes have come to Imola after a long and hard-fought season. The 2001 title has already been awarded, but Sunday is still sure to offer a great show. The main aim of the three Aprilia riders is precisely to give the public all the excitement they’ve come for. Troy Corser and Regis Laconi, flanked by Noale’s official test rider, Alessandro Antonello, are attempting to repeat their results in the early-summer trials. That was when Laconi made second-best time, a hair’s breadth away from Edwards, with Corser 4th and Antonello 7th. Those two sweltering days in July brought in masses of information, which now needs to be used for this weekend’s races.

The track: 4,933 metres – 10 left curves – 6 right curves – 358-metre finishing straight.

The records: no previous record.

Unofficial timings during the July tests:
1st Edwards (Honda) 1’49.42
2nd Laconi (Virgilio Aprilia Axo) 1’49.70
3rd Okada (Honda) 1’49.72
4th Corser (Virgilio Aprilia Axo) 1’49.93
5th Bostrom (Ducati) 1’50.34
6th Bayliss (Ducati) 1’50.52
7th Antonello (Virgilio Aprilia Axo) 1’50.99
8th Lavilla (Kawasaki)
1’51.20
9th Yanagawa (Kawasaki) 1’51,30
10th Martin (Ducati) 1’51,86
11th Parkes (Ducati) 1’52.49.

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Despite recent AMA Pro Racing press releases touting new efforts at communicating with riders and other paddock dwellers, leading riders said they weren’t asked their opinion before AMA officials decided to use a pace car at the final round of the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series, at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) this weekend.

The pace car being used is a Jaguar, a brand owned by Ford.

Asked if they had been asked about the use of a pace car, riders responded as follows:

Miguel Duhamel: “No. There are a lot of new things here at Virginia. I’m a little, let’s say nervous about the whole just because there are so many new things this weekend, a lot of things people aren’t used to. It was a lot of work to get the bikes back to pit stop standard. I think we should leave the pit stops to Daytona. I mean, that’s our greatest race. The pit lane’s good and you don’t have to do 50 mph on pit lane. I’m happy they changed the flag. At least now we can tell the difference. I think they still have a few bugs. Let’s just cross our fingers and hope we have a good weekend. I’m anticipating the worst and hoping for the best. Even today we have a lot of people walking around on pit lane. I mean 50 mph is still 50 mph. I should have brought it up to have nobody crossing pit lane. I’m going to go over and talk to them about it later.

“I think it could cause a lot of heartbreak,” continued Duhamel. “We need to make our series really solid right now, and we’re leaving it open for something to happen. There’s a lot of gray area. I think there’s going to be a lot of stories. Better have a lot of tape.”


Mat Mladin: “No. I’m just not a big fan of pace cars. I just don’t think that pace cars should be used in motorcycle racing. We don’t have radio communication at the moment and things like that. I’m just not a fan of the pace car at all. For one or two races a year? Why not use it for every race if that’s the case? No, I’m not a big fan of the pace car. We’ve all seen what happened at Daytona. The fault of the accident at Daytona had nothing to do with the riders. It had to do with they couldn’t see the flag. They didn’t know there was a pace car on the track. I was the first rider out there. I had a five or six second lead at the time and I struggled to see the pace car. So you can imagine being in a group of six or seven riders nose-to-tail. I mean, the first rider gets a glimpse of it, what’s he going to do? He’s going to back off straight away. A lot of people think Kurtis (Roberts) just jammed on the brakes on the banking. Well, that’s not the case. When you’re doing 170 mph on the banking and you just back off, you slow down so quick as compared to the guys who are on it behind you it’s unbelieveable. The flags were not adequate.

“I don’t mind the pit stops,” continued Mladin, “but the whole idea of what the pit stops are for is that it’s better for the spectators. Well, no spectators are going to see the pit stops because spectators aren’t over there to watch them like Daytona. The spectators are all out there (motions to back part of course), and we’re doing the pit stops here (motions to pit lane). There’s not going to be one single spectator see the pit stops unless they are standing right here behind the pits. If they are, they aren’t going to see any of the race. Personally, I think the idea to have the pit stops really isn’t going to work. It’s not going to better for the spectators.”


Larry Pegram (laughing): “Ask a rider something before they do something? Come on! I don’t mind the pace car. I just don’t think this is the place to be making the race longer and doing pit stops. The pit road is too tight. The track’s way too tight to run an extra-long race where we will be lapping more people more times. It’s hard to pass. It doesn’t let you rest. They need to do something about pit road speed some how to let us know how fast we’re going. You don’t wait until the last race when the championship’s on the line then throw in a pit road speed that you haven’t had all year.”


Nicky Hayden: “At Colorado, we made some suggestions to them. I think they talked to the team. I don’t know about racing with the pace car again. I think it could be good. I’m in the middle with it. I don’t know.”


Andreas Meklau: “No. It is very confusing. There are many things new to me. It is a long race. We have different things on the bike for change quick. The pace car is new and pit stops as well. It’s confusing.”


Mike Preston, Manager, Kawasaki Road Racing, a team manager and a member of the AMA road racing rules advisory board, said he was not involved in the decision-making process regarding use of a pace car.